Classical Catholic Education

Jesus Prechant Sur La Montagne by Gustave Dore

First of all, welcome to my blog! Please know, I am by no means an expert on Classical Education or teaching in general, but I just know that there is a big movement toward Classical Education in the Catholic School world, and I just wanted to share my own journey in case it is helpful to others!  It is my goal to encourage and to share ideas so that we can all be the best educators we can be.  We are gifted each of these children for a year of their lives and to me, that is such a tremendous responsibility, I am always looking for ways to improve.

Why Classical Catholic Education? 

Why Classical?

There is so much research behind Classical Education, I am definitely not the best one to sum it up.  So I will point you to articles by the experts and then tell you what it is I love about Classical Education.  

Here are some great articles: 

https://welltrainedmind.com/a/classical-education/

https://www.commonsenseclassical.com/blog/why-does-classical-education-work

Here are some great books:

Awakening Wonder: A Classical Guide to Truth, Goodness & Beauty by Steve Turley

The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

What I love about Classical Education is the emphasis on integration between the subjects.  We teach science through literature, math through art, and religion through history.  And likewise, any of these subject can be integrated!  It becomes something so beautiful.  

I plan to write a whole separate post on this and when I do, I will link it here.  Because when you can teach in this way, it really is an art form.

Why Catholic?

At my lovely school, our focus is on our Catholicity and our students' human formation.  Yes, we aim to have high educational standards, but our families come to our school for the Catholicity.  That's why I send my own children to school there.  We have Mass on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Adoration and Confession once per month, and for grades Pre-K through 4th we have Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (Atrium) once per week. We also have virtue campaigns quarterly or monthly. And beyond that, we seek to integrate religion into just absolutely every single thing that we do.

So, why Catholic? Because it is the most important thing.  Because we want our kids to learn to integrate their religion into every aspect of their lives and not just save it for Mass on Sundays.  

Why Education?

This last question may seem obvious... or maybe not so much.  Why education at all? As someone with roughly $1,000,000 in student loans let me tell you, I ask myself this sometimes.  

But the answer is that God created within us this desire to learn and know things.  To ask questions and seek answers.  We must awaken within our children the wonder and awe for Creation, for art, for beautiful things if we want them to seek after God.  

If you're looking for a Classical Catholic School, this is a good place to start: 

https://my.catholicliberaleducation.org/map-of-schools/