Admissions Transfer

Students often transfer into Mars Hill Academy having missed Latin courses at the Grammar level and/or Logic courses at the Rhetoric level. In such circumstances our goals are to:

• Avoid overwhelming transfer students with the requirements of a course that is well beyond beginners,
• Avoid slowing down the pace of a course for an entire class in an attempt to accommodate a transfer student,
• Provide every transfer student a standardized, substantive course of study in Latin, including two years of Latin beyond the Grammar Stage, and
• Equip every upper-level transfer student with the basic dialectical tools via a standardized, substantive course of study in Logic.

Latin
Mars Hill Academy begins teaching Latin in the fourth grade and continues Latin training through eighth grade. The plan for transfers who have not had Latin is as follows:

• 5th Grade - There are two options for students entering 5th grade. First, students can take summer school or tutoring in an effort to meet requirements for 5th grade Latin. The other option is to take an "alternate track" in Latin. In this case students will take the same Latin class as his or her 5th grade classmates; however, they will not be responsible for translation work. This option is also available to transfer students who took summer school/tutoring but are unable to keep up with the class during the school year. An alternate track student will remain in an alternate track in 6th grade unless he or she can pass a proficiency test prior to the beginning of 6th grade.
• 6th Grade - Like 5th graders, 6th grade transfers can take an "alternate track" in Latin (see above). They are part of the 6th grade Latin class but are not responsible for translation work. Such students remain alternate track students for the remaining two years of their Latin training (see below).
• 7th Grade - Students entering 7th grade will be placed in a separate Latin Guided Study (LGS), and will continue in LGS through 8th grade. They will work through the Wilson and Jenny Latin textbooks under the direction of a Latin teacher.
• 8th Grade - 8th grade transfers follow the same Latin Guided Study plan as do 7th grader transfers. However, a second year of Latin Guided Study will be required sometime during the next four years.
• 9th - 12th Grades - In order to meet graduation requirements, these transfers are required to take two years of Latin Guided Study.

Other
It should be noted that students who take the Latin Guided Study will not have Latin included on their high school transcripts.

None of the transfer plans described above precludes able and willing students from catching up to their classes in Latin. Students who have the desire and will to join their respective classmates are encouraged to do so. We will provide the necessary materials, consultation or tutoring, and testing.

Students who have taken Latin in the past will be tested for their ability to keep pace with their classmates in the regular track.

Logic
Mars Hill Academy teaches Logic in 7th and 8th grades. Students entering in 8th grade and above will take Logic during summer school or through tutoring.

Transfer students who have taken Logic are required to pass a proficiency test based on Introductory Logic and Intermediate Logic by Douglas Wilson and James Nance.