~ Charlotte Mason

Educational Principles We Value...

Defining Beauty

Developing Piety

Encouraging Wonder

Practicing Discovery

Practicing Narration

Recalling Often

Challenging to Think First

Practicing Recitation

Format

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.

~ Mark Van Doren

Language Arts

These courses approach the study of literature as a study of what it means to be human: made in the image of God, fallen, and yet capable of redemption. The Big Picture of Language Arts classes integrate literature, writing, and grammar into one curriculum. Students learn writing skills through two kinds of exercises: creative imitative exercises and goal-oriented thesis-based exercises that teach the expository argument. These two skills prepare students by laying strong foundations in arrangement, invention, and style through logical thinking and voice development. Legacy language arts courses include regular poetry reading and periodic recitation projects that provide a feast of the beautiful. These selections as well as the literature selections are carefully chosen to preserve the classroom as a sacred space that orders the affections toward God’s beauty.

Language Arts 1 and Language Arts 2/3 are offered one day per week as part of the Explorers program. LA4/5, LA6, LA7, and English 1/LA8 are offered two days per week.

Discover Science

The Discover Science courses are designed to provide a solid preparation for high school science courses. These courses dedicate time to discovery, observation, description, and recall in order to develop the tools of learning and the foundational skills for writing lab reports as well as the proper application of the scientific method.

For 2024-25, Legacy offers Life Science to grades 4 and 5 and Physical Science for grades 6 and 7. The Explorers program offers nature studies.

Story of History

With a goal of preparing elementary and middle school students for deeper study of great civilizations and people, Legacy's Story of History courses focus on orienting the young student in time and space while captivating the student with the narrative of humanity through maps, artifacts, and stories. As history unravels, students begin to see the connections between the past and the present and the ever-present hand of God as He accomplishes His purposes in the lives of those who have come before us as well as our own lives.

For 2024-25, Legacy offers the Story of the Ancients for grades 4 and 5 and 20th Century History for grades 6 and 7.

Legacy also offers a high school credit in American History for grades 8 and 9.

Math

Math instruction provides an ideal opportunity for students to practice discovery and should focus on two primary objectives: mastery of the how and why behind problem solving and logical application of the how and why. Realistically, memorizing the steps of how to solve a problem is an easier process than understanding the why behind each of the steps. Students typically have some success when they memorize these steps, but true mastery and fluency only come from understanding the why. The teacher should, therefore, continually present the why using a variety of methods that range from the concrete, the pictorial, and the abstract and give the student the opportunity to discover connections to what they already know. Through math, students develop a practice of assessing what they know, determining what they do not know, and connecting the two through both deductive and inductive reasoning.

For 2024-25, Legacy will offer a high school geometry credit.

Explorers

Legacy's one day per week Explorers program for grades 1 through 3 offers a full history and science curriculum. Our three-year three-cycle program covers all of American History from first explorers to colonization and the Revolutionary War to pioneers, the Civil War, and Industrialization. Through the three year program, students complete nature studies of the plant and animal kingdoms around them focusing on birds, trees, and flowers and moving through fish, insects, mammals, and more.

Although first graders will need lessons in reading, all students will have spelling, phonics, grammar, and literature instruction and will build a strong foundation in Bible stories and timeline.

During the Explorers afternoon program, students explore art and artists and music and composers. They practice both fine and gross motor skills and basic math concepts, like skip counting, calendar, and time.