Our Philosophy of Education

1. The Paideia of God is the understanding that the education of our children is the enculturation of their hearts and minds with a love for the true, the good and the beautiful; ideas which are classical but ultimately originate from God and revealed in Christ and his word. We seek to bless all our children with a robust Christian worldview touching their hearts and minds and equipping them to engage people and culture.

2. A commitment to the Great Books, Great Ideas, and Great Men of Western Civilization. From kindergarten to the 12th grade, our students will read the books and interact with the ideas and questions that have shaped the greatest minds of the past in accordance with their age. Students will learn how to discern good and evil while engaging with the classics but will also hold a healthy respect for the tradition we have received.

3. We are committed to teaching the liberal arts and focus broadly on the historical approach of applying the Trivium and Quadrivium to our curriculum.

The Lost Tools of Learning

Wisdom and Eloquence

The Liberal Arts Tradition

Case for Classical Education

The Seven Laws of Teaching

Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning

1. We apply the Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) as a guide to understanding how a child learns throughout his development of a person.

2. We employ the Socratic method and help students to discuss a question under the guidance of a teacher in order to come to a factual and faithful conclusion. Students will learn to argue their points well and think through the logical implication of every proposition and precisely understand each word’s definition.

3. We engage not only the mind but body, soul, and spirit. We disdain blind memorization and cramming facts at the expense of cultivating virtue and wisdom. Our students will certainly learn and know many facts but our educational method develops the whole person.

4. Teachers will follow sound principles of teaching to inculcate knowledge to students. Teachers will be knowledgeable of the subject at hand, use stimulating questions in a common language known to all and arouse the pupil’s mind to master the desired art; followed by a review process which finishes and fastens the knowledge to the learner’s mind.

1. Our curriculum will be marked by the integration of the Great Books and Western Canon throughout all grades and, at times, many subjects.

2. The True, Good, and the Beautiful. These are three distinct yet interrelated manifestations of reality as revealed by God in Christ, which work together in the educational process to draw the student into an awe-filled encounter with God. Truth, goodness, and beauty therefore are standards given to us by God to use in our educational methodology.

3. The integration of all subjects and knowledge. We seek to find connections in mathematics and natural science, history and theology, and a myriad of other ways which all subjects allow for a natural insert of the world God has created.

4. There is no such thing as a neutral education. All subjects and truth belong to Christ and exist under his lordship.

5. Our curriculum will draw from time-tested resources and not the latest “Progressive” movement in modern education.

1. Humanity with chests. C.S Lewis lamented current relativistic principles in education create men who deny the very existence of honor, righteousness, and justice while society demands for this to exist. We expect the culture of our school to bear the fruit of men and women who graduate ready to live out a Christian worldview.

2. Men not Machines. Man has been made in the image of God and therefore our minds are meant to be cultivated and grown. Students are not computers where we upload information. They are unique, created persons and we should treat them as such.

3. We acknowledge classical education to be rigorous in quality and will undoubtedly challenge students and teachers to growth but will avoid the pitfall of burdening our students with busy work and excessive homework.

A successful education which is both Classical and Christian will impart a love for learning that will endure beyond the time of a student’s formal education. We seek to teach and require much of our students but also recognize the vast opportunities for learning which exist beyond the scope of school and the years following graduation. From our faculty to our students and parents, we desire a culture of learning where truth and wisdom are vigorously sought for in various ways. A healthy school culture where truth, goodness, and beauty are manifested in the actions and attitudes of all by far outweighs the right curriculum where love is not present. We ultimately desire to create an environment where students and teachers enjoy being and learning together.

1. The Bible grants parents the privilege and high calling of educating their children. In Ephesians 6:4, Paul commands fathers to instruct their children in the Paideia (instruction and enculturation) of the Lord, thus requiring Christian parents to cultivate in their children everything the Lord Jesus taught and prepare them to be leaders in this world.

2. As the formal obligation in Scripture belongs to parents, we therefore view our role to complement, not replacing parents duty and calling in this endeavor. We also recognize a form of authority must be given to the faculty and board to make decisions, discipline students, and educate as best we are able.

3. We also affirm, in contrast to modern society, authority in education does not belong to the state or any of its agencies. Nor do we align with any denomination nor derive any authority from any ecclesiastical institution in our form of education but broadly follow the doctrines of the historic Protestant tradition.

4. As parents are responsible for the education of their child, we encourage parents to engage in the school’s organization and operational needs. We desire to see the parents of our students involved in the culture and activity of our school in various ways.