Trivium: The Heart of a Classical Education
Redeemer Christian School bases its educational approach upon the classical teaching model known as the Trivium, which divides the educational life of a student into three stages. Each stage emphasizes the student’s natural capacity for certain types of learning:
The Grammar Stage
- Ages 5-10
- Builds academic skills of reading, composition, mathematics, and vocabulary of subjects
- Emphasizes the chronological learning and memorization of essential facts, such as:
- Dates, timelines, Places Bible verses in song and chant, hands-on projects, drama, etc.
- Children genuinely find joy in discovering, reciting, and demonstrating what they have learned
The Logic Stage
- Ages 11-14
- Follows a foundation of the grammar stage and includes the study of ordered relationships between subjects, sound reasoning and thinking, mechanics and patterns of language and the framework of subjects
- During the logic stage, students study formal logic, Latin, lab sciences, elements of grammar and composition, research skills, and Bible study methods
The Rhetoric Stage
- Ages 15-18
- Refines the students’ skills of using and articulating knowledge, logically, clearly and persuasively
- Continued chronological studies of literature, Christian apologetics, history, mathematics, and science, and adds to them the study of philosophy, theology, and classical rhetoric
- The capstone of their study is a written and orally defended senior thesis