A Classical Approach
Classical education is not better because it's old.
It’s better because it has been tested in the laboratory of time.
It connects learning with all of life.
A classical education is different
Classical education builds the experience of learning around the natural developmental stages of children.
Within this context, education happens with the flow of childhood development. When children are young, they love to memorize. It’s life-giving to them. When they grow to their middle school years, they argue and debate. They thrive within the process of discovery. As they mature into young adults, they want to determine their course and plan their movements. A classical education focuses on these strengths. Thus, the Trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric) becomes the framework for learning within classical education.
Using the fundamentals of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and using their developed skills of critical thinking and reason, students study virtue and art. They understood Truth as the foundation for knowledge and the source of wisdom. Success is measured in content of character as well as in breadth of knowledge. Learning is a style of living and not a means to an end. Education is, as the Irish poet and writer William Butler Yeats said, “not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.”
We are familiar with the phrase, "They are just going through a phase." There is more to that than people think.
A Kindergartner does not learn the same way as a fifth grade and a fifth grader does not learn the same way as a student in 11th grade. While our learning style is eclectic and not traditionally classical, our classes are structured around a student's phase of learning.
Our Primary Phases consist of Core and Grammar while our Secondary Phases consist of Logic and Rhetoric.
Core Phase:
Fostering A Love of Learning
5-7
Learning is naturally fun, yet schools tend to find ways to squash that love of learning by moving too fast.
We are careful to gently move forward while not over emphasizing academic achievement at this point. That will come at later phases but more importantly, along with the traditional ABCs and 123s, we focus on learning through activities, concepts of good and bad, responsibility, true and false, self-worth, right and wrong, empathy, virtue and other principles that will form a solid core for the other phases that will follow and wrap around it.
Grammar Phase:
Acquiring Knowledge
8-10
Students at this phase have built the confidence needed and are ready to take on more structured learning.
Grammar applies to students from 2nd through 5th grade, thus the traditional Grammar School. Children at this age love repetition and routine. By making this a part of their daily lives, the foundations for learning are established. They develop the disciplines of learning (times tables, fundamentals of reading and grammar, etc.) through repetition, song, and play.
Logic Phase:
The Search for Understanding
11-13
In this phase, the structure and fundamentals learned during the Grammar phase are applied so that students can begin to understand the concepts. Students at this age (middle school years) are prone to debate and arguments more than the early years because of their naturally developing curiosity. Through the Logic phase, then, they develop the ability to distinguish between good thinking and bad thinking. The disciplines of discernment, reason, and logic are taught within a richly discussion-driven environment.
Rhetoric Phase:
Application of Knowledge
and Original Ideas
14-18
Students at this stage are about showing off and "look at me". You see it with them choosing their own styles and wanting to be their own person. You also find that they tend to take instruction from others better than their parents.
Welcome to the Rhetoric phase.
The Rhetoric phase of classical education is where all of learning comes together.
It is within this stage that students learn to synthesize information to form and articulate their own opinions—Opinions that are built upon the rules of learning (Grammar), with sound reasoning (Logic), and within the framework of Absolute Truth.
The Result?
Our students demonstrate they are prepared for college and the academic and philosophical challenges that come with it.
They can speak, write, think, debate, and lead.
Because they've learned grammar, logic, and rhetoric, they can identify what is True and how to talk about it and live it out.
We don't know what they will do in life and neither do they, but we do know they will have the skills to do whatever they want.
Our students can create…build…lead…serve...and inspire.