Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum: A Guide to Catholic Home Education

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This was one of those books that opened my mind. At first, reading her recommendations to focus on classical material made me uneasy. It didn't seem relevant to modern education. As I continued through the book, however, two things struck me: first, that classical education is far more relevant than my first instinct had told me. Second, Berquist's ideas are helpful in much more substantial ways than curriculum suggestions.

More than simply a reading list or a pre-designed curriculum, the book offers guidelines and ideas for how to develop your own educational approach. Whether or not you use her classical material recommendations, her ideas can give you solid assistance in planning a syllabus and schedule that conforms to your family's abilities, scheduling needs, and educational objectives. The "classical" suggestions are the bonus.

Whether or not you plan to use a mostly classical approach, this book is worth reading and re-reading at curriculum planning time.

The listings of books and curriculum is limited to just what Berquist personally used. For example, one math curriculum company seems to be used throughout all the grade levels. If this book were truly for someone to design their own curriculum, I would think that if they tried Ms. Berquist's recommended math curriculum and the family did not like it, that they would need some help and guidance to find a different curriculum. The book would live up to its title if it contained a variety of different curriculum company options with Ms. Berquist's opinions of the pro's and con's of each. In this case the reader would have to turn to other sources to find ideas for books or curriculum that may fit their own custom-designed curriculum for their child. (However, that is the beauty of designing your own curriculum, that no two programs will be identical, right?) For anyone looking for that type of review, for additional information, I suggest two (non-religious) books: Rebecca Rupp's The Complete Home Learning Source Book. Or for less curriculum but more books and materials that you can truly custom-create your own curriculum, I suggest The Home School Source Book by Jean and Donn Reed. (These two books are different from each other and are not duplicates in any way.)

Each recommended book and curriculum is footnoted with a source. This is nice yet it is unavoidable that companies change their inventory constantly. I found that some of the recommended books were unavailable at the recommended sources when I attempted to buy them. The author didn't include ISBN numbers for the recommended books, and I had trouble finding the books doing a general book search without the ISBN (for example, many books are called "children's bible" and no author name was listed for that volume). Lastly, Internet Website addresses were not given for any of the sources although many of the companies do have a Website. I used a search engine to track down the websites with success.

I think the strongest area is Berquist's detailed recommendations for quality teaching materials for the subject of Catholicism. The religion curriculum is very detailed: more detailed than other subjects and I found it very helpful. I feel that some of her recommended courses of study are weak, such as using the game "Mommy, it's a Renoir" to teach art spanning several grade levels.

Two homeschooling mothers that I know who read "The Well Trained Mind" (TWTM) first and wanted to design their own Catholic Classical Education program for their children said they felt this book was invaluable and both recommended that I read this book. They found it easy to read, felt that it had good resource listings, and said it helped quelch a bit of fear about what they perceived was an overwhelming task after reading TWTM: to custom design a classical education for their own children.

This is definitely worth reading if you are starting out homeschooling with the intent to design your own classical curriculum, which includes teaching Catholicism to your children. You may not choose to duplicate Berquist's program 100%, but you will find many good recommendations, good source lists to obtain catalogs from, and will be inspired and will feel that you are capable of designing your own curriculum plan!

Instead of dictating one cookie cutter form of classical education, the author stresses that classical education (before the college years) is primarily about 'formation' and not 'information'. What is important is the method used and not necessarily the particular resources. This book will truly help you design your own curriculum while sticking with the method of classical education.

Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum is definitely a "must have" resource that is worth its weight in gold!