"I don't know. I work with bright children."

So I asked the question, are the seven liberal arts the way God has designed children to learn? Or at least, is this the way they learn best?

The first three of the seven liberal arts are word-oriented arts. Not all children are word-oriented. I believe in the theory of multiple intelligences. I believe it because I've seen it in children.

Again, not all children are word-oriented. My son has always thought in pictures and colors. Does that mean I neglect developing his linguistic abilities. Oh, my, no. It does mean, however, that I must provide an education that includes things outside word-centered education.

The title of my post comes from a teacher I heard speaking at a conference not long ago. He works at a Classical school, and during the Q&A after his talk he was asked what to do about children who have reading difficulties. The above title was his response.

I was outraged, but it didn't appear that anyone else even noticed.

This is a problem, folks. The arrogance and ignorance must be addressed.

I don't like being lied to, and I think there has been some stretching of the truth going on in regards to the seven liberal arts. More has been made of these arts than should be. I'm so tired of them being treated as a panacea for our times. Our educational problems are much bigger than this, and they won't be solved by convincing parents (through sophistry?) that the solution is in having our children study through the seven liberal arts.  

I'm also not going to go so far as to say that those seven liberal arts aren't wonderful. They are. I think it was a huge mistake to scrap them altogether. As education began to be provided for "all" in our societies, however, word-oriented folks had to move over and make room for those otherwise oriented.

This is one reason why I love Charlotte Mason. She did not teach her student teachers to teach their students through the Trivium. :-)

She, on the other hand, believed in a liberal education for all.

Children Don't Raise Themselves

This is an idea that I have often repeated to myself as I raised my own children.

The pull to walk away from them is very strong. We adults are very selfish people. We don't want to take the time to show them the way, and then take the time to walk the way with them.

To freshen the colors of the picture.

The above is a quotation from The Roots of American Order taken from Cicero's The Republic. Cindy is doing a book study, and I thought I would join in, anonymously. I'm not sure my thoughts would be on target enough to be of much use in the discussion.

Having gone to the American schools of the 60's and 70's, I grew up with the belief that one ought to be suspicious of order. I was taught in a disorderly fashion in school, and, despite homeschooling remedying much of it, I think I still suffer somewhat from the effects of that. I learned to think of order as a type of control. I'm happy now to know that I was wrong; I actually love order - even if I have trouble maintaining it in my own life. Order isn't a control; it is a strength.

I love the quotation of Cicero: "Long before our time, the customs of our ancestors molded admirable men, and in turn those eminent men upheld the ways and institutions of their forbears. Our age, however, inherited the Republic as if it were some beautiful painting of bygone ages, its colors already fading through great antiquity; and not only has our time neglected to freshen the colors of the picture, but we have failed to preserve its form and outlines."

I just loved that. Admirable men, eminent men. *Upholding* the ways and institutions of their forbears. Not forging new trails. Upholding.

As I read this chapter one of the things my thoughts kept wandering to was church life and the order that is Divine Liturgy. I kept thinking of the Orthodox Church and its assertion that they have preserved the faith for 2,000 years handed down from the Apostles.

Cindy mentioned that she likes the four cities: Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, and London. I do too. I especially love London, and my love for it is different from the others. I love the others because of what they gave us. I love London because I think of it as my city, having been there many times, and gotten to know it personally.

Kirk: "...we need to renew our understanding of the beliefs and the laws which give form to American society."

Kirk mentions fifth century Greece and first century Rome before Christ. What popped into my mind was that both of those times were pre-Christian. It seems this has to make a difference somehow. But we definitely "grope for order" in our day.

I feel sorry for young parents that have extra money, and plenty of insurance, because then they can take their child for lots of medical tests and not have to face their faults as parents. If you search for a problem in your child, the medical community is sure to help you find it. But will you find the problem in yourself?