Arma Dei students in the Homeschool Collaborative program and 5th grade brought their studies of American History to life through their end-of-year festivals.
Arma Dei students participated with Augustine Classical Academy in Speech Meet Finals. Speech Meet is an opportunity that utilizes classical educational pedagogy and challenges students to develop the skills of memorization, public speaking, and social grace. We commend the hard work and diligent practice of our finalists, but beyond this competition, we ultimately hope that all of our students will carry on these valuable skills and use their speech to worship God and bless their neighbors.
As an essential part of their classical education, Arma Dei students learn the art of recitation. This vital skill helps students retain knowledge, requires unique mental faculties distinct from writing or reading, and builds a strong foundation in public speaking. This week, our students shared their recitation pieces at our Pastor Appreciation breakfast and annual Recitation and Art showcase. We are so proud of their performances and the diligent work of our teachers and students!
By Mr. Tyler Gregory, Grammar & Logic School Latin TeacherI get it. It’s a dead language. You can’t speak it with anyone in the world. There’s too much to memorize. It won’t matter on your resume. So why do classical educators still insist on teaching Latin? It’s hard to detect, but there’s a subtle assumption behind these kinds of criticisms. It goes like this: education is just a means to some financial end. Latin clearly does not achieve that end. Therefore, Latin is – to put it bluntly – “useless.” But this reasoning is troubling. It conceals a modern priority that…
Saint Augustine: Rhetoric Student (and Teacher) By Aaron Denlinger Arma Dei Academy students entering the Rhetoric stage of their education are walking, perhaps unbeknownst to them, in the footsteps of Augustine of Hippo (354-420 AD), a.k.a. Saint Augustine, arguably Christianity’s best known theologian of all time. Having completed his early education in Madauros (a small town in present-day Algeria), Augustine moved to Carthage as a teenager to study formal Rhetoric. He proved rather apt at the discipline, and shortly after completing his studies, became a Rhetoric teacher, first in Carthage, and then in Milan. Upon moving to Italy, Augustine attended sermons…
On Friday, third-grade families had the chance to travel back in time to witness the epic battle between Carthage and Rome, whereby General Hannibal strategically led his troops, as well as an army of elephants, across the Alps in an attempt to defeat the Romans. Unfortunately, his unique plan proved unsuccessful, and Rome victoriously defeated the army of Carthaginians. After this historical event had played out, Festival Day concluded with a delicious Greek Feast, put on by the 3rd-grade moms!
On Thursday, fourth-grade students performed what they have learned in history, which covers 1,000 years of European events. It begins right before the fall of Rome, which happened in 476 AD and continued past the discovery of the New World to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Their study began where 3rd-grade left off and prepares them for 5th-grade, where they will be learning about the exploration and settlement of the “new” lands. Much of this history is the history of God’s church through the ages. Fourth-graders began studying Augustine in 386 AD and watched how the church became the center of…