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Classical Education

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A Timeless Approach to Holistic Development

St. Stephen’s Academy is committed to a classical education that goes beyond traditional academic boundaries. This education, encompassing the seven liberal arts of the trivium and quadrivium, aims to cultivate moral and intellectual virtues for self-governance.

Our curriculum, informed by biblical truth, nurtures a knowledge and love of the Triune God and a deep understanding of human nature. The classical ideals of goodness, truth, and beauty, affirmed by Christian teachings, are at the heart of our academic pursuits, preparing students to engage effectively with their generation’s challenges.

Watch the Video: What is Classical Education?

The Classical Method

The classical method recognizes three learning stages. These correspond to the natural development of the student’s mind as he or she gains knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. With a classical education, a student acquires what Dorothy Sayers called “the tools of learning,” which enable each one to continue as a lifelong student in his or her calling. Dorothy Sayers’ speech, "The Lost Tools of Learning,” explains the classical education model more deeply.

At this stage, we introduce your child to the joys of learning. We lay the foundation for a lifelong love of knowledge through the developing skills of reading, writing, and math as well as the wonder of the world around them.

As students grow, so does their capacity for independent thought. Our curriculum fosters critical thinking, giving students a deeper understanding of the world and their role within it.

Our high school students refine their ability to articulate ideas with conviction and poise. They become prepared to lead and influence through persuasive communication and confident expression.

School of Grammar

| K-5th Grade - Foundational Rules and Facts

The Grammar stage is the foundational phase of our classical education model, spanning from Kindergarten through 6th grade. During this stage, students focus on mastering various subjects' foundational rules and facts. It aligns with a students natural development when learning by heart is easy and pleasurable.

Key Elements

Pre-Grammar (K-2nd)

Students master essential skills like spelling, reading, writing, reciting, and basic arithmetic.

Grammar 3rd-5th

This phase involves a deeper study of subjects. Students delve into memorizing historical facts, Bible passages, grasp geography, comprehend science concepts, and appreciate poetry. In fourth grade they start Latin with a strong emphasis on understanding language structure and its inner workings.

School of Logic

| 6th-8th Grade - Tying Facts Together

The Logic stage, corresponding to 7th and 8th grades, represents a critical period where students begin to organize the facts they've absorbed in the Grammar stage and make connections between them. This phase comprises both a stage of development known as "Dialectic" or "Logic" and an academic subject, "Formal Logic."

"Logic provides a set of rules that can help a beginner to determine whether the information they are receiving is trustworthy or not. It helps the student to ask the right questions, such as: Does the conclusion align with the facts that I know? What is the actual meaning of this word, and am I using it correctly? Is the speaker focused on the topic, or are they distracting me with irrelevant comments? What other perspectives on this subject exist?"

-Susan Wise Bauer, "The Well Trained Mind"

Key Elements

Dialetic (question and answer stage)

  • Here, students not only answer questions but also begin to ask their questions. Teachers train students how to pose relevant and critical questions, promoting independent thought and reasoning.

 

Formal Logic

This subject trains students in the art of reasoning, equipping them to think logically in all areas of study.

 

School of Rhetoric

| 9th-12th Grade - Art of Expression

The Rhetoric stage, spanning 9th to 12th grades, represents the culmination of the classical Trivium. It is both a stage of development and an academic subject, the formal study of rhetoric. During this phase, students hone their skills in expressing themselves with fluency, grace, elegance, and persuasiveness.

“Rhetoric is dependent upon the first two stages of the Trivium. The Grammar stage laid a foundation of knowledge; without knowledge, the rhetorician has nothing of substance to say. The Logic stage taught the student to think through the validity of arguments to weigh the value of evidence. In the Rhetoric stage, the student uses knowledge and the skill of logical argument to write and speak about all the subjects in the curriculum.”

-Bauer, The Well-Trained Mind

Key Elements

Poetic Stage

In the Poetic stage, students synthesize knowledge, make it their own, and creatively communicate it to others. The focus is on idea-centered learning.

Formal Rhetoric

  • Inventio: This involves formulating arguments, gathering supporting evidence, and requires both logic and knowledge. It involves research and thesis development.
  • Dispositio: This skill pertains to putting information into persuasive order and arranging evidence convincingly while considering the audience, setting, and emotional impact.
  • Elocutio: Involves the evaluation of words to most clearly reveal the truth, encompassing metaphors, parallelisms, and figures of speech.
  • Memoria: Involves the memorization of essential points for debates or entire speeches.
  • Pronuntiatio: This is the art and practice of giving speeches.

(During the Poetic Stage), the imagination – usually dormant during the Pert Age – will reawaken and prompt (the students) to suspect the limitations of logic and reason. This means that (the students) are passing into the Poetic Age and are ready to embark on the study of rhetoric. The doors of the storehouse of knowledge should now be thrown open for them to browse about as they will. The things once learned by rote will now be brought together to form a new synthesis; here and there, a sudden insight will bring about the most exciting of all discoveries: the realization that a truism is true.

-Sayers, "The Lost Tools of Learning"

If grammar-stage learning is fact-centered, and logic-stage learning is skilled-centered, then rhetoric-stage learning is idea-centered.

-Bauer, The Well-Trained Mind

Here’s how to become part of the St. Stephen’s community

1. Tour

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2. Apply

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3. Enroll

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