“I like describing it to parents as icing on the cake,” Friess said. “It’s when they take the tools they’ve learned, all the knowledge, all the reasoning, and are able to articulate their position.”

 

Latin and English teacher Ben Walter described the three stages of classical education, or the trivium, as grammar, logic and rhetoric — corresponding with elementary, middle and high school.

 

School administrators hope to physically expand in years to come to accommodate an entire K-12 school. The current building is nearing its 135-student capacity.

 

The vision is to build a new facility off South Park Loop Road on ranch property owned by the Lucas family. Further development rights would be transferred from a 133-acre parcel across town owned by the Soest family.

 

“I don’t promise anything, but it’s our goal,” Friess said. “We have to be careful not to overpromise on something that we can’t deliver, but I think it’s good to share our vision that it would be our desire.”

 

 

Friess said that incoming ninth grade enrollment is still in flux. The up- per grades at the school tend to be from six to eight students, and the lower grades tend to be larger, between 12 and 15 students.

 

“We do our growing from the bottom up, and that’s typical because it’s a little more of an unknown educational model,” Friess said.

 

Classical education teaches the liberal arts to encourage students to live lives that are good and productive. In the classical tradition, an educated per- son is someone who loves what is true, good and beautiful. That encompasses core disciplines of Western Civilization as well as the fine and performing arts.

 

Parents of younger students, Friess said, are happy to have the opportunity for continuity in the future. She said it was “heartbreaking” to have last year’s eighth-grade class graduate without anywhere to continue.

 

Friess said there has been increasing demand for classical education. At press time, she said 28 new students had enrolled for the coming school year and she expected that number to grow beyond 30 when school starts on Sept. 5. “We’ve had a lot of interest,” she said.

 

“It’s fun. It’s really enjoyable to share this model with families.”

The ninth-grade curriculum will build on what is taught in kindergarten through eighth grade. Teachers involved in building the curriculum say it will be highly integrated and give students a space to grow and apply what they’ve learned previously.

 

In the morning students will learn geometry, Latin and humane letters, a class that explores the nexus of literature, his- tory and philosophy. They’ll study biology after lunch four days a week.

 

 

Even subjects like math will “keep an eye to the liberal arts,” math, literature and composition and Latin teacher Da- vid Wagner said. How geometric proofs were done historically, for example, will be part of the “holistic” approach he seeks to take.

Art and music received a particular emphasis, with art offered two days a week and music offered for three.

 

“It was something we thought care- fully about,” said art teacher Elizabeth Birnie. “How can we give art and music the time and space that they need in our schedule?”

 

Study halls will end the day so that students can catch up on work or leave early for sports. Physical education will not be offered. The school signed a memorandum of understanding with the Teton County School District so that its students can join district activities.

 

Another unique part of the ninth- grade curriculum is a practical arts period every Friday. It will teach cooking, leadership, shop, entrepreneurship, dance, public speaking and even how to change the oil in their cars.

 

“We’re preparing them for universities and careers but also the practical life skills,” Wagner said. “They can cook a meal and perform CPR and all of those kinds of things that are so valuable.”

 

Students who haven’t been part of the Classical Academy previously will be welcomed, Friess said, even if they haven’t studied Latin.

 

“As we transition into the full high school, we will take into consideration the background of that student and accommodate that in the languages area,” Friess said. “I don’t want that to be a barrier for entry, but the reality is, our students have Latin for eight years.”

 

Students eager to learn will do well, teachers said. Small classes help, as does required time after school for the first six weeks of a new student’s tenure.

 

“That love of learning and the desire to be in this environment, to have this broad education, is key in their ability to absorb,” Friess said. “You have to have a real desire to engage.”