School Life
Academics
Distinctly Classical Academics
Click for detailed overviews of our PreK-12 education
CULTIVATING A LOVE OF LEARNING
Our academic program is designed to move students toward a life-long understanding and appreciation of truth, goodness, and beauty. This type of education is aimed at forming the whole person, and it includes great literature, robust discussion, integrated learning, logic, history, mathematics, fine arts, and so much more.
While our teachers pursue academic excellence, they are equally committed to cultivating a genuine love of learning. To support this vision, Ambrose offers two pathways to accommodate each family’s unique needs while maintaining a commitment to formative education. These tailored models ensure that families can choose an educational path that best fits their circumstances, all within the framework of a classical Christian education.
Two Educational Models
Traditional Model
The Locust Grove Campus operates on a traditional five-day model.
Collaborative Model
Our Bridge Campus operates on a collaborative model, blending classroom instruction with home-based learning. Students attend classes on campus two to three days a week, receiving direct instruction from Bridge Campus teachers, and engage in parent-led learning at home during the remaining days, following provided lesson plans. This model emphasizes family involvement and flexibility while maintaining robust academic standards.
ACCREDITED THROUGH
Three Educational Stages
Our academic system places students into three stages: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. Click to learn more about what an Ambrose education looks like in each stage and in Pre-Kindergarten, which lays the groundwork for the Grammar School years.
Pre-Kindergarten
Our Pre-Kindergarten program for ages 4 and 5 is designed to foster wonder and imagination, love of story, exploration of the outdoors, familiarity with the Ambrose community, and the neurodevelopment that prepares children for a lifetime of learning. Class time is used to help students develop physical dexterity and body and spatial awareness, alongside phonemic awareness and number sense, and be introduced to letters and numbers. Students learn through rhythm, chant, rhyme, and movement as often as possible. They do some seat work as the year progresses, but activities are typically done in stations, sitting or standing in a circle, lying or sitting on the floor, etc.
What a typical Pre-Kindergarten day looks like
Bible story and prayer time
Basics practice: learn a new number, letter, color, etc.
Movement skills: crossbody movement, movement to music, dance, fine and gross motor skills
Recess
Story time and story time activity
Singing
Listening to and saying children’s poems together
Nature walks
Art study or music study
Good habit formation
Grammar School: Grades K - 6
During these early years, we help students build a solid framework of knowledge that will serve them for life. Children memorize readily at this age, and we challenge them with facts that span all subjects from Bible to history to science. We use songs, chants, and rhymes to help children enjoy the learning experience.
Some of the things your child will do
Learn to read using phonics
Use Singapore Math
Recite parts of speech jingles
Celebrate the traditions of the United States
Study ancient hieroglyphics
Write in cursive
Start learning Latin
Identify examples of the Seven Virtues in all subjects
Perform a Shakespeare play
Imitate great poetry
Some of the books your child will read
Charlotte’s Web
Archimedes and the Door of Science
Legamus: An Introduction to Latin
Robin Hood
The Silver Chair
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
The Lord of the Rings
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Hiding Place
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Logic School: Grades 7 - 8
Students at this stage are ready to use their minds in a way that develops independent thinking, rather than simply repeating information they are given. 7th – 8th grade students begin to learn through Socratic teaching, a guided question and answer form that is highly effective in teaching children to think. The teacher typically asks a broad question that seems to have no right answer. Then, as the students attempt to answer, the teacher guides them through the use of logic toward thoughtful and defensible conclusions. While this seems straightforward, Socratic teaching is an art-–it takes time, but the investment pays off!
Some of the things your student will do
Join our House system
Attend school dances
Discuss the worldviews demonstrated in the books they read
Identify formal logic and logical fallacies
Speak Latin in class
Spend a day experiencing the life of a medieval monk
Some of the books your student will read
The Odyssey
Epic of Gilgamesh
Early History of Rome
Plutarch’s Julius Caesar
The Confessions of St. Augustine
Beowulf
The Magna Carta
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight
The Song of Roland
Rhetoric School: Grades 9 - 12
During high school, your child will refine his ability to recognize ideas, form arguments, and communicate eloquently and convincingly. These skills culminate in our Summa courses: Summa Theologica in 11th grade focuses on theological questions, and Summa Civitas in 12th grade focuses on principles of government. The rhetoric stage is also when students are given more opportunities for leadership through house mentorship, sports, and classroom responsibilities. We help students mature during these years, and as responsibilities increase, freedoms and privileges also increase. These opportunities to mature as a Christian will benefit your child throughout life as he navigates relationships at college, at work, and within his own family and church.
Some of the things your student will do
Consider how historical events shape and are shaped by literature
Have the option of earning concurrent college credits
Attend a formal dinner and dance (Protocol) every spring
Have the opportunity to be a House leader and mentor younger students
Write and defend a 20-page senior thesis
Some of the books your student will read
The Republic
The Iliad
Democracy in America
U.S. Constitution
The Great Gatsby
Frankenstein
The Canterbury Tales
The Brothers Karamazov
The Stranger