Global Perspective - Why we do Classical Style Education

If you don't already follow this blog, you should.  She's an incredible writer and reading her posts is always a treat.

This is from her latest post - "Raising kids with a global perspective"

 Because God created the entire world, not just the United States. We live in a great country. There’s much here to admire, and even more to be thankful for. But we don’t have the market cornered on God’s blessing, or even on The Right Way to Do Things. Exposure to the larger world opens windows of rich discovery for our children. 

Read the whole article here.

This point overlaps many reasons we decided to pursue a Classical Style Education.  I didn't actually know it was called that at the time, I just knew that it made sense.  Growing up in public school we were given year after year of social studies and American history.  All disconnected events that didn't fit into a larger picture, but how many times did we learn about the major wars in American history?  I did a rough count and in my 12 years of public school education, I think I did 9 years of social studies/ American history.  I could only count 2 years of world cultures/world history.  Mr. P had a similar experience at another large public school, so I don't think it was just my school system's shortcoming.

So when a few curriculums started spouting some reasons to study world history chronologically with a few years of American History thrown in, I realized what I had missed.  I don't have a big-picture perspective.  I have no idea what was going on in the world when we were going through the American Revolution or the Civil War.  Granted, history was never my favorite subject, but I don't think these things can be flushed out in a year of world history, even at a high school level.  Even R had two years of World History for 1st and 2nd grade to cover the material adequately for her age.  As we go through it again later, she will spend even more time going through the world's timeline.

I know homeschooling is supposed to be about the child.  But I am learning so much.  I'm learning about events surrounding American History events.  It makes the puzzle so much clearer.  It also gives us a global perspective.  American history is only a little over 200 years in the grand scheme of the world.  Just a blip!  We can understand the world and it's cultures better when we study it's history.  I want my kids to know why we are blessed to live in America.  But I also want them to see the dangerous waters we may be heading into - as seen in history.  I want them to have compassion on other people groups.  And not just the "Oh, they're poor, let's throw money at them" compassion.  I want them to know how they got there and to understand their true needs.  Sure, they need food today, but what about their government?  What about resources? Agriculture?  How has the past changed this country and it's people?

I'm so thankful for our classical education and our curriculum that has a heart for other people.  And I'm thankful we get to learn right along side our kids.