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A few years ago, Prince George, the eldest grandchild of King Charles, was beginning elementary schooling. An article noted that, as has been typical for elite British education for generations, the little prince was beginning his study of Latin.
We often forget that a robust education in the classical languages and the literary classics—including the literature of Greece and Rome—was an educational staple in America’s past. Reading the Founding Fathers, it’s striking how frequently references to Greco-Roman classics roll off their pens.
But we don’t live in the 1700s. My Virginia public high school offered Latin until the year after I graduated, yet that opportunity was rare. In the 1990s, only 3.5 percent of American high school students were enrolled in Latin. Additionally, fewer schools and universities are assigning the great works of premodern civilization at any level.
And so, most adults my age and younger probably missed out on much exposure not only to the Greco-Roman classics but also to non-Western and modern classics.
What if you’ve realized as an adult that you missed out by not receiving a classical education, and now believe that your kids need the classics? It’s not too late to dive in alongside your kids. It’s worth it, too, because Christian parents need the classics for the same intellectual and spiritual benefits that make these books good for our children.
Find Your Community
It may not feel like it if you don’t know a lot of like-minded families, but classics-reading families are legion, and there’s strength in numbers. It’s no coincidence that classical Christian schools and homeschool co-ops are growing so explosively now. They’re serving children whose parents often didn’t have the education their kids are now receiving, but who realized such an education is good—for the mind, undoubtedly, but also for the soul.
It seems there’s a greater awareness right now of the shortcomings of an education not rooted in goodness, truth, and beauty. A movement is afoot to recover it. This makes it easier for parents to find community and concrete support in educating their children—and even a college admissions test alternative (the Classical Learning Test) and scholarship opportunities.
It seems there’s a greater awareness right now of the shortcomings of an education not rooted in goodness, truth, and beauty.
Finding such community isn’t only encouraging but also an avenue for accountability. Depending on your family’s needs and the resources in your area, it could take the shape of a local classical Christian school, where equipped teachers educate your children. Or it could be a homeschool co-op or just independent homeschooling, where you learn Latin and Greek alongside your kids and read aloud all the great classics of the Western canon with your family. (Lucy S. R. Austen did a War and Peace read-aloud with her family, so now we know it can be done!)
Incorporate Daily Reading
Read-alouds are truly wonderful, and they remind us of another important truth. It’s not just kids who need to keep learning—parents do too. Your continued education matters. The Christian life has always been one of continued learning and growth.
The conversion stories of Augustine and, more recently, C. S. Lewis revolve around a lifelong love of books that ultimately led to God. That’s part of my conversion narrative too. The Bible also contains multiple books of wisdom literature, which means we must continue to learn and grow in wisdom.
Daily Bible reading should take chief priority in our quest for growth. But it isn’t the only kind of reading we should be doing.
There’s no question that daily Bible reading should take chief priority in our quest for growth. But it isn’t the only kind of reading we should be doing.
For people of the Book, books are an integral part of everyday life. Reading the Early Church Fathers, in particular, makes that abundantly clear. Yes, writers like Tertullian, Cyprian, and Athanasius were steeped in Scripture. They also knew the canon of classical literature—some of it by heart.
If (as The Lamp’s editor Matthew Walther encourages) you adopt the habit of reading 100 pages every day—a doable goal for many—you’ll get through two to three books per week, and well over 100 in a year. And if you can only read 30–50 pages a day, you could still read a book a week—and about 50 books a year.
Build Your Home Library
The best thing you can do for your entire family is to invest in a good home library. And when I say “invest,” I don’t mean you have to spend a lot of money. We live in an era of cheap mass paperbacks of classics and regular library sales where you can buy books by the bag.
It’s never been easier to amass a good home library—and having a home library will help you build a family culture centered around the virtues of goodness, truth, and beauty that are inspired by great books. Podcasts such as my Christians Reading Classics are also useful resources, whether you’re getting started on this journey or need encouragement along the way.
Having the classics on your shelves makes reading them more likely. Visible books invite parents and children alike to savor stories of other worlds and places and times, enjoy the twists and turns of a good plot, and live at a slower pace—dwelling on the timeless ideas on the page rather than the rapidly moving news cycle.
In a world where too many things that aren’t good, true, or beautiful vie for our attention, the classics helps us order our affections rightly—first and foremost toward God, and then toward a flourishing life filled with great stories to share with those around us.
The Gospel Coalition