FAQ

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• What is “classical methodology”?

  In short, classical education is a way of teaching that matches teaching methods and material with the way children learn. We often say we are “teaching with the grain of child development.” For example, young children like to sing, recite, chant, wiggle, move, and do things over and over again. Consequently, students in our younger grades learn factual material by singing, reciting, chanting, wiggling, and moving, and they do this over and over. As students mature, their interests change and repetition is less appealing so our teaching methodology and content change, as well.

• How do you know classical education works?

  It has a track record that cannot be touched by any other type of education. Classical instruction* has educated students for nearly 2000 years. Most of our country’s Founding Fathers were educated classically. Explore the results of a Mars Hill Academy classical education in Good News.
  
  In contemporary America, Mars Hill Academy is part of a growing movement to recapture classical education. There are now over 200 classical and Christian schools in the U.S. and students graduating from them are moving on to the colleges and universities more than prepared for their studies and experiences. More importantly, Christian and classically trained young adults are equipped with intellectual tools that other educational methodologies neglect to develop. Classical education was, at one time, the most practical and impractical type of education, in that a student was taught to contemplate what is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness – an apparently irrelevant or impractical worldview to many in today’s world. A classical education, however, is about the most practical education one could receive as it relates to the ability to read, think, write and speak well. It is at the heart of any successful man’s or woman’s “skill set.”
  
  * Classical education has been the dominant type of education in the Western world since the time of ancient Greece and Rome. It was only replaced by “progressive” methods and values in the mid/late 19th Century.

• Do you offer multiple child discounts?

  Please refer to our Tuition Schedule.

• What is your class size?

We take no more than 12 students in each Kindergarten class. We take up to 20 students in other grades.

• The classrooms seem very structured. Does that work for all students?

Experience tells us that all teachers can teach best and all students can learn best when the classroom is orderly and without distractions that divert children’s less-developed attention spans. Our goal is to maintain a healthy, engaging, productive learning environment. As a result, our classroom environment should be considered structured, but not rigid.

• What kinds of extra-curricular sports and activities do you offer?

Please reference the Co-Curricular section of the web site for information on this topic.

• Your behavioral standards and expectations are very high. I don’t think my child can meet them - he can’t even sit still for five minutes.

Yes, our standards are high but this does not mean young students are expected to meet our standards immediately. Rather, children are lovingly and gently trained and exhorted to meet biblical expectations and, eventually, they do. Their transformation over a relatively short period of time is amazing, especially in Kindergarten.

• Is this a school for gifted children?

No, we view our school as one that gives ordinary kids extraordinary opportunities. Visitors are amazed at what our students can do and we attribute that to our high standards and classical education methodology.