Trivium and Quadrivium for Homeschooling

Preparation for the Rhetoric Phase

In order to 'teach the Trivium and Quadrivium' starting in Freshman Year, that is to 14-15 year olds, whether in a school, a homeschool, or as autodidacts, we need some understanding of what preparation the students have, in order to accommodate the student's individual needs, as well as the state-defined requirements for 'graduating from High School'. These may not be strictly needed in some cases, but if the child is going on to college or university, they may well define the entrance requirements.

For the ideal case, we will consider a child who is being educated 'according to the Trivium' following Bauer and Wise's _Well Trained Mind_, now in it's 6th edition.[1] This can be in a homeschool, or in a classical 'cottage school' (or, perhaps one that uses the Charlotte Mason approach).

[1]: https://welltrainedmind.com

This is the programme I chose when I started homeschooling my own children, and tutoring others, back in academic year 2001-2002. I also ran a Latin tutoring group for homeschoolers, from that time, for about 9 years, taking the homeschooled students of a few families from approximately age 9 to university age, in a classical education.

Bauer and Wise's curriculum is phased to the American 12 grade system, with three cycles of 12 years, which following Dorothy Sayers 'Lost Tools of Learning' address, they call Grammar Phase (ages 6-10), Logic Phase (10-14), and Rhetoric Phase (14-18).

Within each four grade cycle, they use a repeating pattern of subjects in the Sciences and also in History/Literature, which goes as follows: Ancient history and literature, then Medieval, then Early Modern, then Contemporary.

Sciences: Biology (Life Sciences), Chemistry, Earth Sciences or others, Physics.

In the chart below, I give, from American 7th grade on (age 12-13), one possible notional chart of what a child coming off that programme in 9th grade (age 14-15) or possibly continuing on in it.

The reason for showing the last two years of the 'Logic Phase' is that, for one thing, a teacher *training* to teach Freshman Year in the current academic year (2024-25) will be looking at *teaching* starting in 2025-2026, which means that they already have one or two incoming grades, who may or may not be educated in the fashion shown!

In any event, here is our notional programme together with the two previous years for the intake, assuming Bauer and Wise are being followed. I make some assumptions which I will describe next, about the possible variations and permutations of that programme:

We are interested in the Quadrivium (the STEM subjections where here are Math and Science) and the Trivium, that is Latin Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. The History/Literature cycle is shown just for reference.

Two assumptions about Bauer and Wise: first, I started their four year cycle at an alternative point, which they suggest for a student 'onboarding' in 7th grade. Many parents may be starting homeschooling as an alternative to 'Middle School' or 'Junior High'. It doesn't really matter, because History and Literature and reading Great Book are outside the scope of the Trivium and Quadrivium, along with all the other subjects except as noted.

I will be going grade by grade, and discussing options and giving my curriculum choices below, after the fashion of Bauer and Wise, but do not think of this as a complete curriculum for educating your child! The curriculum is intended to be *compatible* with Bauer and Wises, or even part of it, if you are in fact homeschooling children of High School age--which can be a mix, at that age, of home taught, tutoring, and 'taking classes' at local schools or community colleges, esp. for 'subjects' like laboratory science or gymnasium and sports.

The second thing that a reader of Bauer and Wise might notice, is that I referenced their 'on track' mathematics sequence, penciling in 'Saxon Math' for definiteness-- though, of course, you can follow any of curriculum suggestions, as they exactly align with typical practice in a 20th century American high school system. Namely, Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II with Trigonometry or Pre-Calculus, and the Calculus, in that order.

7th Grade Trivium

I will have little to say about this grade, as it is mostly there to establish the context. For the 'Trivium' component, Bauer and Wise recommend something they call Word Study (that is, etymology), and Spelling, and (English) Grammar.

This is in fact the last year The Well-Trained Mind formally teaches Spelling as a subject -- which is sad, because if the student has a bit of Latin, Spelling becomes so much easier, and not just an exercise in memory gymnastics, however beneficial those might be at a young age. They do recommend a book that partly ameliorates that loss, as we shall see below.

If Latin is part of the curriculum in 7th grade, they suggest (and I agree) that Latina Christiana from https://memoriapress.com is a bit too young to start, however suitable it might have been in 5th or 6th grades. Instead, they mention The Latin Road to English Grammar, recommended for 7th, 8th grades, or else First Form Latin, a more suitable programme from Memoria Press, for that age.

I have not seen a copy of either of these recommendations myself, so I can't specifically recommend them, but if the child is not being raised in a full Classical Curriculum with Latin (and maybe Greek), as is usually the case, then any Latin at all, and especially focusing on Grammar and Etymology at the earliest possible age, is welcome.

For 'Logic Stage', Bauer and Wise have some recommendations and for 7th grade it is to do a second year of 'Informal Logic', having already started in the sixth grade with 'Informal Logic I'. Again, I haven't seen these particular materials, and in any event, they will be introducing Formal Logic I in 8th grade using the sequence by Martin Cothran, which I do recommend.

7th Grade Quadrivium

By 'Quadrivium' at this point we mean, the STEM subjects, which are highly constrained in High School, especially the Mathematics sequence.

Specifically about Saxon Math, the curriculum for elementary school has a numbering such that the six grade text is 'Saxon Math 7/6', which means 6th grade, but no later than 7th, for a slower student. There is also a 'Saxon Math 8/7' but that should be skipped, Bauer and Wise recommend, unless you feel the child isn't ready for even pre-Algebra, in 7th or 8th grade.

We are considering the Quadrivium for STEM students, so as I mentioned above, I am assuming we are 'on track'. It would be really, really nice, from a Classical Education standpoint, if we could get Algebra out of the way in 8th grade. Most STEM-able eight graders will be quite as able to learn Algebra as a 9th grader would.

However, we cannot assume, in a formal school setting especially, that this slightly accelerated track can be complied with. On the other hand, in a homeschool setting with individual family members, it is preferred, if possible, since it will open up opportunities later in High School.

For the other component of the 'Quadrivium' in 7th grade -- it's not really a thing yet at that stage, I penciled in the Bauer and Wise cycle of Chemistry and Physics. You can follow their recommendations.

8th Grade Trivium

Bauer and Wise are continuing their recommendations from 7th grade and finishing Word Study, (English) Grammar, and passing from their recommendation for Informal Logic 2 to Formal Logic. Also, they mention some suitable alternatives for Latin, which of course is ideal for this age.

Despite my concurrence with Bauer and Wise on their choices of Logic curriculum, it is perfectly fine to wait a year for Formal Logic, since I am giving a carefully graded presentation of the same material and will in fact reference both what they call Formal Logic 1 and Formal Logic 2 at the appropriate time in the Freshman Year Trivium curriculum.

A couple of additional variances from their recommendations: First, I think for a review of English Grammar, that the text I recommended in the Trivium Training Course, McGraw-Hill’s Handbook of English, is suitable. In 1960, I do believe it was still intended as an 8th grade text, finishing off the lingering tradition of an eight-grade 'Grammar School', and serving as a reference text throughout high school. The fact that it gives a simple presentation of sentence diagramming, and is also free, also recommends it.

In fact, it would be ideal if incoming students in 'Freshman Year Rhetoric Phase' (9th grade in the American numbering system), as well as the teachers and autodidacts, already had this level of understanding English mechanics, writing style, and an understanding of the parts of speech and how to 'parse' the syntax of a sentence.

Secondly, the word 'etymology' means both the study of word origins and the first part of Grammar (both Latin and English) that deals with declensions, conjugations, and in general the use of affixes, as well as word-formation or morphology. It would be nice to have a text specifically suited for this, but at the moment, I haven't written one and don't have any better recommendations that Bauer and Wise for this particular age.

As to the Latin Language, I think it would also be entirely suitable simply to begin Latin 1 in eighth grade—even if there is no prior preparation in Latin at all. Starting Latin after learning one of the Romance languages earlier, such as French or Spanish, to any degree, will also help. It will reduce the vocabulary load and allow the student to focus more on any novelties of word-formation or syntax, if this is their first classical language.

In reality, it would be possible to pull back the entire 'Trivium portion' of the Freshman Year curriculum, except for the parts specific to the Rhetoric Phase, and give that whole part of the course a year early. That is, finishing up English Grammar, Spelling, and the general mechanics of 'writing a theme', and also making an entrance into 'the elements' of Latin, of accidence and 'grammar' proper (syntax and construction of sentences).

This would be ideal, but of course I have to get all the remedial material that the student (or the teacher or parent-teacher!) might not have, into 9th grade, since that's when I am onboarding the student!

8th Grade Quadrivium

I won't have much to say about Quadrivium in the eighth grade, since the Quadrivium will start in earnest during the next year, and how that beginning is made will depend, largely, on whether the student already has adequate Algebra, and what the state teaching requirements might be ('state', meaning either an American State, or at the national level of countries with national 'graduation' requirements).

Concluding Preparation in the Logic Phase for Rhetoric Phase

This brings us to the point that all the preparatory requirements for the student to begin 'taking' the sequence that begins Classical Education of the 'Rhetoric Phase'

The 'Rhetoric Years' will be similarly defined, in the continuation of this article.