What is a Classical and Christian school?
It is helpful to think of the phrase "Classical and Christian" as a brand name. Just as you can have many brands of automobiles, you can have many brands of schools. Most of us are familiar with public schools, which can also be known as state schools or government schools because they are funded and guided by the state. There are private schools, some of which are religious in nature, others of which are not. There are Montessori schools, reform schools, and gender-specific schools. And of course, there are Classical and Christian schools. And just as it is true that not all cars are the same, but certain brands outperform others, so it is with schools.
So that returns us to our question...what does it mean for a school to carry the brand "Classical and Christian?" Classical and Christian schools (hereafter CCS) trace their current configuration to to a man named Douglas Wilson; to the Logos School in Moscow, Idaho; and to the association that came from them, the Association of Classical and Christian Schools (www.accsedu.org). Even the Logos School had to start somewhere, and it takes as one of its formative documents the 1946 essay delivered by Dorothy Sayers called "The Lost Tools of Learning" (http://www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html). And where did Sayers get her inspiration? From the Medieval form of education, one that was successful for more than one thousand years, known as the Trivium.
Ok, so what does all that mean? Let's start with the Christian part of these schools. The Bible is quite clear that the primary responsibility for the education of children rests with the parents God gave them. Consider these passages:
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. (Deuteronomy 4:9, NIV)
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, NIV)
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6, NIV)
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4, NIV)
Because of these commands from God, not to mention that He created everything that is, the only proper way to study anything is from a Christian perspective. Yes, that means there is a Christian way to approach math, a Christian way to approach literature and history, even a Christian way to approach physical education. The God Who has revealed Himself as One God, eternally existing in three Persons...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...is the God Who created the universe. Therefore, He has something to say about everything from spelling and coloring to string theory and quantum mechanics.
A Classical and Christian school takes this seriously. The CCS works with parents in helping them faithfully live out their God-given responsibilities.
While there is daily worship in a CCS, it is not a mere add-on. It is not something to check off the agenda to qualify as a Christian school. Children are taught from Kindergarten on to understand their world from the perspective of the God Who created it. To pursue any area of study as if God is irrelevant is like constructing a school in which everyone pretends there are no such things as numbers. There would be no numbers in the books, no numbers on the clocks, no numbers on the classroom doors or the gym score board. Does that sound ludicrous? So is attempting to construct an educational system that says, "For the next six hours, we teachers and students will pretend that God does not exist." It is the goal of a CCS to develop help children and their parents develop the only worldview that is consistent and coherent...a Christian one.
Well, you have been reading for a while. More on the Classical part of a CCS in the next post.
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This blog will keep you up to date on developments of this Classical and Christian school in Indianapolis, IN. For further information, see our school website at www.vitanovaindy.org.
Now Enrolling!
Vita Nova is now enrolling grades pre-K through 4th grade for the 2008-2009 school year. For more information, please visit the Admission page of our website, http://www.vitanovaindy.org/admission.html.
Read to Your Children
"Learning to read begins the first time an infant is held and read a story. How often this happens, or fails to happen, in the first five years of childhood turns out to be one of the best predictors of later reading. A little-discussed class system invisibly divides our society, with those families that provide their children environments rich in oral and written language opportunities gradually set apart from those who do not, or cannot. A prominent study found that by kindergarten, a gap of 32 million words already separates some children in linguistically impoverished homes from their more stimulated peers. Children who begin kindergarten having heard and used thousands of words, whose meanings are already understood, classified, and stored away in their young brains, have the advantage on the playing field of education. Children who never have a story read to them, who never hear words that rhyme, who never imagine fighting with dragons or marrying a prince, have the odds overwhelmingly against them."
Maryanne Wolfe, professor of child development and cognitive neuroscience, Tufts University
Maryanne Wolfe, professor of child development and cognitive neuroscience, Tufts University
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Mission Statement
Mission: Guiding families in the development of their children as lifelong students and servants of God’s diverse world
Vision Statement
Vision: Providing a challenging educational environment where children learn to apply to the present and the future the wisdom of the past in the light of the One Who is truth, Jesus Christ
Non-Discriminatory Policy
Vita Nova Christian Academy admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs.
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