We hold to this definition from the Education Department of Hillsdale College:
Classical education is the pursuit of human happiness through the cultivation of moral and intellectual virtue by means of a rich and rigorous course of study in the arts, sciences, and humanities, yielding informed self-government and a well-ordered understanding of the world and human nature.
You can also watch this cartoon from Classical Academic Press.
Application for our 2019-2020 year is now closed. Check out our Apply page or email Jack at [email protected] to learn about our application process for future years.
We will open as a K-6 school, clustered into grade groups 1-2 and 3-6 (with differentiation between grades in some subjects). 1-6 will be full time and K will be part-time (2 days/week). We will add 1-2 grades per year until we are K-12.
Our long-term ideal cap for class size is 16 students.
No! As every human is made in God's image, classical education is for everyone.
- Montessori?
No, Montessori is a specific schooling method that focuses on encouraging a child's natural interests and intelligence by allowing the child to guide his own education. Classical education is a philosophy of education, rather than a specific method, which focuses on calling a child to a higher, external, objective standard of what it means to be human.
- Classical Conversations?
No, Classical Conversations is a specific homeschool curriculum drawing on the broader classical philosophy of education. They have ideas in common, but are not the same.
Most schools in our state, public or private, spend around $13,000 per student per year. As a private school (see below for why we are not seeking to become a public charter school), we receive no public funding, but count on private charitable donations and tuition to cover all our expenses. We are working hard to make tuition affordable for parents by 1) seeking to operate as economically as possible while not compromising our mission, and 2) raising funds from outside individuals and organizations who are eager see our mission go forward.
Besides generating necessary income for the school, charging tuition requires parents to carefully consider the value of the education we offer and their own commitment to it. We hope the parents who join our community have resolved that this education is worth the cost and the financial sacrifices that will likely be required of their family.
Our ticket-price tuition for grades 1-6 is $6750 per year. While we view the financial commitment of tuition as something that will strengthen our school community, our hope is that tuition will never be a barrier that prevents like-minded families from joining us. Discounts are offered for early enrollment, paying in full, and enrolling multiple children. Additionally, parents may apply to be considered for tuition assistance through a third-party company for a small fee. The third-party assessment takes into account the household's whole financial picture, and returns a tuition level that the family can reasonably afford to pay. (We encourage you to talk with us if you feel there are factors affecting your ability to pay tuition which are not addressed in the third-party process). When the assessment is completed, we will do our best to provide financial assistance (through private donors) bringing tuition down to the affordable figure. Our families are also encouraged to ask their own personal contacts to consider donating to the school's tuition assistance fund or directly toward their child's tuition costs. For more about our financial plan, see https://cedarclassicalacademy.org/give/.
Understanding that tuition assistance is available because of the generosity of private donors and the efforts of CCA board and staff members to seek out donations, we hope that you will consider paying a higher tuition level than your assessment returned, if you are in a financial position to do so. This would allow us to stretch our tuition assistance funds further and to make a good, true, and beautiful education accessible to more children.
Although we love homeschooling, we will open as a full-time school. Here's why:
- School culture is important. We want to protect ours with a committed community of teachers, student and families who are on a mission together learning what it means to be humans.
- A rigorous education requires a full school week. This is a serious endeavor, and we want to treat it as such.
- We will have a greater impact on our culture. A part-time or hybrid homeschooling model would exclude families with two working parents who just want a good school for their kids who would otherwise have to send their kids to public school. If we were a part-time school, we would attract only parents who have one parent homeschooling children who are already going to get a good education whether it’s at this school or not. As a full-time school, we will join with those parents to multiply our impact and reach other families too.
Cedar Classical Academy is nondenominational in its Christian worldview piloting the theology curriculum from The Rafiki Foundation. Our teachers will sign the broadly Christian Statement of Faith posted on our website. Our parents will not have to confess to the Statement of Faith, but will instead sign on that they accept that their children will be taught in accordance with it. Here's why:
- Parents and churches are the primary means of educating children about God. We will defend the Judeo-Christian heritage and the truths of the Bible. At the same time, we want to support parents' authority over their children and allow for diversity of thought and freedom of conscience.
- We will have a greater impact on our culture. If we do not limit ourselves to a particular denomination, more children will benefit from the excellent education we can offer.
Because human beings are comprised of body, mind, and soul, we want to train and educate all of those facets of each child. We will offer sports, music, and other extracurriculars. We will not, however, spend as much time and money on these programs as the local public school, nor will we pursue the type of sports program that eliminates all family time. We may not produce elite athletes, but we will graduate self-controlled men and women.