Organizers target fall opening for Tier's first classical Christian school

Some of you may have heard already of the classical school Anne and I, Samantha Kubic and her husband Niell, Mark and Anna Dreher are planning for the Fall. The Press and Sun Bulletin ran an article on the school this morning featuring Samantha:

...We desire a classical education for our children," Kubik said.

Classical education, inspired by Dorothy Sayers' essay "The Lost Tools of Learning," gears pedagogy to three learning stages, called the Trivium: grammar, logic and rhetoric.

The grammar stage, which is roughly equivalent to elementary school age, capitalizes on students' aptitude for memorization and has them memorize a wide range of facts -- in math, geography, English, the Bible and Latin.

Young teens, who often like to argue with adults, are trained in formal logic, while older students are taught to communicate persuasively through instruction in rhetoric.

To get the basics down, students need to start the classical system fairly young; after the sixth grade, it's difficult because the grammar stage establishes the foundation for the other stages.

Classical Christian schools are also based on scripture and promote a Biblical worldview. There are only two such schools in the state: one in Manhattan and the other in the Albany area, according to the Association of Classical & Christian Schools...more