Classical education a three-part harmony

Jessie Pappenfus' classes sometimes feel a little like "Schoolhouse Rock."

But instead of singing about a bill sitting on Capitol Hill, her students sing about verb conjugations and noun declensions. They know chants about parts of speech and can recite vocabulary words without much effort.

The songs are a typical part of Pappenfus' Latin classes, and her third- through sixth-grade students eat the rhythms up.

"They love it. They thrive on it," Pappenfus said.

Latin classes and learning through songs and chants are part of a normal day at Whitefish Christian Academy.

The school, formerly called Cross Currents Christian School, is unique in the Flathead Valley in providing a classical, trivium-based education.

The classical trivium - grammar, logic and rhetoric - formed the basis of Western education for about 2,000 years until about the mid-19th century.

The goal of such an education, proponents say, is to create critical thinkers - to teach students how to think instead of telling them what to think.

Classical education "cuts with the grain" of a child's natural development, school board member Joe Coco explained.

Young children are like sponges, with great capacity for memorization. Older students begin to develop reasoning skills, and once they are in high school, students are ready to learn to communicate effectively through speech and writing.

Whitefish Christian Academy's youngest students are in the grammar phase of the trivium. They learn sentence structure, syntax and parts of speech.

Third- through sixth-graders learn Latin, which reinforces their understanding of grammar and the English language.

The youngest students also memorize large quantities of information, administrator Kris Queen said.

Songs and chants help them retain the information, which comes in handy when learning 10 new Latin vocabulary words a week. It's also useful in third grade, when students memorize the 50 states, their capitals and three facts about each.

"I think songs and chants are a fantastic way for kids to learn," Pappenfus said. "The information is easily remembered. We teach them the songs and chants at a young age, and they pull back on those at an older age to help them analyze and digest information."

Pulling back on that base information is important once students reach the logic phase of the trivium, when critical thinking is emphasized.

Seventh- and eighth-graders at Whitefish Christian Academy study one year of formal logic and one year of informal logic, Queen said. They're also encouraged to ask questions of one another and of their teachers.

"Middle school children naturally want to argue and debate, so we teach them to do it well," she said.

Studying classic literature, which Queen defines as "books that have stood the test of time," is also part of the curriculum. Kindergarten and first-grade teachers read to students from the children's versions of classic books.

By the time they reach middle school, students are reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Oliver Twist," which are commonly part of high school English classes.

The students take Bible classes and attend chapel every Friday. There are also "normal" classes - students at Whitefish Christian Academy take math, science and social studies like their peers in public school.

The school has aligned its curriculum with state standards so students learn things at the same time public school students do, Queen said.

"We try to go deeper than you might [in public school], but we make sure the timeline is the same for our kids - so if you transfer in or out, you don't miss learning about the pilgrims, for example," she said.

The classical approach to education encourages academic rigor at Whitefish Christian Academy, Coco said.

Consider "The Federalist Papers," which were written for an average-Joe audience, most of whom had probably received a classical education, he said. The average reader today has to work harder to understand the essays than the original readers did.

"Two hundred years later, how come our children can't understand 'The Federalist Papers' but farmers could?" Coco asked. "The classical model has the ability to change intellect."

Coco joined the school board soon after the school decided to switch to the classical model in 2005.

The transition year was a challenge, he said. Enrollment declined when some families decided classical education wasn't what they wanted for their children. Whitefish Christian Academy introduced school uniforms the same year, which also required an adjustment period.

But the following year, things started to turn around, Coco said.

"When word got out in town that we were doing the classical model, enrollment started going up exponentially," he said.

There are about 125 students enrolled this year, Queen said.

Enrollment for the fall 2009 semester begins March 19. For further information, visit www.whitefishacademy.org

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com