What will students learn?

Art of Letters. Overall, classical education works to mature its students in the art of language, which includes the art of letters. It seeks to make competent thinkers, speakers, listeners, readers, and writers. Language is a gift of God either to be squandered or matured. In the Grammar School, this includes penmanship.

Languages. Dead languages are never dead. To understand the complexity and brilliance of our native English tongue, we would do well to understand the complexity and brilliance of those languages which gave it life, primarily Latin and Greek. Likewise, to study the biblical languages is to provide our students with a proper foundation in biblical literacy. 

Logic and Rhetoric. All truth is God’s truth, and ought to be read and spoken as such, whether from the hand of a pagan or a Christian prince. Logic is the art and science of reasoning well and there is no subject where logic is not applicable. Likewise, rhetoric is the art and science of a good man speaking well.  Men and women ought to both discern truth from falsity and communicate truth in all its power and radiance. 

Humanities. Man lives in and by narrative. To know history is to know God’s one, true narrative. Studying primary sources reveals how  man has responded to his responsibility- whether conforming to the revealed will of God, or opposing it- and, simultaneously, how God has directed the affairs of man. Man, while being a rational creature, cannot help but live as a poetic creature, making stories and passing them on for generations to come.  Literature is at the heart of being a man, and through literature we can understand the heart of the men who wrote it and read it. Philosophy is the love of wisdom.  It is the desire to know more deeply the intricacies of knowledge, ethics, and being.  It is to dialog, prod, and search with an open mind so that our minds may close on truth. Theology is the discipline by which man philosophizes about God, discerning and enjoying that which God has revealed about himself. 

Math and Science. Originally part of the seven liberal arts, math and science are another way by which man comes to know and appreciate God’s creation and His inexhaustible depth of creativity. Many of the best mathematicians and scientists throughout history have been classists.  When studied in tandem with the arts and humanities, math and science are understood in their proper context. Their real beauty is seen. 

Art, Music, and Aesthetics. The artifacts which man creates are to be enjoyed and critiqued. Being made in the image of God, we are makers who are drawn to beauty. Being fallen creatures, we make artifacts after our own likeness, in the image of our idols. Art is an important mode by which humans communicate virtue and vices.  We make, like God, out of the overflow of our community.