Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Liberalchurch meets Classic Education

In October liberalpastor's messages focused on the historic unfolding of the Reformation and how it has led to the many facets of Protestant Christian faith we see around us today. It was a good education and taught or reviewed many concepts and persons that I had not studied or thought about for decades--if at all. As it turns out it was a primer for some of the children who attend Liberalchurch also!

My daughters attend a local public charter school, Paideia Academy. This school was created with a focus on the Core Knowledge Sequence curriculum developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation. This foundation was begun by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. the author of the popular book from the '80s, Cultural Literacy. The past few weeks, the 5th graders have been studying the Renaissance and Reformation. In their textbooks they have been learning how the Islamic teachings were translated into Latin and how liberal arts universities sprang up across Europe. They learned of the birth of the Renaissance in Florence and the contributions of the Medici family. They had also studied individuals important to this period such as Castiglione, Machiavelli, Martin Luther, Calvin, and St. Ignatious of Loyola. Today and tomorrow the 5th graders will be presenting their poster projects. My daughter and others in her group studied Gutenberg while her best friend and others in her group studied Zwingli.

I suspect the poster projects of Paideia Academy 5th graders will be on display after the Thanksgiving holiday break for readers who are interested in viewing students' work. If interested please contact me or Paideia Academy School Board and Liberalchurch member, Mary Hall, either of us will be happy to give you a tour of students' work displays.

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