Homeschool in Community
Classical Conversations of Owasso, Southwest Campus
What is Classical Education?
The classical model of education emphasizes three stages of learning, called the Trivium. Each stage of learning has a name: grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric. Classical Conversations Communities provide trained tutors to model this style of education to parents and students alike. The community makes classical education fun and exciting for the children and parents!
Classical education is sometimes called “leadership education” because it builds skills needed for leadership: logic, debate, public speaking, clear reasoning, researching, writing, and communicating. These skills are practiced in every subject (math, science, history, geography, Latin, fine arts, and more), which prepares students to become leaders in any field they pursue.
Grammar Stage
This first step in learning any subject is to learn the vocabulary. For example, when you learn to read, you learn the names of the letters and the sounds they make. Classical educators call this the grammar stage. Young children enjoy this phase: they love repeating songs, chanting rhymes, and pronouncing big words. We capitalize on their enjoyment by teaching young students the grammar of many subjects using songs and chants and practicing with friends.
Foundations is the Classical Conversations grammar-stage program for students K4-6th. In this program, students receive the building blocks for later learning in science, math, geography, Latin, English grammar, history, fine arts, and public speaking.
Dialectic Stage
This second step in learning a subject is to sort, compare, and understand the words and the rules that apply to them. For example, when learning to read, students will learn how to put letters together to form words and how to construct a sentence. We call this stage the dialectic stage because much of the work done in this process is accomplished through dialogue. Children generally enjoy this process most between the ages of ten and thirteen.
We capitalize on this through our Essentials, Challenge A and Challenge B programs.
Rhetoric Stage
The third stage in learning a subject is to use what you have learned to solve a problem, write an original paper or speech, or lead a discussion. In reading, this would be the time to focus on the themes and context of what you have read and to apply the lessons learned to one’s own life experiences. Older teens usually enjoy this process because they long to express themselves and be creative problem solvers.
We call this the rhetoric stage, and our Challenge programs are designed to help students learn and exercise these skills across many subjects. Students are given opportunities to give presentations, participate in debate, and eventually lead the class discussions.