Lower School
The Lower School
Classical education aims to cultivate the mind, body, and soul. We desire for our students to wonder in truth, delight in beauty, and value the good. Our Kindergarten through Sixth Grade experience is conceived and designed as a whole program, with goals and a trajectory culminating in our Portrait of the Graduate.
We believe that a positive student experience is vital to our school. Students flourish in a context marked by predictability, support, and in a community oriented by the Gospel with a commitment to Christian discipleship.
Narrative Grading
We are committed to providing our students and parents with a more holistic, narrative feedback rather than the less substantive quantitative numerical grading. Consequently, our report cards and academic assessments reflect this balance in the Lower School.
We are committed to evaluating our students as apprentices of craft rather than products of a factory. We want to form hearts that delight in virtue, Christian faithfulness, and learning, and we believe that a narrative grading system better serves our distinct mission and vision as a classical Christian school.
The Story of the World
Students in the Lower School go through The Story of the World curriculum, an engaging, award-winning series that has been making students fall in love with history for over twenty years. The Story of the World covers the sweep of human history through time and place, giving students the background needed to gain meaning from the past.
Each year, students dive deep into a period of history. Students learn to love history from ancient to modern times, including local and state history, culminating in a festival at the end of the school year celebrating the humanities through music and presentations.
CO-CURRICULARS
Athletics and Physical Education
We value the disciplines in cultivating the mind, the soul, and the body, which the end goal for our athletics and physical education programs. All Lower School students take formal Physical Education courses and are eligible to participate in most school athletic programs beginning in the fifth grade.
Fine Arts and Music Education
Fine Art and Musical Education trains the heart to engage reality joyfully and with wonder. This mode of education seeks to expand students’ moral imagination as they delight in beauty and the possibilities of God’s creation. Lower School students take music classes beginning in Kindergarten, and can choose to specialize in either Strings or Choir beginning in the fifth grade.
Trail Life and American Heritage Girls
Trail Life USA and American Heritage Girls are both Christ-centered mentoring and discipleship organizations for boys and girls from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Students are challenged to grow in character, understand their purpose, serve their community, and develop practical leadership skills to carry out the mission for which they were created.