I Didn't Get A Classical Education
Where Should I Begin?
I recently shared in a Note on Substack that I didn’t really begin getting a classical education until I was thirty. Someone asked me today where to start if they are in the same boat and I thought I’d drop a brief post here just to answer that for anyone else who might be asking the same question. Study The Great Books has a Directory of Resources with lots of materials to help you get on your way to gaining or giving a Classical Christian Education.
If you are looking for a quick “jump-start” for your understanding of classical education I would recommend these two books at the outset:
Once you have taken that crash course I would simply recommend that you begin reading the Great Books according to your interest and pleasure. The more you read the Great Books the more you’ll see they are in conversation with one another. I would recommend that a person try to mix it up a bit, reading something ancient, then medieval, then modern.
If, however, you want more structure, or if you are trying to put some structure together for your children’s education, we can help you there also. We are in the process of writing a complete Humanities Curriculum for 7-12th grade (and now some material for 4th-6th as well). The final form of our study plan is going through revisions as we work, but this will get you started:
In addition to your study of the Great Books I recommend the following:
Learn to annotate your books:
Keep a Commonplace Book:
Study a Classical Language
Study Formal logic
Study Classical Composition and Rhetoric
Let me encourage you, since this might seem overwhelming, you got this. Don’t let it be overwhelming, rather, be led by the joy of learning and discovery! Take it one thing at a time and ease into it. Everyone is at different places, not everyone can pursue everything, and that is totally okay. Just pick something good to take up and read and think deeply about it and talk about it with anyone who is willing. There are no deadlines for when you have to know everything, there is only the disciplined pleasure of growing in wisdom. We will all die long before we learn everything worth knowing. But in Christ, we have forever to learn and grow.
I hope you don't mind if I chime in, because I was in this exact position last year. You don't have to be perfectionist about it but if you can read in chronological order it can really help make sense of things. I had no sense of how radically the world changed post-Enlightenment until I read my way through it. I was shocked.
Great summary! Great point on the marking up of books. I compare it to fishing - it's not enough to catch the fish, you have to take a picture with it. There's something human in trophy taking - and that's how I feel making footnotes on page 637 of Gibbon. I was here!