There is a common theme in most Christmas stories of a man who is too cynical, or depressed, or crotchety (sometimes even evil) to participate in the spirit of Christmas, and who, because of some event or insight, has his eyes opened to the wonder of the world. We all know this cast of characters: […]
Yearly Archives: 2016
Too Many Books Too Soon I was asked by someone in a post on Memoria Press’ forum to comment on an article by Douglas Wilson, author of Rediscovering the Lost Tools of Learning, the book that jump-started the Neoclassical schools movement in the United States in the late 1980s. The article is about an academic […]
By: Sarah Kaye Every fall I experience a romantic fantasy of how our new school year will go. The intoxicating smell of fresh paper from all the new books lined up on my kids’ shelves acts like a mind-altering substance that erases memories of past foibles and failures. I am filled with excitement for the fresh […]
You’ve heard the word before, but what does it mean? Here’s the lowdown on the second leg of the trivium. Introduction The best way to answer the question “What is logic?” is with a definition. But that is easier said than done. Throughout history, many people have thought and written about the subject of logic, […]
One of the measures of how hard it is to articulate the case for the value of a classical education is that you have to use the assumptions of those who don’t value it in order to persuade them that it has value. That’s a mouthful, I know. But what I mean to say is […]
Some critics have said that the value of Roman literature is that it has been the vehicle which conveyed Greek ideas to the world. The Romans took their art and, as far as their civilization rests on these, their civilization from Greece. Why, then, do we study Latin? Some of the reasons are given by […]
Narrative accounts and musical commemorations follow in the wake of every disaster. From the Iliad and the Odyssey, written about events related to the Trojan War, to Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” literature and music have dealt with destruction and death. What great crime doesn’t have its own documentary? What great disaster […]
There are a lot of good reasons for thinking that Latin should be restored to its former place of honor as the basic subject in the elementary years. In previous issues of The Classical Teacher, I talked about some of these. But knowing that you should teach it and knowing how to teach it are […]
My brother and sister and I all received a classical education, way back in the 1970s, because my mother homeschooled us the same way she’d been taught at home. Our education was language-centered, not image-centered; we read and listened and wrote, but we rarely watched. She spent the early years of school giving us facts, […]
Reflections on the Sodalitas Gathering by Jessica Phillips Last week in Louisville, KY, over 60 Memoria Press homeschoolers from across the country gathered for the second annual Sodalitas Gathering at Highlands Latin School. Sodalitas is a one-of-a-kind experience of learning, encouragement, connection, and inspiration, all within the context of cultivating a classical homeschool using Memoria […]