Classes and Levels
Nursery through the trivium
How are class levels decided? What does each level look like?
Class sizes and splits vary each year depending on the needs of our students. In general, these are the classes we offer:
Nursery/preschool
We love our youngest “born persons” here at SCC and provide thoughtful, consistent rhythms for our youngest members. In nursery, this might look like playtime, storytime, and doing our best to help naps happen. In preschool, this looks like storytime, free play, stories, crafts, games, and as much time outside as the weather allows! Please do reach out to ask any specific questions about the younger students. We care deeply about loving them well.
In Class:
At this age, we lean into wonder and experiential learning. We use good books, enthusiasm, and embodied experiences when we set up classes for this age. This is a time to set our children’s feet in a large room, as Charlotte Mason would say; we want them to taste and see that the feast of learning is good.
Grammar/Elementary
We group students ages 5-11 into our grammar class. Depending upon enrollment, we further divide this into multiple classes based on age and student readiness. This split often looks like a class for our 5-8 year old students and a class for our 9-11 year old students.
At Home:
The yearly parent pack contains weekly reading and many optional resources. Students will get the most out of our day together if they have read (or listened to you read) the weekly readings listed in the parent pack. Oral and/or written narrations of those readings are highly encouraged. Working at home on any memory work will also help your student participate in the weekly activities. Beyond that, the parent pack contains loads of optional material to support your homeschool.
Students in the grammar levels should expect 3-5 hours of work at home per week.
Logic/Middle School
In Class:
This class consists of our 12-14 year olds. At this level, the demands on the student increase. They are assigned more reading and writing and are expected to maintain an organized notebook of their assignments. We begin to offer them coaching in the skills of close reading, biblical study, and scientific analysis. We continue to care deeply about beauty, wonder, and hands-on science experiments, and we use narration, outlines, and special projects to further their experience and mastery of writing and presenting.
At Home:
Our Middle School/Logic level students are given a syllabus at the beginning of each term, outlining their work for the next five weeks. This work includes reading, narrations, science sketches, and memory work.
Students in the logic level should expect 7-8 hours of work at home each week (mostly independent).
Rhetoric/High School
In Class:
Our high school students continue along the trajectory set in the younger years. Assignments and readings continue to deepen in complexity, but our commitment to wonder, curiosity, and the spirit of inquiry remain. Students are offered rich readings across subjects and respond to them through writing, class discussions, sketches, labs, and other projects.
At Home:
Rhetoric/High School students receive a syllabus each term outlining their readings, narrations, study questions, sketches, and any other work each week. Our co-op is committed to gentle rigor. At this level, you can expect your student to have a substantial amount of work to complete at home.
Students in the rhetoric level should expect 15-16 hours of work at home per week (mostly independent).