Classical Curriculum English Gr 6 -8????

[Mrs. Ciz]

Hi Teachers and Homeschoolers,

I hope this is the right place to ask. The Disney for Families board had the most homeschool hits so I'm posting here. I have been considering a job at a Catholic school that follows a Classical Curriculum. The school my kids attended, where I previously worked, just did a regular English curriculum (literature book, grammar book, vocabulary book, novel studies (regular YA lit stuff), essays & a term paper, etc). So my question is - What exactly is a Classical English Curriculum and how is it different from what my children studied? Thanks everyone for helping me do my homework!

 

[asmit4]

http://www.tcshouston.org/academics-1/the-classical-model

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Thank you. That website is very similar to everything else I've read. I guess I am looking for more info about what actual material is taught. Most good schools practice cross curriculum collaboration (reading The Whipping Boy in English class while studying the middle ages in Social Studies class or reading Night or The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas while studying WWII, writing the English term paper on a Science class subject, etc). Also every 6-8 English class I've been in requires oral presentations. Learning to read critically and analyze literature is a given. I've also used Socratic Circles for discussion. So that stuff doesn't seem that much different to me.

Are the main differences in the content or materials taught? I know there is only so much leeway in content due to state requirements. For instance in a classical curriculum would the students read The Whipping Boy or Night? Or would they be reading mostly Plato, Cicero, Iliad & Odyssey, Ovid and the like? Would they still be learning nouns, verbs, clauses, prepositions, etc. What kind of literature book would they use. What kind of novel studies would they do? How important are vocabulary exercises?

 

[lovethattink]

My oldest son went to a classical school. They used the Shurley Method for English.

 

[lovethattink]

When my son was in 7th grade they started the year by learning about Babylon in history, reading Gilgamesh in literature. Everything in learning is based on the trivium for learning. Classes are more conversational.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Thank you for the class content info! That's just the kind of thing I was looking for.