Two dates for your calendar. On Tuesday, March 27 at the First United Methodist Church in Sylva at 6:30 pm we will hold an informational meeting for the Sylva school.

On Monday, April 2 at the Weaverville school we held an open house. Please feel free to bring your children to any or all of our events. They are always welcome!

We are still enrolling for summer camp as well, click here to download a registration form from our website.

It is Wednesday night, and two of my children are working in their math books. They aren't doing homework. In fact, both of them have completed all of their required work for the week. No, they are working in their math books because they WANT to, because they enjoy it, because it gives them satisfaction. Their father and I did not ask them to do it. We are also not praising them for it or calling attention to it in any way. Instead we chatted in the other room while the almost 13 year old girl and her almost 8 year old brother sat side by side and did their work. As time wore on and the problems got more difficult, they asked for help and we gave it. But mostly she helped him and they joked with each other, commenting on how far ahead they were getting, or the difficulty or ease of each problem. These children are not geniuses and they are not "geeks." She plays soccer and he is a typical rowdy boy. But they have something in common: they go to a school where they are trusted. They are given a weekly assignment and expected to do it. No one makes any excuses for them and they don't make any for themselves. For them, school is about the work and the satisfaction they get from doing it for themselves and seeing their own progress. This is the goal of The New Classical Academy. I can truthfully say as a parent that watching them tonight has given me more joy and made me more proud than a report card full of "A's" or a wall full of trophies or even acceptance to Princeton maybe some day in the future. My children are independent, self-motivated learners, and that is something that no one can take away.

Visit our school in the morning and you will see children of all ages bent over their school books. Learning how to read, write, and do arithmetic is hard work. Visit our school in the afternoon and you will see children in a tree, building a fort out of bamboo, bucket jousting, playing tug-of-war or hopscotch, drawing and playing imaginary games. So which are we: Classical education? Experiential learning? We are both. It is hard work to learn the essential skills, but it is rewarding. Our students know that we expect them to take responsibility for their own work, and they know that we trust them to decide when and how to get it done. It is our job as teachers to help them achieve this level of academic responsibility and independence. Call or email anytime to find out more about the most work and the most fun your child will ever have!

February and March have been eventful months, with Valentine's Day, the performance of the play (a great success) and the advent of the bamboo building project. But I would like to point out a few of the little things which make our school so right: Chloe announced to the whole school that she got an "A" in math on her report card and everyone applauded, Amy (10) made friends with Kylie (7) and they spent hours together on the playground, Sean joined our school and in the first week taught us how to climb the tree, play wall ball and make paper footballs, and every single one of our kindergarten and first grade students read a book out loud to me.