Philosophy In Motion

The ideas of Charlotte Mason strongly influence our curriculum and schedule, although we take the freedom to modify and use more modern research and curricula where appropriate.

We have structured our days so that our children have more than an hour per day of play with classmates, are outdoors daily, and have a period of quiet in which to rest their minds and bodies.

The children also have formal instruction in reading, writing, and math (as interactively as possible), a time for art and composer study, poetry, and songs. Bible stories, great literature, and stories of heroes are incorporated to feed the imagination and inspire children to truth and virtue without moralizing and preaching.

Our kindergarten is for ages five-six and focuses on the basics of literacy and numbers, stories and creativity.

Our seven- and eight-year-olds work through the equivalent of first or second grade reading, writing, and math, and learn American history in a two-year cycle. The expectation of attention and observation in art, music, and nature study are slightly higher than in kindergarten.

The purpose of our approach is to maintain the natural inquisitiveness and desire to learn that characterizes young children with interactive, low-pressure exposure to delightful ideas and beauty while giving them the basic tools of meaningful language awareness and the building blocks for a lifetime of learning through strong reading and writing skills and math and number awareness.