Curriculum Overview

The study of the art of drawing is a means to perfect the students’ ability to be still and truly see the world.  The introduction of the students to the great masterpieces of art complements the study of history, imbues the soul with joy in beauty, and teaches profound lessons about human nature, mathematics, the natural world, and God.  Students will have the opportunity for both age-appropriate, hands-on activities and the study of masterworks, which will be added to the school’s walls as they are introduced.

• Drawing—Simply Drawing, Himes (K-6)
• Iconography—Drawing Closer to Christ: A Self-guided Icon Retreat, Malhom (4-6)

We want our students to read carefully, think insightfully, speak articulately, and write both cogently and beautifully.  To accomplish this we must seek to aid the students in general language acquisition through read-aloud, engaged conversation, memorization, and recitation.  We must build a foundation in phonics.  We must pursue a course through grammar, spelling, declamation, sentence analysis, and reading comprehension.  Our studies of these topics in English are augmented by our study of Latin.  The practice of handwriting supports the learning of reading and lends beauty to all written work.

• Phonics/Spelling—Explode the Code (K-4)
• Grammar/Spelling/Writing/Vocabulary—Saxon Grammar & Writing (3-6)
• Penmanship—Zaner-Bloser (K-5, cursive in 3-6)
• Composition—Memorization, Read-aloud, Narrative Retelling, Story Construction, Recitation, Conversation (K-6)

History provides the organizational principal for the whole of our curriculum.  We take as the “spine,” or main text, The Story of Civilization (SOC) by Phillip Campbell.  The students will hear and read this story form presentation of history multiple times, and the story will be supplemented with historical fiction and history information from an array of sources.  True wisdom regarding the human condition, morality, civilization, and the activity of God in creation demand that we seek to understand the interconnection of all things in the context of time.  In addition, it is essential that the primary focus of our study at the elementary level be on the development of the identities of the students as heirs to a specific cultural heritage—though we will learn about the many other amazing civilizations of history, our primary focus will be on our own, western tradition.  We will learn about our heroes and our villains, our triumphs and our mistakes, our saints and our sins, in order to understand who we are as Catholic Americans today.

• Kindergarten—Intro to history and geography, the story of the Bible from the Old and New Testaments
• 1^st Grade—Ancient Civilizations (SOC, Vol. 1, Ch. 1-14)
• 2^nd Grade—Classical Greece & Rome to Constantine (SOC, Vol. 1, Ch. 15-35)
• 3^rd Grade—Christendom (SOC, Vol. 2)
• 4^th Grade—The Modern World (SOC, Vol. 3)
• 5^th Grade—The United States & Alabama (SOC, Vol. 4)
• 6th Grade—The United States &

Literature & poetry is selected in many instances to support the learning of specific grammar and reading skills and/or to integrate with what we are studying in history, math, or science.  For our selections we seek, when possible, to use classic, children’s literature which is marked by excellence of writing, beautiful language and art, nobility, and refinement.  The integration of all subjects in history and literature is evident in these selections, as well.  Numerous other works are included, but a few examples of the read-aloud or read-together texts selected for their historical integration are:

1^st Grade—Ancient Civilizations

• The Well of Truth: A Folktale of Egypt, Martha Hamilton
• Tales of Ancient Egypt, Roger Lancelyn Green
• Lugalbanda, Kathy Henderson
• The Revenge of Ishtar, Ludmilla Zeman
• The Legend of the Persian Carpet, Tomie de Paolo

2^nd Grade—Classical Greece & Rome

• D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire
• Aesop’s Fables
• The Adventures of Odysseus, Hugh Lupton, Daniel Morden, Christina Balit
• Ruler of the Ancient World: Alexander the Great, Andrew Langley
• The Story of the Roman People: An Elementary History of Rome, Eva March Tappan

3^rd Grade–Christendom

• King Arthur & His Knights of the Round Table, Roger Lancelyn Green
• St. Benedict, Hero of the Hills, Mary Fabyan Windeat
• The Weight of a Mass, Josephine Nobisso
• A Door in the Wall, Marguerite De Angeli
• St. Thomas Aquinas for Children & the Child-like, Raissa Maritain

4^th Grade—The Modern World (5^th grade in 2025-2026)

• Pizarro & the Incas, Nicholas Saunders
• St. Rose of Lima, Mary Fabyan Windeatt
• Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
• Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb
• The Little Book of the War, Eva March Tappan

The study of Latin opens the students, in a unique way, to our shared heritage as Roman Catholics.  They grow in the learning of prayers and the liturgy, key roots and terms, beautiful hymnody, grammar expertise, and general language acumen.  Students memorize prayers and hymns from PreK onward.  The formal study of the language is introduced slowly and incrementally.

• Prayers & Hymns (PreK – 5 grade)
• Song School Latin, Classical Academic Press (PreK – 2 grade)
• Latin for Children A & B, Classical Academic Press (3-5 grade)

The study of quantity reveals to us the ordered nature of the world and teaches young minds the habits of abstraction necessary for more advanced study in engineering, logic, philosophy, and theology.  For our curriculum we are using Saxon Math, which is well known for its integration of math concepts and spiral review to ensure mastery. 

• Kindergarten— Saxon K
• 1^st Grade—Saxon 1
• 2^nd Grade—Saxon 2
• 3^rd Grade—Saxon 3
• 4^th Grade—Saxon 5/4
• 5^th Grade—Saxon 6/5

Students will learn to sing a combination of Latin chant, sacred songs, hymnody, folk songs, and art songs.  Just as in art, the students will be introduced to the great masterpieces of music.  In addition to vocal performance, students will be introduced to various instruments, including the violin through our partnership with Decatur Youth Symphony.  A Christmas concert is planned for this Christmas season.  Opportunities to experience live music will be sought.

Cultivation of the whole person includes the development of the bodily virtues of grace, control, joy in movement, stamina, concentration, and self-discipline.  These will be pursued through practice of organized games, calisthenics, and sports.  Team sport provides unique opportunities to develop moral virtues as we learn sportsmanship.

Science learning must begin with the most basic of methods of knowing, the careful observation and contemplation of physical things.  Rather than inundating the students with a surfeit of facts to be memorized, we seek to awaken and develop in them a sincere curiosity and an abiding wonder at the richness of real things.   The practice of nature journaling is the main tool we use to aid us as we observe and record pictures and written descriptions of exactly what we see.  Experimentation is introduced, including the practice of hypothesis and testing as the students develop their skills.  Keen observation provides the basis for activities of identification and classification.  Supplemental texts and presentation materials are used to introduce objects for study that cannot be observed directly on a limited basis.  Top priority is given to that which can be observed first-hand.