Ever before us are the young people who will become adults. We dare not rush these little ones; each step in their classical education builds to the next – each moment is important to relish and enjoy.
The classical scope and sequence along with pedagogical supports Hillsdale curated in their Program Guide and licensed to CCA is a model of a complete education rooted in the liberal arts tradition. It is sequential and integrated across content areas in a spiral to deepen knowledge, not just widen it, thus our scholars will end up with a breadth and depth of knowledge at the end of their tenure here. The classical model emphasizes primary sources, reading whole books, asking great questions, learning history through story, understanding time and place through Geography, conceptual mathematics, explicit orthography instruction, and the humanity of science as well as integrating Music, Art, and PE into the content areas.
Further, classical education forms the soul; we wrestle with what it means to be human in an ordered world and live virtuous lives. In his philosophical work, The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis asserts that “it still remains true that no justification of virtue will enable man to be virtuous” and that “without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless” thus education is, according to Aristotle, “to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought” so that instead of sentimentality and superficiality, “trained emotions” empower the intellect lest “we make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise.” Our scholars do not construct truth, they discover what is already true by developing their moral imagination, wondering at big ideas and the natural world, training their minds and hearts.
All of this takes time, patience, and fortitude to let the education do its work – a lesson we can learn from our youngest scholars who had the opportunity to wait on a brood of chicks to hatch. In between lessons, they checked in on the little lives wriggling and growing inside the shell with an OvaScope – the anticipation was palpable. At just the right time, beaks broke through the shells, but didn’t hatch – another opportunity to wait, to check. And then, birds hatched out of their shells leaving their first home behind. As by design, each egg hatched with its own perfect timing within a day of each other. Once hatched, dried, and relocated to a larger coop equipped with a heat lamp, the chicks were on to the next stage of life. What simple and pure joy all the chirping and squeals of delight from the scholars brought us all. According to the Kindergarten teacher, one exuberant scholar exclaimed upon entering the room one day, “I love that sound! It’s the sound of new life!” And it was worth all the waiting and checking.
We have the opportunity to wait and check patiently for the lives of our scholars to be what they are intended to be – responsible and independent, knowledgeable and virtuous.
