February 16, 2007

Veritas Curriculum

Mrs Bresee, the principal at Veritas Academy has decided to put me on the school's curriculum board. While this is a great honor, it also makes me a little nervous to know that I will have such a big responsibility.

I have done a lot of research about curricula in the past years because, a few years ago, I considered homeschooling my children. Ever since Veritas Academy has opened, a year ago, I shifted my focus from learning about homeschooling to helping the school develop a good education plan. I have to say that I have a great passion for education and I want my children to grow up to be well rounded individuals.

The school's philosophy is based on the classical education system (the trivium model). Religion is, of course, central but a good academic education is also extremely important for us.

I will write more about my thoughts on elementary education and beyond, but for now, I just want to ask anyone who has any kind of advice or recommendations on good Catholic and classical materials and curricula, to please either email me (links are appreciated) or to send a comment to this post. I know that there are people who read this blog, who either homeschool or have homeschooled their children in the past or have been homeschooled themselves.

Again here are the main things I'm looking for:

1. traditional Catholic education
2. strong academic education based on the classical trivium model
3. in addition to the obvious:
religion,reading, writing, grammar, composition and mathematics,
also: world history and geography, science/nature studies, classical music, Western art, etiquette, PE, Latin, foreign languages (French and German).

Any recommendations are appreciated.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is a big job. But neat you can pick out your own kids curriculum. I get excited looking and finding new things for our kids. Here is a link I like- OK it is my mom's but then everything is well tried and tested. SHe has the Faith and LIfe series for kids. ANd some other programs too I think. I get the older kid programs and then pare them down a bit- like the ABC's of Christian Culture- and use them as general guidelines. There are some language and writing and even art and music programs. And if you are interested you can go to their house and look at everything. Its not far from St. John's. It is fun to go "shopping" and I usually find a ton of things I wasn't even looking for. She might have other recommendations too. Anyway, good luck.

Briana

Irina S. said...

Briana, what is the website? I used to have your mom's catalog but I don't have it anymore. That's a great idea, going there and seeing all the materials instead of just reading about them on the internet. Dominic told me a couple of times to buy stuff from your mom. I'll call her one of these days and I might go to her house to see some of the things I'm interested in. Thank you so much for your suggestion.

Anonymous said...

Sorry. I spaced out. The address I meant to include is ourfathershouse.biz
Have fun looking.
Briana