Classical Liberal Arts Academy
CLASSICAL CATHOLIC EDUCATION + AUTHENTIC & ACCREDITED
Dr. David Gelernter, a computer scientist at Yale University, complains of the ignorance of modern students, even among those at the best universities. When will Catholic parents stop making excuses for their children (and themselves) to study the classical liberal arts, philosophy and theology?
When it comes to education, especially Christian education, we parents face three great obstacles. The first is that for many, education is merely a business and decisions are made based on what is most profitable for publishers and educators, not what is best for students. Second, parents are often ignorant of the history of education and how saints studied and taught in the past and educators exploit this ignorance. Third, parents fail to make clear goals and stick to them, and they end up imitating modern educational fads and accomplish very little. Homeschooling, for most, is expensive and ineffective. Some … Continue
Dear friends, The Classical Liberal Arts Academy has been and continues to be the only Catholic source for real classical Catholic education. You can survey the homeschool publishing landscape today and see that no one else provides access to the classical Catholic curriculum used by the saints of Church history. In 2021, as we make the Academy’s curriculum content freely available to Catholic homeschool families, many will begin stealing our content and trying to make use of it for their own profit. I can say this confidently because Catholic men have already done this in the past. Many desire to … Continue
This morning, a website visitor wrote and asked, “Please direct me on your website to where I will find the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur for the written material presented in your educational programs and on your website.” I don’t know whether this was a sincere request or just a scrupulous individual being annoying, but I’m happy to respond. First of all, the question of “Church approval” is addresed in canons 822-832 in the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law. In Canon 822, we learn that the approval of Catholic books is a matter that concerns only the bishops of the … Continue
As a homeschool parent, you are a school administrator. Most homeschool parents don’t understand what homeschooling actually is, which is why they ask questions about accreditation, transcripts, grades, and so on. They seem to think that they need a school to provide records and verification for their children’s studies–as if they’re not in school. Your children ARE in school. Your homeschool is a real school–as real and official as any school anywhere. And you are the administrator of your homeschool school–as real and official as any school administrator anywhere. So, if you’re wondering about your children’s transcripts, looking around … Continue
In my article, “How to Study for Mastery“, I provide a set of steps that will allow students to work through any lessons–and master them. One of the steps requires study and note-taking and parents and students frequently ask me, “How should we take notes?” In this article, I’ll answer that. The Goal of Note-Taking Before all things, we should be studying to gain wisdom that helps us to live according to God’s will in this life. Our studies should be leading us to this wisdom, and the happiness of our life is the ultimate test of that learning. Within … Continue
It’s common to hear homeschool parents speak about their plans to “raise saints”, but the results of 40+ years of homeschooling in America suggest we’re not doing that. We may be raising children who have higher test scores than their public school peers, and children who do well avoid scandalous sins, and children who go to college, establish stable careers and start families–but there are scarcely any religious vocations being raised, and fewer “saints”. I’ll be the first to admit that we Catholics have greatly underestimated the difficulty of the task before us. We have not prepared for the spiritual … Continue
In another article, I explain, “How to Study for Mastery“, which is necessary for real arts and sciences that are worthy of mastery. More recently I explained “Mastery vs. Familiarity” in studies. The study of history belongs to both categories, for we would master as much as possible, but, because of the amount of material that is to be learned, we must patiently progress to that mastery over time–but make sure we acquire familiarity as soon as possible. Cicero said, “To not know what happened before one was born is to remain forever a child.” In his day, he had … Continue
When a Catholic parent chooses to homeschool, they will face many distractions. Many publishers exploit the anxiety and inexperience of homeschool parents and lead them on an endless pursuit of “the right resources”. Others falsely advertise resources as “traditional” and “classical” that are not so at all. If you don’t ask questions and demand proof for claims made by publishers, you’re going to pay for it. Even worse, there is an incredible amount of ignorance and laziness in homeschool circles that has become the normal culture of homeschooling in many place. Some even give this a name, calling it “unschooling”, … Continue
The Classical Liberal Arts Academy is the only source for the education that existed throughout Church history. Anything else called “classical” or “Catholic” has no basis in history. In the Academy, I have provided all of the evidence necessary to support these claims, and add more to it with this post. The text below is taken from A.F. West’s book “Alcuin and the Rise of Christian Schools”, published in 1910, which clearly demonstrates that the seven classical liberal arts taught in the Classical Liberal Arts Academy are the only subjects ever taught in Christian schools throughout history. -William C. Michael … Continue