MCA Statement of Faith
Families must be in agreement with the following Statement of Faith that guides the ministry of Magnolia Classical Academy:
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The Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
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God has existed from all eternity in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Classical Education Approach
Classical education is taught through a process called the trivium. The trivium is based on the natural stages of development of children. The three stages are grammar, dialectic or logic, and rhetoric. These are described at MCA as absorbing, thinking, expressing.
Grammar Stage (Absorbing)
Students begin by learning the basic facts and rules of each subject. Teaching methods such as singing, drilling, chanting, and recitation are emphasized. Young children find it easy and enjoy memorizing and chanting. They are given opportunities to memorize all types of facts in English, geography, math, Bible and Latin. These facts are the building blocks of every subject.
Dialectic Stage (Thinking)
As students become teenagers, they like to contradict and question their elders. They enjoy pointing out mistakes and inconsistencies. That makes this stage perfect to instruct and train students in logic, the art of reasoning, and arguing correctly. In every subject, students are being taught to analyze, reason, question, evaluate, and critique.
Rhetoric Stage (Expressing)
In the study of rhetoric, students learn how to artfully present what they know and what they are learning. Debate, apologetics, speech, essay writing, and drama are emphasized during this stage. Students in this stage are eager to express themselves and for independence. So they are taught to eloquently express their thoughts and ideas through speech and writing and to support a peruasive argument. The rhetoric stage is built on a foundation of accumulated knowledge and is the capstone of the Trivium