What Makes Aquinas Learning Distinct?
3 Pillars of Teaching: Skills, Content, and Virtue
Skills (Artes - arts): Math, Language arts, foreign languages, Composition, Penmanship - any subject that teaches a skill has to be taught individually to each student at their level
Content or Information - subjects that teach information or knowledge (scientias - sciences): Catechism, History, Civics, Philosophy, Geography, Art Appreciation, Music Appreciation, Science, Literature, and Philosophy - these are subjects that are taught to the entire family as a group. (e.g. we are all learning the same history sentences to memorize, sing, and learn more about in a given week, but each student learns it at their level of understanding)
Virtue - the highest of the skills needs special attention. Our Faith and living a virtuous life is integrated in everything we do and everything we teach.
Repeating Cycles of Content
Each cycle focuses on certain themes to which all subjects are integrated in some way. Read more about what we teach at each cycle HERE
Each cycle with integrated content is learned by the family together, and on the fourth year, they repeat with the first cycle with which they started. It doesn’t matter on which cycle they start because the cycles are about content, not level. Your children ages 5, 7, and 10, for example, can start this year, on cycle 3 (all who are subscribed this year are doing the same cycle) and 4 years from now will repeat cycle 3, but they will all be 4 years older (learning the same content at 8, 10, and 13, at a much higher level of understanding and engagement).
A Catholic Core - our Catholic Faith informs all aspects of our program, from teaching ideas, facts, and skills, to living the traditions (Saints of the week, feast days, virtues, service projects, and liturgical calendar). Central is the teaching of Scriptures and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
28-Week (or 30 weeks for Schola Alta) Thematic Curriculum – All students learn the same content in a given year from one of the cycles below. They repeat that cycle 4 years later at a higher level, at an older age. Foundational ideas, information, and skills that marinate them in truth, goodness, and beauty, preparing them for the Schola Alta Aquinas Learning curriculum in middle school and high school.
Cycle 1 themes: Old Testament, Ancient History, Biology, and Earth Science
Cycle 2 themes: New Testament, Medieval History, Astronomy, and Physics
Cycle 3 themes: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Modern & American History, Chemistry, and Anatomy
Reinforced – Relearning the same material 4 years later, helps to reinforce the curriculum and leads to better retention and a deeper understanding of the materials studied and experienced.
Integration Throughout – Integrations is woven into the curriculum across the various subjects in order to form a bigger picture rather than a collection of unrelated subjects, which gives more relevance to their studies.
Family-friendly Experience - everyone in the family is learning the same topics at different levels, which is conducive to shared family discussions, interests, and experiences, such as field trips.
Mixed-Aged levels – Students can study content from the 3 cycles at one level and restudy the content when they move up to the next level. Both at a center or at home, this also teaches leadership in that older students at a given level (e.g. 3rd grader in Prima I) are encouraged to help mentor younger students in that level (e.g. 1st grader in Prima I).
Emphasis on Rhetoric & Reasoning Skills - whether it be phonics, penmanship, and oral presentations in the younger levels or grammar, composition, and persuasive speeches in the upper levels, we place an emphasis on the importance of rhetoric skills. Similarly, reasoning skills are taught from the youngest age (through stories and through exercises in philosophy, math, and science) up to the 12th grade (Logic, Philosophy)
Course Site - Our curriculum is housed in an online course site, where registered families can readily pull up the curriculum components in a weekly block
Community - whether you use the Aquinas Learning curriculum independently in your home or join a center licensed to use the Aquinas Learning curriculum, you are joining a community of like-minded homeschoolers with the same goal in mind: to cultivate wisdom and virtue by contemplating and acting upon “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, anything that is excellent or worthy of praise,” ...so that “the God of peace will be with us.” (Philippians 4:6-9)
Parent Partnership
In the Parva (PK-K) through the Prima II (gr. 4-6th) levels, the mentor at a center or the course site lessons introduce the topics that parents are going to continue teaching and further exploring at home. Other than some book reports and IEW composition work in the Prima II level, there’s no homework to be turned in.
In the Schola Alta levels - SA I (gr. 7-9th) and SA II (gr. 10-12th) - students take on more responsibility by engaging in some home study in preparation to meet with their mentor at a center or doing course site study. At this level, they engage in middle school/high school level work and home study as well. The courses are outlined and work recommended for the week is laid out on the course site for each class. Parents must still continue to play an active role to make sure the work is being accomplished, understood, and learned. Parents are also in charge of record keeping building toward a final transcript in the high school years (Schola Alta).
What about assessments?
We do not grade the students’ work. At a center, teachers may give scores and progress reports that state a grade or score achieved, but the parent is still responsible for keeping records and creating the final transcripts. However, we do give parents templates and guides on how to create, keep, and maintain records.
For the Schola Alta courses, we do provide a course description and grading rubrics a parent or mentor can follow.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CLASSICAL EDUCATION
www.circeinstitute.org
https://www.circeinstitute.org/audio?page=1 - free audio talks
www.classicalacademicpress.com
https://catholicliberaleducation.org
http://www.instituteforcatholicculture.org