In The Restoration of Christian Culture John Senior wrote, “If we all went home, any village in America today could be… beautiful, good, strong and free.” We believe in the transformative power of love, particularly the love of family and friends pursuing a vision of a Christ-centered culture together.  We desire to strive together to love God, love our neighbors, and love our local land well. As Senior later continued, one of the most powerful influences in the world is, “ordinary men and women driven to heroic virtue by the love of God.” We are most certainly ordinary men and women, and we have hearts full of prayer that we would live lives of virtue worth imitating as we seek to disciple and raise our children to be the next generation of courageous, faithful men and women. 

Transmitting Culture
Fundamental to our vision of education is that it is the transmission of a culture, and Kalos Classical is aimed at helping parents more faithfully transmit a humanizing, liberating culture of wisdom, eloquence, and virtue that will prepare their children for the future God calls them to. While we believe parents are the primary ones responsible for the discipleship of their children, we recognize that a community of like-minded families can exponentially bless the next generation by pooling wisdom and resources to give our children much more than any one of us could do alone.

Music and Gymnastic
In the classical tradition, elementary education was characterized by gymnastics and music. Gymnastics referred to, “a vigorous training of the body… the purpose of which was not simply recreation and health but the acuity of sensing,” (John Senior, Restoration of Christian Culture). At Kalos Classical we follow the latin dictum nihil in intellectu nisi prius in sensu, which translated means, “Nothing in the intellect unless first in the senses.” By grounding education in the senses, we prioritize the use of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch as fundamental and necessary prerequisites to all other knowledge. 

By musical we do not mean merely the study of music or the use of musical instruments. A musical education historically centered on wonder as the beginning of all philosophy. The nine Muses in Greek mythology were, “the deities of poetry, music, dance, history, and astronomy. They introduce the young to reality through delight. It is a total education including the heart the memory and passions and imagination as well as the body and intelligence,” (Dennis Quinn, “Education by the Muses”). By grounding education in wonder, we prioritize the imagination, memory, and stories as essential to how we approach all areas of learning. 

The Curriculum
Built upon our fundamental beliefs about God and how he has made the world, we believe that a proper curriculum worthy of elementary students made in the image of God is a full, embodied education in prayer; in singing hymns, psalms, and folk songs; in the recitation of Scripture and poetry; in the reading of Scripture, poetry, fables, moral tales, fairy tales, myths, legends, history, literature, and biographies; in the experience of latin, handicrafts, artist study, composer study, nature study, and naked-eye stargazing; and in the practice of calligraphy, manners, and dancing. For this year we will cover from this list what is doable in one day a week; you can view a sample agenda below. Families in Kalos Classical will also have access to a full elementary curriculum called The Children’s Tradition, that will integrate with what is happening at our weekly co-op. The use of that curriculum during the rest of the week is not mandatory at this time, but we hope that it will serve the families who desire to follow the course it charts.

The Plan
Bringing this kind of educational project to fruition is no small endeavor. We have spent hours in prayer and discussion about the wisest ways to attempt such a robust, lively vision. We are currently a small group of friends who love each other enough to spend two afternoons a week together doing beauty subjects and nature study. With the desire to see the power of classical, living ideas impact more families in our local community, we are opening the doors of our co-op to other families that share our desire for this kind of way of life while also expanding the scope of the classes we will cover. As we remember our Lord’s words that, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much,” it is our aim to start small and work year by year towards our long-term goal of providing a hybrid of 3 instructional days with 2 at-home days for all twelve grades.

This first year we will offer classes for 1st through 4th grade. We will follow a form model for our classrooms, grouping 1st-3rd graders in one class (Form 1) and 4th in their own class (Form 2, which will be 4th-5th the following year). Co-op will meet one day a week for three hours, with additional meetings for nature study (bi-monthly), naked-eye stargazing (monthly), and recitation nights (annually). We follow a term-model which means the school year will be broken into three 11-week terms with ten weeks of instruction and one exam week each term. Exam weeks are opportunities to slow down, remember together, and celebrate the beautiful ideas, stories, songs, and images that have been been stored up in our souls during the past term.

We intend to add 5th grade in 2025/2026, 6th grade in 2026/2027, and so on until we have a full 1st-12th grade program. This first year we will meet one day a week for the instructional co-op. Next year we hope to add a second instructional day. We would also love to see our community grow to provide offerings such as family campouts, bi-annual dances, boys wrestling, handicraft seminars, and a living library. With heads full of dreams, we have many ideas about where we would like to go, and we trust that as families join this community and we get a sense of the needs, priorities will become self-evident. 

Agenda (Form 1 Class)
10:30 - 10:50 Benediction Assembly: Prayer, Scripture Recitation, Psalm Sing, Folk Song, Poetry Reading, Poetry Recitation
10:50 - 11:10 Gymnastics (Swedish Drill)
11:10 - 11:15 Dismissal of Forms
11:15 - 11:25 Aesop’s Fables
11:25 - 11:40 Artist Study/Composer Study
11:40 - 12:00 D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths
12:00 - 12:30 Lunch Recess
12:30 - 1:00 Latin Through Stories
1:00 - 1:20 Brush Drawing by May Mallam
1:20 - 1:40 Elementary Geography by Charlotte Mason
1:40 - 2:00 Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit
2:00 Closing Prayer

Agenda (Form 2 Class)
10:30 - 10:50 Benediction Assembly: Prayer, Scripture Recitation, Psalm Sing, Folk Song, Poetry Reading, Poetry Recitation
10:50 - 11:10 Gymnastics (Swedish Drill)
11:10 - 11:15 Dismissal of Forms
11:15 - 11:25 Aesop’s Fables
11:25 - 11:40 Artist Study/Composer Study
11:40 - 12:00 Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
12:00 - 12:30 Lunch Recess
12:30 - 1:00 Latin Through Stories
1:00 - 1:15 Elementary Geography by Charlotte Mason
1:15 - 1:45 Plutarch’s Lives
1:45 - 2:00 Brush Drawing
2:00 Closing Prayer

Cost
The cost per student will be $900 per year, with the option to pay in three installments of $300 at the start of each 11 week term. Families will be expected to purchase their own books, notebooks, and supplies.