ACADEMICS
To provide an opportunity for students to acquire a high degree of academic excellence, to inspire a passion for Gods truth, to train students to think critically from a biblical framework, and encourage independent learning.
Repetitio mater memoriae “Repetition is the mother of memory”
Knowledge is the foundation for any student who wants to build complex, critical, and relevant opinions. Knowledge is obtained through memorization. And if you cannot immediately recall your knowledge, then it is useless. Here is a quote by Socrates on the importance of memorization:
“...this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.”
Legacy students memorize information in all the grades. However, in K-5, students have a special block time once a week dedicated to singing, chanting, and moving around as they memorize everything from math facts to Latin charts. This not only builds community between ages/grades, but the kids have fun learning. And, hopefully, they won’t fall into the trap of “forgetfulness in the learners’ souls”.
MATHEMATICS
“BJU Press understands that not all students learn the same way. That’s why our math provides multiple paths to learning comprehension. Exercises and reviews frame concepts in different ways in order to engage different learning styles. In the Grammar School, the use of manipulatives is encouraged to appeal to the visual and kinesthetic learner. Such manipulatives help teach basic concepts, plus geometry, patterns, and time. On the middle and high school level, math is practiced through spreadsheets, programming projects, and other exercises to help all students develop reasoning and problem-solving skills.”
“Students often become frustrated with math because they do not understand how it will relate to their future vocations and their place in God’s world. BJU Press Math teaches the importance of the subject by identifying the use of math in many different careers, ministries, and real-world situations.”
REGARDING HIGH SCHOOL MATHETATICS
Students complete a traditional sequence of Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. They have an option to take Pre-Calculus or a dual credit College Algebra course. If a student takes Algebra 1 in 8th grade, they are on track to take Pre-Calculus their Junior year and Calculus their Senior year.
SCIENCE
Students between the ages of 4 and 12 memorize scientific facts, read living books about science and participate in nature studies as well as lab-related experiments.
Students in grades 7 and up will take a variety of the following courses: Earth Science with Apologetics, Integrated Physics and Chemistry, Biology, Marine Biology, Chemistry 1, Chemistry 2, Physics 1, Physics 2, and Advanced Physics.
As a Family-Centric program, students of all ages rotate through a four year cycle of scientific inquiry comprised of Biology/Life, Physics, Chemistry, and Earth.
At Legacy Classical Christian Academy, teachers teach using the Young Earth philosophy: the world was created by God in six twenty-four hour days and He rested on the seventh. Families do not have to be Creationists to attend Legacy; however, out of respect for all our Christian brother and sisters, it is important we are transparent on how the school approaches this topic.
As part of the High School Biology course, students research, analyze, and write a persuasive essay on which theory of man’s origin they think is most plausible. Students learn about all creation theories as well as all secular theories.
ENGLISH
Including handwriting, reading acquisition, spelling, genre writing, literature, grammar, and speaking skills, Legacy Classical Christian Academy strives to adopt a curriculum that will allow the average child to excel and the gifted child to be challenged while staying true to a classical method of learning. We have adopted the following programs that are appropriately sequenced throughout the school years.
Cursive Writing
All About Reading and All About Spelling
Institute for Excellence in Writing
First Language Lessons and Shurley English 2013
Analytical Grammar
The Lost Tools of Writing
Teaching the Classics
Progeny Press Study Guides
Literature books are engaging, childhood classics. They read both award-winning novels as well as novels that parallel the historical time period in which students are studying.
The capstone project in their Senior Year is a thesis of their choosing presented in front of an audience of peers and specialists.
HISTORY
Students who enroll at age 4, will rotate through World History at least twice during their educational career at Legacy Classical. We use a four-year cycle to study history in which all families are studying the same time period but students are provided with texts, activities, and projects that are age-appropriate and based on the student’s knowledge and ability.
Our timeline integrates Bible history as well as non-Biblical history to help students understand the intersection between Scripture and history. Each year, students memorize 32 famous people and events as a timeline.
UPPER LEVEL HUMANITIES
Logic and Rhetoric students (Forms 5 and 6) attend an intentionally created block called Integrated Humanities. This 2 1/2 hour, 2 day a week course covers genre writing (progymnasmata), literature, history, and theology.
Beginning around the age of 12 (traditionally 7th grade), students are enrolled into Logic School. Students begin to dig deeply into formal logic studies and more demanding Latin translations.
Beginning around the age of 14 (traditionally 9th grade), students are enrolled into Rhetoric School.
Rhetoric School students are exposed to a wide variety of literary classics. Each year, students will read literature that supports the historical time period in which they are studying. Using the Veritas Press Omnibus textbooks as the educational springboard, students will read 8-12 Great Books. Each chapter in the Omnibus text examine[s] the author, context, significance, main characters, summary and setting, worldview, and provide[s] an in-depth essay analyzing and teaching the important points of the work. Chapters conclude with cultural analysis, biblical analysis, application, summa questions, recitation comprehension questions, lateral thinking, review questions, and evaluation questions.
Each year of Rhetoric, students engage in listening, viewing, reading and speaking activities with an emphasis in the importance of understanding presuppositionalism, evaluating worldview, and having a Christo-centric understanding of the world.
Nota bene:
In keeping with our desire to allow the average child to excel and the gifted child challenged while staying true to a classical method of learning, we do not read all the books that Omnibus suggests.
LATIN AND LOGIC
Students at Legacy begin learning Latin at age 4 using Classical Academic Press Song School Latin and Picta Dicta curriculum. Fun songs and games help them with conjugation and declension chants. The purpose of Latin up to age 12 is to demystify the language, make it engaging, and prepare them to translate Latin.
Students around the age of 12 who are new to Legacy are placed in an introductory Latin course.
Students between the ages of 14 and 18 uses the Cambridge Latin Course.
During Form 5, students begin to systematically learn Formal and Informal Logic. By the end of high school, students will leave with an in-depth study of the classical syllogism. Along with a basic understanding of the Christian theory of knowledge, students learn the four kinds of logical statements, the four ways propositions can be opposite, the three ways in which they can be equivalent, and the seven rules for the validity of syllogisms.