King’s Classical Academy to Host Open House

King’s Classical Academy in Livermore will be hosting their Classical Expo and Open House on Thursday, February 28 at 6:30pm. The school, which meets on the campus of Grenada Baptist Church (945 Concannon Blvd.), provides both 4 day and 5 day programs of classical Christian education for students in Kindergarten through 12th grade.

King’s Classical Academy, formerly known as Tri-Valley Classical Christian Academy, was begun in 2009 as a homeschool co-op. Judy Mackanic, Christi Stevenson and Wendy Zendejas started the school with a vision of bringing excellence in Christian education to the greater Tri-Valley area. They began with a handful of students who met 3 days a week. Since its humble beginnings the school has grown to a full K-12 program and graduated its first senior class last year. The student body has now blossomed to 68 students and is seeing rapid growth since beginning its full 5-day program. The school is not affiliated with any particular denomination or church and instead welcomes families from all Christian backgrounds—both Protestant and Catholic.

The school follows the classical Christian education model of schooling. The classical method of education was initially developed by the ancient Greeks and later refined by Christian monastic scholars. Students are taught an integrated curriculum that seeks to develop the whole person as an individual instead of seeking to merely teach them life skills or to score well on standardized tests. Students are taught to understand and appreciate truth, beauty and goodness in all areas of their studies and become eager life-long learners.

As students grow they progress through the developmentally appropriate education stages of grammar (K-6th), logic (7th & 8th) and rhetoric (9th-12th). In the grammar stage, when students enjoy repetition and imitation, they are taught to memorize large amounts of material through songs and rhymes. In the logic stage, when students love to question their world, they are taught sound reasoning and debate. In the rhetoric stage, when students long for independence, they are taught how to express themselves articulately and beautifully.

While classical education emphasizes virtue, academic rigor is also important. Classically educated students typically perform better on standardized tests than their peers. King’s Classical Academy students have placed above the 80th percentile in reading and writing and above the 75th percentile in math. Nationally these trends hold true for classically educated students on the SAT and ACT as well. Whereas the average SAT score for publicly educated students is 1462 the Association for Classical Christian Schools (ACCS) reports that the average score for classically educated students is just under 1800. The national baseline SAT score is 1550. ACCS also reports that classically educated students average 26.2 on the ACT whereas the national average is 21.

At Thursday night’s Classical Expo and Open House, King’s Classical Academy will share a taste of the difference a classical Christian education can make in a student’s life. There will be a presentation explaining the classical education method and its implementation at King’s. Those parents who are interested in enrolling for the 2019-2020 school year will also have an opportunity to meet with the teachers for additional information and a question and answer period. The event is free for all who are interested and light refreshment will be provided. For further information please contact the school office at 925-961-4664 or office@kingsclassical.org.