St. Pius X Classical Academy will offer a unique emphasis on the intellectual skills and habits that prepare each student for life-long learning. The learning process is designed to be logical and sequential. The first four years will concentrate on the grammar of the subjects: their structure and objective characteristics. The last four years will emphasize the logic or relationships of these characteristics, leading the student to master and communicate what they have learned.
The History and Science portions of the Classical Curriculum are cyclical. The time periods and subject are introduced in grades 1-4 then repeated and expounded in grades 5-8. In addition to the Diocesan curriculum, each grade level(1-8) will place emphasis in both history and science.
The science curriculum, as aforementioned is cyclical and will focus on the specific area of discipline developed during that time period being studied in the students' history lessons.
Students will explore the physical world; biology, earth science and astronomy, chemistry and physics. Although text books are implemented in the second grade, the primary vehicle for learning will be through observation and experimentation.
The curriculum will also include the use of the Latin language which will serve several very important and distint purposes. First, Latin provides and efficient way to learn the grammatical structure of English. Over fifty percent of the English language is derived from the Latin language. Second, Latin is the key to all the Romance languages. Students who have studied Latin are better prepared to study Spanish, French or Italian when they enter high school and college. Finally, the study of Latin will serve to preserve the mother language of the Catholic Church thereby ensuring the passing down of our Catholic heritage.
The four years of elementary math, first though fourth grade, lay the foundation for the high-level abstract thinking required by algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. The classical curriculum emphasizes a firm grasp of relationships between numbers and the use of concrete models and manipulative to reinforce concepts. During the logic stage in grades five through eight, the students must learn to make the transition from the mental image mode of objects to the symbolic mode of use of numbers to represent meaning.
Our current religion curriculum is also representative of the classical curriculum. We will continue to use the Faith and Life series.
The appreciation of the beautiful is a distinctly human gift. Beauty can transform man at the very core of his being. Beauty can transform man at th
e very core of his being. St. Pius X Classical Academy pupils will not only learn the theory that underlies beautiful works, but they themselves will also produce beautiful works. Every student will participate in the visual arts program which includes sculpture, painting and architecture with an emphasis on the corresponding time periods studied in their history lessons.