There is a problem in Catholic homeschooling that all Catholic homeschool programs are ignoring, but which we are going to solve in the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. When we solve it, the fruits are going to be amazing.
The problem is that Catholics cannot settle for modern secular school standards, but must exceed them so that they can pursue the higher studies commended to us as necessary (not optional) by the wise men and saints of history.
Catholic homeschool programs offer K-12 curricula with checklists and lessons plans, but NONE of them address this problem. They act as if satisfying secular K-12 requirements and sprinkling some shallow “religious education” materials on top is all Catholics need. They have no interest in solving the problem, only in making money off of the terrible education crisis Catholic families are facing.
Again, in the Classical Liberal Arts Academy, we’re going to solve this problem.
First, the course of studies recommended to us by wise men and saints had to be recovered from almost complete disappearance. CLAA families in 2024 take many of these curriculum matters for granted today, but they were nowhere to be found in 2010. Our kids talk of the arts of Grammar and Reasoning, of Aristotle and Euclid, of Ethics and the Summa Theologica as if these are common ideas, but outside of the CLAA, they are not studied at all. We’ve accomplished this.
Second, we had to figure out how to satisfy modern K-12 requirements in the most efficient ways possible, rather than allowing modern studies to fill the curriculum and consume all time and resources as other programs do. We’ve accomplished this.
Third, we needed to begin helping students work through these studies in an orderly way with guidance, accountability and support. In 2021, I began working with parents and students through private meetings to develop helpful Student Planners that were very effective, but on our side, were too time-consuming to maintain for more than a small number of students. I knew we were closing in on the solution to the problem in Catholic homeschooling, but the student planners weren’t the solution.
Fourth, in working with student planners, I saw that the entire curriculum — modern K-12 and classical/Catholic — needed to be broken down into tasks. I was doing this work as I edited student planners, but this work needed to be done once-for-all. So, this summer, I worked out detailed Study Plans for all 12 grade levels–a very difficult project that came together amazingly quickly (thank God). Now, everyone can see the entire curriculum broken down in details study plans for grades K-12.
Recently, however, I have become concerned with the question of motivation among Christian students. It seems there is no motivation for most students to engage with learning and pursue it zealously. I have considered whether compulsory education simply drags kids into studies who shouldn’t be studying in the first place, but whether this is so or not is irrelevant: it’s a problem we have to solve.
Yesterday, I posted a talk titled, “Should We Be Paying Our Children to Study?” because I believe that the question of motivation is a serious one and that, in a cash-based society, payment is an important means of motivating good work. I thought of the way I pay my own children to do tasks I want done that they are not motivated to do on their own: cut the grass, clean the house, wash the dishes, weed the gardens, do farm chores, etc., and couldn’t find a reason why I wouldn’t pay them likewise to complete their educational tasks. I am quite convinced that this is necessary in modern society, and an easy solution to the problem we face in education.
Furthermore, I considered the reality that we already do this, but ineffectively. If we could provide our children with study materials and leave them to complete their required studies, there would be no need for schools, teachers or tutors. Doing this, however, leads us into the motivation problem. The children can do it, but they do not wish to do so. It’s difficult, boring, abstract, and offers benefits that cannot be appreciated by those who need to do the work. Therefore, we pay tuition to send our children to schools or hire tutors to work with them and drag them through their studies. We are, unfortunately, ignoring the actual problem which is the students’ motivation and creating an unnecessary middle man that drains us financially and doesn’t necessarily produce the desired results. The schools tell us, the parents, that for our children to succeed in school, we have to help them. Thus, after paying tuition, we’re left back where we started. Maybe the problem is that we’re paying administrators, teachers and tutors (not to mention the lunch ladies and janitors)–rather than the students, who are still left with no motivation.
Why don’t we just pay the students?
So, I asked, “How might such a plan be managed?”. I thought of the student planners I had made and knew that they were too time-consuming for parents to manage. Then, it clicked: the students should be working directly from the study plans and should be paid for each task. These tasks, after all, are significant tasks in their K-12 studies and worthy of reward.
I asked my 16 year old son, “How much do you think would be a good weekly pay for getting your studies done?” and he replied, “Ten bucks a week would be alright.” So, taking that as a starting point, I multiplied that number by 36 weeks of the school calendar and asked my wife, “Would it be worth paying a child $360 to complete all of the requirements of one year of a grade level study plan?” She said, “Of course.”
I calculated how many tasks were listed on the Grade 4 study plan and the number was 576. I then divided $360 by 576 and the price per task was $0.63 per task. So, if a child completed 16 tasks per week, he’d earn $10 a week, would earn $360 in one school year, and complete all of his grade level requirements.
I think that work would be worth much more than that! This is especially true when we consider that we’d be ready to pay a Catholic school over $4,000 per year for elementary school tuition and over $9,000 per year for high school–for inferior results.
Now, if I suggested paying the student even half of that sum, parents would look at me like I’m crazy. To pay a 4th grade student $2,000 to complete all of his study tasks would cost $3.47 per task. Parents will think that’s crazy–but pay twice as much to the school for inferior results.
Why do we think like this? Surely, what we’re spending on private schooling is inexplicable. We can (and should) all object to that. But why are we unwilling to put our money where our mouth is and show our children that we believe their study tasks are real, valuable work?
Maybe, like our children, we think all of these study tasks are a difficult, boring and unnecessary.
Anyway, regardless of how we answer the question of paying our children to study, one thing is clear: students should work directly from the study plans manage their studies most efficiently. I have begun doing this with my own children and will be doing with students I work with in the Academy.
Mr. William C. Michael, O.P.
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
mail@classicalliberalarts.com
