Begin the Journey:
If you are interested in joining the journey of classical education, please avail yourself of the content, links, and information below.
A classical Christian education begins with developing, or training, the affections.
In school, we work to train children to love the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.
We begin with presenting good, true, and beautiful material to the students to train them to recognise Goodness, Truth, and Beauty on their own.
For the adult, a classical eduation begins in the same way: consistent encounters with lovely things. These may be books, poems, God's Word, music, or art. Through it all, ask what is good, true, or beautiful about the thing you are observing.
Start, however, with books. Learning and discovery ought to be a joy, and there are few greater joys than an excellent story.
Assuming a proficiency with the great stories of Holy Scripture (Joseph, David, the Gospels, Acts, etc), the best place to begin is John Senior's 1000 good books.
Read his introduction to his list, choose a book that looks interesting to you, and then tuck in!
Read what interests you. Read what sounds fun, exciting, or engaging. He gives age ranges as a helpful guide, but don't feel bad if you really want to read something from a younger age. Find something you will enjoy and begin.
Advancing on the Journey
After you have enriched your cultural soil (to use Senior's phrase) or if that soil is already rich, then you should progress to the Great Books.
The above link is a helpful list of the famous set published by Britannica. Here, it is again helpful to think about what interests you.
Some of these books are philosophy, some theology, and others are history or science. Within that list are a fair amount of novels, poems, and plays, but most of it is non-fiction. All of it is worth your time, in one way or another. Still, begin with the things that draw you in.
Then, after you have discovered why the Great Books are great, branch out.
Finally, think about reading these in community, especially once you get to the great books. Part of the delight of a classical education is engaging with the Great Conversation. If you have an opportunity, join with other people who are reading the same things. If you don't have an opportunity, consider being the person to put such a group together.
VIDEOS & AUDIO
Finally, if you would like resources to listen to or watch to give you some definitions and explanations of classical education please see below.
In addition to the following videos, you can find a number of good podcasts on classical education: including Classical Et Cetera by Memoria Press.
JOE BOOT INTERVIEW: WHAT IS CLASSICAL EDUCATION?
JOE BOOT INTERVIEW: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STUDENTS WHO HAVE RECEIVED A CLASSICAL EDUCATION AND THOSE WHO HAVE NOT?
JOE BOOT INTERVIEW: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO THE STUDENT WHO RECEIVES A CLASSICAL EDUCATION?
You can also find out more on the ACCS (Association of Classical Christian Schools) website. Take a look at their website where you will find an array of resources such as articles, recommended books and see the schools that exist in the ACCS network.
