"We don't even know what skills may be needed in the years ahead... We must train our young people in the fundamental fields of knowledge, and equip them to undersand and cope with change. ...We must give them the critical qualities of mind and durable qualities of character that will serve them in circumstances we cannot now even predict."

 John Gardner

Why Christian Education?

Your children are worth it!  Can a Christian student survive in public school?  Yes, but there are better things than survival.  The faith of our children may not best be fostered in a sink or swim environment.  ACA is a place where faith does not merely survive.  ACA is a place where faith and the freedom to live faith can thrive.

ACA is a safe place for your child and we address safety from a spiritual direction.  We want the choices our students make to be motivated by their Christian beliefs.  They should know and believe in their heart of hearts that the decisions they make regarding their conduct results from a genuine desire not to dishonor God.  ACA teaches them that they should honor God, honor their parents and act in righteousness.

Christian Education means that we present Christian Truth and demonstrate Christian Life.  We begin each day with morning prayer and a Bible centered devotion.  This gives both student and staff the opportunity to order their day in the way of the Lord.

We believe that the Christian faith also informs all of our students, no matter what the subject.  A biblical perspective, or world view, comprises all of our subjects.

     "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important, and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed... The Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."                                              Noah Webster

What is Classical Education?

Excellence:  Take each student to their highest potential

Western:  Recognize the great contribution of Western culture to America and the world, including its triumphs and failures while also recognizing the beauty in other cultures.

Universal:  Emphasize the humanities, arts and sciences to bring a full perspective.

Integrated:  Education is necessarily tied to philosophy and religion in order to train thoughtful students.

Idealism:  Standards of right and wrong exist in all subject areas.  Students are taught to make judgements accordingly.

Integrated subjects:  Subjects should be taught in an integrated way so that students understand the whole as well as the parts.

Teaches critical thinking:  Students learn to think beyond subject-matter.  Content is not the goal-wisdom is.

Traditional:  Hold to educational standards that have a clear record of success.

Engage and Challenge:  Students will meet a high standard and enjoy the sense of achievement.

Parents are encouraged to contact the school for "Discover - Classical Christian Education, The essential guide for parents" for more information on classical education and our curriculum.

Here is a hard question:  Why should every parent strongly consider bringing their kindergartner or pre-schooler, or any student for that matter, to ACA for this school year?

ACA is a classical school.  This does not merely mean 'old fashioned'.  A classical school has an examined philosophy of education.  A true classical school uses both method and content that has a proven record of producing well-trained students for nearly two thousand years.  But isn't the whole idea of kindergarten and pre-K a modern idea?

At ACA we use pre-modern methods and content.  Parents are often pleasantly surprised by the results in the first year.  However, in the early part of that first year it will likely seem to parents that children are progressing more slowly than their public school counterparts.  While public school pupils are bringing home their "see-it/say-it" books, classical students are likely still learning more than 70 phonograms of the English language.  It does not take long for the classically trained student to outperform a student trained with 'modern' methods.  But there is another important difference.

The classical training that a student receives in kindergarten, and even in pre-K is useful and constructive for the rest of the students academic career, indeed for the rest of their lives.  What is learned in a classical school, even and especially in the early years, pays great dividends for a lifetime.

The classical student really begins to shine in the dialetic or logic (middle school) stage of their education.  The classical grammar student is learning different things, and learning differently from a modern counterpart.  In fact, the modern student may learn a broader (albeit shallower) stream of subject matter at the grammer level.  The classical student will learn a more narrowly focused stream of knowledge, but that stream will run deep.  But because the more evident benefits of a classical education become markedly evident only after the student is fully engaged in classical education, some parents make a decision to start a student in the public school, and then move a student to a classical school a year or some years later.  This is a decision that may appear to be best, based on observation; but, sometimes appearances can be deceiving.

We believe that it is in the best interest of any student to be in a classical environment at the earliest stages - even if the student has to trasition to a non-classical school later in their academic career.  What children learn at ACA, even at the very beginning, will be useful for the rest of their lives.  So, if you have to make a hard decision about what year or years to give your child the benefit of classical training at school - there is no better time than right now.