Here at Home Trivium we are trying to adapt the classical and timeless arts of clear thinking and clear communication to home settings, that allow families to develop these skills flexibly and independently, whilst providing support and guidance.

 

We know that you want your children to develop skills such as proper writing, form and structure (Grammar); clear, careful and astute reasoning (Logic); as well as interesting, effective communication skills (Rhetoric), which form the three parts of the classical Trivium.

 

Yet, we also know that different families have different schedules, different priorities, and that children work at different paces, at different levels.

 

Finally, here is the most important thing: we also understand that parents what their children to develop these skills with independence. We don’t believe in the modern approach to schooling that relies on information being dictates to the children, merely for them to memorize and re-regurgitate for an exam.

 

The original “liberal” arts of The Trivium are so-called because they are meant to liberate the mind from such robotic constraints, equipping the learner to think on their own, and to engage with any subject with the proper flexibility of mind. It is for this reason that independence is key.

 

And so, here is the problem: how can we help children to learn these fundamental skills, whilst allowing families to remain flexible and independent, without relying on wrote-learning or constant, supervised tuition?

 

This is the solution that we have come-up with:

 

To work with assignments. We believe that it is important to set a goal for the students to aim at, and give them the space to find solutions to these goals. You can get an idea of what these assignments entail by looking at our samples page, and you will see that they all have something to do with the language arts.

 

When developing a teaching method, we tried to consider: what is the outcome that we are looking for when teaching The Trivium? By itself, The Trivium is somewhat abstract, and so few want to study it for its own sake. Instead, people study it because they want themselves and their children to be able to do certain things: communicate clearly, write stories, understand persuasion, spot fallacies, construct sound arguments, and so on… hence, we have decided to invite students to simply do all of these things, and then use the wisdom of The Trivium to support and improve them as they forge ahead.

 

We have already seen that children tend to show an innate ability to apprehend language and reason, and they are more than ready to exercise them. You can see some examples of this work here. By inviting children to do the assignments, you may find that they are both ready and able to think and find creative solutions, bringing the wisdom out of them, instead of simply implanting it.

 

Of course, no child, at any level, is perfect. Even seasoned scholars have room for improvement. Not only this, but students may struggle to find solutions, be unsure about how to improve, or misunderstand the use of key skills and concepts. That is why we offer guidance…

 

By offering regular feedback and a platform where parents can ask questions, we want to ensure that help is available for families whenever they need it. By offering regular feedback, we can help the students to recognise how they have completed the tasks correctly, where they might need to re-adapt or how they might take their work to the next level. Likewise, if parents or students find themselves at a loss, they can reach out to us for direction…

 

Hence, this is the conception of our model, which is essentially this:

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1. Students/families come to us with the desire to improve their thinking and communication skills.

2. We give each student/family a set of assignments that require the application of these skills, and invite them to find independent, creative solutions.

3. During this process, the students/families can apply themselves to these assignments, exercising and developing their skills in the process, by doing their own research and by completing the tasks.

4. In the meantime, we offer feedback and guidance to give structure to the work, and an external criteria for students to test their skills against.

5. With all of this in place, students at all levels can develop various areas of their abilities at the pace which is suitable for each family.

6. Finally, tasks can be re-visited. Once students begin to develop their skills comprehensively, they can re-visit assignments and attempt them at higher levels of complexity, and will find that they will be able to go further each time.

 

To produce outcomes with independence, we have tried to create a model which seeks to achieve outcomes through allowing independence.

 

Our primary goal is to help young minds to develop the kind of mental scope and fortitude so exemplified by the classical tradition, and so we sincerely hope this can be of value to you.