Originally published in 2006*

My job as a homeschooling teacher has ended; my youngest child is now in college. I have so enjoyed this time with my children for the last 23 years, and I am sorry it is over. But I will say that it wasn’t all easy. I vividly remember the time just before my youngest was born. I was in bed for the last nine (long) weeks of that pregnancy. The ages of my children were 12, 9, 7, 5 and 3. Everyone did school with me on my bed. It was then that I came to truly appreciate efficient homeschooling, which, fortunately, is also effective home schooling.

Even if you don’t spend nine weeks in bed, life has a way of introducing difficult situations that must be attended to. Further, most homeschooling families have a number of children being homeschooled simultaneously by one mother, so the question of efficient, effective home schooling is important for all of us.

Time is like money. One only has so much, and there are many demands for it. One must economize and prioritize. But the bills have to be paid. And you learn that there is a false economy. Buying ‘cheap’ is not always economical, because the item may not last. Or it may not work well, even if it lasts. With time, as with money, it is important to make good investments. The best investment gives a big return on a small outlay. In homeschooling, it is important to use what is truly economical and a good investment, so that the goal desired is achieved with a minimum of effort.

The Goals of Education:

To do this one must be clear about the goal. There are general ends common to all men with regard to education, three primary goals to which everything else is directed. The first end of education is to bring someone from ignorance knowledge. This knowledge, at first, is not very profound. The second goal is to develop the intellectual tools to think well about what he knows. Having facts is one thing, but one needs intellectual tools that allow a deeper penetration of the facts. The third goal is an extension of the second: one must be able to make good judgments about what he knows. A man needs to think well, and that includes on one side the use of the tools of thinking, but it also includes applying his knowledge correctly to new situations. So, the ends of education include content (knowledge), tools (thinking well) and application (good judgment).

Now achieving those ends will involve both content and method, which are related as matter and form. Matter is like the clay of a statue and form is like the shape that the sculptor puts in the clay. You don’t have the end, the statue, without both the matter and the form.

In education, the matter is the materials one chooses to use to achieve the ends I spoke of, and the form is the method one uses with those materials. The right materials used with the right method results in a truly educated individual.

I want to consider the method first, because the form is always more important than the matter. One can use a variety of materials to get a statue of his mother, but there is only one form that can be used. That form is his mother’s actual shape. The form is defining with respect to the end.

There is a natural order in learning, stages where children are ready to do certain kinds of activities ordered to the ends of education. The imagination (in the sense of the faculty of making images) is the necessary tool of the mind. One can’t think without using his imagination, so the student needs to first work on strengthening it. This stage is generally called the grammatical stage.

The next stage is the honing of the ability to recognize and make intellectual arguments. At this time the student should summarize, analyze all sorts of material, and look at well written arguments by other authors. This stage is often referred to as the analytical or dialectical.

And finally, the student needs to work at assembling the arguments he can now recognize into convincing, ordered, intellectual presentations. He should practice this skill with high and noble subjects. This is the rhetorical stage.

There is a correspondence between the ends of education listed earlier and the stages talked about here. During the grammatical stage, when memorization, observation and sequencing are important, there is an emphasis on collecting information, the first item in my list of the ends of education. But the young child doesn’t know how to do much with the knowledge he has. That comes later as the tools of learning are honed in the dialectical stage.

The student who is working on analysis, and grasping arguments, and in my experience, delighting in the process of arguing, is working on refining how well he thinks about the information he has. He learns how to penetrate beyond the surface of his knowledge. He becomes aware in an explicit way of the relationships between pieces of information, and he sorts out what those relationships are. He is truly learning how to think.

Then the third end of education, the ability to make good judgments, comes into play. The student working on presenting arguments in a convincing way pays attention to how well his conclusion fits with his principles. He not only has the principles, he applies them rightly, in order to make a convincing argument.

Now, one could go too far with this correspondence. One doesn’t only acquire information in the grammatical stage, or only analyze in the dialectical stage.

Rather, these are the activities that characterize the stage.

The student in the grammatical stage is consciously, consistently, and with delight, using the method that pertains to this time of life. He can analyze, too, and does so, certainly if he is using a good phonics program, but his intellectual life is not characterized by analysis. He doesn’t do it naturally, all the time, with everything. The student in the analytical, or dialectical, stage does analyze and argue naturally, all the time and about everything. He delights in it.

This information about the stages of formation is important in effective homeschooling, because while some materials are more effective than others, none is effective if not used properly, in the way the child is naturally inclined at his particular stage of formation.

The Grammatical Stage of Learning:
During the grammatical stage, sequencing, memorizing, and observing are the most important activities. If one must “scale back” because life has severely restricted the available time, use these techniques even if they are not used in precisely the way the Mother of Divine Grace syllabi does. Further, notice that while nearly every course recommended in the Mother of Divine Grace program for the student in the grammatical stage uses its materials in those ways, some are outstanding examples of courses and materials that help achieve the educational goals, and are therefore particularly effective.

The MODG syllabi use Bible Stories to work on sequencing. The method involves reading to the child, or having him read, the text being used. The next day he narrates the story heard the day before. This gives him practice in oral composition, and an opportunity to see the story once again in its entirety. It strengthens the imagination, and improves the memory. As he re-tells the story, it should be written down, in his words. If there is an obvious error in grammar usage, correct it, but by and large, just write down what he
says, whatever that is (it’s more fun that way). Even if he leaves out large sections ignore it. This is his story. But, if the time sequence is wrong, ask a question, trying to jog his memory, and if necessary, just tell him the correct sequence. On the third day, he should copy the text you wrote from his dictation. Thus, he both sees and writes his own composition, with the correct spelling and writing mechanics. The finished product is truly his work, both in terms of composition and the physical act of writing, but the two parts of the process have been separated. Additionally, we have employed imitation, the earliest natural form of learning.

The fourth day, children illustrate their stories. They are thus re-telling again, in a different mode. They are strengthening their imagination visually.

In kindergarten our program uses substantially this method with the Golden Press Bible. It is a well written children’s Bible. The language is pleasing to the ear. If a student can use the text, I recommend that he do so. It not only helps him develop his imagination in terms of the method used, but it also helps train his ear to recognize when something is put well. In third grade we use Bishop Knecht’s A Child’s Bible History. The language is slightly more difficult, but it is still pleasing, and the student is ready to have his experience of language expanded. The chapters are short, and the event sequence is easy to follow. In fourth grade we use Fr. Schuster’s Bible History, a much more difficult work. The method stays the same but the level of reading, the difficulty of the language, and the breadth of the material covered is considerably increased.

Now, one might well say this whole description doesn’t look very efficient. The method is involved and teacher intensive, at least at the beginning, and the language of the texts is demanding at each level for the student at that level. Yet, many educational goals are being achieved here. First, the method is important, though the method could be used with other material. Second, the information imparted is formative in itself, as it is about salvation history, something we want our children to know well and retain throughout their lives. Third, the language of the texts is always challenging, but not too challenging. Children should develop a breadth of patterns of language. The best way to achieve this is to expose them to various patterns when they are young. It is sad when a young man or woman can’t read, for example, Jane Austen, because her language is complex. That situation can be avoided by exposing the student to more complex language patterns when he is younger. In the sequence given above one is accomplishing that goal in stages. We work up to the more difficult, we don’t start there. (Now, one always meets the student where he is, and works to take him where he should be. If, in fact, any of the texts is too difficult it shouldn’t be used, for the goal won’t be achieved.) Further, in following this learning sequence, the student is learning how to write, in a manner commensurate with his talents. He is retelling, not analyzing. He is composing at the level he is capable of, and physically writing at the level he is capable of. These levels are often not the same.

This is a very effective series of courses, because so much is accomplished in one activity. Even though it takes some time, the investment is sound, as the return is much greater than the initial capital outlay. When I consult with a busy mom, looking for items to truncate in her curriculum, this is not the place where I suggest she vary from the MODG curriculum. It appears easier to read a chapter from an orthodox catechism, but in the long run this is easier. Now, if one simply can’t do this, it’s better to read the catechism than do nothing. However, the truth is that the time required each day to follow these suggestions doesn’t have to be very long.

That’s another key to effective homeschooling. Doing something daily for 5 minutes is much better than doing it once a week, or once every other week, for an hour. Three minutes of poetry recitation a day, 5 minutes or less of Baltimore Catechism practice daily, English from the Roots Up cards done daily for 2 or 3 minutes, states and capitals flashcards studied for a few minutes each day, are all examples of highly efficient materials used effectively. The student is memorizing material useful in itself, so he is strengthening his imagination and at the same time accumulating information that he will be able to use later on in his course of studies.

Further, in the case of the Baltimore Catechism, learning by heart the answers to those important questions, so that they are available later on when needed, trains the mind to understand distinctions. The words of the Baltimore Catechism are precisely the right words, and learning them develops a habit of thought that makes distinction easy.

The Emma Serl books, Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons are also effective texts. Mrs. Serl uses copying, dictation, conversation, usage exercises, and creative writing to develop the student’s patterns of language. She doesn’t ask for analysis, and she does utilize the natural appetites.

Thinking about what is most effective in the early years, what courses or materials to recommend for the very busy mom with K-5 students, the texts and methods mentioned above stand out. They should with great reluctance be abandoned for a workbook, which might be initially quicker, but will not achieve the goals as effectively.

The Dialectical Stage of Formation:

In the dialectical stage of formation, among the most effective materials one can use are good grammar books and a good Latin program. For grammar, consider either Voyages in English or Easy Grammar. Which text is best depends on the circumstances, but using some good grammar text is a priority in this stage of formation. If something is going to go, it should not be grammar.

This is because in the middle years, sixth or seventh through ninth grade, children are ready to analyze. They are ready to put their minds to making deductions, to categorizing, to thinking carefully and in an orderly fashion. Analytic grammar during these years has a central importance to the formation of the mind. Sixth grade, in particular, is a transition year from the ‘re-telling’ or grammatical stage of formation to the analytic. Though grammar is involved in the grammatical stage as well, it is under a particular aspect that it is considered in the analytic stage. This aspect is the relationship of the parts of the sentence to one another and to the whole. Up to this point the student has concentrated on grammar in the sense of speaking well, developing ‘patterns of language’, accumulating experience of beautiful and correctly used language that he is now in a position to study.

This is important. Analytic grammar, though useful for correct speaking and writing, is primarily significant in terms of training the mind. When the student asks himself, “How does each part of the sentence function?”, he is bringing his intelligence to bear on a particular matter, ordering it, and seeing its relation to other aspects of reality.

Latin similarly trains the mind. Learning Latin is an efficient way to achieve the goal of a student who can truly think.

In this stage of formation, discussion is necessary. Your student wants to talk, he wants to argue, and he is interested in the distinctions inevitable in discussion. Fortunately, discussions can be done in the car, or while one is doing the laundry. Sometimes we are tempted to skip these discussions, because they “take too much time”, but that is a mistake. They are an important component of the program of study.

The Rhetorical Stage of Learning:
In the high school years, the most important activities have to do with understanding and presenting arguments. This may easily be addressed in religion and history courses. In religion I suggest working on understanding and presenting the fundamental argument that shows the reasonableness of the Catholic Faith.

In MODG we spend four years developing the parts of the argument for the motives of credibility so that the student will truly have it and be able to present it himself, cogently, by the time he graduates. This is important for the intellectual development of the student, and for a citizen of the heavenly city.

Similarly, in history, MODG students develop, over four years, an intellectual argument culminating in the reading of the founding documents of our country. As citizens of the United States we should be able to think intelligently about, and defend to others, the principles of our commonwealth.

In both of these fields of inquiry the student should work on pro and con arguments. He needs to see and understand the opposing viewpoints, so that he can make informed judgments and a cogent defense of the truth. An effective curriculum will make sure that there are opportunities for such an endeavor.

So, in summary, homeschoolers need an efficient curriculum, because they play many roles in their homes. The homeschooling mother is a teacher and a domestic administrator. She is a companion to her husband and children, as well as the curriculum advisor. She needs to spend her time wisely. To do that she must identify the goals she wants to achieve. In terms of school, and of life, her goal for her
children is that they think well about the good, the true and the beautiful. Her curriculum, to be efficient, has to aim explicitly at those goals. Then she is truly the valiant woman of the Scriptures, living her life in the service of God and family, so that at the end she will be welcomed into His presence with the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”