"If I had been called upon a year ago, when I was only 95, to address you this afternoon, I would, no doubt, have spoken of the importance of liberal arts education for the preservation of civilization. But now I will only tell you, 'be sure you have memorized a few poems to keep you… Continue reading Louise Cowan on Memorization
Category: Recommended Reading
Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Our Fall Play
For the past semester, a group of our middle and high school students have been spending their afternoons rehearsing Shakespeare's The Tempest. This weekend they had their final performance at our first ever theater competition, hosted by Meridian World School. Competing against Meridian and Gateway Academy, our theater students won numerous awards, represented our school… Continue reading Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Our Fall Play
Classical Education from Home
This fall has been the season of tours. Every week (and lately three or four times a week!) I've been walking through our school with prospective parents, returning parents, local and state officials (including two policy advisors to our lieutenant governor), and people interested in starting classical schools like ours in Texas and other states.… Continue reading Classical Education from Home
Rehearsals for Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Under the guidance of Mrs. Panzica and Ms. Hamm, our theater department is really taking off this year. The fall play, Shakespeare's The Tempest, is one of my favorites, and I stopped by rehearsals after school today to take a look at the opening scene in its very early stages. It's a really impressive scene--a shipwreck… Continue reading Rehearsals for Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Opening Lines of the Odyssey
Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven far journeys, after he had sacked Troy's secret citadel. Many were they whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of, many the pains he suffered on his spirit on the wide sea, struggling for his own life and the homecoming of his… Continue reading Opening Lines of the Odyssey
The Senior Thesis
When we started Founders Classical Academy of Leander in the Fall of 2013, in the middle of countless unknowns there were a few things we were certain of: we were going to commit to the ten points on the Barney Charter School Initiative's list of what makes a true classical school, we were going to… Continue reading The Senior Thesis
Unintended Consequences: How Four Kids’ Classical Education Affected Mom and Dad, by Mr. Swartz
Unintended Consequences: How Four Kids' Classical Education Affected Mom and Dad by Kyle Swartz, the parent of four students at Founders Classical Academy of Leander: Anna (Class of 2019), Emily ('20), Jonah ('23), and Michael ('26) We all want what’s best for our kids. What our kids to be happy in this life. We want them… Continue reading Unintended Consequences: How Four Kids’ Classical Education Affected Mom and Dad, by Mr. Swartz
Aristotle on Money
The moneymaking life is characterized by a certain constraint, and it is clear that wealth is not the good being sought, for it is a useful thing and for the sake of something else. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Pericles on Athens
Fix your eyes on the greatness of Athens as you have it before you day by day, fall in love with her, and when you feel her great, remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action... So they gave their… Continue reading Pericles on Athens
Churchill on Latin
By being so long in the lowest form [at Harrow] I gained an immense advantage over the cleverer boys.... I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence--which is a noble thing. Naturally I am biased in favor of boys learning English; I would make them all learn English: and then… Continue reading Churchill on Latin
