I’ve been guilty of thinking that classical education is only for those students who are academically inclined, those for whom school isn’t a constant struggle due to educational or behavioral challenges. Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child invited me to reconsider that thinking.
A Mother’s Mission
Cheryl Swope is the adoptive mother of adult twins, both of whom have significant intellectual and socio-emotional challenges. Determined to give them the best education she could, she decided to classically educate them at home. The results were amazing. While in a traditional school, they would have most likely received a very basic academic education with an emphasis on life skills, she exposed them to all the traditional Western education had to offer, including Latin, mythology and other classic works of literature, rhetoric, math, and more. Their formal intellectual testing showed remarkable improvement.
In Simply Classical, she shares the methods and tools she used, but she also includes a wealth of valuable information on the classical method, special needs, accommodations, professional testing for disabilities, and profiles of other children with special needs who have been educated using this method. While if you wish to pursue a classical method of education, it is best to begin when a child is young, she also offers suggestions for incorporating aspects of a classical education when a child is older. This is a very helpful book for anyone who wishes to learn more about using a classical curriculum with children with special challenges.
Curriculum Options
Swope has also helped develop a classical curriculum for students with special needs in conjunction with Memoria Press. This is a Christian, not Catholic, curriculum, but it may be of help if you wish to educate your children with special needs using a classical philosophy.
Kolbe Homeschool, which is Catholic, offers support for students with special needs, providing accommodations for its classical curriculum.
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