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Archives for Parental Partnership

Parental Partnership

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

Eight Tips for Less-Hectic Mornings (From the Parents Who Know Best!)

August 20, 2024 by Sydney Ackerman

When I drive to school in the mornings, I do not have students in my car and it is still hard some mornings to be on time! That got me wondering what mornings are like for the other families in the Cedar Classical Academy community who do have students. I asked the six families with […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Advice from Other Parents, Opening Ceremony, Parental Partnership

Homework Habits

December 1, 2023 by Sarah DeGoffau

As we soldier on through the second quarter of a new academic year, it is worthwhile to consider how we, as parents, can help our students establish good homework habits. Recovering Delight in Homework? I had the pleasure of being present in the first grade math class at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Building a Strong Family Culture, Character Education, Curriculum, Grit, Habit, Homework, Parental Partnership, Virtue

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

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

The Value of Reading Together

August 23, 2021 by Caroline Hummel

If you have a student in Cedar in Kindergarten, 1st Grade, or 2nd Grade, then you are familiar with this instruction on their take-home sheets: “Read at home with your student.” But what exactly does that mean? What should reading at home with your student look like? The Secret Sauce Let’s start with an encouraging […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Cultural Literacy, Curriculum, Family, Grammar School, K-12 education, Lifelong Learning, Parental Partnership, Reading, Reading Instruction, Special Education, The Great Books, The Liberal Arts

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

Introduction to Latin

February 10, 2021 by Amelia Stieren

While reading Washington Irving’s book, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., the 3rd and 4th graders came across the phrase terra incognita. A student asked what it means, but already knew half its meaning since he knew that terra, a vocabulary word they learned in their first year of Latin at Cedar, means “earth” or “land.” Why do we teach […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Curriculum, Grammar School, Grit, Homework, K-12 education, Latin, Latin School, Lifelong Learning, Parental Partnership, Rigor, The Liberal Arts

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

Introduction to Singapore Math

February 3, 2021 by Jack Hummel

At Cedar Classical Academy, we teach mathematics in a way that is very different from the way you were likely taught. American math curricula tend to show a pre-solved example equation, explain the steps that were taken to solve it, and then assign a number of similar problems. The student solves these problems by copying […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Curriculum, Grammar School, K-12 education, Logic School, Mathematics, Parental Partnership, Quadrivium, Quarantine Chronicles, Rhetoric School, Rigor, Wonder

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 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

The Mission Series Pt. I | The Finish Line, The Starting Line, and What We Mean By “Serving Parents”

December 18, 2018 by Caroline Hummel

Twenty Nineteen is right around the corner. Back in April 2017, when we first began using the phrase “starting a school in 2019,” it felt satisfyingly inspiring yet vague—like saying, “Someday I’ll run a marathon” or “I’m thinking about climbing Mt. Everest in a few years.” We didn’t realize how quickly 2019 would become a […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Mission Series, Mission Statement, Parental Partnership

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