We identify with the classical approach in our teaching, drawing upon proven methods of millennia past. Our method is the pattern we use of taking students through three traditional stages of development: grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric. Taken together these stages form the Trivium. In medieval education they provided the structure for a student's general education through his childhood years. After completing the Trivium, he would then proceed on to what was called the Quadrivium, the study of the various subjects in higher education.

As Dorothy Sayers pointed out in her essay, "The Lost Tools of Learning", these three stages of the Trivium correspond with what can be commonly observed as stages of development in children. Our responsibility in teaching our students is to require specific things of them when they are naturally most receptive to learn them at these defined stages.

In the grammar stage, we teach the many particulars, the many facts of subjects. "Grammar" refers to the fundamental information of a given subject, and every subject has a grammar. Children in this developmental stage are characterized by an ability to memorize and store away large amounts of information, so we utilize this natural tendency in our teaching. Basic building block "subjects" like phonics, math facts, memorization of persons, dates, and places are stressed. This is also an important time for language study, and so, beginning in grade 5 we offer Latin.

Next is the dialectic (logic) stage. Children in this group are naturally inquisitive and begin to challenge what they have been taught, trying to understand it. This is a key stage to teach them the inter-relatedness between the particulars taught in the grammar stage. The laws of logic and argumentation are taught as a method to encourage and temper this natural tendency. While these things are introduced earlier, a formal logic course begins in grade 8.

When students have mastered the basic grammar of a subject and the relationship of the rudiments of it to each other, they are ready for rhetoric. Students in this rhetoric or poetic stage are naturally concerned with appearances and presentation. During this stage students are taught how to express themselves in polished and persuasive ways. Although more formally taught to high school students, our school emphasizes these basics in earlier stages as well.

Of course, these stages are not exclusive to each other. At CCS we are always emphasizing the grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric of every subject at every development level.

We also acknowledge that our classical and Christian education is a by-product of Western civilization. It results from Christ being born in Hebrew society during the reign of Caesar Augustus, and of the earliest Christian missionaries heading west more than they did east or south. Under God's sovereign design, our students are living in Western culture. Children will learn to appreciate other cultures, seeking to bring the light of the Gospel to them, only when they have been thoroughly trained to love their own.

Parents who would like to know more about our Christian and classical method should read Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson. This and other related books are available for loan or sale from the school.