The Start of the Payoff for Classically Educating

I posted this on TWTM Curriculum Board in response to a question about whether it was "worth it" to do all the work of classically educating.

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This is our 3rd year at home, and our 5th year in classical (K-1 at school). I am a classical maniac--I really believe this model and I've lived into it pretty truly--not just layering Latin onto school. Somtimes it has been tempting to turn away when I have seen the things that some of the public school friends of mine do in their earlier years. They do "logic" stage stuff in grade 3, and here we are still copying and doing very basics of math.

But just in the past few weeks I have started to see some of the benefits, some of the reward of doing these things. Some of the things have been the negatives of the "traditional school"'s approaches coming home to roost (like my little friend who has been writing essays since grade three but now is very hard to correct because she doesn't know the language of the language--grammar). But most of what has been cool is the rewarding stuff.

The other night we were at our Christmas concert at church, and the choir sang a song in Latin. My kid about jumped out of his skin because he could figure out in general what they were saying. He could not do a translation for the bulletin, but he knew that they were singing praise, blessing, adoration, honor to the King of Heaven! He was so thrilled (as was I). Then I about jumped out of my skin when he said, "Mom, I'll bet they are singing the same exact words that Martin Luther heard his choir singing in church!" And he was right--he GOT IT that he is tied to the church universal, tied to what has gone before.

A few days later, we were at the "candle skirting"--putting those little papers on the candles for Christmas Eve services (6,000 candles...). We do this every year with about 6 old ladies. They are so fun with the boy, and he with them. One of them said how nice it had been to hear the Latin song at the service. My son piped up that he knew some of the words. They were SURPRISED! They asked him if he knew Latin. He started chanting "amo, amas..." and before he got any further, ALL of the old ladies joined in and said "amat, amamum, amatis, amant!" Then one said, in a voice I sure was reminiscent of the command of a long-dead Latin instructor, "DEUS! DECLINED" and most of them declined it. Another lady started in on "hic, haec, hoc" (which BoyBob and I do not know yet) and the funniest thing of all was that they were all saying it, and they were saying it LOUD and in rhythm , and they were BOUNCING in their chairs! All these little old ladies were YOUNG again, smiling and laughing.

I asked what "hic, etc." was and the one nearest me whooped, "I HAVE NO IDEA!" and went right back over it again, grinning from ear to ear. My son is now connected with his very personal past, not the Middle Ages or the Reformation, but these ladies, this church, his time.

The other thing I have noticed is that the stories of the grammar stage become a shorthand way of saying a lot of things in the Logic stage. The conversations are so rich and full and it will not happen if you don't develop the common language, the grammar, in the early stage...and that is what Classical promises. I have been sooooo encouraged in the past few weeks...and wanted to pass some of it to you.

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At the moment, I am being crooned to by Bing Crosby, something about a White Christmas, which in the Northwest can only be sung "Wet Christmas". OH WOW! He just finished and is singing Adeste Fideles--in Latin--and my kid and I are carolling away with Bing! Whee!