Why Schola?

God has blessed us with many opportunities for homeschool classes in our area. Homeschoolers no longer need to “go it alone,“ but can find organizations that partner with them in the education of their children. Each of these many groups has its own personality and strengths.

Here’s what Schola has to offer

Teachers

Seasoned teachers who have decades of experience teaching homeschooled students. As homeschool parents themselves, Schola teachers understand the challenges homeschool families face in providing structure, accountability, and upper-level learning experiences. As teachers, they also understand the interest and synergy created by group discussions of important issues as well as the value of consistency needed to complete subject matter. Schola aims to provide these advantages to homeschool families in a forum that does not detract from the goal of homeschooling: parental direction of education.

Orthodoxy

All Schola teachers are committed to the historic Christian faith as it is confessed in the Apostles’ Creed. With the Church of all ages, we confess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who entered history for us, took upon Himself our nature, voluntarily offered Himself as our substitute upon the cross, and conquered sin and death by His resurrection. The Gospel is the Good News that Christ has secured salvation for us. We are set free from sin and death through faith in Christ. In response, we seek to worship the Lord, to grow in faith and obedience to Him, and to serve Him and one another.

Comprehensive Program

Our goal is to nurture life-long learners who will take their first exposure to big ideas into a more serious study of God’s World and God’s Word in college and later life. We understand that high school and college are not interchangeable. Education is not a matter of checking off books on a list, but of returning to the great questions of life at different levels of maturity. High school is a time of first discovery of great ideas and great books. College and beyond is a time of continued exploration, of more complex analysis, of deeper engagement.

Schola offers:

• A complete High School and Junior High Program that focuses on core subjects. We don’t offer a large selection of electives; rather, we concentrate our efforts on providing excellent college-prep classes in all core subjects.
• A complete Elementary and Primary Program that nurtures a child's natural appetite for learning and teaches a strong foundation in the basic skills of reading, writing and math.
• An integrated program that unites the study of great books with the study of history, philosophy, theology, political theory, economics, art, and music. We explore the history of ideas that have shaped our culture and discuss the biblical standards we can use to evaluate those ideas.
• A single location for all classes.

Rhetoric

Schola also offers a  writing program that provides instruction in both thinking and technique in order to build a strong academic writing style. Most early high school students don’t yet have the tools needed to write at a college level. Acquisition of those tools is not merely a matter of being given college-level writing assignments. At Schola, we break down and de-mystify the writing process, first by teaching our students how to create logical, well-supported arguments and secondly by teaching them how to express those arguments with style and grace.

We understand that most high school students are not prepared to write at a college level in either skill level or maturity and need extensive guidance in developing the thinking processes that allow them to be successful in college writing. Schola students practice the thinking skills of asserting and supporting an argument in various contexts as well as the technical skills that allow them to communicate that argument clearly.

Students also practice public speaking skills each year.

Latin

Latin plays an integral part in Schola Homeschool Classes. Because Latin is the mother tongue of Western Civilization, as well as the language of the Christian faith for over a thousand years, it is the ideal tool for the transmission of cultural literacy. Latin mottoes, phrases, and sayings surround us every day, and much of Western literature assumes at least a passing understanding of Latin.

Not only is Latin the most efficient way to learn the grammar of our own language, Latin is also the basis for the Romance languages, giving Latin students a leg up in any further study of Spanish, French, and Italian, as well as Portuguese and Romanian. Latin also provides a foundation for scientific education.

Science

No classical, Christian school program is complete without the immersion of the student in the scientific realm. For thousands of years, becoming familiar with the physical world and its function was as important as nourishing one’s soul and becoming familiar with the nature and character of God and the spiritual world.

For centuries, some of the best theologians and philosophers were scientists and the best scientists were philosophers and theologians. The Scientific Method, rightly employed, is nothing more than keen observation of the physical world, interpretation of that data, and the application of principles formulated from the data–the same process used in sound Bible study. Integrating the art of observation, interpretation, and application, whether studying scripture or gravity, sharpens both the mind and soul.

Using principles discussed in Schola world view classes, students will not just regurgitate science "facts" but learn to think critically while analyzing scientific principles. Whether your student is bound for college or the mission field of the work-a-day world, rightly applying scientific principles will enhance your student’s understanding of the character and thinking prevalent in our culture.

Math

Mathematics is more than procedures and crunching numbers. Fundamentally expressing the reasonableness and consistency of God, mathematics is the key to unlock the mysteries of nature. It is the tool to comprehend the engineering needed to bring comforts to humanity. It is the language of science. It is the fingerprint of our orderly God.