Upcoming Events
2023-2024 Open House at Scholé Academy
February 7th | 7PM | Registration is Required
Scholé Academy welcomes your family to join us on Tuesday, February 7th for our 2023-2024 Open House. Learn how your family can join our community who pursues Christian education through the time-tested classical pedagogy. Families choose us because of our restful, engaging, live online courses hosted by talented instructors in every discipline.
Our open house will prepare you to register for the 2023-2024 school year with a knowledge of The Great Hall and our Houses of Studies as well as important new courses you’ll want to look for this year! Connect with us at this open house and prepare for Scholé Academy’s Christ-centered culture, award-winning courses, and family-oriented community.
SRS St. Raphael of Brooklyn Feast Day Lecture
February 15th | 7:00PM | Registration is Required
Join us as Elizabeth Crispina Johnson presents on Saint Raphael, the Holy Shepherd of Brooklyn: His Life, Legacy, and Lessons. Listen to the conversation surrounding St. Raphael’s commitment to simply doing his work, that of serving others, engaging in the struggles of those around him showing them kindness and compassion, and how this “doing” can lead to spiritual growth.
Scholé Academy Classroom Experience: Foundational Math VI Course with Joelle Riethmiller
Friday, February 17, 2023 | 2:30pm ET | Registration Required
Scholé Academy Classroom Experience events highlight live classroom activities with a veteran Scholé Academy instructor. We host these events to provide prospective parents and families with an inside look at Scholé Academy’s culture, community and pedagogy. Come experience an upper elementary/middle school math class with an instructor who endeavors to assist students toward a deeper love for learning and to appreciate the beauty of mathematics through study of concrete and abstract thinking. Explore with us “the language with which God has written the universe” from its daily practical use to the wonder of the subject. .
Scholé Academy Classroom Experience: Physics Course with Sherry Joslin
Friday, March 8, 2023 | 5:00pm ET | Registration Required
Scholé Academy Classroom Experience events highlight live classroom activities with a veteran Scholé Academy instructor. We host these events to provide prospective parents and families with an inside look at Scholé Academy’s culture, community and pedagogy. Come experience an upper school physics class with an instructor who is passionate about showing students how the relationship between faith and science is not one of conflict but of qualified agreement. Join the discussion on Physics through the lens of Newton’s Universal law of Gravity based on the Novare Physics texts in this exciting Classroom Experience.
Event Recordings
Scholé Academy Classroom Experience: Upper School Humanities Event With Phaedra Shaltanis
Friday, February 3, 2023 | 3:30pm ET | Registration Required
Come experience an upper school history session and learn about Humanities offerings for grades 4-12. Through literature and historical texts, this rich program offers a contemplative learning experience that engages students in discussion and reflection on various expressions of human nature.
Scholé Academy Classroom Experience events highlight live classroom activities with a veteran Scholé Academy instructor. We host these events to provide prospective parents and families with an inside look at Scholé Academy’s culture, community and pedagogy.
Aquinas House of Studies Presents St. Thomas Aquinas Feast Day Event
January 27th | 11:30AM | Registration is Required
Start the New Year out with a reflection application of “Why St. Thomas Aquinas Matters in 2023”.
Dr. Boyle writes on Thomas Aquinas and Thomas More and published a lost work of Thomas Aquinas. A graduate of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, he has received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, the Aquinas Medal from the University of Dallas, and delivered the Aquinas Lecture at the National University of Ireland.
Scholé Academy Lecture Hall Presents Heidi White
January 19th | 7PM | Registration is Required
Scholé Academy Winter College Night
January 12th | 7PM | Registration is Required
Scholé Academy Lecture Hall Presents Joshua Gibbs
December 12th | 7PM | Registration is Required
When you’re in the mood for a movie, how do you choose what you’ll watch? Given that the average American now spends more than a hundred hours every year just scrolling through Netflix menus, it is safe to assume that most Americans don’t know how to pick a movie. The way in which Christians choose what to watch is quite complicated. They want to be entertained, they want to be enlightened, but they also want to keep their finger on the cultural pulse of the country. What considerations ought to have top priority?
Tutoring Center Open House
• Discussion of Scholé Academy Philosophy and Tutor Profile
• Snapshot of Services Offered and How Those Look in Various Disciplines
• Q&A with the manager, principal, tutors, and special needs instructors
Scholé Academy College Night
November 28th | 7PM | Registration Required
Scholé Academy, along with Classic Learning Test and a special panel of college partners, is excited to invite you to the 2022 Fall College Night!
Join our panel as they explore the value of a Classical, Christian Higher Education and discuss questions such as:
• How do we measure the value of a good education?
• How should families think about the investment of time and resources when considering higher education?
• In a highly utilitarian, post-Christian era, in what ways is a liberal arts college education beneficial or important?
• What are the non-financial benefits in a student’s future that come from pursuing a liberal arts education in a post-Christian era?
Our panel for the evening will consist of Kimberly Farley (Classic Learning Test), Matthew Smith (Hildegard College), Dr. David Diener (Hillsdale College), Dr. Kathryn Smith (Eastern University), and Dr. Shannon Valenzuela (University of Dallas). The discussion will be moderated by Joelle Hodge (Classical Academic Press).
Scholé Academy Lecture Hall Presents Math and Science for the Formation of the Soul: Placing the Quadrivium at the Center of Education with Founder of Hildegard College, Matthew Smith
The renewal of the liberal arts that we know as “classical education” is often narrowly associated with a renewal of the humanities — philosophy, literature, politics, history, and the arts. But the majority of the seven traditional liberal arts (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, grammar, logic, rhetoric) are sciences. Classical educators sometimes find it difficult to integrate the study of geometry, physics, mathematics, and biology into a curriculum that inspires our students. Yet it is important to recognize that these “quadrivial arts” are essential not merely for technical knowledge but for the moral, intellectual, and spiritual formation of young people, which is why music and even theology are best taught as sciences. Great thinkers like Plato, Boethius, Aquinas, and Milton give us a roadmap and vocabulary for reinforcing the power of the quadrivial arts to lead students to a clearer vision of what is true, beautiful, and worthy of our love.
November 2022 Coffee with the Principals
In this November Coffee with the Principals, deep conversation was had around a new resource from ParentU, an offering especially for parents who value classical education. Anchoring on the idea that an education that passes on a culture must, by default, be one that teaches students to love what has stood the test of time. In Lesson 4: Parent U, Highlighting the Tool, Retrieving & Renewing Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, parents ponder the words retrieve and renew. Renewing is akin to antique shopping- taking that with solid bones and exalting it to purposeful place in life now. Retrieving brings to mind the dog and master relationship. That which has been sent after, diligently sought, and faithfully returned. Learning itself is an art of retrieving, is it not?
Considering truth, goodness, and beauty, why do we need all three? Is it possible to have beauty without truth? Truth without beauty? What’s the relationship between our modern pace of life and the difficulty to make time to savor goodness and beauty? How do we purpose for a life of festina lente or making haste slowly?
These rich ideas and more were shared around a simple cup of coffee on an ordinary Monday afternoon. Join us by watching this conversation or our stopping by for our next Coffee with the Principals.
October 2022 Coffee with the Principals
In Rudyard Kipling’s 1895 poem, “If ”, readers are patiently exhorted to consider the challenges common to man in light of the choices before him. At this Coffee with the Principals, the Scholé Academy community discussed the formation of such a mindset. Though often read without a connection to Scripture, this poem rightly lays out virtuous goals. Conversation around the table of this event moved towards the work of the Lord in the life of the believer. How can a person respond to defeat in these ways? How can one really model selfless love in a self-centered world? Resting decidedly in Christ and allowing His strength to give power, man is truly set free to live. These questions and more were considered in this Coffee with the Principals.
September 2022 Coffee with the Principals
Come and discuss the essential meaning of temperare. September 22 at 1:30pm ET. Registration Required. Join principals, Joanne Schinstock Director and Principal of Schole Academy, and Presbytera Maria Koulianos, Principal of St. Raphael School, for a brief reflection on temperance from Josef Pieper’s Four Cardinal Virtues followed by a discussion on how restful learning can require the student to discern which good things are worth giving up to attain what is better. “Without rational self-restraint even the natural hunger for sense perception or for knowledge can degenerate into a destructive and pathological compulsive greed; this degradation Aquinas calls curiositas, the disciplined mode studiositas” (151). Parents are not required to read the text prior to discussion, but a PDF copy of the text is available HERE, pp. 145-206.
Aquinas House of Studies Classroom Experience: Catholic Spiritual Classics with Monika Minehart
Tuesday, June 28, 2022 | 7:00pm ET
Join Scholé Academy Director Joanne Schinstock, Aquinas House of Studies instructor Monika Minehart, and Scholé Academy students for this special event, featuring live classroom activities, Q&A, and a deeper look at the Aquinas House of Studies.
Families will observe an online classroom setting and dialogue between Monika and students, who will contemplate the meaning behind a holy image of Jesus that impacted St. Therésè of Lisieux during her childhood and then brainstorm ways to apply this meaning to their own lives. A sample homework assignment will be shared to showcase students learning from one another’s reflections through the medium of drawing.
This classroom experience live event will feature course content from Scholé Academy’s NEW Aquinas House of Studies. The Aquinas House was created to assist Catholic families in forming the hearts and minds of students aided by the study of Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Liberal Arts tradition. In 2022-23, Aquinas will join St. Raphael School (Orthodox) and the Canterbury House (Anglican) as Scholé Academy’s third house of studies!
Scholé Academy: The Great Hall and Houses of Studies Open House
Tuesday, April 26, 2022 | 7:00pm ET
Our Scholé Academy community, which includes Canterbury House of Studies, The Aquinas House of Studies, and St. Raphael School, is a Christ-centered fellowship of believers united by the common threads of classical, Christian education. Welcoming learners into our Great Hall, our students gather to join in the great conversation and delve deeply into math, science, language, and other core subjects. Off the Great Hall, our ecumenical vision reflects that we honor with dignity each Christian tradition found in the renewal of classical Christian education through studies specific to these traditions: Anglicanism and the broader Reformed Protestant Tradition, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy. Join us to learn more about the 2022-23 course offerings in the houses of studies, April 26th at 7 pm EASTERN. Facilitated by Scholé Academy Director, Joanne Schinstock, Principal of St. Raphael School, Presb. Maria Koulianos, and the Chair of Canterbury House, Rhea Bright; event will include Q/A with house instructors. Registration Required.
Classroom Experience: Well Ordered Language with Charissa Sethman
Tuesday, April 5, 2022 | 7:00pm ET
Come and see Well-Ordered Language at Scholé Academy! Learn more about this rich, interactive, delightful English grammar study, available as a live, online course. Scholé Academy Classroom Experience events highlight live classroom activities with a veteran Scholé Academy instructor. We host these events to provide prospective parents and families with an inside look at Scholé Academy’s culture, community and pedagogy. On April 5, join us for a special focus on our Grammar department, featuring instructor Charissa Sethman and academy director Joanne Schinstock!
• Welcome and Introduction
• Scholé Academy Overview and Teaching Philosophy
• Teacher Testimony
• Classroom Experience (featuring Grammar mini-lessons and activities led by Charissa Sethman)
• Q&A
Classroom Experience: Writing with Emily Brigham
Tuesday, February 15, 2022 | 7:00pm ET
Learn more about how your students will be taught in a Scholé Academy online writing classroom!
Scholé Academy Classroom Experience events highlight live classroom activities with a veteran Scholé Academy instructor. We host these events to provide prospective parents and families with an inside look at Scholé Academy’s culture, community and pedagogy. On Feb. 15, join us for a special focus on our Writing department, featuring instructor Emily Brigham and academy director Joanne Schinstock!
Scholé Academy Classroom Experience: Writing with Emily Brigham – Event Agenda:
• Welcome and Introduction
• Scholé Academy Overview and Teaching Philosophy
• Teacher Testimony
• Classroom Experience (featuring Writing mini-activities led by Emily Brigham)
• Q&A
Welcome to the Lecture Hall:
Rich discussions and curated resources to bolster home or school educator’s craft. We aim to inspire & inform, with the help of a group of creative, committed thought-leaders within the renewal of Classical Christian Education. Come join the Great Conversation!
Scholé Academy Lecture Hall Presents
Ecclesiastes: What the Strangest Book in the Bible Teaches Us About Education
with Author/Teacher/Consultant Josh Gibbs
No book in the Bible offers a more glum assessment of this life, or inspires deeper yearning for the life to come, than Ecclesiastes. This glum assessment is a caution for those who believe that classical education can “change the world” or that reading old books can help students “get ahead in the world.” And yet, Ecclesiastes also insists that refusing to “love the world or the things of the world” will actually make a man’s life tolerable, joyful, and spiritually fruitful.
Josh Gibbs Bio
Joshua Gibbs teaches classic literature to children & adults and offers consulting via GibbsClassical.com. He writes for the CiRCE Institute blog The Cedar Room, his long running column on pedagogy, parenting, and classical literature. He is the creator of the weekly Proverbial podcast in which he works through one proverb, discussing its meaning for a modern audience. Josh is also the author of several books, including Something They Will Not Forget and the forthcoming Love What Lasts.
To contact Joshua Gibbs, please use the inquiry form on GibbsClassical.com.
Welcome to the Lecture Hall:
Rich discussions and curated resources to bolster home or school educator’s craft. We aim to inspire & inform, with the help of a group of creative, committed thought-leaders within the renewal of Classical Christian Education. Come join the Great Conversation!
Scholé Academy Lecture Hall Presents
Citizenship in Heaven: Augustine and the Liberal Arts
Dr. Joseph Clair, Executive Dean of Cultural Enterprise and Associate Professor of Theology & Culture at George Fox University
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Writing in the explosive finale of the Roman Empire, Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) radically revised the connection between education and citizenship by introducing the Biblical concept of “citizenship in heaven” as the central goal of liberal arts education. This not only imbued classical education with a different sense of purpose but an entirely new view of history, human nature, virtue, and the role of sin and grace. Now at our own historical turning point in the history of education and citizenship, this lecture will apply Augustine’s insight into the creative tension between our earthly and heavenly citizenship in the present context. Ultimately our schools, and our lives, remain caught in the fray between these two cities – the city of man and the city of God – imperfectly marked by a conflict of lower and higher loves, and pride and humility. For Augustine, the formation of good or bad citizens ultimately comes down to the everyday work of raising children and teaching and learning. For it is by the essential, everyday work of creating reading lists and curricula, honestly confessing our weakness and sin, and beginning again that new citizens are formed and find the grace to be both eternal sojourners and loyal citizens here on earth.
Dr. Joseph Clair Biography
A native Oregonian, Joseph Clair followed his educational pursuit all over the world and earned degrees in both England and the United States. He became professor of Theology and Philosophy and now dean at George Fox University after receiving his doctorate in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from Princeton University in 2013. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Wheaton College (IL), a master’s in theological studies from Duke, a master’s in philosophy at Fordham, and a master’s in philosophy of religion from Cambridge where he studied as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. He is the author of Discerning the Good in the Letters and Sermons of Augustine (Oxford University Press, 2016) and On Education, Formation, Citizenship, and the Lost Purpose of Learning (Bloomsbury, 2017) along with numerous articles and essays on faith, culture, education, and ethics. In his spare time, he likes to spend time with his wife, Nora, play with his four kids, fly fish Oregon’s many rivers, and work on his hobby farm.
Canterbury House of Studies Music Workshop no. 1
Gregorian Chant–A Cathedral in Time
with Garth MacPhee
So what is it about chant that, like the great cathedrals, can capture the popular imagination and yet retain its essential purpose and integrity? This is the question we will explore in our October session. Read more about this series of music workshops entitled “O Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness” here.
Coffee with the Principals
At the September Coffee with the Principals, Scholé Academy Principals joined parents & community members to consider Luke 10:38-42 in which we see Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary. We considered the ideas of rigor versus rest and how a combination of both Martha and Mary is Scholé. How can we, too, make time, at the right time, for both?
For additional resources on this idea, please see The Age or Martha: A Call to Contemplative Learning in a Frenzied Culture by Devin O’Donnell. You can also read some of Mr. O’Donnell’s wise insights on the Classical Academic Press Blog: Learning Like Mary in the Age of Martha.