I was both surprised and delighted recently when Shari told me that she would like to start giving the kids a classical education next year. Shari has a master’s degree in education and has been homeschooling our kids for the last year (yes, in a camper for the last couple months).
I had read about traditional education in some of the books I had read in the not too distant past (“How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization” for one). It had interested me, but I had not realized that such a classical education was feasible today or that Shari would even consider such a thing. It turns out that there is a movement attempting to resurrect the classical methods. These methods include the study of Latin, grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric as core subject areas.
What astounds me is that while I started this blog to talk about food traditions, it has expanded to include much more. It seems that this culture has consistently sought to strip the nourishing elements not just from our diet, but from every part of our lives. This tendency comes from a lack of humility and a complete disrespect for the giants upon whose shoulders we stand.
The path that began as a search for a healthy diet has turned into a life’s journey for me. As I began to understand tradition more and more it began to seep into other parts of my life. It moved me to study my Christain faith and depart protestantism for the rich and nourishing tradition of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. It is now moving my family to leave behind the broken system of education we have today in favor the traditions of our past.
