What Does it Mean to be a Classical School?
What makes TNCA unique, what does it mean to be a Classical School, and how do we achieve success with such high academic rigor while keeping the joy and love of learning alive?
Summing up our philosophy, explaining our curriculum, and grasping what it means to be a Classical School is hard to do in a few sentences on the website or in a few moments during a tour. Because the truth is, the best way to fully understand how the magic happens is to be here seeing it unfold first hand in the classrooms and on the playground. Heck, I can even lose sight of how the magic happens when I spend too many days at my desk in my office. I always know when I need to eat lunch outside with the kids or jump into an afternoon activity because that is what reminds me why I do this. It is a privilege for me to leave my desk and interact with the students as they learn, eat lunch with them while they play and explore, and watch them interact in the world around them. I wish I could share the privilege of witnessing what happens here as they learn with each one of you. In lieu of inviting you all back into grade school, I will do my best to dissect the magic by breaking up what makes us work into a 5 part series.
My hope is to divulge some of the reasons your children come home excited to return the next morning, why your child’s transition into high school is so smooth, and of course, the reason why your child will be a lifelong learner.
Here is an outline of what to expect in the coming weeks as we break it all down.
Part 1.
What Does it Mean to be a Classical School?
Part 2.
The Intentionally Small School: Mixed Age Classes and Individualized Academics
Part 3.
Our Daily Structure: Morning Block and Afternoon Block
Part 4.
Extended Unstructured Outside Time
Part 5.
Time Management
Part 1.
What Does Being a Classical School Mean to Us? And Why the “New” Matters
A Classical School’s approach to education is based on teaching the student how to learn and how to think, setting them up for a lifetime of learning no matter the subject or topic.
I will touch on two main concepts used to drive our approach to a secular classical education. The first principle includes the Trivium: the Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric stages of learning. This concept of the trivium guides our presentation of the material. It provides students the knowledge, then the understanding, and finally, the creativity to approach each subject in the fullest way.
The Grammar Stage of the trivium begins typically in First grade and goes through Fourth. Elementary school children are proficient in memorizing and learning facts. We use this time to teach information like rules of grammar, the facts of math and science, vocabulary of Latin, and stories of history. The child reads a book and takes away from it the story, the plot, and the characters. They are fascinated hearing a story from Greek mythology and delve deeper into their imagination of what that time was like. The child leaves Fourth grade with a solid foundation of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They now have the building blocks for the logic phase of learning.
Trivium made simple
The Logic Stage begins as the child enters 5th grade. They now have a propensity to ask questions, to want to know why, and even to argue. We use this phase to teach them how to ask those questions and learn to answer “why” in a logical way. They begin to learn how to take all those facts they mastered in the Grammar Stage and organize them into logical arguments. Instead of reading a text just for the story, they now learn how to analyze what they read. The maturing middle school child’s mind has begun to think abstractly and can now ask why and how.
At this time we can shift into teaching the scientific method, more abstract math such as algebra and geometry, latin grammar and translations, how to take notes in a lecture style class, how to have logical discussions backed with facts, and how to write analytically. In the Grammar Stage they learn that there are rules, and in the Logic Stage they learn what to do with the rules. Once the student leaves 8th grade, they are ready to learn what to do with all this knowledge and information.
The Rhetoric Stage happens in high school. While The New Classical Academy ends before this stage, these are the skills the students will be able to take to high school, university, and beyond. In the Rhetoric Stage, the high school student can now learn how to speak, write and engage in eloquent dialogue using the facts learned in their early years of school and the logical way to organize their thoughts learned in the middle school years. The high school student can articulate original ideas using facts to back it up. The high school student can come up with their own conclusions. They can now begin to break the rules and to think outside the box with the ability to back it up factually and logically.
The second distinct aspect of our classical approach is the four year rotation. This is a chronological four year outline of the whole history of the world and is our guide for our curriculum. We begin with Prehistory in year 1 and work our way to present day in year 4. Each year, the entire school focuses on a period of World and American history. The study of literature and the sciences is tied into the historic period being studied that year. Thus, giving the students a deeper understanding of these topics in the larger context of how they connect in the world.
By staying focused in one time period, the students are given ample time with each topic to dive deep into specifics, ask questions, form connections with the past and present history, and see how themes and characters relate across time. The interrelated and systematic approach of working chronologically allows the students to make better sense of their studies, resulting in an easier mastery of the rigorous requirements of a classical education, even for the most hesitant learner.
To wrap up what it means to be The New Classical Academy, I must touch on the new. We are always adapting and growing as we learn to do better. Sometimes, that means adding or subtracting from the way the curriculum has always been in order to bring in diverse voices. Sometimes, it means recognizing when change is needed or admitting when a way of thinking or teaching isn’t working. We strive to be ever evolving and lifelong learners, just like our students. One last thing to note before I sign off is that while the Classical Model is typically used with a Christian curriculum, we take a secular approach in education. We aim to provide facts and information and guide the lessons and conversations in an unbiased way. With respect to each family and their personal beliefs, we leave religious and spiritual study to the parents and family.