Prayer Requests

Many people have commented that they are praying regularly for the school. This in itself is a great answer to prayer. We greatly appreciate all of the support! We thought it would be helpful to periodically post specific prayer requests, since people are asking. Here are a few:



First and foremost, it is our continual prayer that our endeavors will bring God glory. We pray that the school will develop if it is God's plan. We pray for wisdom and guidance. We pray for unity and clarity. We pray that God will shut the door if this is not what He desires.



More specifically, please pray for the school's informational meeting which will be held this fall. Pray for the details of the meeting, the speaker, and the guests which will attend. More information about the meeting will be posted in coming weeks.



Please pray for our non-profit status. We praise God that He provided a law firm to help us pro-bono, and we pray that we will be able to work through the paperwork and move forward in a timely fashion.



Please pray for the board as they continue to develop and clarify the school's mission, vision, goals, and statement of faith.

Thank you!

Subscribe!

This post is primarily to test and see if I have properly configured the site so that you can subscribe via e-mail to receive new posts and comments. There's a box in the right column where you simply enter the e-mail address to which you want the site updates delivered. It's a great way to keep up with developments at the school, especially if you are not constantly online. Give me a few days to work out the kinks!

Why Latin- Part II

As already mentioned, I consider one of the strengths of a classical education to be its emphasis on teaching students how to think. Utilization of the classical languages, namely Latin and Greek, is an important part of this, as I shall attempt to demonstrate.

Imagine 'The Declaration of Independence' without words like liberty and justice. Though we cannot touch or hold these ideas with our hands, few would argue that they are less than foundational to our entire society. Mature, fully formed language is the tool we need to conceptualize and communicate these important abstract concepts. Indeed, the more precision a language has, the better it serves in such circumstances. It helps to organize our thinking if the language itself is organized. Misunderstanding is also reduced because the language, properly used, eliminates ambiguity. If a student is interested in both wisdom and eloquence, then they must be a master of language because it is the very currency of both.

Toward such ends, Latin and Greek are the languages of Western society largely because they are not only both organized and precise but also because it was in these languages that men first expressed many of the ideas that we hold most dear. Though we do not speak them directly anymore, we must recognize them as our 'linguistic forefathers.' The basic organization of thought in English comes from these languages as does the overwhelming majority of our vocabulary. Having studied Latin for four years in High School myself, I can attest that I never really learned English until I learned Latin.

As public discourse continues to decline (consider Orwell's 'Newspeak' from 1984), we must restore training in the classic languages. To fail to do so is ultimately another step towards giving up our ability to reason and think altogether. Can theological truth be presented with terms such as "pwned" or "ROFL?" Could the U.S. Constitution be written with the same? What better way to strengthen our thinking and communication than to hone our language abilities? What better way to improve our ability to use English than to know and study it at its taproot?

A New Addition to Our Team

The Founding Board of Little Rock's Classical School is pleased to announce the hiring of Holley Peters as Director of Development. During the upcoming school year, Holley will be working in a variety of areas including admissions, curriculum, and communication.

After graduating from Westminster Academy, a Christ-centered, classical school in Memphis, TN, Holley attended Bryan College where she majored in English Literature. Since graduating, she has worked as a high school English and worldview teacher. We are thrilled that Holley will be joining our team. Holley has a heart for and strong knowledge of classical education. She will begin work September 1st.

A Step Closer to a Name

The two top choices for the school's name are:

Providence Classical Academy

Pinnacle Classical Academy

Any ideas, suggestions, or thoughts? We would love your input.

July Update

There have been several exciting developments in the last few weeks. Here is an update...

• A local law firm has offered pro bono services to help us establish non-profit status. Praise God for this answer to prayer!
• After many weeks of discussion, brainstorming, and prayer, the school's mission statement has been written: To glorify God through the Christ-centered, classical training of children (Proverbs 22:6). From there, we are currently writing the school's goals and statement of faith.

Why Latin?

When I was a freshman in college, my roommate shared with a group on our dorm hall that she had taken four years of Latin in high school. I remember someone teasing her about taking a dead language. For me, the only languages offered in my high school were French and Spanish, so I too doubted the benefit of studying a language no one speaks anymore.

As a student in pharmacy school, I definitely appreciated the benefits that a knowledge of Latin would have offered me in learning medical terminology, but otherwise I still did not consider its importance.

Fast forward almost fifteen years later when I found myself making curriculum choices for my then first grader. Since beginning the adventure of homeschooling for our family, I have attempted to teach my children classically. Because of that, I was again confronted with the idea of studying Latin.

First of all, I obviously was not a student of Latin, so how could I teach it to my child? Secondly, would it be worth it?

After reading about the benefits of knowing the Latin language and studying it with my son for the past two years, I can say it has been worth it. Here are some reasons that classical languages (Latin and Greek) are beneficial:

• Increases English vocabulary. About half of the English language is derived from Latin, and another fifth from Greek. These words tend to be the difficult, multi-syllabic “SAT” words.
• Aids in the understanding of English grammar. Because of the structure of Latin where the endings of words define how the word is used in a sentence (i.e., an inflected language), it has been shown the Latin grammar teaches students more about English grammar than English does.
• Is the key to modern languages. Knowing Latin makes it easier to learn the vocabulary and grammar of Romance languages (e.g., French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese). Also, Latin and Greek help in learning other inflected languages, such as German and Russian.
• Is helpful in certain careers. As I found in pharmacy school, the knowledge of Latin (and Greek) is very beneficial in science-related fields, as well as the legal profession.

After his first day of a local science co-op this year, my son came home and told me that they would be studying about Habitats. He said that his teacher asked if anyone knew what the word habitat meant? My son responded, “Habitat sounds like the Latin word habito, which means I live in, so it must mean something about where we live.”

So, has it been worth it? Yes, absolutely!

Classical Education of our Founding Fathers

This past weekend my family had the pleasure of hearing a reading of the Declaration of Independence during a local Fourth of July celebration. That brought to mind an article I recently read about the education of our founding fathers. Here were some interesting facts:

• Thomas Jefferson was trained by a tutor at an early age in Latin, Greek and French, then later continued his studies at a classical academy and the College of William and Mary.
• Alexander Hamilton entered King’s College (now Columbia University) with the expectation that he have a mastery of Greek and Latin grammar and the ability to translate the first ten chapters of the Gospel of John from Greek into Latin.
• James Madison was expected to write Latin prose, translate Virgil and the Greek gospels, and have an adequate knowledge of Latin and Greek grammar when he applied to the College of New Jersey (now Princeton).
• Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 30 were college graduates (which was an astounding number for that time).

Although not everyone received formal education in those days, it was rare to find anyone who could not read or write. Of note, ministers of that time were the ones most likely to have a classical education; therefore, it was not uncommon to find that several of the founding fathers were taught by clergyman.

The founders were dedicated to learning and had a great respect for the work of the ancients. It was through these works that they studied governments that worked well, and from that, formed their ideas of how they wanted their new government to be structured.

I am inspired by the character and work of these founders, and feel God used their spiritual upbringing and classical education to shape them into the leaders they became. Wouldn’t I want the same for my own children?