This curriculum is classical, by which we mean it harkens back to the pedagogy and ideals that existed in Greco-Roman education that were developed and more fully realized by the Christian church in a Christ-centered curriculum for over 2,000 years. As Dr. Christopher Perrin says, this is the kind of education that begins in wonder and leads to worship, to wisdom, and to fruitful work. We did not invent these ideas, and our desired posture is one of humility and reverence for traditional wisdom that is full of more depth and richness than we could ever contain in ourselves. Our pedagogy takes particular interest in how to nurture humility in our students through the cultivation of a receptive attitude by students and teachers alike as we collectively receive from the Great Tradition.

This curriculum is integrated because all the various types of knowledge we encounter are parts of a whole (a whole that, we can add, is only fully known by God). For us as human beings, we encounter the various parts, and are left to be in awe of the mystery contained in every object, be it a person, place, thing, or idea. An integrated view of knowledge keeps one from emphasizing rigid categories of knowledge (commonly called subjects) and instead approaches knowledge in a synthetic, holistic manner. One good book may be a work of literature that contains history, geography, poetry, natural science, and more. Beyond books, all of life comes to us as an integration where knowledge and experience, books and things, weave and intermingle to form one great tapestry.

This curriculum is centered around the humanities because it is concerned with the essential knowledge that affects human beings as such. In this sense, you could say that the goal of The Children’s Tradition is to humanize, that is, to help our students become more fully human. The cultivation of human beings is rooted in culture, the ground in which our beliefs, manners, and traditions shape our understanding of who we are and why we are here. As C. S. Lewis so poignantly expressed, “We find the concrete reality in which to participate is to be truly human: the real common will and common reason of humanity, alive, and growing like a tree, and branching out, as the situation varies, into ever new beauties and dignities of application.”

There is a way of learning that is particularly suited to childhood, and that is what the ancients called gymnastic and musical education. Put simply, children are made for an embodied education in wonder, to use their eyes, ears, taste, touch, and smell to commune with God, man, and creation. Children are made to participate in relationships and to learn by imitation as we nourish their souls with true, good, and beautiful books and things.