Petra Academy: Educating the Whole Person
PETRA ACADEMY: EDUCATING THE WHOLE PERSON
Good parents want their children to grow up to be good people. They hold their hope for value in something that carries lasting fulfillment and makes an impact on their lives for the better. Challenging children to excel in their schooling, their hobbies, their sports activities, or their friendships are often the grounds where parents do this work.
In recent years, setting your kids up for success often has an opportunistic focus, centers on a career, imputes a social standing, or speaks to a particular level of happiness in their lives. Striving to build a construct of goodness in their lives can seem like an abstract goal, in light of other achievements. So how do some parents succeed at educating the whole person, as they raise their children?
At Petra, we see the potential that exists in each child. We know that a community of like-hearted people can work alongside the efforts of parents to cultivate these values of goodness in students. We partner with parents to see their children develop as a whole person, thinking, feeling, and building a life-outlook that helps them lead satisfying and purposeful lives. We achieve this community by pursuing a classical method of education, developing three pillars of learning, that become a platform for success for their future.
THE CLASSICAL DIFFERENCE
The classical method takes its name, “classical,” because its model of instruction dates back to the cultures of Greece and Rome. Throughout the Middle Ages and well into the Modern Era, the classical approach to education was normative. This method is developed through elementary and secondary schooling, focusing on these components of different disciplines of study:
- Foundational Facts – the language, grammar, and descriptions of things
- Relationship of the Parts – the logic, perception, and reasoning involved
- Expression – the articulation, speech, and rhetoric of the knowledge
These are ways of helping a student approach learning from a holistic method, developing thought disciplines as well as amassing knowledge. Before relatively recent times, these approaches have been reserved for university. But, the classical method has shown how successful this model, in a responsible and community-focused environment, can be with elementary and secondary students.
The results show that children who grow up using the classical method are not only well-prepared for college, but they grow up with a healthy perspective of the world around them and a sense of purpose and significance. They often see a more connected vision of the world and the extraordinary things within it. A majority of students come to realize their potentials academically, interpersonally, and intrapersonally.
Petra Academy is that kind of community. We strive to meet these kinds of goals with our students, our faculty, and the partnerships we forge with parents along the way. We look to grow value as well as knowledge so that the children in our care learn how to lead impactful, satisfying, and purposeful lives.
Petra is that type of unique education, steeped in values, balancing the needs of the whole student, partnering with parents, and bringing a classical approach to thoughtfully and communally engaging the next generation of local leaders and influencers in our world. We look to grow value as well as knowledge; we are that kind of community. Contact us today or schedule a tour to find out more.
Petra Academy: Strong Minds, Soft Hearts, Rich Souls. Serving Bozeman since 1995.
