Unschooling and the Three Stages of the Classical Trivium

If you talk to folks who have been reading Dorothy Sayers' essay, The Lost Tools of Learning, or if you are familiar with The Well Trained Mind or other classical homeschooling programs, you have probably heard about how the student's development is broken down into three stages or the Trivium:  grammar, logic and rhetoric.

 Grammar is the time when a child loves repetition and to memorize things.  Classical ed uses this propensity or 'poll-parrot' stage to fill the child's mind with all sorts of information.  They see this as going from parts to whole, which is a hallmark of classical pedagogy. The child might just be memorizing things they may not grasp now, but later when they are able, they'll fill in the connections.

The logic stage is the problem-solving phase, where a child enjoys puzzling things out, asking why and making connections.

Finally there is the rhetorical stage where the student learns to process all this knowledge and then express it in a precise, eloquent and persuasive way.

Observing my own kids, I have witnessed these three stages and I think they are quite accurate in describing a child's development.  However, I've come to disagree with how classical educators use these natural propensities to further their quest for a classical education for children.  To my mind, classical educators meaning well, and in their determination to be 'rigorous,' grab that natural tendency of the child to repetition or to reason or to express and then they wring any individuality out of it.  They overload that natural tendency by trying to push too much memorization or logic or rhetoric on the student.  Really, it is as if they didn't really trust that the tendency in the first place, the thing they are basing their approach on.  They seem to come at it with gangbusters and practically demolish any shred of it!  In other words, the teacher/parent steps in and takes over, trampling over the natural tendency.  Instead of sensitively cultivating the tendency, they bludgeon it to death!

I've also seen parents say:  Okay, my child will be in 5th grade next year, time to move onto the logic stage.  As if every child automatically develops into the next stage in lock step order.  These stages are supposed to be based on the child's development, not on some book pulled off the shelf!

My thoughts are these:  if it is natural, why push?  When my kids were little they loved to hear me read poetry and then try to memorize it themselves.  Or they'd play a song over and over again so they could memorize the words.  My middle son enjoyed learning the times tables.  He was quite proud of himself for getting them down so quickly.  I hear many parents complain about how their kids just don't have their math facts down at the ripe old age of 8 or something.  Hmmm, what happened to that poll parrot stage?  How come this memorization isn't coming so naturally?  Perhaps it is because it is being pushed on the child or perhaps the parent is more attuned to what Sayers says but isn't picking up clues from their own child.

I think some kids stay in that poll parrot stage later than others.  I think that stage can overlap quite considerably with the logic stage.  Also, I think some kids like to memorize different types of things.  While all humans are hardwired to learn language by mimicking (which is what the whole poll-parrot idea comes from), I don't think memorizing abstract paradigms of Latin declensions or times tables has anything to do with how a child learn's speech.  The former is imposed on the child, the latter is done by the child freely and within the context of something meaningful like wanting to communicate to his mother, memorizing a picture book that delights him or learning a song he likes.  Context is important here.  But classical educators usually don't care about the context, feeling it can come later.  I don't think that works with every child, frankly.  I think one reason why the program Latin for Children works so well for us, is that it puts Latin paradigms in another sort of context.  For instance chanting the conjugation of amo, amas, amat to the tune of The Mexican Hat Dance.  Or remembering vocabulary words because of the  charade-like gestures that accompany the words.

I have been watching my now 12 year son move into the logic stage.  It started with a sudden fascination with Sudukos and now he has gotten into brain teasers at Khan Academy.  He's fascinated by solving these logic problems.  I didn't do a thing but strew these things around.  I left Suduko books around the house.  I showed him the Kahn Academy as a possible resource he might enjoy.  I didn't even strew them consciously.  These things are just around the house or mentioned in conversation and then looked at together.  He hadn't picked up on any of this stuff before to any degree but suddenly now he's much more involved in logic type stuff.  I can see the way he's moving into that logic stage with very little help from me!  And when kids move into stages they'll cultivate it on their own.  They really don't need mama to move in and orchestrate everything for them.

I am put in mind of the Montessori approach.  I think if you have materials available to the child, as they develop they will naturally gravitate to those things that suit their development.  For example, teenagers like to argue points of view. You simply have to give them the means for understanding how to make a good argument and off they'll go.  That's the rhetorical stage!  Expressing oneself and trying to be persuasive.  But my 15 year old isn't really there yet.  He just hasn't moved from logic to rhetoric at the same pace as another kid might.  That's fine, he'll get there in his own time.

I do believe in the parental role of facilitating when it comes to home learning.  But more and more often I am coming to the conclusion that we parents step in and micromanage things way more than we need to.  The child will come to it eventually on their own and in their own more meaningful way.  I see my job as creating the right atmosphere and providing the opportunities but then, more often than not, it is best if I step back and let the child take command of their own education.

It'll happen naturally.