Frequently Asked Questions
What is your approach to technology at school?
Modern digital technologies—smart phones, social media, games, apps, etc.—are undermining the intellectual, social, and emotional development of our children. Our use of them is reducing our ability to remember, concentrate and think linearly. We are spending less time outdoors, less time exercising, less time sleeping, and less time socializing with other people. Our addiction to screens is negatively impacting our mental health, perpetually distracting us, and making us less willing to slow down and reflect (which is essential to our ability to learn as well as our ability to grow as people) and less able to appreciate and enjoy normal things, which is fueling our discontent. In short, modern digital technologies are one of the greatest threats to our children’s education and development. As such smart devices are not permitted at Perpetua and any screen time at school is limited and purposeful.
What curricula do you use?
While we customize curriculum to each student, the following is a general overview of our default curriculum (for a fuller list, please ask):
Grammar: Shurley English
History: Story of the World, Dorothy Mills’s history books, & a variety of original sources (e.g. Livy, Plutarch, The Federalist Papers, etc.)
Latin: Wheelock’s & Lingua Latina
Literature: Students read Great Books! From Charlotte’s Web in Kindergarten to Jane Austen & Charles Dickens in high school; on average our students read eight full works a year.
Math: Saxon Math
Penmanship: Handwriting Without Tears
Phonics: *TBD*
Spelling: *TBD*
Writing: Writing with Ease & Writing with Skill
What is your teacher to student ratio?
For every twelve students, we have at least one teacher. Given our individualized approach to education, we are and always will be a small school.
What is your approach to standardized tests and grades?
We do not have any mandatory standardized tests. Good teachers know their students. Standardized tests, at best, confirm what teachers already know. Standardized tests have value in holding teachers and schools accountable and giving parents a (limited) snapshot of where their child is at, but they carry a number of costs such as limiting curiosity and free inquiry, requiring teachers to teach toward a test, as well as assigning numbers that are associated with a student’s value, often at a very early age.
At Perpetua Cottage Academy we do not give grades. Like standardized tests, grades have a value, but their value is outweighed by their costs. Grades give a picture of where a student is at, but all too often that picture does not line up with reality—a student may be mastering material, but have a low grade because they struggle with organization or a student may not understand the material, but have a high grade because they do extra credit or make corrections. What is more, students often (wrongly!) attach their value or ability to the grades they are getting or think that their learning is complete because they received an adequate grade. Instead of grades, we follow the old tradition of giving individualized feedback to students and their parents. The goal of this is to encourage and enhance their learning as opposed to simply assigning a number to them. Older students are encouraged to build portfolios of their work to use for applying to college.
If students don’t receive grades, then how does transferring into Perpetua or out from Perpetua work?
When students transfer into Perpetua, we look at what they have studied and where they are at and then make a recommendation of where they will best fit. In terms of transferring out, we give individualized feedback on precisely what the student has studied and how they have done. This provides their new school with a fuller picture of the student than grades alone. (This is also the approach of IB, Waldorf , and Charlotte Mason schools.)
Do you offer any advanced or AP classes?
No, but our flexible schedule allows students to independently pursue advanced studies. Our goal is to offer a solid, core education with flexibility so that students can pursue other interests, whether they be sports, fine arts, or other academic pursuits. Many high school students in classical schools find that by virtue of their normal course work they are able to take and pass AP English and History exams. In addition to this, our flexible schedule allows students to independently prepare for other AP exams or to participate in dual enrollment courses with other colleges.
Do you hold or teach a particular political ideology?
No. While politics are important, indoctrinating students into a particular ideology subverts their education. While we absolutely do reject godless secularism in all its forms (e.g. moral relativism, values clarification, etc.) and do teach all of our subjects from a Christian point of view, we do so with the intent of helping every student to form a Christian worldview, not to further any party platform. We want every student to be a conservative in the sense that they recognize and conserve what is good and best from what has come before them. And we want every student to be a liberal in the sense that they have a solid education in the Liberal Arts and are thereby free from ignorance and vice. Our hope and focus is that our students will read, learn from, and enjoy(!) Sophocles and Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy, not that they will vote in a certain way. While contemporary concerns may arise in classes as an education does require that students understand the world around them, we don’t seek to discuss “hot button” issues and we don’t view them through an ideological lens. We want to give our students an excellent education, rich in stories, deep in historical understanding, and one that helps them to think clearly and critically. For example, instead of telling our students that Marxism is bad or wrong, we have them study the ideas of Marx by reading him directly followed by a survey of countries that adopted his system. The wise Christian studies all traditions and seeks to understand what deviations lead to death and which pillars lead to life. This, and not telling our children what they should think about the news of the week, is the best way to help them become informed and virtuous citizens.
Are you affiliated with any particular denomination?
No. As Christians we have a deep and rich heritage; our goal is to share our Christian heritage with any family that desires it. In places where all Christians agree, e.g. the incarnation and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are firm in our commitment to these truths. In places where Christians disagree, e.g. baptism, the nature of the Lord’s Supper, etc. we explain what various Christians believe and why they hold those beliefs and then refer students back to their parents and pastors or priests; we do not hold or teach any dogma in areas that Christians disagree.
Our Statement of Faith is as follows:
God. We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
The Bible. We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
The Human Condition. We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. Human beings both exist in a sinful condition and sin by choice. In their sinful condition they are alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus-Israel’s promised Messiah-was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
The Work of Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, perfectly fulfilled the law of God and shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
The Holy Spirit. We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
The Church. We believe that the true Church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches. All families at Vibia Perpetua Cottage Academy should be vitally connected to a local church.
Christian Living. We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor, and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
Response and Eternal Destiny. We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unrepentant to condemnation and eternal punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace.
Marriage and Sexuality. We believe that God has created mankind in His image, male and female, that men and women are to dress and live in conformity to their biological sex, and that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and that all forms of sexual immorality, including pornography, inside or outside of marriage are forbidden by Scripture.