Little cherubs raising their voices is great, but I was most impressed by the scope and depth of Biblical knowledge and even theology for this age. Many feel the strongest feature of the school.
Mrs. Meza's kindergarten class featured an ode to springtime.
Jack was recognized for his love of math facts.
Michael for "exotic interests." He has a love of life - not always booklearning - in a hands-on approach. Classical Christian leans on the academics, so we tend to favor methods stressing the "discovery of God's creation" a la Charlotte Mason - a kind of classical Christian meets Montessori.
While the wisdom of citations for everyone is uncertain, the parents marveled at how well their children were known by faculty.
The music will be ramped up next year with choir, theory, and appreciation classes, hoping to teach music literacy (ie identifying fugue, choral, symphonic structures). There's a lot of thinking going on these days connecting God's people with singing, music, and poetry:
Christopher Page's book has been really fascinating, linking the Church's identity with singing (praise) and dining (the communion table).In sum, BHCA has taken a major leap forward in its second year. We wonder how our vision of affordable private education will produce a viable secondary school. Things to work on: service opportunities for the children and teaching seminars for parents; a true feeding into the community.
Even a rubric on table manners, etiquette, having conversation, etc is being considered - the kinds of emphases ridiculed in the 1960s' drive to level social difference. My own observation is that men with Catholic upbringings are more likely to help another man with his coat; ie gentlemanly behavior. So, in a circuitous, Protestant way - like our liturgy - we are discovering practices long established by other traditions. Better late than never.
With great field trips, much parental involvement, I trust that next year will be very exciting, as BHCA plows through a more fluid curriculum - allowing kids to move according to aptitude - while ramping down the academics to a more appropriate pace. My observation is that Christians - in an adversarial, defensive posture towards the world - compensate by aggressive academics; "We may lack resources, but we're smarter than you!" Albeit, there is the "We don't mind being yahoos" posture, as well.
We plan to keep up with developments via Skype while in Switzerland for Pepperdine's abroad program - our return trip, which started this blog 4 years ago!
