Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Don't be daunted by the lofty-sounding terms of classical education. Mike Farris and his guest Kathy Weitz have a down-to-earth conversation about how classical education works, on today's Home School Heartbeat.

Michael Farris:
Kathy, when we start talking about classical education, unfamiliar terms start popping up-like Latin and phrases in Latin! Those can be very intimidating for a lot of homeschooling moms, Kathy. Can a mom without a PhD in classics give her children a classical education?

Kathy Weitz:
Absolutely. I don't have a PhD.

Mike:
Now, tell us what a classical program in writing looks like in your homeschooling family, and how does it work?

Kathy:
Well, we begin with a model—for example, a historical narrative by James Baldwin. We read it, we analyze the meaning, we practice reading it with expressiveness, and I have the child retell the story in his own words. Then we'll do a more in-depth analysis. We'll study the spelling and vocabulary from the model. We'll do grammar lessons from the model. Then we practice writing exercises with an eye to noticing and learning how the best writers write, looking at their style. And finally we imitate the model by retelling the narrative, or we may tell a whole new story with the same structure. There are many different ways to imitate. The idea is to teach the writing process. The goal is not to improve the original, but to improve the student's writing by analyzing and imitating the finest writing.

Mike:
Thank you so much for being on the program. I'm Mike Farris.