During grades K-2, the larger educational aims are the cultivation of wonder and virtue. Students at these ages are naturally filled with wide-eyed wonder at the world, and need that wonder to be protected, cultivated, and extended. As younger children they are also the most receptive to acquiring virtuous habits of learning that will serve the rest of their lives. So while we will teach these students phonics, handwriting, reading, and arithmetic, we will be very intentional about developing them as passionate lovers of truth, goodness, and beauty, and showing them the natural world as a living museum full of wonders that delight the soul. We will also be intentional about cultivating virtue.
During these lower grammar years, it is also the ideal time to acquaint younger students with the pedagogical (teaching methods) wisdom of making haste slowly (festina lente), mastering a few things rather than lightly “covering” many (multum non multa). Students will learn the virtue of working wisely and well, but without anxiety and exhaustion. Students will focus on a core of three main arts: reading, writing, and arithmetic; additional study in music, fine art, Bible, and nature study will serve to season and delight but not overwhelm. The study of Latin vocabulary (and some conversational Latin) may also be lightly introduced.
