Why Scary Stories?

One Classically Educated Children’s Book Author On Why He Writes Scary Stories (and Maybe Even Why You Should Read Them To Your Children)

Writer ND Wilson -- who was educated at Logos School in Moscow, Idaho -- is the author of the Outlaws of Time, Ashtown Burials and 100 Cupboards series, Hello Ninja, Leepike Ridge, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl, and other good stuff we recommend. Several years ago, he wrote a piece for The Atlantic on his work and especially on the battle of darkness and light you’ll find in it. From the piece:

I’m not interested in stories that sear terrifying images or monsters or villains into young minds—enough of those exist in the real world, and plenty of others will grow in children’s imaginations without any help. I am interested in telling stories that help prepare living characters for tearing those monsters down.

I don’t write horror. But I do write stories about terrified sheltered kids and fatherless kids and kids with the ghosts of abuse in their pasts. Those kids encounter horrors—witches and swamp monsters, black magical doors and undying villains, mad scientists and giant cheese-loving snapping turtles. Those kids feel real pain, described in real ways. They feel real loss. They learn that the truest victory comes from standing in the right place and doing the right thing against all odds, even if doing the right thing means losing everything. Even if doing the right thing means death. My characters live in worlds that are fundamentally beautiful and magical, just like ours, in worlds that are broken and brutal, just like ours. And, when characters live courageously and sacrificially, good will ultimately triumph over evil.

I’m not trying to con kids into optimism or false confidence. I really believe this stuff. My view of violence and victory in children’s stories hinges entirely on my faith. Samson lost his eyes and died … but he has new eyes in the resurrection. Israel was enslaved in Egypt, but God sent a wizard far more powerful than Gandalf to save His people. Christ took the world’s darkness on his shoulders and died in agony. But then … Easter.

In the end, good wins. Always.

Read the whole article here.

The Right Map

From Classical Me, Classical Thee: Squander Not Thine Education by Rebekah Merkle

Let's say that you are in Chicago, and you're about to start a road trip to New York City. You know that's where you want to end up, although you're not super clear about which direction it is from your hotel. But you've expertly loaded up your car, and you're driving toward the Chicago city limits, after which point you figure you'll just drive down the road and eventually fetch up in New York. You had a friend who drove to New York and arrived successfully, so you know it can be done, and why wouldn't it work in your case as well? In one way, getting to the Big Apple from the Windy City truly is as simple as driving down the road -- but in another sense there are thousands of ways to do it wrong. You could head south and find yourself in Mexico, you could head west and wash up in LA, you could veer to the southeast and end up in Florida. Your master plan of "driving down the road" will work, but obviously that's only the case if you have managed to pick the right road. The happy news, though, is that there are such things as maps in the world. You don't have to flip a coin every time you come to an intersection. You can actually follow the map.

In the same way that not every road leads to New York City, not every educational path leads to the same end product of faithful, clear-thinking, creative, persuasive leaders. Millions and millions of American teenagers are being given mandatory educations, and, to put it mildly, not all of them are turning out to be clear-thinking leaders. But you're in the school you're in because someone, somewhere, wants you to be that different kind of person -- articulate, creative, clear-thinking, and persuasive -- and they think classical Christian education is the most effective road to get you there. They've looked at the map, they've charted the route, and they've put you on this road.

Why do they think that? If the desired result is for you to be a strong, persuasive, independent shaper of culture, what is it about your school that makes it the best road towards that objective? What is it about the classical method that produces leaders? Aren't leaders just people who happen to have been born with strong personalities? Well, no, actually. Your natural personality is a hugely important part of who you will become, but it is your personality as much as your intellect that is being shaped through your education. A naturally bubbly, extroverted girl can be made, by her education, to be insecure, embarrassed, and ill-equipped for life, just as a naturally shy girl can be made, by her education, much more confident and sure of herself. In both cases her natural personality has been molded by her education.

[L]et's look at some of the goals of your education and then compare them with the means by which everyone thinks you can get there.

First of all, we all hope that, at the end of this educational process, you will be able to think clearly. Presumably, you wish that too. Thinking clearly seems obvious enough, but you would be amazed at how atypical a skill it actually is. The ability to work through an issue clearly, logically, and precisely is an exceptionally rare gift that you are being given.

Something similar goes on in sports, but for some reason it's much easier for people to see the principle there than in the classroom. Everyone recognizes that when a coach makes his basketball team run suicides or do box jumps, he is training them for something else. When he makes the team do shooting drills, it is so that once they are in a game, they will possess the necessary skills needed to win the game. No one thinks that the dribbling drills are the end goal of the basketball season, or that you need to do box jumps because sometimes in the middle of the game there is a box-jumping competition you'll have to win. Practices are all about deconstructing the necessary skills for a basketball game, isolating them, and then working on them individually . . . but always with a larger goal in mind. 

Each basketball game is different from the last one you played. That's true even if you're playing against the same team. Every time you dribble down the court, you are faced with a unique set of challenges. You have never seen this exact situation before, but the skills your coach spent all that time drilling into you turn out to have been useful after all, which you will appreciate when you find yourself able to instinctively drive past the other team's defense for a layup.

For some reason, people don't realize that the same thing is true in the classroom. The facts you are being taught are not the end goal of learning any more than the wall sit is the end goal of basketball. You are spending your days in the classroom doing drills in much the same way that you do in basketball practice. They are all designed to equip you, to strengthen you, to make you into a person who can step out of the classroom and into the world and successfully negotiate situations you have never encountered before.

Let's say there is a hypothetical member of your basketball team who has set himself up as a skeptic. When the team is doing weight training, he points out that he's never seen anyone in the whole history of basketball have to bench-press during a game. Nor has he seen anyone do a sit-up. Or run a suicide. He therefore declines to do any of those things in practice. I think we can all predict what kind of basketball player that boy will be. In the same way, it is entirely possible to sit through a classical education but come out the other side with precisely none of the skills which it was designed to impart. And if that's the way you approach your education, then you are basically making the decision now that you would like to be the person who, throughout the rest of his life, sits on the bench and watches the actual players.

Hopefully your basketball coach would be able to answer your questions if you said, "Hey -- how do suicides help our performance in games?" In the same way, your educators hopefully know the answers to how your classroom work is supposed to help you in life . . . [because] you're in a time of huge potential right now [where] the concrete isn't set yet. You're in the fabulous position of still being right at the front-end of your life with loads of possibilities in front of you. So take a good look around you and really look at what God has given you to invest -- and then roll up your sleeves and determine to make the absolute most of it. Good luck!

Week 1 Recap: Learning-Focused, Safety-Focused

Job well done on the first week of school! On behalf of all teachers, staff, and leaders at ACA, thank you for partnering with us during what will almost certainly become one of our strangest and most inconvenient launches to any school year. No parent would voluntarily choose a pandemic as a backdrop to their child's education, nor would they likely choose a remote screen-based educational platform, nor would they prefer masks (in any other setting) to be any part of the equation. Yet by God's grace, in a time of upheaval, ACA remains in-person, educating our students for the glory of God and the good of all people.

This week as I visited classrooms, I noticed how pleased students seemed to be back in school -- at an actual school! They were obviously grateful to see their friends and eager to get down to the business of learning. In our primary grades classes (K-2), I saw students full of new energy, spending lots of fun time on class introductions and room standards, on story times and intro activities to the year, and in chatting with me during my visits. One afternoon in the hallway, I crossed paths with Odin (2nd grade) who was filling up his water bottle, and he was enthusiastic about my well-being. "How's it going for you today, Mr. Ahern? Are you having a good day? Well, it's been good to see you, Mr. Ahern!" In Latin, Art, and Music, I observed students already diving into their subjects: call-and-response Latin drills and vocabulary chants, drawing exercises in our new fine arts room, and choral warm-ups on the front lawn. And at our new Belmar wing for our Logic and Rhetoric schools, ACA's middle- and high-school students began the year in a more collegial setting: reciting their pledges, creeds, and honor code; studying logic, Latin, algebra, geometry, calculus, advanced physics, history, theology, and literature (to name a few); and lunching together on the lawn. Regardless of the age or the classroom I visited, students seemed thankful in their own way for the new year ahead.

Would you join me in giving thanks to God for this first week he has given us? In the midst of an environment overshadowed by COVID-19 and the potential of outbreaks, I think it's important that we recognize the gift that we have been given this week, and to pray that God is pleased to give us more and more. ACA is committed to keeping its physical doors open for as long as it remains safe to do so, and that is entirely dependent on the goodness of God, and on a healthy dose of our own prudence as a community. While inconvenient, the safety protocols we have in place serve as the foundation from which we are allowed the in-person learning our students need so much. Thank you for asking God daily for his blessings, and for continuing to join us in doing our best to keep our kids healthy and safe.

Onward, for the glory of God and the good of all people.

COVID-19 Update: Fall Classes

As we look forward to welcoming your children to campus in August, we want to share our current plans for protocols related to the novel coronavirus, based on the state’s guidelines and best practices for operating school.

We expect to operate a full-time schedule on both campuses: Monday - Thursday, 8:15 AM - 3:30 PM. Governor Polis and Jefferson County Public Health have said that, as of now, they expect groups of up to 25 people to be permitted in each class, and because ACA’s class sizes are capped at 16 students, we currently don’t plan to make changes to class sizes or capacities. For our youngest learners in the preschool program, as of June 4, the state has also said that we can return to normal licensed group sizes. 

Our protocols--as they stand now--were designed based on the recommendations and requirements from state authorities as of today. They may change in the next two months, and if/when they do, we will let you know promptly. 

For now, please plan on the following:

• Temperature and symptom checks for staff: Staff and faculty will take their temperatures at home each morning before leaving for school and answer a symptom survey. Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher will stay home, as will anyone who answers “yes” to any of the symptom questions. 

• Morning drop-off procedures: Students will be assigned entrances to minimize group gathering. Before entering the building, school staff will take students’ temperatures. Students with temperatures of 100.4 degrees or higher will be sent home. Parents will not bring students into the building.

• Symptom surveys: Before bringing students to school, parents will be asked to make sure they answer “no” to all questions on the symptom survey (to be distributed closer to the start of school to ensure accuracy of questions).

• Students will be assigned to “cohorts” based on permitted gathering sizes to limit interactions among large groups of students (for example, for lunch, recess, and/or specials).

• A new format for morning assembly and chapel: Because ACA students and staff will not be gathering in groups above 25 people at least for the first quarter, students will no longer begin their day together in the gym. Our administration will communicate plans for start-of-day programs.

• Increased daily cleaning: High-touch areas (bathrooms, doorknobs, light switches, PE and playground equipment, etc.) will get frequent, scheduled sanitization throughout the day.

• Increased weekly cleaning: ACA’s professional cleaning service will clean and disinfect the school daily.

• Cleaning hands: Students and teachers will have scheduled hand-washing times, including at the start of each day and upon leaving the classroom, and hand sanitizer will be available in every classroom.

• Increased cleaning of shared learning materials: ACA has strong protocols for cleaning manipulatives and we will increase those cleanings per state recommendations. 

• Lunch in classrooms: At least for the first quarter, students will have lunch in classrooms within their assigned cohort.

• Regarding face masks at school: Current Colorado Department of Health requires face masks for teachers and recommends but does not require face masks for students. ACA intends to follow any state mandates that are in effect and will continue to monitor guidelines as they evolve.

• Reduced non-essential visitors: For the first quarter, ACA will limit visitors to those who must be in the building (e.g., preschool licensing professionals). ACA will require all visitors to wear face coverings and complete temperature and symptom checks.

• Isolating a sick child: If a child develops symptoms during the day, our administration will isolate the student safely until a parent can come to pick up the child.

• If there’s an outbreak in our community, we will follow the state’s published CDC and state protocols as they stand at that time. 

If you have questions or concerns, please contact our Board at board@augustineclassical.org.

Please bear in mind that we’re all navigating uncharted waters, and these protocols might--and likely will--change as we get closer to the start of school. However, we remain excited to start the school year and continue the good work God has given us to do--for His glory and our community’s good.

Sincerely,
Augustine Classical Academy’s Administration

How ACA's Classical Preschool Curriculum Fosters Readiness, Curiosity, and Love of Learning

As Augustine Classical Preschool (ACP) combines its preschool and pre-K classes, teachers at times adjust lessons so that all learners are able to engage in the material presented according to each child’s developmental stage. We refer to this as differentiation, and ACP teachers are trained to implement these strategies in the classroom. 

In addition to training to adapt lessons for different skill levels, the daily schedule for each preschool/pre-K classroom is designed so that differentiation naturally happens and is planned for by the teachers. Scheduled times of differentiation occur in the classrooms during Morning Work; during Literacy/Fine motor/Bible Small Groups; and during Math/Science Small Groups. When ACP teachers consider the major points of differentiation, they look at fine motor skills, math, science, and literacy. 

Fine motor skills: Fine motor skills refer to the development of the small muscles in the hand. When young children practice fine motor skills, they are preparing to write, type, use scissors, and manipulate tools with ease. Several of the ways that our classrooms differentiate for fine motor development are: providing different types of scissors for children to use, adaptive pencil grips as needed, and specific activities during small group and one-on-one instruction. For example, during morning work, a classroom may have 2-3 levels of activities set up. One level may instruct the student to use scissors without a “right or wrong” answer (e.g., cutting beaded necklaces), the next level may ask the student to cut in a straight line, and the next in curves, zig-zags, or shapes. All the children are cutting, and the teacher can place children at the table where they will either engage with success or be appropriately challenged. If this type of activity is completed in small groups or during one-on-one instruction, then instead of sending the child to a specific table, the teacher will group small groups together with similarly-skilled students or adjust for one-on-one instruction. Organizational tools are provided to the teachers at the beginning of the school year to help them track small group instruction. 

Many types of activities are available in all our preschool classrooms to help young children develop fine motor skills – using tweezers or clothespins, screwing lids on and off, working puzzles, playing with Play-Doh, using clay or glue, lacing, using different writing and art tools, manipulating sensory tools, building with Legos, gears or Magna Tiles, etc. 

Kindergarten and ACP programs have partnered together to determine what fine motor skills a pre-K student should possess to successfully transition to kindergarten at ACA. For a baseline, pre-K students should be able to write numbers 0-9 and form their name in the traditional style of uppercase first and then lowercase. They should be comfortable using scissors and different writing and art tools. During a student’s pre-K year at ACA, we use assessment and observation to determine where a child is on this developmental trajectory, support them as needed, and communicate with families if additional practice is needed at home.

Math: During circle time, teachers introduce math skills that are expanded during small group and one-on-one direct instruction. For example, the teacher may introduce AB patterns during circle time and then follow up with small group and one-on-one instruction to work with children either teaching this concept, giving time to practice, or expanding to teach additional patterns. 

The math skills we teach at ACP are: 

1. Number Concepts and Quantities: The understanding that numbers represent quantities and have ordinal properties (number words represent a rank order, particular size, or position in a list). 

2. Number Relationships and Operations: The use of numbers to describe relationships and solve problems.

3. Geometry and Spatial Sense: The understanding of shapes, their properties, and how objects are related to one another.

4. Patterns: The recognition of patterns, sequencing, and critical thinking skills necessary to predict and classify objects in a pattern.

5. Measurement and Comparison: The understanding of attributes and relative properties of objects as related to size, capacity, and area. 

Science: One of the biggest benefits to small group and one-on-one instruction for our science instruction is that the students experience a hands-on approach to learning. Small group and one-on-one instruction give the learner the opportunity to engage with the material, make predictions, and use their five senses to learn about magnets, buoyancy, recipes, hot vs. cold, shadows, light energy, etc. During these smaller times of instruction, the teacher can gauge prior knowledge and keep the interest of the student in a way that’s different from large group instruction or demonstrations. John Milton Gregory’s Seven Laws of Teaching are particularly relevant in science: 

1. Know thoroughly and familiarly the lesson you wish to teach -- teach from a full mind and a clear understanding.

2. Gain and keep the attention and interest of the pupils upon the lesson. Do not try to teach without attention.

3. Use words understood in the same way by the pupils and yourself -- language clear and vivid to both. 

4. Begin with what is already well known to the pupil upon the subject and with what he has himself experienced -- and proceed to the new material by single, easy, and natural steps, letting the known explain the unknown.

5. Stimulate the pupil's own mind to action. Keep his thought as much as possible ahead of your expression, placing him in the attitude of a discoverer, an anticipator.

6. Require the pupil to reproduce in thought the lesson he is learning -- thinking it out in its various phases and applications till he can express it in his own language.

7. Review, review, review, reproducing the old, deepening its impression with new thought, linking it with added meanings, finding new applications, correcting any false views, and completing the true. 

The science skills we teach at ACP are: 

1. Scientific Skills and Method: The skills to observe and collect information and use it to ask questions, predict, explain, and draw conclusions.

2. Conceptual Knowledge of the Natural and Physical World: The acquisition of concepts and facts related to the natural and physical world and the understanding of naturally occurring relationships. 

Literacy: Literacy Knowledge & Skills describe skills that provide the basis for children’s emerging ability to read and write. Children ages 3-5 are developing attitudes about reading that will affect their approach to learning as they age. Young children are also developing basic understandings about how books and other print materials convey meaning. Literacy addresses early reading skills, such as the ability to hear and differentiate sounds in words and basic letter knowledge. Children’s ability to physically write is closely tied to their development of fine motor skills at this age, which often varies significantly, and so children practice communicating their ideas on paper in whatever way they can, including scribbling, dictation, drawing pictures, or tracing letters and words. 

The literacy skills we teach at ACP are:

1. Book Appreciation and Knowledge: The interest in books and their characteristics, and the ability to understand and get meaning from stories and information from books and other texts.

2. Phonological Awareness: An awareness that language can be broken into words, syllables, and smaller pieces of sound.

3. Alphabet Knowledge: The names and sounds associated with letters. We accomplish this through the ZooPhonics curriculum.

4. Print Concepts and Conventions: Concepts about print and early decoding (identifying letter-sound relationships).

5. Early Writing: Familiarity with writing implements, conventions, and emerging skills to communicate through written representations, symbols, and letters.

Through the vehicles of large group, small group, and one-on-one instruction, our ACP teachers ultimately desire to instill in our youngest learners a curiosity of the beautiful world that God has created. We teach and model kindness, respect, self-control, and how to love one another and love God. As we prepare our youngest learners for Kindergarten, our partnership with families and our work in the classroom is a firm foundation for the upcoming grammar, logic, and rhetoric phases. 

Online Learning & Easter Break

Week 2 of ACA's Online Learning is in the books. Thank you! As head of school, I have been so pleased to see how our students have embraced this new learning environment and have continued their studies with diligence and attention.

Easter Break is here. In it, we celebrate Christ's good reign, and the peace and rest he has given us through his resurrection. He has made all things new, and he now calls us to joyfully pursue the challenges that he has laid in front of us for our growth and sanctification.

Your children are a blessing from the Lord. As I contemplate ACA's vision, mission, and values in terms of a steadfast commitment to our children, I look forward to continuing their education in the coming weeks, during the academic year this fall, and in the bright years ahead.

A Message for Current Students

Head of School Nate Ahern shares an Assembly message to current students during Online Learning on April 9.

Online Learning Recap & Update

As we continue ACA's Online Learning platform, I'd like to share some helpful updates and tips for the weeks ahead.

First and foremost, our first week was a great success overall for our students. Thank you! Our students have been able to continue their classical Christian learning for God's glory and the good of all people.

HERE'S WHAT'S NEW:

1) All class video meetings will switch to the Zoom platform on Monday, 4/6. All other tools remain unchanged (Google Classroom, Google Calendar, and ThinkWave).  The change is simply in the video call platform.  The reasons why we're making this change center largely on functionality and quality.  Zoom allows teachers, as hosts, greater controls around managing the meeting, chat, and muting, while offering all users a better quality interface to be able to see all participants at once.  

What does this mean for your student(s)? All Google Calendar appointments where your student is scheduled to be on a video call with his or her teacher will be updated to remove the Google Hangouts Meet link and replaced with a link to a Zoom meeting.  When it comes time to join that video call, simply click on the Zoom link.  From there, Zoom will launch through the browser, prompting you to download the Zoom client to your computer or the Zoom app to your smart device, and join the meeting -- easy, seamless, and quick.

You may have heard about recent security issues with Zoom. Rest assured that ACA's Zoom platform is an educational entity license which has greater built-in security, and we have additionally made administrative configuration decisions to further protect and control our video meeting environment.  You can do your part to help keep these meetings secure by not sharing any Zoom meeting links outside of our ACA domain. Teachers will additionally lock their classrooms when all students have arrived.

2) Also starting Monday, 4/6, all classes for both PE and Art will be pre-recorded and uploaded to your Google classroom, which will replace the live sessions. Additionally, grammar school students (K-6) will see a new Google classroom in their accounts. There will be one PE class for kindergarten through 6th grade, and one Art class for the same group. Logic and Rhetoric students (7-12) will stay in their existing classes. Mrs. Davidson will post a new art lesson every Tuesday, and she will be available for Q&A via Zoom on Thursdays from 3:00-3:25. Coach Kushniroff will post new PE classes on Tuesdays, and she will be available for Q&A via email and Zoom, as needed. (Note that updates may not show in your calendar until Monday morning.)

All PE and Art activities for grammar students (K-6) will be optional; however, they will remain required for logic and rhetoric students. (7-12) Refer to your PE and Art Google classroom for more information.

In summary, for our grammar school students, families may choose when and if they complete the lessons and activities posted for Art and PE. The content will still be there, ready for you to use at your convenience. We hope this change provides your family with greater flexibility as we establish new routines and schedules.  

TIPS & REMINDERS FOR WEEK 2 AND BEYOND:

To make future weeks continue to be successful, consider the following things.

1) Consider turning off email notifications to your student's inbox. In an online learning platform, information overload is easy! We're aware of this, but we also want you to have all the info you need -- even if it feels like a lot. You can turn off notifications if you like, and simply get info by going straight to your student's Classroom page.

2) Students should have a permanent dedicated workspace at home, if possible. Predictability, routine, and space-ownership will promote focus and learning.

3) Establish daily and weekly routines, as your kids need and crave structure. Consider starting the day with ACA's Morning Assembly (found in your student's "Assembly" Google Classroom), and ending the day with a read-aloud, family game, or discussion.

4) Keep training your student to respect their teachers and classmates by maintaining good behavior during video meetings. We know this is tough to do constantly, as you've got your own jobs to maintain. Still, you can guide and remind your kids regularly, and check in on their classes daily, to strengthen behavior and accountability. (For example, making faces into the camera, or moving / jumping around the room to get attention, are not respectful behaviors.)

5) Be in communication with your child's teacher about any questions or concerns. One of our staff mottos is, "Over-communication leads to success, under-communication leads to a mess" -- and that applies here, too. We know online learning is a big and unexpected adjustment for everyone. Ask your child's teacher for help! We are here to help you and to continue partnering with you in the education of your child. Don't forget that you can also send an email to onlinelearning@augustineclassical.org or techsupport@augustineclassical.org.

Blessings, strength, and courage to each of you. Onward for the glory of God!

Stats: Why Classical Christian Matters

Last week, The Classical Difference, an offshoot of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools (ACCS), released an extensive analysis of a study conducted by a partnership between the Cardus Educational Survey and the University of Notre Dame Sociology Department. This study focused on comparative life outcomes of adults aged 24-42 who were educated in one of six types of schools: public schools, private secular preparatory schools, Catholic schools, evangelical protestant Christian schools, religious homeschools, and ACCS (classical Christian) schools.

This analysis and its underlying study cover a wide range of areas related to respondents, including college and career preparedness, A's or mostly A's earned in college, level of degree achieved, life outlooks, sense of fulfillment via spirituality, views of suffering, goal orientation, dealing with life problems, thankfulness, trust of people around them, trust of institutions, number of and interaction with close friends, Christian commitment, doubts about religious belief, practice of spiritual disciplines, vocational priorities, volunteering, social problems, the authority of scripture, independent thinking, broader influence, and others.

I encourage you to read and enjoy this analysis, which provides in-depth guidance of its component parts. And perhaps most encouraging, this study tangibly supports the idea that a classical Christian education, such as ACA provides, can create an action-oriented culture that influences homes, communities, and nations.

Upcoming Changes for the 2020-21 Academic Year

We’re very pleased to announce several upcoming changes to our Rhetoric and Logic programs for the 2020-21 academic year. These changes will help us more fully leverage our curriculum and align our program with ACA’s enormous and important goal of partnering with parents to equip young men and women for lives of faithful discipleship to all the places God calls them: home, work, service, church, their cities and neighborhoods, and beyond. 

You’ll find details of these changes by clicking here, which we encourage you to read, but here are the highlights:

• Logic School will now be 6-8th grade, which more fully aligns with the Trivium. Sixth grade will be a transition year focused on equipping our youngest Logic students to change classes, learn to study under different faculty, and build organization and study skills. Our curriculum will include some pre-logic learning as well.

• Rhetoric School, grades 9 through 12, will now have an alternating Friday schedule (Week A: Monday through Thursday; Week B: Monday through Friday; then back to Week A again). This change enables us to more fully leverage the robust curriculum and engage in more varied pedagogical approaches—such as workshops, labs, guest speakers, student government, and formal discipleship time. 

• Rhetoric School will offer early athletic release for students who take advantage of new opportunities to play sports with nearby schools, including D’Evelyn and Golden View. 

• Rhetoric and Logic schools will move to classrooms in Belmar Church, which has a fantastic education wing. This move accommodates our growing school and gives our Logic and Rhetoric students space for both academic work and social engagement.

• Rhetoric School will have new uniforms. More info to come!

We welcome your questions, and we encourage you to send them to info@augustineclassical.org. In response, we will send out regular communication with answers and with updates as the administration and Board build out the Logic and Rhetoric school programs based on the framework described in this document.

For now, here are a few answers to questions you might have:

Why did you add Friday classes every other week for Rhetoric school?
Rhetoric school is, in many ways, the culmination of a classical, Christian education. Whereas it’s tempting to think of this education as a tiered cake--with Rhetoric school as the small, top tier on a foundation of Grammar and Logic--it’s more helpful to think of Grammar and Logic education as widgets that combine, in Rhetoric school, into an engine. 

The Rhetoric school curriculum is robust and meaty: The additional Fridays give teachers time for more in-depth discussion and for more and different learning opportunities via writing workshops, extended science labs, and guest speakers. The days also gives time for student government and focused discipleship. 

Plus, for students who will take advantage of early release for athletics (and, we hope, for fine or visual arts), the additional time on Fridays compensates for their time off-campus at the end of the academic day. 

The administration, in tandem with the teachers, will identify the elements of the curriculum that would be better served with more time and areas of the curriculum where additional time for in-depth discussion, workshops, and labs would help students dive deeper and gain greater value from the curriculum.

How will ACA measure the success of our academic offerings in our Rhetoric school?
As the Board and administration considered the schedule change for our Rhetoric school program, we looked at schedules and course catalogs from more mature classical, Christian schools. Obviously, quality comes not only from curriculum, but also--importantly--from teaching, but in considering these changes, ACA’s leadership examined the offerings at schools with strong outcomes: National Merit Finalists and Scholars, admission for graduates to top colleges and universities, strong standardized test scores, etc.

ACA will continue to administer standardized tests as a tool for benchmarking, and the administration is considering the Classical Learning Test, offered in 8th, 10th, and 11th grades. The CLT aligns well with classical, Christian education’s pedagogy and content, and it’s becoming an increasingly popular alternative not only to grade-level standardized tests for middle- and high-school students but also to college entrance exams. 

Is ACA working toward accreditation?
ACA is at a point in its development where accreditation is appropriate. A subset of the Board is at the beginning stages of exploring accreditation through the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS), of which ACA is a member, and the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). In order to accredit ACA with ACCS, the school has to have graduated one 12th-grade class.

Will ACA offer AP courses?
Parents have expressed interest in both AP coursework and access to AP testing, the benefits of which include college credit at many post-secondary schools if students earn a certain score. Currently, several Rhetoric school students are preparing to take the Latin AP exam this spring.

Where AP courses are compatible with our curriculum, we are pleased to support students in registering for them and planning for exam locations. (Once ACA is accredited, we can administer these exams; until then, our students will take the exams at other locations.) Therefore, the fields of math, science, and language study will dominate our AP offerings because the terminal point for high school study coincides with our curricular goals. However, in the humanities, the AP curriculum would require us to alter our curricular goals. For this reason, we would likely not offer AP exams in these subjects.

Nonetheless, knowing that our humanities curriculum may sufficiently prepare some students for certain AP exams, our Rhetoric school administration will help students who wish to take those exams secure spots at locations where those students may sit for those tests.

What will the administrative structure be?
We are working on how best to support our expanded Rhetoric program administratively. As soon as we have updates, we will share them!

Will tuition increase?
For the 2020-21 academic year, the tuition increase for Rhetoric school is the same as it is for the other areas of our program: about 2.5%. Eventually, yes, tuition will be higher for Rhetoric school than it is for preschool through Logic school because the cost to all elements of the program are higher than they are for the rest of our academic offerings.

Will we have more faculty?
God has been tremendously good to ACA in providing excellent upper-school faculty. And yes, ACA is actively searching for a few more teachers who are skilled in and passionate about teaching classical education in a Christ-centered school. We know that learning from a variety of teachers is important for young men and women as they prepare for lives in college, trades, and/or the workforce. Please join us in praying that the Lord will provide precisely who we need to continue to shape our oldest students’ hearts and minds in light of the Gospel and build our program. 

ACA’s Board and administration takes seriously ACA’s work as partners with parents in educating and discipling our students. We invite you to continue to pray for ACA and the daily teaching and learning—as well as the long-term planning—that enables us to steward our students’ education.