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Q: What is "Classical" education?
Q: What do you mean by “tutorial service”?
A: Granite Classical is a service for home school families. We do not fit, nor do we try to fit, Maryland’s legal definition of a school. To someone observing classes on a Monday or Wednesday, we might look like a small, private school but we are not. While there are two class days with tutors, other students, tables and chairs, the bulk of the work is completed at home with parents’ guidance, help and structure. For families at Granite, the parent is viewed as the primary educator with tremendous support from Monday and Wednesday class days. Without wishing to state the obvious, class lesson plans are designed to follow on or to instruct for the successful completion of home assignments.
Q: How are you different from a cooperative or “co-op”?
A: There are two significant differences between Granite and many cooperatives. The first is that we are actually a legally incorporated non-profit organization with a staff of employees. The second difference relates to the first in that our staff is screened and interviewed. Our staff includes some parents of students, but many of the tutors are from outside our family base. Our goal is to staff Granite with the highest caliber of tutor possible. Interestingly, several parents of Granite students are qualified tutors and on our staff.
Q: Are your tutors certified?
A: Our primary goals are to hire tutors with integrity who possess a passion and aptitude for the subjects they teach. Some of our tutors are certified because they come from public or private schools; however, some of our tutors are not certified. For instance, practicing lawyers teach our comparative government and senior rhetoric classes; Masters degreed engineers teach physics and math; a published, embedded systems engineer teaches logic.
Q: How will I (a mom at home) be able to help my child learn Latin or logic or rhetoric?
A: Parents have commented that a benefit from Granite is the opportunity to access classical sorts of learning and topics without having to know or learn these things for themselves. They also have delighted in access to classical education vicariously. Students are instructed in subjects during class with clear assignments to be completed on the home school days. Help is at hand from tutors whenever needed.
Parents of grammar age students encourage thorough memorization, keep up to date with memorization and help with drilling. Parents of older students encourage time management so that tough reading assignments are given the time and care they need; assist with comprehension; and at times, encourage their student to feel comfortable contacting the tutor as often as is needed for clarification. At any grade level, parents will need to give enthusiastic support, even if you are not familiar with these subjects yourself, along with regular review of your student's work.
Q: What subjects do you teach?
A: In grades 3-6 we teach history, science, Latin, and English grammar/writing. The 7th grade is considered a transition year, and students are taught history, science, Latin, English grammar/writing, and logic. Students in grades 8 and 9 are taught science, Greek, Omnibus and Logic. Our 10th through 12th grade students have the option of taking only Granite’s “core program”: Omnibus and Rhetoric, or they may add academic Options in the areas of science and modern foreign language. Read further for more information on math.
Q: What is Omnibus?
A: One of Granite’s distinctives is the Omnibus course. Starting in 8th grade, we combine history, literature and writing into one two-hour class, held on both Monday and Wednesday. We have found that this liberal arts approach, using integration rather than the artificial confines of a traditional writing/literature/history class, to be effective in training students to see the “whole” picture. One of Granite’s primary goals is to give students the keys to lifelong learning. The Omnibus course helps achieve this as students are taught to engage their material deeply, thoughtfully and critically.
Q: What about art, math, PE and other subjects?
A: In addition to our core classical program, Granite offers a wide variety of Options (i.e. non-core classes), both academic and non-academic. Fees for these classes are additional to the base tuition. The term “academic” is used to distinguish those courses for which more than one high school credit is required. Our academic Options include Chemistry, Physics, modern foreign language, science labs and math from pre-Algebra through Calculus. Granite’s non-academic Options include such subjects as choir, drama, art, PE, yearbook, chess club and guitar. The non-academic Options vary from year to year.
Q: When do you meet?
A: We meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. The academic year starts the Monday following Labor Day and usually runs through the Wednesday before Memorial Day. The day begins at 8:15 with Chapel. The core day ends at 2:00 for students in grades 3-9 and at 11:30 for grades 10-12. Academic Options start at 12:15 for grades 10-12 and at 2:00 for all other grades. Non-academic Options begin at 2:00. Most Options classes conclude at 4:00.
Q: Why don’t you start before third grade?
A: In many ways, this question gets to the heart of who we are as home schoolers. There are two reasons why we begin at third grade. The first is because we don’t teach reading, trying to do so in two days each week would be very difficult. Because we do not teach reading, we have found that waiting until third grade enables the wide disparity of reading abilities to diminish greatly which allows for a more stable and successful classroom experience. The second is that we believe our children and their families are best served by being home schooled until third grade.
Q: May I take only one or two of the classes?
A: Yes, academic and non-academic Options may be taken on an a la carte basis. Core classes cannot be taken a la carte.
Q: Are you an oversight group? Will you review my portfolio and submit the paperwork for me?
A: Granite is not an oversight group.
Q: What are my responsibilities as a parent towards Granite?
A: Each family is required to serve as a daily assistant three times each year and on one of the committees that support various activities, such as drama, the History Feast, the Science Fair, and the Great Debate.
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