Cheryl Swope's Simply Classical

Simply Classical Chapters 1-4: Observations Cheryl Swope begins her book, Simply Classical, by introducing the reader to her two children, whom she and her husband adopted. It was not long after adopting the children, who were twins, that Swope and her husband realized they were different. Both children suffered from a multitude of handicaps that made it impossible for them to develop on their own like normal children. These first chapters describe the effort, as well as the various methods, that Swope employed to help her children lead lives that were as normal as possible. Many times throughout the book, Swope lauds Classical Education, as the key to all her children's successes, but the time and effort that Swope put into training her children
Dance lessons, swimming and gymnastics at the YMCA, physical therapy, occupational therapy, language therapy, etc. were all part of the children's normal training. Not only would a schedule like this have the potential to exhaust most parents, it would also prove to be expensive, although Swope never says whether or not they received financial assistance for their therapy expenses. Swope demonstrated flexibility and an open mind by considering to utilize classical Christian education for her children. Her college experience seemed to be more misleading than educating. Many of the educational methods she was taught didn't seem to help students learn effectively. Later, when preparing to teacher her children, she demonstrated humility by consulting two homeschool moms when she wanted to learn how to teach a child to read. Swope took the same approach to classical Christian education that she had with the children's pre-school training: full immersion. Many of the exercises she employed developed multiple skills at once. For example, in penmanship she was very purposeful to give her children sentences that exemplified quality literature