Primary school is the beginning of formal education for a student. Children this age are just learning how to “do school”. Time is spent learning how to follow procedures, make friends, and listen attentively to a teacher in a group setting. Primary children in this Grammar phase of learning are particularly adept at memorization. These young children learn songs and rhymes and recite facts with relative ease. Primary children begin to learn the basics of reading, writing, and math that will support learning throughout their lifetime.

Elementary students are in the later part of the Grammar phase. They are increasing in their ability to read, write, and do math with greater complexity. In science and history, children memorize facts, names, dates, important people, and basic ideas. During the later years of Elementary grades, students begin to connect learning and ask deeper levels of questions, seeking to understand how facts, ideas, and information are connected. This starts the transition to the Logic stage in learning.

For students in Junior High, the Logic phase involves ordering facts into organized statements and arguments. Students often develop a propensity to discuss, critique, and argue. We teach children in this Logic phase to argue well through the study of formal logic. Teachers encourage the use of questioning, debate, and argumentation in each subject. Again, each subject has its own logic. In science, we use the development and testing of hypothesis. In math, we develop a student’s ability to logically orient numbers through the more abstract concepts of algebra.

These students have matured into the Rhetoric stage of learning, which is the art of communicating well. Once a student has obtained a knowledge of the facts (grammar) and developed the skills necessary to arrange those facts into arguments (logic), he/she must develop the skill of communicating those arguments to others (rhetoric). Classical education philosophy helps students develop their minds to think and articulate concepts to others. Writing, researching, and presenting ideas are skills purposefully developed in most subjects. Socratic debate is an important part of the high school experience. This style of teaching enhances career and college readiness.