In 1948, Dorothy Sayers wrote an essay titled The Lost Tools of Learning. In that essay she suggested that children be taught according to the three stages of development called The Trivium.
The ancients divided all of learning into seven liberal arts. The first three were known as The Trivium. It provides a structure and methodology for a strong elementary through high school education. It can be summarized as follows:
The Grammar Stage (K-6th)
Here, children find it fun to learn songs and chants that help them memorize facts in Math, English, Bible, Geography, and Latin.
The Logic Stage (7-8th)
Preteens and teens naturally begin to ask why, and this stage of the Trivium teaches students to think clearly and independently with reasoned principles. Students in the logic stage desire to understand the why and how of the subjects they are learning.
The Rhetoric Stage (9-12th)
Rhetoric is the art of communicating well. Once a student has obtained the knowledge of facts, and can successfully arrange those facts into an organized argument, they can then effectively communicate those skills to others.
The main goal in life and studies is to know God and Jesus, which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.
CREDO OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 1775
