Special Emphasis

Odyssey Charter School feels that the best way to achieve our philosophy is through a classical education. The following concepts are described more fully in "The Well-Trained Mind", by Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer.

The main components of a classical education are as follows:

• Classical education is a language-intensive education. It demands that students use and understand words. During the first four years of education, classical education has two purposes: to get the child to read quickly, well, and habitually; and to fill his mind with stories of every kind-myth, legends, classic tales, biographies, poems, great stories from history.
• Classical Education uses history as its organizing outline, beginning with the ancients and progressing forward to the moderns in history, science, literature, art, and music. This framework provides students with a comprehensive view of the human endeavor from the beginning until now.
• Classical Education trains the mind to analyze and draw conclusions.
• Classical Education demands self-discipline.
• Classical Education produces literate, curious, intelligent students who have a wide range of interest and the ability to follow up on them.
• Classical Education prepares students to read, write, calculate, think and understand.

Classical education also includes the Trivium school of thought. The Trivium concept is divided into three specific stages that are designed to coincide with children's natural development: the grammar stage, the logic stage, and the rhetoric stage. These principles will guide OCS's decisions about curricula.

Grammar Stage

During the grammar stage (grades 1-4), the mind is ready to absorb information. Embedding information through memorization and other methods are tools by which the mind learns. The grammar stage brings students to a mastery of basic skills in the disciplines of reading, writing, arithmetic, history, science, and foreign language. As a building block stage, it teaches students what to know and how to learn, laying the foundation for advanced study.

Logic Stage

During the logic stage (grades 5-8), the students begin to think more analytically. They develop higher-order thinking, problem solving and metacognitive strategies. They start to ask "Why?" They pay attention to cause and effect. They can evaluate, trace connections, and identify relationships among differing fields of knowledge. They begin to organize information and understand the way facts fit together into a logical framework.

Rhetoric Stage

The student who approaches the rhetoric stage is able to think through arguments. They can learn to write and speak with clear, original, and forceful language. The rhetoric stage covers grades 9-12 and will not be addressed at Odyssey Charter School.

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