Two boys are working on their writing assignments. Nathan stares at a blank page, chewing on his pencil; his assignment is to write a cowboy adventure story. Jimmy, next door, bends over his paper scribbling away. His assignment is to rewrite the story of Sir Galahad; the world of medieval knights has caught his imagination. He pauses to get his list of synonyms made the day before and looks up another word for sword. Jimmy has spent the week studying the original story of Sir Galahad with his mom; now it is his turn to write his own version of the classic legend.

Two boys, both homeschooled, both with mothers who know how important it is to learn to write. One boy has received little to no direction, being taught “creative” writing with a method that assumes simply getting students to write in quantity is enough. The other is being taught using the classical method. Having studied a well-written model, the pressure of coming up with subject material at his young age has been removed. He is free to concentrate on putting his own words together into well-constructed sentences and then arranging those sentences into an exciting, well-thought-out story. What will happen if you ask these boys if they like to write? One answer most likely will be “yes!” and the other probably a resounding “no!”

I will confess, when I first heard the long, intimidating word progymnasmata, a fancy piece of playground equipment popped into my mind. But the more I learned, the more I became convinced that the classical method of the progymnasmata is a brilliant way to teach children how to write. 

So what exactly is the progymnasmata? Put simply, the “progym,” as those in the know like to call it, is a series of graded exercises developed by the ancient Greeks to teach the art of writing and speech making. Students are studying and analyzing well-written literature at every level of the progym. Along the way, skills learned are built on and developed further as students develop the ability to reason and grapple with ideas.

Students are studying and analyzing well-written literature at every level of the progym. Early on they study fables, legends, and narratives. As they mature, students begin to study proverbs and anecdotes, learning to think and reason about these pieces of wisdom as they are taught how to form well-constructed essays. As their reasoning skills continue to develop, students move through the various progym exercises, learning to create persuasive speeches and essays by concentrating on Invention (what to say), Arrangement (the order in which to say it), and Style (how to say it).  

It all sounds great, you say, but where do I start? What are the basics of teaching classical composition using the progym? 

Many good classical writing curricula are available, and as your children mature, you may want to take advantage of some of those programs. But in the early years, you can start out on your own by knowing just a few basic facts.