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Archives for Culture

Culture

Why Rigor Matters

January 18, 2025 by Caroline Hummel

Should K-12 education be rigorous? What comes to your mind when you think of “rigor”—dusty books, lists of names to memorize, and an exacting school marm holding a ruler? Or is it a responsive class of students who are engaging in a lively conversation with the teacher? Controversy or Emphasis? Early last year, I heard […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Character Education, Culture, Curriculum, Habit, Rigor

Why Do We Follow A Strategic Plan?

October 18, 2024 by Caroline Hummel

Each summer, Cedar Classical Academy crafts a strategic plan for the year. What is a strategic plan and how does it benefit you and your students? A strategic plan is a list of specific and measurable goals that direct incremental improvements and initiatives at each level of the Academy’s governance: Board of Directors, Head of […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Culture, Curriculum, Mission Statement, Parental Partnership

Why Do Folk Songs Belong in a Classical Christian Education?

August 24, 2024 by Christin Peng

As a part of the Kodály-based music education at Cedar Classical Academy, folk songs are utilized to teach musical concepts. Folk songs originate from a particular region and are passed down through generations by means of oral tradition. Aside from their value as a stepping stone towards music literacy, why do these songs rightly belong […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Character Education, Cultural Literacy, Culture, Curriculum, Folk Music, Folk Songs, K-12 education, Kodály, Music, Wonder

Why We Say “Well”

January 10, 2024 by Jack Hummel

Every morning at Cedar Classical Academy, the Cedar community—staff, students, and parents—gathers together in the Great Hall for Opening Ceremony. During Opening Ceremony, we sing a hymn, recite a patriotic recitation or sing a patriotic song, pray together, and sing again while students walk to class. Sometimes students or staff share an individual or all-class […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Culture, Discipleship, Habit, Habit Formation, K-12 education, Opening Ceremony

Handwriting

April 10, 2023 by Maria Berggren

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 […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Character Education, Culture, Curriculum, Cursive, Grammar School, Habit, Handwriting, K-12 education, Lower School, Pencil Position

Christmas Gift Guide 2022: Staff Picks for Kids

December 16, 2022 by Sydney Ackerman

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 […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Building a Strong Family Culture, Christmas, Christmas Gift Guide, Culture, Good Books, Read-Alouds

Kodály Who?

October 13, 2022 by Christin Peng

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 […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Cultural Literacy, Culture, Curriculum, Extracurriculars, K-12 education, Music, The Liberal Arts

Why We Have High Expectations in Kindergarten

October 3, 2022 by Sydney Ackerman

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. Download our Kindergarten Readiness Checklist 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 […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Character, Character Education, Culture, Discipline, Failure, Faith, Grammar School, Grit, Growth Mindset, Habit, K-12 education, Kindergarten, Parental Partnership, Rigor

The Adventure of Reading Alone

February 25, 2022 by Maria Berggren

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 […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Building a Strong Family Culture, Character Education, Cultural Literacy, Culture, Family, Grammar School, Habit, Literature, Moral Imagination, Reading, Reading Instruction

Cedar Hallways

January 25, 2022 by Sydney Ackerman

You come into Cedar Classical Academy for the first time and many unique practices fill your first impressions. You notice our uniforms, the orderliness of the students’ boot mat, the friendly greetings of students when you enter a classroom. You say, “Wow! A school in a church!” (To see how the Lord orchestrates this weekly, […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Character Education, Culture, Grammar School, Habit, K-12 education, Logic School, Moral Imagination, Observation visits, Parental Partnership, Rhetoric School, Stewardship, Virtue

In Defense of Mastery: Our Approach to Assessment

October 28, 2021 by Amber Knapp

One of the primary goals outlined in our mission statement is to “offer a rigorous course of study in the Western liberal arts tradition, teaching students to discover goodness, truth, and beauty in every discipline as a reflection of God.” A great deal of preparation goes into the fulfillment of this statement. The governing board supports the school by upholding the […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Assessment, Character Education, Culture, Curriculum, Family, Grades, Grading, Grammar School, K-12 education, Lifelong Learning, Logic School, Mission Statement, Parental Partnership, Rhetoric School, Virtue

Harvesting Where We Did Not Plant: The Story of a Brick-and-Mortar School

October 12, 2021 by Caroline Hummel

In the summer of 2017 on a sweltering weekday morning, I parked just south of the Capitol and walked to the Michigan Department of Education, holding the hands of my two toddlers, in order to get a letter of approval declaring us a school. I had tried and failed to register our school with the […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Culture, Faith, Grit, K-12 education, Mission Statement, Rigor, Stewardship

The Magic of Reading Aloud

August 6, 2021 by Caroline Hummel

Think of the turning points in great stories that have shaped you. What are the moments you remember? These moments still feel as vividly real to me as my own childhood memories: Bilbo in the tunnel just before he meets Smaug, Aslan coming back to life, Mole apologizing to Rat after upsetting the boat, Puddleglum […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Audiobooks, Building a Strong Family Culture, Character Education, Cultural Literacy, Culture, Curriculum, Family, Habit, Lifelong Learning, Movies, Parental Partnership, Reading, Reading Instruction

Five Tips to Enjoy Nature with Your Family

July 28, 2021 by Emma Setterington

Baby Snapping Turtle

Building family culture is simply about doing things together. Shared experiences, shared interests, and repeated activities (traditions) are what stick in kids’ memories and make your family a fun place to belong. Exploring nature is together is a relatively easy, free activity that is accessible to all. Even if the outdoors isn’t your thing, the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Building a Strong Family Culture Tagged With: Building a Strong Family Culture, Culture, Extracurriculars, Family, Lifelong Learning, Nature Study, Parental Partnership, Parenting, Science, Wonder

Three Ways to Reinforce Classical Education at Home

July 19, 2021 by Amelia Stieren

If what your children do at school matters, then how they live at home ought to matter even more. At Cedar, we want our students to celebrate the continuity in the Lord’s sovereignty and grace in all things, whether that be during a lesson on fractions or while taking out the trash at home. We […]

Filed Under: Blog, Building a Strong Family Culture Tagged With: Building a Strong Family Culture, Chores, Culture, Extracurriculars, Family, Lifelong Learning, Parental Partnership, Parenting, Self-Government, Wonder

Family Worship

June 21, 2021 by Jason Helopoulos

A Neglected Grace

Jason Helopoulos is a Cedar dad since 2019 and pastor of University Reformed Church. He is author of A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home which calls parents and church leaders to reclaim the practice of family worship. To encourage Cedar families to build strong family cultures in their own homes, we asked […]

Filed Under: Blog, Building a Strong Family Culture Tagged With: Building a Strong Family Culture, Character Education, Culture, Faith, Family, Habit, Lifelong Learning, Moral Imagination, Parental Partnership, Parenting, Theology, Virtue, Worldview, Worship

Count the Cost, Part IV: Failure

February 6, 2021 by Katherine Bradford

count the cost

Count the Cost is a blog series designed for prospective parents. In our fourth installment, we asked Miss Katherine Bradford about how a classical school’s high standards inevitably mean that students will deal with failure. (Spoiler Alert: We think that is a good thing.) Katie was a founding teacher at Oakdale Academy in Waterford Township […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Admissions, Character Education, Count the Cost, Culture, Curriculum, Grit, K-12 education, Parental Partnership, Rigor, Virtue, Worldview

Count the Cost, Part III: Tiny School

January 30, 2021 by Anne Poortenga

count the cost

Count the Cost is a blog series designed for prospective parents. In our third installment, we asked the Poortenga family about the steep costs of pioneering at such a small school community in which each family plays a major part in shaping the school culture. The Poortengas co-founded Trinitas Classical School, a Michigan K-8 classical […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Admissions, Count the Cost, Culture, Grammar School, K-12 education, Logic School, Parental Partnership

Count the Cost, Part II: A Singing Culture

January 16, 2021 by Christin Peng

count the cost

Count the Cost is a blog series designed for prospective parents. In our second installment, we asked our music teacher to explain why we spend so much – so much – time singing. If you a spend a day at Cedar Classical Academy, you will quickly notice that we constantly sing together throughout the school hours. The […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Admissions, Character Education, Count the Cost, Culture, Habits, K-12 education, Liturgy, Music, Parenting, Singing

Count the Cost, Part I: Money Etc.

January 4, 2021 by David and Ellen Liebing

count the cost

Count the Cost is a blog series designed for prospective parents. In our first installment, we asked the Liebing family about the financial sacrifices they have made over the past 21 years of their involvement with Mars Hill Academy.  Our core conviction is this: we have a responsibility as parents to do the best we […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Admissions, Character Education, Count the Cost, Culture, Faith, K-12 education, Parental Partnership, Parenting, Stewardship, Tuition

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