FAQ

“To be seeking after the useful does not become free and exalted souls” (Politics, Aristotle).

    When we ask if a thing is useful, we leave a portion of the question unspoken. The true meaning hidden behind this question is usually, “Will learning this enable my child to get a good job and make plenty of money?” Now, there is another unspoken idea hidden here as well; it is the assumption that the most important things in life are money and prestige. But is this true? Is this wise? Is this theologically accurate? The greatest minds of the past, Christian and pagan alike, have consistently sought goals higher than mere comfortable existence.  Aristotle goes on to tell us in Politics that “there are branches of learning and education which we must study with a view to the enjoyment of leisure, and these are to be valued for their own sake; whereas those kinds of knowledge which are useful in business are deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other things”. Do we live to work or work to live?

    C. S. Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, numerous books of Christian apologetics, and scholarly works on Medieval literature, was a schoolboy in the early days of the twentieth century, a time when education still equaled a thorough grasp of Latin and Greek. In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, he recalls his experience with a rigorous schoolmaster who gave him his grounding in those languages:

    “Those in whom the Greek word lives only while they are hunting for it in the lexicon, and who then substitute the English word for it, are not reading the Greek at all; they are only solving a puzzle.  The very formula, “Naus means a ship,” is wrong.  Naus and ship both mean a thing, they do not mean one another.  Behind Naus, as behind navis or naca, we want to have a picture of a dark, slender mass with a sail or oars, climbing the ridges, with no officious English word intruding.”

Simply put, learning a language enables us to immerse ourselves in the literature, habits, and ideas of a people – and the people on whose ideas the world of the past two thousand years is founded are the people of Ancient Greece and Rome. Only in the past century have we begun to lose touch with our inheritance from the past, as the teaching of Greek and Latin have been replaced with more “useful” material. But the minds formed by those languages formed Western Civilization. 

    In the 5thcentury, Martinus Capella identified seven of the arts studied in the ancient world as the “Liberal Arts” – those areas of learning which were appropriate to a man “free” (liber) in mind, soul, and body. The trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music) were thought to prepare the mind and soul for the higher studies of philosophy and theology. “When they [students] have labored through their lessons in grammar, music, and the other branches, . . . they have increased their aptitude for mastering greater and more serious studies” (Antidosis, Isocrates). The Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius found them indispensable for any undertaking: “Those who from tender years receive instruction in the various forms of learning recognize the same stamp on all the arts . . .and so they more readily comprehend them all”.

“Compared with men of genius we are only children, but we are children with an inheritance (The Intellectual Life, A.G. Sertillanges). Homer, Virgil, Augustine, Dante, Shakespeare – what an inheritance! The reason old books are still being read is a simple one: they speak of timeless truths, of the experience of each of us, but with such beauty and clarity that we forget ourselves. Who would want to be bound to his own time and place when we can travel with such inspiring guides? In addition, old books free us from the “chronological snobbery” of believing our own time is the pinnacle of human endeavor. In his essay “On the Reading of Old Books”, C.S. Lewis reminds us, “Every age has its own mistakes. . . . We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period”. Rather than provincial modern narrowness, we can cultivate a chronologically cosmopolitan outlook.

    In his treatise on education Norms and Nobility, David Hicks addresses this issue by pointing out that, far from being elitist and aristocratic, classical education is a vital part of the continuing operation of a democracy. The liberal arts teach us to discriminate between various options and make sound judgments; “All forms of government, including democracy, market their own brands of tyranny.” Without the ability to process words, to assess arguments, and to recognize the varieties of persuasion to which we are all subject, we as citizens are helpless to order our state wisely and guard our freedoms.

“Togetherness is the essence of teaching.” (The Art of Teaching, Gilbert Highet)

I firmly believe that, while online learning has much to contribute to educational renewal, the best option for students is still in-person classes whenever available. Learning to love truth, goodnesss, and beauty is a shared endeavor; when students are together in the same room they are more likely to catch another’s excitement or to build on another’s insights. In addition, it is much easier for me as a teacher to catch subtle cues that a student has questions or doesn’t follow the argument. All Legenda classes meet in person here in the Quad Cities to take full advantage of the benefits of being together.

Simply put, I have been there. As a former homeschooling mom, I know the pressures they face to not only learn and teach what they may not have learned well themselves (or never learned) but also to perform all the tasks involved in maintaining a home. One of the reasons people choose to homeschool is its flexibility; I am willing to work with your family to adjust assignments when family schedules make it necessary. I would have loved to have a teacher passionate about learning available to help me when the pressures of parenting were great; now I am free to provide that help to others. Homeschooling is a calling, and I want to provide the support necessary for you to walk that path well. 

“You cannot communicate a truth that has not changed you. You cannot build a community on a truth that has not been incorporated into you, making you the kind of person you are. The person is, to some extent, the message.” (Beauty in the Word, Stratford Caldecott)

I love to learn, and all I have learned has made me who I am. It is my greatest joy to share the excitement of exploration and the pleasure of knowing.