Classical Education uses history, studied chronologically, as it’s core, linking in other subjects as they arise. Based on the three-part process (called the “trivium” of training the mind), this method models a modern liberal arts education based on the educational philosophies of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.
The first stage, roughly up to the age of 9, is the “grammar” stage and involves exposing children to a wide range of information which they can memorise for use in the later stages.
The second phase of the classical education, from around 10 years of age, the “Logic Stage,” (or dialectic stage) is the time when the child begins to think more analytically. They are less interested in finding out facts than in asking “Why?” and paying attention to cause and effect, the relationships between different fields of knowledge relate, and the way facts fit together into a logical framework.
The final stage is the “rhetoric” stage, which builds on the first two stages, from around age 14. The student of rhetoric applies the rules of logic learned in middle school to the foundational information learned in lower school. Students also begin to specialize in whatever branch of knowledge attracts them.