William C. MichaelWilliam C. Michael

Mr. William C. Michael, O.P., is the founder and headmaster of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy and a Lay Dominican in the Catholic Church. Mr. Michael received an honors degree in Classics and Ancient History from Rutgers University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He led the CLAA to accreditation with Cognia in 2024. He has been studying and teaching the classical liberal arts for over 30 years.

How to Manage Homeschool Studies (2026)

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Today is Friday, September 25th, 2026, and I’m William Michael. I’m the headmaster of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. Today I’d like to take some time to talk to homeschooling parents to help them understand how they should think about the studies of their children, how they should manage their studies, and how those studies turn into academic records. Because I think that many—I would say most—homeschooling parents don’t understand the significance of academic records, don’t understand what academic records actually show for their children. And this leads to many false ideas about what the kids need to do and … Continue

How to Find Your Vocation

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I have been working in education, and as a father, with older students for almost thirty years, and in that time I have had to work through many difficult deliberations with young people as they try to figure out what they are going to do with their lives. It is really the most important question we have to answer. What am I going to do when I grow up? What am I going to do when I finish my college studies? Now that I am a young adult, independent and able to make my own choices, what should I do? … Continue

CLAA Parent Meeting – 09/16/2026

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CLAA Weekly Parent Meeting — September 16, 2026 The third parent meeting of the fall term at the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. Mr. William C. Michael introduces the new literature program and the scholastic logic courses, then answers parents’ questions for two hours. Topics discussed: Learn more at classicalliberalarts.com Parent meetings are held Wednesday evenings. Enrolled families are welcome to attend and bring questions.

Primary and Secondary Substance in Aristotle’s Categories

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Once he has finished the preliminary teaching of the Categories and named the ten categories, Aristotle turns to the first of them, which is substance. He gives the whole of Chapter 5 to it. The chapter opens with two paragraphs. The first defines primary substance and the second names the secondary substances. Following the commentary of St. Albert the Great, this article explains four things: the sense in which the logician uses the word “substance,” which things are substances in the fullest sense, what a primary substance is and why it is called primary, and what the secondary substances are. … Continue

Aristotle’s Categories: The Four Kinds of Things Said Without Connection

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This study covers the second paragraph of Chapter 2 of Aristotle’s Categories, from “Of spoken things, some are predicated of a subject,” to “but is not predicated of any subject.” It explains the text with the help of St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas. I. Primary Source Text Of spoken things, some are predicated of a subject, but are in no subject. Thus, “man” is predicated of a subject (viz. an individual man), but is in no other subject. Other things are in a subject, and are predicated of no other subjects. (By being in a subject, however, … Continue

What Is Grammar? The Art of Writing and Speaking Rightly

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In this lesson you will learn what Grammar is, why it is called an art, and why it is the first study you take up. I. Why a Man Studies a Language He Already Speaks You already speak a language. You have spoken English since you were small, and you learned it by hearing it, without being taught any rules at all. So it is fair to ask why anyone should study a thing he can already do. Speaking a Language and Knowing a Language Are Not the Same The answer is that speaking a language and knowing a language … Continue

Aristotle’s Categories: Things Said With and Without Connection (TRV-362 Lesson 03)

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In this lesson we study the first paragraph of Chapter 2 of Aristotle’s Categories, from “Of things which are spoken, some are spoken in connection,” down to “man, ox, runs, conquers.” I. Primary Source Text Of things which are spoken, some are spoken in connection, but others without connection. Those therefore which are enunciated according to connection are such as, “The man runs.”, “The man is victorious.”; but those without connection are such as, “man”, “ox”, “runs”, “conquers”. II. Exposition by St. Albert the Great In the last lesson Aristotle settled how words relate to the things they name. He … Continue

The Legal and Historical Case for Apostolic Succession: Defending the Unbroken Chain

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One of the most frequent objections raised by Protestant critics against the Catholic Church concerns the doctrine of apostolic succession. The argument usually unfolds like this: “Because the Catholic Church cannot produce a continuous, name-by-name paper trail documenting every single episcopal ordination from the first century to the present day, the claim to an unbroken line of apostolic authority is historically false.” For many Catholics, this challenge can feel daunting. We live in a modern, bureaucratic age where identity and authority are verified by digital databases and paper certificates. However, when evaluated through the lenses of classical logic, historical reality, … Continue

CLAA Parent Meeting (09/09/2026)

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CLAA Weekly Parent Meeting — September 9, 2026 Mr. William C. Michael of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy discusses the rapid expansion of the curriculum and answers parents’ questions on homeschooling in their own circumstances. Topics discussed: Parent meetings are held Wednesday evenings. Enrolled families are welcome to attend and bring questions.

How Schools Have Destroyed Human Learning

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Speaker: William C. Michael, Headmaster, Classical Liberal Arts Academy Recorded: Thursday, September 3, 2026 Source: RODECaster recording 118, Stereo Mix.wav (1:15:11) The question: why does study stop when school stops? Today is Thursday, September 3rd, 2026, and I’m William Michael. I’m the headmaster of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. I’d like to talk today about how schools throughout history, and continuing today, have destroyed human learning. We all know that we should be learning. We know that we should be studying. We’re taught when we’re children that we should study and research and be learning throughout life. We know that … Continue