If you could design your ideal classical Christian (or classical) school

[Michelle in MO]

how would you do it? This is something I daydream about a lot; mostly because I'd love to see a classical Christian school in our area. However, I have no clue how to begin one, because there's hardly anyone in our area who's even heard of it, let alone is interested in it!

Anyway, I'll describe my "dream" school:

K-12th grades:

Kindergarten - Half-day kindergarten; plenty of emphasis on phonics, pre-writing skills, early arithmetic skills, art, music, and play. Kids go home to nap!

Grammar Stage:

English: I'd love to see a combination of R&S Grammar, coupled with the chants from Shurley Grammar (if this wasn't overkill).

Writing: IEW

Spelling/Phonics: Not sure! :confused:

Math: Perhaps R&S math, or Abeka (what we've used), or Modern Curriculum Press (not familiar with the latter, but I know it's the choice of some classical Christian schools)

History: SOTW combined with VP History cards and songs

Literature: Combined with history, similar to what VP uses or else Highlands Latin School (their summer reading list)

Science: BJUP or Apologia Exploring Creation series (though I'm not sure how adaptable these latter would be for classroom use).

Art: A good art teacher! Art history instruction with VP resources

Music: Same as above! A good music teacher, with an emphasis on classical music and hymns through the ages.

Logic & Rhetoric:

English: R&S Grammar; more diagraming, writing, etc.

Writing: Continue with IEW; begin writing more about history and literature

Vocabulary: Hopefully by 6th grade the spelling could be dropped; by 7th start Vocabulary study with Vocabulary from the Classical Roots and Wordly Wise.

Logic: Perhaps start with Introductory and Intermediate Logic by Jim Nance in 7th-8th grades; then move into Traditional Logic I and II by Martin Cothran in 9th-10th grades.

History: Need suggestions for Logic-stage history! Omnibus I a possibility, but I would use selected readings. Rhetoric level students could do most of Omnibus

Literature: Couple literature readings with history! Same as above---Omnibus I starting perhaps in 7th grade, but selected readings. Rhetoric level students could do most of Omnibus.

Science: Apologia.

Math: Lial's series; Jacob's Geometry?


Teachers:

If I could hire any teachers, I would love to have the following:

1. Andrew Pudewa teach grammar and logic stage writing; Susan Wise Bauer and Cindy Marsch teach rhetoric level writing.

2. Dr. George Grant and Douglas Wilson teach theology, philosophy, ethics

3. Matt Whitling teach one of the grammar-level classes

4. Martin Cothran teach his Traditional Logic series

OK, these are all pipe dreams! Oh---and one more thing: on the website for Highlands Latin School, I found a very interesting note, something to the effect is that when parents visit the school campus they will note the absence of social cliques. That's something I'd love to see happen in more schools, period!

So----what are your dreams for a school? Or, would you continue on with what you're presently doing now?

:)

[WTMindy]

we have a Classical school nearby that teaches many of those things. To me it isn't the curriculum that they use, but the cool things that they can do in a classroom that is hard to recreate at home. Several of my friends' kids go there and what I think is neat is the great community that they have. THe kids know each other so well and go through the grades together. They have rigorous standards and the kids work hard, but also have neat things like speech meets, talent shows, plays, basketball & track teams, etc. Those are the kinds of things that make me wish for a school.

And, I'd LOVE Susan and Andrew Pudewa for teachers, but I gotta confess that Doug Wilson wouldn't make the cut.

[Michelle in MO]

nearby--the neat activities you mentioned. I'd love to have lots of neat art projects going, the speech and debate meets, special speakers, etc. That's very hard in our area!

I thought of Douglas Wilson because I went to the ACCS Conference in Atlanta this summer and heard an excellent talk by him about teaching kids to love classical education and its standard. It was very thought-provoking! However, I'm not Presbyterian, so I'm not very familiar with the rest of what he teaches. I just know that that particular message really stirred me!

Thanks for your input! Anyone else?

[Plaid Dad]

My ideal would look very much like Highlands Latin (http://www.thelatinschool.org/), except Catholic rather than "mere Christian." (Meaning that the teachers would be Catholic and teach from that perspective, not that the student body would necessarily be limited to Catholics.) I would want to see a traditional classical curriculum with Latin, Greek and mathematics as the basic subjects, and a focused Great Books program in high school. I would like to see a healthy school culture: small classes, a sense of loyalty to the school, no cliques, and mutual (but role-appropriate) respect between students and teachers.

Tall bill, eh?

[Michelle in MO]

not Catholic, but I've checked Highlands Latin School website over and over and over again, and I'm very impressed by what I see! More specifically, I agree with what you said about the importance of a healthy school culture.

I would love to visit Highlands Latin School school someday, though, just to see how they put it all together. Cheryl Lowe and Martin Cothran seem like truly first-class individuals and teachers, and I was so impressed by what was stated on the website: "One of the first things parents will notice is the absence of social cliques." I believe so many Christian schools fail in this area! We had all three of our daughters at a local private school and pulled them out after our oldest finished 3rd grade because of the social cliques. Third grade was an almost devastating experience for our oldest. The other option in town is a Catholic school. Both schools only go through 8th grade. If we have to re-enroll the children in school (which we are seriously considering because my husband was diagnosed with a heart condition last fall, and he would like me to go back to school and get a master's degree) my youngest would go to the Catholic school in town over the other one, because in this case the Catholic school has a better handle on discipline and a good school culture. I felt like the other school had serious problems with social cliques and some bullying that the administration wasn't addressing.

The other thing I like about Highlands Latin School is, as you mentioned, the focused literature reading in high school. I like many of the Omnibus readings and the book is beautiful, but HLS seems to take a "less is more" approach; as you said, they focus more in-depth on certain pieces of literature. I believe the students still read plenty, however. I printed off their Summer Reading List from the website, and it was impressive. I'm not sure if those readings are required or just encouraged, but it's obvious the students from that school do very well.

Yes, I can certainly understand your point about HLS!

[dragons in the flower bed]

I'd like to see it open to ages eight to sixteen, with classes in Greek & Latin grammar, progym -> rhetoric, logic and debate at the appropriate ages, great books (just a few each year) and mathematics. This core curriculum would provide for morning instruction. Afternoon classes would be optional and a la carte, and include natural history, geography, soccer, dance and etiquette, sketching/drawing, drama and choral singing. It would be four days a week, and require no homework.

[dragons in the flower bed]

DOH! Sorry, posted in the wrong spot. This was supposed to be a response to the OP.

[Jami]

Hey Drew, there's a Catholic school here in Fort Worth (grades 5-12) that looks a lot like what you described. Latin, Greek, Math (Euclid), Great Books. I confess I'm tempted to look into it when we get to Jr. High, they say they're homeschool friendly and allow just one or two classes to be taken. So if you wanted to move south...

:)

http://www.cstm.edu/lmr.html

There's the link if you're intrigued. ;)

[Michelle in MO]

and noted that HLS also does the same thing (I *think*)! I wish sometimes schools could be more efficient with their time and assign less homework!

Your ideas sound good!

[Cathy in IL]

I taught in a classical Christian school in it's second year. I was also the development coordinator. It is hard work to launch a school, but I am sure you already guessed that. We were not very big the year I taught. I had the K class - 10 students. My class was half day and also utilized Montessori techniques (primarily during phonics/spelling/reading because the children were at different levels and I could work with small groups that way). The 1st and 2nd grades were combined, and 4-6th were combined. The 3rd grade was it's own small class because the children in it just happened to have a lot of unique issues that made it hard to fit them with the younger or older children. we only had three or four older students that year each in a different grade. Two part time teachers worked with them.

Many of our students came from families who had been homeschooling prior to enrolling. The parents were very involved and aware of what went on at the school. They not only paid tuition but volunteered a certain number of hours a year. Their hours helped reduce expenses and build a sense of unity and ownership.

I enjoyed my year teaching. That school exposed me to a classical education and very much influenced the education my children are getting.

[angela in ohio]

SPAM reported, resurrected thread

[dmmetler]

Not age stratified. That was the single thing that has made both the full-time classical school and the once a week classical program unacceptable to us, because DD simply doesn't fit well into a grade. If she could do 5th grade math, 2nd year Latin, History and Science with kids her age and lots of extra books available, Read and listen to books that are engaging and challenging to her, and have someone to diagram sentences and talk about grammar with for hours (which might require sending her to join the rhetoric stage kids), AND have other kids to play with, she'd be in heaven. Anything that expects her to be with just 6-7 yr olds all day is heading in the other direction.

[Bluegoat]

I'm in the middle of putting together a school like this right now. Personally I would like something like the basic approach of LCC with a strong language and mathematics focus, lit and his readings similar to Ambleside Online, and in the afternoons time for nature walks, handicraft, music, and so on. I'd like the overall feel to be CMish - as in, every student valued and seen as a person, avoiding motivation through competition and accepting students varying abilities, etc. It will be an Anglican school and so based around Anglican spiritual practice.

Also - I would really prefer mixed age classes.

The really difficult thing so far is to get everyone involved in the start-up on the same page as far as philosophy goes, and then, funding - because we would like to be able to have people besides the very well off send their kids.