CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

A classical liberal arts curriculum is one that addresses the two root ways of knowing literacy and numeracy; but it does so with a distinct approach to detail, content, and mastery not to be found in all schools.

The liberal arts are those tools and skills traditionally deemed necessary to free one's mind from the base, the expedient, and the mediocre. They are intended to draw a student out of himself, allowing him to see truths that are timeless, unchanging, and not of his own making. The first three of these arts--grammar, logic, and rhetoric--are often called the trivium, or the arts of language. For the students at St. Peter's, this means mastering the forms of language by learning and using the highly inflected Greek and Latin languages. It also means learning to sort sense from nonsense in the structure of arguments and fallacies in reasoning. It means learning to use language in compelling ways by applying argument, arrangement, and style in both written and oral presentations. The remaining liberal arts are the known as the mathematical arts and include in our program the modern mathematical studies as well as the axiomatic and deductive studies characteristic of Euclid's Elements.

The classical content of our curriculum refers to those traditional works of literature, history, philosophy, and theology that embody perennial truths of the human soul and which remain compelling because they present these truths in memorable, or beautiful, ways. These classics are admired not because they are old; rather they are admired because they have continued to ring true with people of many eras, cultures, and tongues. The classics provide the most thoughtful reflections on the meaning and polential of human life. They introduce students into a conversation which spans centuries and millenia and, so doing, they have the further potential of freeing young people from the tyranny of fads, tribes, and the cult of mediocrity.

COLLEGE PREPARATORY

St. Peter's will help prepare your child for college in several ways. We begin providing personal college counseling early enough to allow families to discover the best college and university options available to them and to give the student time and opportunity to build a suitable transcript. We provide opportunities for service hours, AP, Honors, and Dual Credit courses to further this end, as well as cultivating the student's knowledge and interest in colleges through our College Trips Program.

We also prepare your child for college through our strong language program. Cultivating precision and style in the use of language is a perfect preparation for the student seeking admission into better universities. Graduating seniors will have four years of classical language study with the possibility of other language electives. (For the importance of this to college admissions, see the article "Why Study Latin" on this website.) Furthermore, our writing program is designed to break down the writing process and teach students to craft thoughtful and well organized papers. No student will be left on his own to learn how to write "just by writing." Moreover, we continue to build the young person's vocabulary throughout high school, and our weekly Forum and regular Socratic seminars provide ample practice in the art of focused conversation.

Finally, all graduating seniors will participate in our Senior Tutorial program in which they must research and write an extensive paper under the guidance of one of their professors, then deliver and defend this paper at a public venue before a panel of judges. All of this is primarily designed to give the student the logical and rhetorical skills necessary to grapple with weighty subject matter; but the resulting intelligence, poise, and gravity in the young person will clearly work to his benefit in the college admissions process.

We also provide ample opportunity for students to excel in advanced math and science. Laboratory work is available at our own facilities, but may be supplemented with Dual Credit college courses and specialized college grant programs offered to eligible students in the summer.

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

Orthodox Christianity refers to those churches that have continued to adhere to the faith, practice, and doctrinal definitions of the early church, exemplified especially by the Bible, the writings of the Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Eras, as well as the decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. As an Orthodox school, we participate in this enduring tradition and, consequently, are free to discuss and live our Christian faith without remodeling it according to the latest religious or cultural trends. Our faith in God is summarized most succinctly in the Nicene Creed, and it is the assumptions about God and man there stated that underlie all our thought about education.

We are, however, not a school of religious catechism. Our theological studies are built around readings of the Bible, Church History, and Christian classics. Even beyond our classes in theology it is fair to say that the Christian faith--like leaven--is kneaded into the entire lump of the school. We begin each day with prayer, scripture readings, and traditional hymns; and our school's calendar takes into account important days and seasons in the life of the Church. We believe we have a sound, intellectual Christian faculty. Some are Orthodox; some belong to other mainline Christian groups.

We welcome students and families of other Christian expressions, other faiths, or of no faith, as long as they understand who we are and are willing to join us in a manner that is genuine, reflective, and respectful.

OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Though young and small, St. Peter's is becoming a noted center of Orthodox as well as classical education in our area and across the nation. Our students have won National Latin Awards, Duke Talent recognition, as well as city-wide art contests.  We hosted the first area meeting of classical and liberal arts school headmasters.  Also, the Farah Foundation gave us a grant to host a conference on Orthodox Schools which we held for teachers from across the country representing several Orthodox jurisdictions. We have shared curriculum materials, institutional documents, and consulting services with other Orthodox schools and interested parish groups.

FUTURE

St. Peter's has expanded its board to include members from other Orthodox parishes in the Fort Worth area as well as members of the Fort Worth business community.  We are also expanding our faculty and extracurricular opportunities to meet the needs of our growing student population.  In the next few years we expect to grow to 150 students at which time we will cap our enrollment.  This will allow us to limit our classes to 10 to 12 students and maintain the kind of focused attention we deem necessary to the education we offer. St. Peter's is gaining a reputation as a school that is genuinely Christian, sound in its academics, and a leading example to others.