School · Sundial Classical School & Farmstead (SCSF)

Academics

Sundial Classical School offers academically rigorous instruction in core subjects (English, Literature, Math, Science, History, and Geography) as well as skills and content that are integral to a rich liberal arts education (Art Study, Music Appreciation, Poetry Memorization, Penmanship, Rhetoric, Logic, and Latin). The Fine Arts (i.e. painting, dance, handicrafts) are incorporated throughout the curriculum via meaningful projects designed to enrich the student’s understanding of core content taught in Math, Science, or History classes. The Common Arts (i.e. carpentry, agriculture, textiles) are primarily taught during the Friday program.

While our academic program is only four days a week - Monday through Thursday - our students master as much content as students in modern school settings who attend five days a week. We accomplish this by guiding students to hone their habits of attention so that they use every instructional minute wisely. We create a hushed, focused environment and maintain high expectations for deep mastery of content the first time it is presented. This leads to a more efficient learning cycle because we do not lose time endlessly reviewing previously taught material.

Students are also more successful, and progress more quickly, in our model specifically because we create ability-based (not age-based) instructional groups. Students are placed at just the right level so that they are challenged but not overwhelmed. Instructors assess informally on a daily basis so that the material moves with the child instead of the child having to conform to the pace of the curriculum. This means that when a child has a growth spurt and makes an intellectual leap we can move him or her forward to keep them at their challenge level. Whereas students in large, age-based classes often spend some days bored and waiting on classmates, our students are free to move as rapidly as they’re able and willing to.

Standardized assessments show that students in their first year with us frequently make from 1.5 to 2.0 years worth of growth in one school year. After that our students consistently score at or above grade level on nationally normed assessments of reading and math.

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Curricular Resources Used for Each Multi-Age Band

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Multi-Age Class	English	Math	History	Science
Prima, ages 5-6 (K-1st) 2 years	Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Logic of English - Foundations A, B, C, D	RightStart Level A	n/a	Treehouse Schoolhouse nature study guides
Secunda, ages 7-9 (2nd-4th) 3 years	Logic of English - Essentials A, B Cottage Press Progymnasmata (Primers 1-3)	RightStart Level B, C, D	Invictus Classical Press - Ancients Teacher’s choice of supplemental literature	Treehouse Schoolhouse nature study guides Invictus Classical Press - Biology (Fri Program only)
Tertia, ages 10-12 (5-7th) 3 years	Logic of English - Essentials C, D Cottage Press Progymnasmata (Fable & Song)	RightStart Level E, F, G	Invictus Classical Press - Middle & Renaissance Teacher’s choice of supplemental literature	Invictus Classical Press - Earth Science (Fri Program only) Novare Science (M-Th) -Life Science (6th) -Physical Sci (7th)
Quarta, ages 13-15 (8-10th) 3 years	Cottage Press Progymnasmata (Bards & Poets)	(not yet determined)	Invictus Classical Press - Early Modern Teacher’s choice of supplemental literature	Invictus Classical Press - Astronomy (Fri Program only) Novare Science (M-Th) -Earth Sci (8th) -Physics (9th) -Biology (10th)
Quinta, ages 16-17 (11-12th) 2 years	Cottage Press Progymnasmata (Poetics & Progym) Teacher's choice of supplemental literature	(not yet determined)	Invictus Classical Press - Modern & American OR Humanitas: American Origins, American Republic	Invictus Classical Press - Chemistry (Fri Program only) Novare Science (M-Th) -Chemistry (11th) -Environmental (12th)

Evaluation Schedule and Reporting Method

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Evaluation Schedule and Reporting Method This chart shows when and how each type of skill is measured and reported to parents throughout the year.
Skill & Assessment Type	Sept - Baseline Measurements	Oct - Parent/Teacher Conferences	Nov - Student Performance	Dec - 1st Semester Report Card	Feb - Parent/Teacher Conferences	May - Student Performance	June - 2nd Semester Report Card
Reading Skills - nationally norm-referenced test	•			•			•
Mathematics Concepts - nationally norm-referenced test	•			•			•
Written Composition & Penmanship - sample	•						•
Mathematics Facts - fluency and application		•		•	•		•
Grammar & Spelling - identification and application		•			•
Poetry - memorization and oral recitation		•	•		•	•
History & Geography - narration and application		•		•	•		•
Nature Study & Science - identification and application			•	•		•	•
Latin - knowledge and oral recitation			•	•		•	•
Common Arts - demonstration of skills and work ethic			•			•
Fine Arts - demonstration of skills and work ethic			•			•
Child Formation - application of scholar skills during academic tasks; application of virtues in all settings		•		•	•		•

Stained-glass windows beneath stone arches in a church

Culture & Religion

Educating the whole child means educating the body, mind, and soul. Sundial Classical School is not a secular school that wholly avoids virtue formation and education of the soul, meaning religion and culture are part of the foundation SCSF provides for all children. However, SCSF is not affiliated with any one Christian practice and welcomes families without a religious practice and those from a diversity of Christian backgrounds. To meet the varying needs within our student body we offer parents the choice of religious instruction or non-religious instruction during focused religious cathechetical classes.

World Literature

A common critique of classical education programs is that their focus can be narrowly Euro-centric. We address this valid concern in several ways. First, our History & Geography program covers the entire globe on a three-year rotation, giving equal attention to these geographic areas: Europe and Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and North and South America. Second, we also offer a World Literature class once a week that, by reading epics & myths from around the world, introduces our students to how indigenous cultures understood their world and how those first understandings went on to shape each society as it developed. And our treatment of the "Western canon" is broad arising as it does out of peoples of the Ancient Near East, North Africa, and throughout the Mediterranean world, then spreading throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Foreign Languages

Overview
The human brain is primed to learn language in its earliest years. We begin foreign language instruction at age 5.

Latin
Latin is one of the foundational building blocks of the modern English language. It is also elemental to the formation of other modern Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, French, etc.). Knowing this critical building block will open up avenues of understanding for students when they encounter familiar word roots while learning about other cultures across the globe. It also deepens the student’s understanding of English vocabulary, and often explains a spelling rule non-Latin readers may find confusing.

Learning through song and rhyme is natural and enjoyable for all children. We say we use the Song School Latin curricula because our students love it…but actually, the songs are so well crafted we find ourselves singing and learning right alongside them.

Catechetical Religious Instruction

SCSF aims to provide optional religious catechesis in Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant (likely Lutheran or Anglican) traditions. Read more in the FAQ Question 9.

Parents are not pressured to send their children to any of these optional classes. These are a good fit for students whose parents are practicing members of that Christian practice/tradition or whose parents are comfortable with the practice/tradition and would like their children to be shaped by it.

See our Board & Staff page for Orthodox catechesis instructors. We are currently working on launching a Lutheran catechesis class and we are exploring a Catholic catechesis class (more to come on that). Below is an endorsement of SCSF for interested Catholic families.

As both a former board member and a former teacher, I would recommend Sundial to any Catholic family looking for an educational option that will give their children lots of time outdoors and teach them the "common arts" within the basic framework of a vigorous classical academic program. While Sundial is an ecumenical setting, the three "classic" strands of Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant) are all acknowledged there and all represented in the student population."

-Jeremy Dowsett, PhD

Children gathered outdoors to collect seeds from a sunflower head

Ag & Trade Skills

As a classical school, Sundial believes modern education puts too narrow of an emphasis on only one area of development: the intellect. We believe that, to paraphrase Charlotte Mason, children are whole persons who should be educated in a rich environment that gives equal importance to the development of the arts and practical skills alongside academic instruction.

Friday Agriculture and Tradeskills Program

Program Details

The Friday Agriculture and Tradeskills program is completely unlike anything else in the Lansing area. It teaches children as young as five years old via the apprenticeship model. Children are not just pretending to garden, they are genuinely working alongside an expert to learn practical skills as children once learned them - at an adult's side from the time they could walk and talk.

Many different terms are used to describe this type of content: Life Skills, Practical Skills, Common Arts, Servile Arts, Tradecraft, Craftsmanship, etc. Sundial prefers the term, "Common Arts" as we see them as equal in importance to the Liberal Arts and Fine & Performing Arts. Furthermore, we see "skills" and "arts" as interchangeable terms because, as the CiRCE Institute states: “When a person learns an art, he directs his attention to learning a skill.” We also like the term "common" with the connotation that these skills meet needs that are common to all people, that is, the need for food, clothing, shelter, and community.

Whether a student is headed to the Ivy League or a trade school we believe all well-rounded adults should have real knowledge of the labor and materials that go into meeting basic human needs. If, for example, one day they need the foundation on their house repaired, having a basic understanding of how stone masonry is constructed will allow them to evaluate quotes from repairmen knowledgeably.