As you look through our class offerings, you won’t see any labeled as “Literature and Composition” or “English.” Although many schools and curricula lump writing, grammar, and literature into a single course, there is no sound teaching theory behind this—it’s merely a practical decision brought about by our artificial K-12 system, which segregates “subjects” off from each other in an unnatural way that has nothing to do with actual learning.
Grammar, writing, and reading are certainly related subjects—but they ask for different kinds of mastery. Grammar requires a combination of rule memorization and workbook-style practice. Writing requires two different and simultaneous skills—students must think clearly about a topic in order to organize an argument, and then must choose the correct words, phrases, clauses, and sentence structures to communicate those thoughts. Reading asks students to grasp someone else’s ideas, or to enter into someone else’s imaginative world and then respond.
Students will naturally progress at different rates in each of these subjects. It’s very common for a young learner to have a sophisticated understanding of literature but struggle with writing; or to write well by ear but have little understanding of the linguistic rules of the English language, or to excel at grammar, but lack the skills to critically engage with a book.
At the Academy, we believe that students should be allowed to build their skills in each of the language arts areas at their own pace—without frustrating them by limiting their progress to the speed of their worst subject.
For more information about how the courses are broken down and sample sequencing, click here.