Our Curriculum
Trinity Classical Academy believes in a Christian classical education that emphasizes a strong foundation in the liberal arts. Our curriculum selection is designed to provide students with a comprehensive education that prepares them to better embrace their restored humanity through Christ's life, death, and resurrection. The curriculum we have chosen teaches students what is good, true, and beautiful, and also gives them the ability to learn any skill necessary for success in higher education or a vocational pursuit. We offer a rigorous academic program that includes courses in literature, history, science & natural philosophy, mathematics, and the arts; and most importantly, emphasizes practicing and growing Christian virtue. Ultimately, instead of compartmentalizing education into topics, our curriculum choice will synthesize course work in a way that reveals the truth of God's created universe and the redemptive story in which he placed each of us.
Literacy & Composition
At TCA, we know that achieving literacy is essential for success in all areas of study. The ability to read and comprehend language is the foundation on which mankind grows wisdom and true educational institutions. We praise God for the ability to discover the Logos by reading the written word of God. Our curriculum selection is phonics-based, and we aim to cultivate young minds that can fluently and expressively read by 1st grade. Ultimately, we desire to see every student fully transition from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn by the end of 3rd grade. Spelling and literacy training continues through the grammar school years to ensure that students know how to correctly form and decode words. Once students have a working understanding of the English language, we introduce composition using the progymnasmata method which builds critical skills like narration, summarization, and rhetoric. Our literacy and composition program utilizes Memoria Press Curriculum.
Science & Natural Philosophy
The design of our natural philosophy and science program provides students with a strong foundation in observational skills and taxonomy that inspires both awe and wonder. By offering rigorous instruction in properly naming the endless facets of the created universe, our curriculum selection focuses first and foremost on how creation speaks to the Creator. It is through this understanding and skill that we prepare students for an edifying, flourishing, and life-long love of science, engineering, and technology that seeks to glorify God. Our curriculum includes courses in biology, chemistry, and physics. Students will have hands-on experience through laboratory experiments, research projects, and field trips. TCA uses Memoria Press in grades K – 4th grade and Novare Science for 5th – 8th grade. We also supplement and enrich with Core Knowledge.
Grammar & Latin
The English language is an amalgamation of Greco-Roman and Germanic languages. This combination can make mastery of English difficult for those in the highest levels of academia. As such, English grammar is best taught through the structure of Latin where the grammar is less opaque and more logical, and the letter system almost completely matches that of English. Latin is a puzzle with clearly defined borders and colors. By learning the principles of grammar through Latin, students learn the fundamentals of English as part of a clear and straightforward system, and then apply it to the nuances of our language. Until recently, Latin was the language of higher education. As such, mastery of this language pulls students into the minds of the greatest thinkers of the Western world and provides them with priceless source material. Our Latin and Grammar Program utilizes Memoria Press Curriculum.
Mathematics
We ground the study of mathematics in a facts-first model where students spend the primary and grammar years of their education focusing on achieving true mastery of basic skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, time, and currency. As they enter their secondary education, we introduce students to the foundational concepts of geometry and prealgebra so that all students have the opportunity to eventually apply the divine concept of infinity through a study of calculus. Our curriculum choices include recitation, drill, math facts, and spiral review. TCA uses curriculum from Memoria Press/Rod and Staff and Saxon Math.
History
Our course work in history builds on the grammar of dates, locations, rulers, and nations. This bedrock allows us to more effectively synthesizes the reality of the human condition with the sovereignty of God’s will. We embrace the truth of man’s fallen nature and seek to understand how sin corrupts every aspect of mankind’s endeavors to exercise dominion over God’s created universe in the past, present, and future. However, through history, we also rejoice in the fact that we come to better understand how God uses His most prized creation to work His will and weave His story of redemption for mankind. Our curriculum selection focuses on our Western heritage formed through the combination of the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman traditions embodied in the work of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. TCA uses curriculum from Memoria Press and Core Knowledge.
Christian Education
TCA strives to build upon the rich tradition of Christian education found in our western heritage to develop a Christian culture in the modern world that inculcates the truth of scripture into every aspect of our existence. The ancient Greeks referred to this sort of cultural development through correct learning as paideia. Paideia has no direct English translation; however, its purpose is the development of virtue that becomes embodied and repeated in the hearts and minds of students. In a Christian setting, these virtues flow from what St. Augustine referred to as the ordo amoris, or rightly ordered affection. We are what we love, and as Christians, we are blessed to know agape, or God’s perfect love, given to us through Jesus Christ. It is through Holy Scripture, liturgical worship and catechesis that we come to truly understand this love. TCA uses curriculum from Memoria Press and various catechetical and magisterial reformed church traditions. More importantly, we incorporate the written and inerrant word of God in all aspects of course work.