What Classical Education Has Taught Me As A Parent
On my way home from VCS a few weeks back, my child casually said, “Mom, in class we were discussing with our teacher the Major and Minor Prophets and their roles.”
He went on to share more, but I began to think at that moment, Wow, I am so grateful my child has the opportunity to be instructed in the Word of God through the context of his educational experience. And yet simultaneously I thought, is my child really having this talk with me right now about the Major and Minor Prophets? He was ready for more comprehension and retention of God’s Word than I realized! Thus far, Valley Classical School has helped me to see this in my son, giving me a stronger desire to foster this more at home.
The flexibility, family closeness, parental involvement, and individually-curtailed instruction of homeschooling is unparalleled, but adding a community of teachers, excellent curriculum choices, administrators, and students a few days a week has truly enhanced my child’s joy in learning. While also lending an opportunity for insight into him that I may not have seen on my own, be it his character, spirit, or intellect.
Furthermore, it has been amazing to see how much my child really is capable of when given the opportunity to grow and be stretched in certain areas that he is not necessarily gifted in. I have seen his spelling and writing make tremendous strides this year, and on the flip side, I had no idea he would love languages. He loves Latin, and I am seeing he is gifted in it!
Classical education is not Disneyland, nor does it seek to give children an education directed by their wants and desires. It aims higher, producing the magic, if you will, and cultivating the natural gifts, talents, and passions of a child, through an education established in the tradition and firmly rooted beliefs that once were and are being re-birthed. Children have a mind that is tremendously capable of being trained by truth rather than culture, and a spirit that is tremendously receptive to grow in character, hunger for God, and ability to make sense of the world through His Word.