We will be primarily combining the Christian Classical and Charlotte Mason approaches to teaching. The focus of a Classical Education is to teach children how to learn and to love it. Each developmental level uses different methods to help a child progress from basic knowledge acquisition to complex analysis and communication of positions and ideas. Charlotte Mason focuses on recognizing the whole child in deciding the best way to educate each student. Emphasis is placed on “living books” over textbooks, hands-on nature study over lecture, and narration over worksheets. The goal is the enjoyment of learning and the creation of life-long learners. The use of these methodologies allows us to create learning groups that are based on developmental markers and not “grades.”

Charlotte Mason was a British educator and author in the late 1800's.  She had a very high view of children and believed in avoiding "dumbed down" books while introducing them to the best literary works available.  She believed that "Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life." By atmosphere, she meant the home environment.  Discipline refers to the discipline of good habits (specifically habits of good character).  Life refers to academics - she believed children should be given living thoughts and ideas, not just facts from a textbook.

The Charlotte Mason method includes (but is not limited to):

• Living Books - These are literary works usually written by one author that tell a story
• Narration - After reading, the child will retell what he/she read either orally or in writing.
• Copywork - to practice handwriting, spelling, grammar, etc.
• Dictation - This goes along with copywork - after the child practices copying a passage or sentence, the teacher then dictates it to the child who writes it down using correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
• Nature Walks and Nature Notebooks 
• Journaling
• Art and Music Appreciation
• Short Lessons - 10 - 15 minutes per subject in the younger years, increasing as the child gets older
• Lots of Outside Time and Daily Walks
• Establishing Good Habits

Classical homeschooling is an approach that is aimed at training a child's mind to think independently using a three-part process.  It is based off the writings of Martianus Capella from the Middle Ages.  Students move through the three stages of this method, called the trivium: 

1. The Grammar Stage - (Concrete thinking) This is the stage when children focus on the foundations of learning, with memorization and repetition being a major part of the instructional process.  They gain a core knowledge of math, language arts, science, and social studies. 
2. The Logic (or Dialectic) Stage -  (Analytical reasoning)  By about fifth grade, children move on from the concrete way of thinking to asking questions and reasoning.  
3. The Rhetoric Stage - By the time the student reaches high school, they are ready to build on the knowledge gained by the two previous stages (the foundational knowledge of elementary school and the critical thinking skills of middle school).  They learn how to communicate their opinions and logical conclusions through debates and persuasive writing.  They focus on essay writing, public speaking, accounting, engineering, politics, and economics.