William C. Michael

Today is Saturday, December 14, 2024, and this is William Michael of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. This week, I received an email from a homeschooling mother who asked me to share my thoughts about the Charlotte Mason homeschooling method or Charlotte Mason homeschool programs. She noticed on the Classical Liberal Arts Academy website that I don’t have much to say about Charlotte Mason, and in her homeschool circles, it seems that Charlotte Mason is most of what the homeschooling mothers talk about. And so she asked if I would share my thoughts on Charlotte Mason and Charlotte Mason homeschool … Continue

Today is Monday, December 16, and this is William Michael of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. A few days ago, I posted a talk on the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education because I was asked—actually by a number of parents—if I would share my thoughts on Charlotte Mason and her educational philosophy. After posting that talk, I began to receive feedback requesting more information, more commentary, more explanation, and so on. While I can understand why homeschooling parents would like me to go further into detail in addressing Charlotte Mason’s homeschool philosophy, I don’t believe it is prudent to do … Continue

Today is Tuesday, December 17, 2024, and this is William Michael of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. Today, I’d like to take some time to talk about the natural order of the family. This concept of the family or the household is not a Christian idea. Often, when we talk about these things, modern people roll their eyes at us and scoff, as if this is some crazy Christian fundamentalist idea that Christians are trying to impose on society, when in fact, the order of the family is something that is actually established in nature. One of the goals of … Continue

  Today is Thursday, December 19, 2024 and this is William Michael of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. I’m sorry if my voice sounds a little hoarse, but we’re very busy in the midst of holiday preparations with kids coming home from all over the country, and we were up late last night, so I’m a little groggy this morning, but I wanted to post a talk to share some really great news for students of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. I’ve been asked for years by parents if the Classical Liberal Arts Academy provides diplomas and transcripts, and I … Continue

This morning, I received the following message: Mr Michael, I’ve been reading and studying CLAA curriculum and your thoughts on traditional classical education with great interest and intrigue! I was especially focused on the Quadrivium and mathematics, as I believe my classical Christian school falls short in these areas. How would you propose reimagining modern mathematics in light of technological advances such that students can truly learn to think and reason and understand concepts and not just know how to push the right buttons on a calculator? How would such courses still prepare students for college admissions? I see your … Continue

Modern men and women think they’re pretty smart when it comes to education.  The subjects and methods of ancient and medieval learning are dismissed with the simple reason that they’re not modern.  They neither serve the ends of modern schools, nor do they fit into the structure of such schools.  Therefore, they are obsolete and useless. The modern school model, consisting of grade levels and subjects, divided into individual courses, units, lessons, etc., is the new “normal” and everything else is “weird”. The reason modern men have this confidence in modern education is the progress of technology in modern society.  … Continue

It’s very easy to make use of one of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy’s grade level study plans for a child, but there will be two different conditions for those doing so: a student who will follow the study plan exactly a student who will follow the study plan with modifications  

This is a streamlined set of steps to follow to prepare a student’s study plan for the present school year. 1. Create a copy of the grade level study plan. 2. Consider whether the student is able to begin at the first lesson o each subject at his grade level. 3. Mark any tasks that have already been completed. Tasks are marked complete by filling the cell with a grey color. 4. Transfer incomplete tasks from previous year to present study plan. Determing the number of tasks in a subject that are incomplete. Insert the same number of cells under … Continue

It’s common today to hear arguments from parents and students that because our society communicates with video and graphics, Christian teachers need to adapt and begin teaching with the same tools, but this is false.  In fact, the opposite is true. First of all, human communication is rooted in human nature.  Men are creatures with rational souls that, with the help of the senses, are able to perceive, judge, reason and communicate with others.  We share our ideas by representing them with spoken words.  When necessary, we share our spoken words with written words.  This is how human communication works–always … Continue