Classical Christian Private
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Anonymous
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Maybe Loudoun Classical
https://loudounclassicalschool.com/ No personal knowledge, though. |
Anonymous
+1 It is a specific "thing" -- go to the link above for an explanation from the association of these schools for a thorough description. |
Anonymous
Hi - my two children were enrolled in a Classical Christian school for most of elementary school. I thought the early years (K-3) were great for them. These schools generally follow the "traditional" line of teaching philosophy, with a lot of memorization during early elementary years. There is a huge emphasis on reading and writing; my second child started Pre-K at the school, barely knowing their alphabet, but they were reading those Bob books on their own by winter break. During second semester of their Pre-K year, they were bringing home spelling words that their older sibling was learning in public school ... in the second grade ... so we moved our oldest to the same school for third grade. They had done well in public school but got a C in Reading their first quarter at the new school because the teacher figured out they were only reading, not comprehending. As such, the teacher spent a lot of one-on-one time with them to improve their reading comprehension skills, for which I am thankful. Both kids learned Latin early on and, again, had a lot of memorization. Some may be useless - why they had to memorize dates of certain events that transpired in Europe 1000 years ago is beyond me. Maybe it helped train their brains or something. But their math skills were advanced quite quickly b/c in math class, they had timed worksheets to hone their basic skills (similar to what I did in school many eons ago). That really helped them build up a solid foundation in math. Most Classical Christian schools are very small in size; as such, I pulled our kids out when the oldest started 7th grade and our second child started 4th grade. Our oldest was lucky in that their 4th and 5th-grade teachers were very good; however, I noticed that they were getting too comfortable in such a small environment (their 6th-grade class had 15 students). Thus, we moved both of them to a larger private school. I think Classical Christian education has its strengths but it's certainly nowhere near perfect. Tuition is much lower than most other independent private schools so the facilities are not that impressive (which is why I would not recommend for older kids; for instance, there was no dedicated science lab in the high school but it may have changed now since we left almost 10 years ago). If you have truly dedicated, focused teachers, they can do wonders for your child b/c class sizes are so small. Yes, they do teach a lot of religion as well but I didn't let that bother me and I am an atheist. I chose the school for the education and just talked up evolution at home and how not every religion is the same and we should respect people for their personal beliefs, not judge them b/c they are not Christian. We have some interesting dinner table discussions at our house, haha. Hope this helps; happy to provide more insight on our experience with Classical Christian education if you have any specific questions. |
Anonymous
This is exactly what I was looking for ! Thank you! I would love to connect further and just discuss some questions as I am really leaning toward enrolling my child into the school because in comparison to the others in the area, the academics are more rigorous. I like how you mentioned, the teacher noticed the comprehension aspect. That is extremely important to me. Also, the emphasis on mastering the basics. I noticed the K classroom was writing sentences and reading books. What was the deciding factor of withdrawing them and at what grade level? |
Anonymous
We pulled our children when the older one was going into 7th grade and the younger one was going into 4th grade. With the older child, their sixth-grade class had around only 15 students and the numbers did not get any bigger for middle or high school. We wanted them to not be so attached to a small environment; they needed the opportunity to broader their horizons so they would learn to adapt to different situations more easily. They did a lot of activities / sports outside of school so it wasn't like the school was their only opportunity to be with kids their own age, but we wanted them to have a more "real" school experience, not just sitting in the same classroom with the same handful of kids until they graduated high school. Not knocking that environment; it works for many people but that was not what we wanted for our children. The timing was right because we had a lot of issues with our second child's 3rd-grade teacher that year as well and they were just ready to move on . That is the flip side of having a small class with only one teacher per grade - if your child and teacher do not mesh, there is no other option. Our second child is more of an extrovert than their older sibling and so was ready for a more varied experience at a younger age. They were 12 and 9 when we moved them to a parochial Catholic school and they both went on to a Catholic high school in NoVA. I will say - the academic transition was seamless from the small Classical Christian school to a larger school; both excelled at their new schools from day one and our older child was easily placed in the advanced track for math. I do give credit to that school for giving both children such a solid educational foundation in their early years. |
Anonymous
"solid foundation" LOL more like indoctrination into less academic. If they had transfered to public they would be even more behind. OP you do you. Giving your kid an education is a gift. This type is not. |
Anonymous
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I'm pleased with my kids' classical school's science program. Though it doesn't have the emphasis that history & lit have, it's much more robust than what I saw in public. Strongest area is biology - second grade raises mealworms, third grade gets crayfish. A long unit on human physiology in 6th takes advantage of the classical propensity for memorizing. The woods and a pond in back get a lot of use; junior high does a multiday trip to the Chesapeake.
My understanding is that, as is typical in classical, science is not really the focus in high school - reading/writing/history takes precedence. The school is growing fast, but even at its target HS enrollment, equipment (due to cost) and course offerings are still going to be limited. I do know that kids who are particularly STEM focused will sometimes add on DE courses, and the school does offer some flexibility as far as their schedule goes to accommodate this. Enrichment-wise , they've contracted for after-school programming classes, and their Science Olympiad team has been to the State tournament several years in a row. You don't mention Math, so I will. Math curriculum in ES is Math in Focus, which is a pretty good Singapore Math derivative. Kids will do mental math, memorize their times tables, & etc. No calculators until Jr. High, unless an accommodation is in place. Acceleration (and deceleration) is possible, but rare. ES is done strictly by grade -- too small a school to do otherwise. So a very good math student can move up a grade, a very poor one will do math with the younger kids. Jr High + does group more by ability. Algebra I in 8th is the standard track. Top course offerings are Calc AB and AP Stats, DE available for those who have accelerated faster. All told, as a STEM person myself, and raising STEM-oriented kids, I'm happy with it thus far. Lots of other techies amongst the moms and dads, probably for the same reason you can find so many low-tech schools in Silicon Valley. |
Anonymous
Adult who spent some time in classical Christian privates, some time homeschooled, and some time at a top public magnet. You have no idea what you're talking about. Some of the things included in only a classical curriculum, like logic, set you up so well for learning just about anything. It's basically the definition of the gift of education. |
Anonymous
Because of people who do not fundamentally understand science and, because they do not understand it, think it is not real. They then strive to keep their children just as ignorant. Run. Why handicap your child this way. |
Anonymous
Tell me you don't know the kind of people who send their kids to classical Christian privates without telling me you don't actually know them. |
Anonymous
Always interesting when one who rants about someone else being ignorant simultaneously proves they don't know what they are talking about. |