How we fit with what you are already doing
frontier christian academy and the "five flavors of Homeschooling"
Classical curriculum
In the Classical Trivium, think of Frontier Christian Academy as “the rhetoric on steroids.”
Our students will be heavily engaged in “the great conversation” in ways that no other high school students will be.
If your student has been trained classically, they should thrive in this curriculum, since they will be able to pull from a much larger knowledge base (the grammar) than many other students. They will also have a more robust framework of logic, which will give them a leg up on several of our courses.
Our courses provide a wonderful opportunity for classically-trained students to actively use the grammar and logic that they have learned, as they engage the adult world with their various accomplishments.
Our students will be heavily engaged in “the great conversation” in ways that no other high school students will be.
If your student has been trained classically, they should thrive in this curriculum, since they will be able to pull from a much larger knowledge base (the grammar) than many other students. They will also have a more robust framework of logic, which will give them a leg up on several of our courses.
Our courses provide a wonderful opportunity for classically-trained students to actively use the grammar and logic that they have learned, as they engage the adult world with their various accomplishments.
Charlotte mason
Many of our courses are focused on gathering the knowledge needed to build the narrative in order to better understand future facts that present themselves.
As you know, Charlotte Mason is all about the narrative.
Our Novel Writing and Publishing course even has the students develop their own narratives.
Most of our courses are based on the ability to predict “the next scene” in the narrative in their respective fields.
It is not possible to predict what comes next without understanding something of how what has come before impacts where we are today.
Those who have been trained in Charlotte Mason will be able to find plenty of narrative in Frontier Christian Academy courses to complement the other things that you are doing.
As you know, Charlotte Mason is all about the narrative.
Our Novel Writing and Publishing course even has the students develop their own narratives.
Most of our courses are based on the ability to predict “the next scene” in the narrative in their respective fields.
It is not possible to predict what comes next without understanding something of how what has come before impacts where we are today.
Those who have been trained in Charlotte Mason will be able to find plenty of narrative in Frontier Christian Academy courses to complement the other things that you are doing.
unit studies
As you know, unit studies are all about creating interdisciplinary synergy, and using a topic to build related skills.
Both of these are central to Frontier Christian Academy course design.
The reason that our courses are so long is because of the scope of the accomplishments by which they are defined. But there is plenty of interdisciplinary interplay between our courses and even within them.
There will be aspects of the challenges faced by our students in achieving their accomplishments that will force them to delve more deeply into certain topics.
If you are using Frontier Christian Academy as a supplement to a Unit Studies approach, then these challenges can also provide fertile soil to define other units that your student would have an immediate motivation to engage with.
Both of these are central to Frontier Christian Academy course design.
The reason that our courses are so long is because of the scope of the accomplishments by which they are defined. But there is plenty of interdisciplinary interplay between our courses and even within them.
There will be aspects of the challenges faced by our students in achieving their accomplishments that will force them to delve more deeply into certain topics.
If you are using Frontier Christian Academy as a supplement to a Unit Studies approach, then these challenges can also provide fertile soil to define other units that your student would have an immediate motivation to engage with.
"traditional" school
The Frontier Curriculum does provide various assessments along the way to provide the students with feedback on how they are doing. We do provide grades, and there are assignments that the students will have to complete by published deadlines.
In this sense, there is a strong comparison to traditional school. As with any homeschool curriculum, you, as the parent, are producing the transcript, so you can decide what to do with the grades that we assign.
In this sense, there is a strong comparison to traditional school. As with any homeschool curriculum, you, as the parent, are producing the transcript, so you can decide what to do with the grades that we assign.
"un-schooling": where life is the teacher
For our courses, “life” is the ultimate grader.
Our students engage with the world through their accomplishments, and the challenges that arise from these interactions drive the instruction that they seek and receive.
This means that they will have to learn from life experiences in a similar way to how adults have to. The evaluation of whether or not they have met the standard on an assignment is often whether or not it works in the adult world, rather than some arbitrary rubric from a textbook.
We are not sure how much more “lifelike” the instruction can be!
Our students engage with the world through their accomplishments, and the challenges that arise from these interactions drive the instruction that they seek and receive.
This means that they will have to learn from life experiences in a similar way to how adults have to. The evaluation of whether or not they have met the standard on an assignment is often whether or not it works in the adult world, rather than some arbitrary rubric from a textbook.
We are not sure how much more “lifelike” the instruction can be!