When parents and teachers think about education, it’s easy to get caught up in checklists, test prep, and the “next thing” students need to know. But a classical approach invites us to pause and ask deeper questions: What makes a lesson worth remembering? How do we teach in a way that nurtures not only the mind but also the soul?
At its heart, classical education is rooted in three timeless anchors—Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. These anchors provide a lens for choosing and creating lessons that don’t just inform but transform. They guide how we teach history, literature, and even modern subjects, ensuring learning is meaningful, engaging, and enduring.
This approach becomes particularly exciting when we explore modern or state history, a subject that can easily feel dry or overly simplistic. By applying classical principles, we can bring depth, perspective, and creativity to topics that students might otherwise find distant or abstract.
Truth: Learning from the Sources
Truth in education means seeking knowledge at its roots. Instead of relying solely on simplified summaries or textbooks, classical teaching encourages us to go back to primary sources—letters, speeches, legal documents, art, and firsthand accounts.
A lesson rooted in truth doesn’t just tell students what happened—it lets them hear it from the people who lived it. This creates a more dynamic, engaging, and authentic experience of history.
In the classroom, this might include:
- Reading a fur trader’s journal alongside a Native American oral account to compare perspectives.
- Examining original maps or treaties to understand how geography and politics shaped settlement patterns.
- Studying artifacts such as trade tools, clothing, or pictographs to make abstract events tangible.
By starting with truth, students learn to think critically, ask questions, and develop the confidence to form their own informed perspectives. They don’t just memorize facts—they encounter history as a living, breathing story.
Beauty: Training the Eye and the Heart
Beauty in classical education is not just decoration—it’s a lens for seeing, reflecting, and understanding. Beauty invites students to slow down, notice details, and cultivate an aesthetic appreciation that sharpens both observation and imagination.
In history lessons, beauty often emerges through art, music, architecture, and storytelling. Classical paintings, maps, or Indigenous pictographs provide opportunities for students to explore not only what happened but how people expressed their experience and values.
In the classroom, beauty can be applied by:
- Comparing George Catlin’s depictions of Native life with sketches of early settlers to explore perspective and intent.
- Analyzing the design of forts, trading posts, or pioneer buildings to understand how form and function intersect.
- Encouraging students to create visual interpretations of historical scenes, from illustrated journals to recreated maps.
Beauty in lessons helps students move beyond rote memorization, fostering curiosity, empathy, and insight into the human experience.
Goodness: Shaping Character and Connection
Goodness in classical education is about human flourishing—how knowledge connects to our lives, our communities, and our ethical understanding of the world. Lessons that embrace goodness encourage students to see the consequences of choices, the impact of events, and the role they themselves might play in shaping the future.
In practice, goodness can be woven into lessons by:
- Drawing connections between historical events and contemporary social, political, or environmental issues.
- Creating interdisciplinary projects where students write letters, draft maps, or design models that reflect historical understanding.
- Encouraging discussion of moral dilemmas faced by historical figures, prompting reflection on courage, justice, and responsibility.
When combined with truth and beauty, opportunities to explore goodness turn learning into an act of character formation, not just content mastery. Students engage with history as living lessons for life, not just items on a timeline.
Interdisciplinary Connections: Learning as a Web
One of the hallmarks of classical education is seeing knowledge as interconnected rather than isolated. History naturally overlaps with other disciplines, and lessons that explore these connections deepen understanding and engagement:
- Art: Students analyze historical images, murals, or architecture.
- Science: Geography, climate, and natural resources shape settlements and historical outcomes.
- Geography: Mapping rivers, trade routes, or borders adds spatial reasoning to historical context.
- Literature: Contemporary writings, folk tales, and songs provide insight into the culture and mindset of the time.
For example, studying Minnesota’s fur trade could include reading voyageurs’ songs (literature), mapping waterways used for trade (geography), sketching canoes and trading posts (art), and exploring seasonal travel challenges (science). Students begin to see history not as a list of facts, but as a vibrant tapestry of human experience.
Creative Expression: History in the Hands of Students
Finally, history comes alive when students are invited to create and participate. This can take many forms: writing, drawing, mapping, storytelling, or even role-playing.
Examples of classroom application:
- Writing a diary entry from the perspective of an early settler or Native inhabitant.
- Designing a map or blueprint of a fort or trading post using historical evidence.
- Reenacting a key negotiation, treaty signing, or expedition to understand motivation, strategy, and consequences.
Creative expression encourages students not only to retain information but to own it, connecting historical understanding to personal insight and imagination.
Applying This to Minnesota History
This philosophy inspired me to create my Minnesota History bundle, where each lesson is designed with classical anchors in mind:
- Primary sources like explorer journals, Native artifacts, and early maps.
- Art and critical thinking through images, pictographs, and illustrations.
- Factual grounding in historical events, geography, and cultural milestones.
- Interdisciplinary connections linking history to literature, science, and civic understanding.
- Creative expression through writing, mapping, and hands-on projects.
These lessons transform Minnesota history from a set of dates and names into an immersive, thoughtful, and meaningful experience.
👉 Check out From Lakes to Landmarks: Understanding Minnesota’s Past (Lessons 1–5)
Conclusion: Modern History, Classical Roots
Teaching history through truth, beauty, and goodness equips students to think critically, see deeply, and act thoughtfully. Whether in Latin class, classical literature, or Minnesota state history, these principles guide us toward lessons that inform, inspire, and form character.
Education should do more than prepare students for tests—it should prepare them for life. And that is the enduring value of a classical approach.