General Curriculum Goals

As Christians trying to offer children the best possible education, we have read far and wide, and have sought to form a school which would be consistent with a Christ-centered worldview mandated by Scripture (Col. 1:17; 2 Cor. 10:5). We have also been inspired by Dorothy Sayers' seminal essay, "The Lost Tools of Learning," although it is certainly not the final word on education. Perhaps the chief value in the surge of interest in Sayers' essay is the attention given in recent years to the liberal arts. At Augustine School we are seeking to recover the liberal arts, and to offer a distinctly Christian appropriation to the arts. In Pre-K-8th grades our general goals for the students are as follows:

to learn the biblical story of creation, fall, and redemption, including the key figures and events of biblical history
to memorize significant portions of Holy Scripture
to develop reading and writing skills
to be immersed in the best literature available
to memorize and to be able recite significant portions of poetry
to master the basics of English grammar
to memorize math tables and foundational math rules
to learn the central historical and geographical facts of the historical cycle being studied
to master significant vocabulary, paradigms, and grammatical rules of Latin
to learn the basic classifications of natural history (science)
to develop basic skills in art (e.g., drawing) and music (e.g., singing).

Please do not let the emphasis on "memorization" and "rules" scare you! Young children love to learn and memorize. They might not understand all the "whys" of what they are memorizing, but that can wait. We are interested in giving the student a firm foundation in "grammar"--students with such a foundation have that much more to reflect on, to question, to ponder as they naturally begin to ask the more profound questions as they proceed in their education. Additionally, the accumulation of facts is not achieved solely through workbooks or endless writing of rules. Memorization takes place through song, chants, games, visual stimulation, projects, stories, etc.