Q:

A:

Surprise Scholé Academy is not a school or an accredited academic institution. We are a parent-led cooperative group designed to offer classes and support for families who have chosen to home educate in the classical Christian tradition. While SSA does offer weekly instruction, parents are the primary educators of their children.

Q:

A:

It would be counter-productive, time-wise, to try to participate in both SSA and an educational institution.  SSA offers a structured curriculum to help teach students responsibility and time management. When attending SSA, the student is immersed in the curriculum, along with any core curriculum (language arts, math, etc.) the family chooses.  All parents also participate and are involved in the community as Academic Mentors and other service roles.

Q:

A:

Surprise Scholé Academy offers five levels of instruction:

Pre-Grammar: ages 5-6 or K-1st grade (students must be age 5 by September 1st of current year)

Lower-Grammar: ages 6-9 or 1st-3rd grade

Upper-Grammar: ages 9-12 or 4th-6th grade

Dialectic: ages 12-15 or 7th-9th grade

Rhetoric: ages 15-19 or 10th -12th grade

*Note, students are not moved to the next level mid-year because they have a mid-year birthdate.*

Q:

A:

The best age to start varies by student, but age 5 or 6 is an average starting age. It is important that your student has at least some ability to behave respectfully in a classroom setting as well as be able to receive instruction from someone other than their parent.

Q:

A:

Children who are not yet old enough for our academic classes (5 years old by September 1) can enjoy play, snacks, naptime and organized activities in our Little Learner’s room during our meeting days and Learning Symposiums. This room is staffed by paid childcare workers and the activities and schedules are organized by the Little Learner’s director. Children on campus who are 1 year old and walking to 5 years old must be in the Little Learner classroom during the day and are not permitted to join older siblings in classrooms.

Q:

A:

Classical education is like a very large museum with many beautiful, wonder-filled rooms that could be studied over a lifetime. It is a long tradition of education that has emphasized seeking after truth, goodness, and beauty and the study of the liberal arts and the great books. What are the liberal arts? They are grammar, logic, rhetoric (the verbal arts of the trivium), arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy (the mathematical arts of the quadrivium). This approach to education also includes the study of Latin. The classical approach teaches students how to learn and how to think.

Q:

A:

No. Surprise Scholé Academy provides weekly instruction in particular subjects. It is not meant to be an all-inclusive education. The upper levels will be assigned work to complete each week to be ready participants for the following class.

Classes depend on the grade level of the student. In the Grammar years this includes subjects such as writing, literature, Latin, and science. The upper levels lean towards literature and history, as well as particular classes that will enhance each student’s classical education such as cartography, speech, logic, Shakespeare and poetry. 

Q:

A:

 Yes. As SSA is truly cooperative, all parents lead a classroom as an Academic Mentor.  Parents are able to express their top choices based on desire and expertise. God always places everyone where He wants them.

Q:

A:

No, SSA is not a drop-off program and parents are required to remain on campus and participate in the cooperative spirit of learning both through their service and presence in their children’s classrooms when they are not serving in other credit roles. 

Q:

A:

Latin provides a solid foundation for all language learning, including English. Latin reinforces math as it encourages students to employ logic and reasoning skills. Latin is a finite language that can actually be mastered as it is no longer changing and growing. As students achieve success with Latin, they grow in their ability to learn other languages and subjects as well. Latin teaches vocabulary and logical reasoning that are critical for sciences, law, medicine, music, government, theology, logic and computer programming. Learning Latin sets our students up to achieve success in other subjects.

Q:

A:

Children’s minds are incredible and definitely can learn more than one language at a time! If you want to put in the time at home to teach another language along with the Latin they will learn in Scholé, they will of course benefit and likely surprise you with their language ability. Some Surprise Scholé Academy families pursue additional language study at home. However, Latin is the only language offered as part of the SSA curriculum scope and sequence. All students of SSA are required to participate in the Latin sequence in the appropriate year.