Lower School
“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” – Charlotte Mason
During the Grammar stage, children joyfully explore the natural world as a means of discovery, learning the skills of observation and categorization while developing a sense of wonder in appreciation for the majesty of God’s creation. Through story, fairy tales, and lives of saints, children witness the embodiment of virtues, experience the tensions between good and evil and gaze upon the beauty of language and strong imagery. Memory work, ranging from poetry and scripture to primary source documents and historical speeches, strengthen the muscles of the mind and fill the heart with beauty and goodness while building discipline and perseverance. Students learn to bring their thoughts into harmony in various ways, for example by assembling words together appropriately to form cohesive sentences, or by using arithmetic operations to balance equations. At this stage, students are learning the underlying rules that govern language and mathematics, while developing a vocabulary of words and symbols that enrich their understanding.
