EQUIPPING STUDENTS TO JOYFULLY SERVE

What is classical Christian education?

Modern education trains your children for college and career, focusing on activism and power. Classical Christian education rightly orders students' loves and equips them to live good lives with joy and grit, focusing on truth and virtue.

who we are

mission

vision

curriculum

in operation since

2019

101

students

offering grades

K-10

located in

Lansing, MI

CLASSICAL ED'S TRACK RECORD

OUR FOUNDING STORY

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OUR OPENING YEARS

Support from parents:

"We came to Cedar as we were looking for a school that would invest in our children's character and faith in addition to academics and that is why we have stayed; we are truly thankful for the community here."

Josh & Colleen

"We want our kids to go to Cedar Classical Academy so that they will appreciate beauty and see God's hand in the world, learn self-discipline, learn how to approach learning a new subject, learn Latin as a bridge to other languages, and have community with peers who are like-minded but not exactly like us."

Alex & Chetta

"Cedar Classical Academy is a long-term investment in the lives of our children and, through the partnership model, we as parents are growing as well. Goodness, truth, and beauty are all evident - they flow through every part of the Academy - and our family is falling more in love with the glory of God in all of life because of it."

Barry & Sarah

"Cedar Classical Academy has gone above and beyond in exceeding any expectations that I had for a private, Christian school. The academics push students to work hard, be self-disciplined and provide the framework for lifelong learning."

Ryan & Kate

"What a blessing this school has been to our family. Teaching from a Christian worldview and framework, the school does not shy away from hard topics but aims to build up students to face ease and hardship with grit and joy. Our kids love going to school every day and are forming good, positive friendships with the other students in their classes."

Jesse & Amber

"Sending our 4th and 5th graders to CCA this year was life changing for them. My husband and I had only heard about classical education, but hadn’t paid much attention to it. It was entirely different than public school! Learning at CCA feels like an adventure to our kids compared to the drudgery of trying to learn with the (often) boring curriculum in public elementary school."

Nathanael & Mari

Communities We Serve:

Bath

DeWitt

Dimondale

East Lansing

Grand Ledge

Haslett

Holt

Lansing

Maple Rapids

Okemos

Saint Johns

Williamston

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Friday morning Latin in Miss Stieren's 3rd Grade Latin class.

BLOG

Handwriting

Within the first week of school in my classroom, I begin teaching the first and second graders how to hold their pencils correctly and how to form their letters properly. Why do I begin so early? Because many of them enter my classroom putting their index and middle fingers on their pencils. The longer they […]

We’re Moving!

Since Cedar Classical Academy opened its doors in 2019, it has grown from 31 students in grades K-6 to 91 students in grades K-9 and expects 100+ students in grades K-10 this fall. This growth prompted Cedar to pursue additional classroom space in 2021. Thanks to sacrificial donors, we raised $430,000 toward that end during […]

Christmas Gift Guide 2022: Staff Picks for Kids

Welcome to Cedar Classical Academy’s Christmas Gift Guide! Our staff has compiled gift recommendations for the children in your life. Keep scrolling for our practical, tried-and-true, and sometimes unconventional picks for this Christmas season! This post is not sponsored. For even more gift ideas, check out our 2020 guide and our 2020 read-aloud and book […]

Classical Education 101: Crash Course

We always say that classical education is better experienced than explained… but we also want you to be able to explain it! Classical Education 101, a new 4-week course that we are offering for parents, is an opportunity to learn alongside other parents how to craft and practice your own explanation of classical education – […]

Kodály Who?

If you are a Cedar parent, you may have heard your student sing about a horse that caught a whooping cough, rain that will not go away, Queen Caroline, or John Kanaka. Learning these folk songs is part of the Kodály (pronounced code-EYE) approach that is focused on singing-centered music literacy. Folk songs (our musical mother […]

Why We Have High Expectations in Kindergarten

This is adapted from a talk that Mrs. Ackerman gave at a parent education event called Lightning Talks on September 28, 2022. Watch it here. On the front end I want to warn you that this talk may make kindergarten sound like a battlefield, but in this short time I don’t have time to go […]

In Defense of Mastery: Our Approach to Assessment Pt. 2

In our last installment in this series, we discussed the universality of assessment, the history of grading, and who grades are for, concluding that systems of assessment which serve institutional aims do not best achieve our aims for the student. Our aims for your students are self-government, self-control, virtue, mastery of the material, love of […]

Small Beginnings

Our founding story was recently featured on The Classical Difference which is published by the ACCS. Cedar Classical Academy was founded over 3 years, 2016-2019. Check out the story here. For more details, check out this blog post.

The Adventure of Reading Alone

Congratulations! Your child can read. He has mastered the first stage of reading: decoding and recoding. Now that he can sound words out, he has even started reading chapter books on his own. Supporting your child in this next big step is a little bit like un-babyproofing the house. Once the baby gate is stowed […]