Why a Catholic Classical Liberal Arts Education?

Saint Augustine Academy follows a Catholic classical liberal arts education curriculum. Traditionally, the liberal arts are divided into the trivium consisting of grammar, logic and rhetoric and the quadrivium consisting of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy.

The liberal arts provide the young mind with the tools of learning and an introduction to the intellectual life.

The art of grammar teaches the student to compose sentences well, necessary for understanding. Logic teaches reasoning and the methods that yield science and wisdom. Rhetoric teaches persuasion and discourse used when bringing the truth to others. Grammar, logic and rhetoric are basic tools of the mind.

Since the young student is familiar with quantity, yet less familiar with the order and structure of nature, the mathematical sciences are especially proportioned to the young mind. Hence after the trivium, the student studies the quadrivium containing mathematical disciplines. Arithmetic and geometry consider number and magnitude respectively. Music uses number and ratio to produce harmony. Astronomy applies the properties of magnitude to explain the motions of the heavens. In addition to these, Latin is studied to practice the art of grammar. The trivium strengthens the young mind with tools of learning, the quadrivium provides an arena appropriate for the young mind in which the tools can be used.

Growth in knowledge and wisdom requires experience. The studies of literature, geography, history, and natural science are added to the trivium and quadrivium to broaden the student’s experience of humanity. Geography and natural science broaden the student’s experience of nature.

The crowning discipline of the curriculum is theology. Each discipline prepares the mind for a contemplation of God. The theology tutorial formally considers our relationship to God by presenting the Church’s perennial teaching free of dissent.

Expected Schoolwide Learning Results

With a classical liberal arts education, Saint Augustine Academy students grow in the theological, intellectual and moral virtues, pursuing Heaven, the Truth, and the Good by becoming persons who:

Upper School Education Expectations Grades 5-12

THEOLOGICAL

  1. Cultivate the baptismal gifts of Faith, Hope, and Charity
  2. Know, defend, and live the Holy Catholic Faith
  3. Frequent Mass, the Sacraments, and traditional Catholic devotions
  4. Show reverence to God and His Creation

INTELLECTUAL

  1. Attain the tools of life-long learning: the liberal arts of grammar, logic, and rhetoric
  2. Seek to understand what is true, desire what is good, and love what is beautiful
  3. Explore the splendors of Creation through the precision of empirical science and mathematics
  4. Examine, from a Christocentric perspective, human nature in history and in the master works of literature

MORAL

  1. Form and inform a correct and Catholic conscience so as to better delight in the things one ought to delight in and to shun the things one ought to shun
  2. Grow in virtue, which is the fruit and seed of morally good acts, making possible self-mastery, ease, and joy in leading a morally good life
  3. Contribute to the common good of civil society by accepting the duties of citizenship, promoting the dignity and sanctity of all persons inherent in an authentic Culture of Life, and exercising stewardship over the natural world
  4. Recognize the resounding call to life-long conversion of heart, thereby engendering compassion and forgiveness for our fellow man

Lower School Education Expectations Grades K-4

THEOLOGICAL

  1. Live your baptism
  2. Live your Catholic Faith
  3. Pray
  4. Be reverent

INTELLECTUAL

  1. Be a learner
  2. Seek the true, the good, and the beautiful
  3. Explore Creation
  4. Study stories

MORAL

  1. Form your conscience well
  2. Grow in virtue
  3. Be a good citizen
  4. Convert your heart