William C. Michael

In every generation, young people are burdened with thoughts of the future. They are told that they must “find their purpose,” “discover their vocation,” and “make the right decisions” to live a fulfilling life. In modern Catholic culture, this anxiety has taken the form of prolonged periods of “discernment,” often without action. Students are encouraged to spend months or even years thinking about the possibility of a religious vocation, debating college choices, and imagining future careers, all while neglecting their present duties and failing to cultivate the habits that will make those vocations possible. This confusion is not only unhelpful—it … Continue

The classical liberal arts are seven academic subjects that were studied as necessary preparations for the lifelong pursuit of wisdom. These seven arts are: Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. While these names are still used in education today, they no longer retain their original meanings. It is important that we understand what these arts truly are so that we may study them rightly and enjoy the benefits they offer. The seven classical liberal arts are divided into two groups: the Trivium and the Quadrivium. The Trivium consists of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. Grammar is the art by … Continue

In the Classical Liberal Arts Academy, the Humanities are an essential part of a complete Catholic education. While the liberal arts train the mind in the sciences of reasoning, the Humanities provide the content, context, and examples that enrich and elevate that training. Through the study of history, literature, and the fine arts, students explore the record of human life and culture, gaining insight into how the greatest men have thought, spoken, and lived throughout history. Classical philosophy teaches that man is a social animal—created not to live in isolation, but in community, bound by reason, language, law, and shared … Continue

Scholastic Theology is the disciplined and reasoned study of what God has revealed to man. This divine revelation comes to us in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and is preserved and interpreted by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Unlike philosophy, which seeks truth through reason alone, theology begins with faith. It accepts what God has revealed and seeks to understand it more fully, to teach it more clearly, and to defend it more effectively. Theology does not invent truth—it receives truth from God and explores its meaning and consequences through sound reasoning. The two sources of divine revelation are … Continue

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, philosophy is the work of reason seeking to understand the order of things. Wisdom, he explains, is the perfection of our faculty of reason, and the task of the wise man is to set things in order. While our senses can know individual material things, only reason is able to understand how things relate to one another and how they are directed to their proper ends or purposes. There are two main kinds of order that reason considers. The first is the order of parts within a whole—for example, how the different parts of a … Continue

Welcome to the Classical Liberal Arts Academy My name is William Michael, and I’d like to welcome you to the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. If you’re looking for a timeless, trustworthy and affordable source for Catholic education—whether for your children or for yourself—you’ve come to the right place. I Founded the Academy with My Wife in 2008 My wife Dania and I founded the Academy in 2008. I’ve been working as a Catholic educator and classicist for over twenty years. My wife Dania is a homeschooling mother of ten children and provides support for homeschooling families studying with us. Together, … Continue

The Quadrivium is the second part of the seven classical liberal arts. Whereas the three arts of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric make up the Trivium, the final four arts—Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy—make up the Quadrivium, and together these form the complete classical liberal arts curriculum. The arts of the Quadrivium are the ancient mathematical arts, ordered to the study of Quantity, which is the second of the ten Categories of being identified by Aristotle. These arts were studied throughout history to prepare students for the study of philosophy and theology. In modern schools, mathematics is studied for practical purposes. … Continue

The Trivium is the first part of the classical liberal arts curriculum. It consists of three arts: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. These are the arts of human language. They were studied in the schools of classical antiquity and the Catholic Church and served as the foundation for all higher learning. In modern educational circles, there is great confusion because modern schools do not even mention the Trivium or teach these arts, and a fake classical education movement has led students away from the true study of Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. The term “Trivium” has been misused. In the twentieth century, … Continue

In times of social confusion and spiritual instability, many turn to ancient Stoicism in search of personal peace and direction. My own spiritual journey began with Stoic philosophy. The writings of Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius are rediscovered and quoted as if they offer a comprehensive philosophy of life. Their counsel is admirable in many respects and is better than any modern alternatives. Stoicism calls man to self-discipline, clarity of mind, and rational control of the passions. It reminds him that he is not a victim of fortune, and that true dignity lies in governing oneself according to reason. Marcus … Continue