overview
2021 Christmas Program
St. Robert Bellarmine Academy provides children with a thorough Catholic education founded upon traditional principles. The school ultimately strives to form good Catholic citizens. Men and women who are willing and able to work for the restoration of all things in Christ. Who are able to freely submit to the reign of Our Lord in the spiritual, moral, intellectual, and physical realms.
The Catholic school exists to cultivate a soil in which the Faith and the love of God might grow. The teachers at St. Robert Bellarmine Academy serve this end by helping form in the child lasting qualities of the mind and heart through exposure to the true, the good and the beautiful across the entire curriculum. In the study of literature and the humanities, they reveal to the child the nobility of the human soul, which is ever thirsting for the absolute, and all their effort as teachers is to awaken this same thirst in the child’s own soul. Throughout the various disciplines, they draw the child to rectify and strengthen his natural faculties in harmony with his created good so that he might have the desire and the strength to embrace, freely and with confidence, the supreme Good, God Himself.
Learning is a profoundly human process, one best accomplished through patient, qualitative drawing out, rather than a mechanistic, quantitative filling up. Although the school will strive continuously to provide teachers and students with the best possible tools and resources in terms of texts and an integrated curriculum, it will be the obvious love which the teacher has for the subject matter, his mastery of it, and his talent in communicating that knowledge and love, which will spark a fire in the children, fostering in them a lifelong love of learning.
The Catholic school exists to cultivate a soil in which the Faith and the love of God might grow. The teachers at St. Robert Bellarmine Academy serve this end by helping form in the child lasting qualities of the mind and heart through exposure to the true, the good and the beautiful across the entire curriculum. In the study of literature and the humanities, they reveal to the child the nobility of the human soul, which is ever thirsting for the absolute, and all their effort as teachers is to awaken this same thirst in the child’s own soul. Throughout the various disciplines, they draw the child to rectify and strengthen his natural faculties in harmony with his created good so that he might have the desire and the strength to embrace, freely and with confidence, the supreme Good, God Himself.
Learning is a profoundly human process, one best accomplished through patient, qualitative drawing out, rather than a mechanistic, quantitative filling up. Although the school will strive continuously to provide teachers and students with the best possible tools and resources in terms of texts and an integrated curriculum, it will be the obvious love which the teacher has for the subject matter, his mastery of it, and his talent in communicating that knowledge and love, which will spark a fire in the children, fostering in them a lifelong love of learning.
K-8 Curriculum
The curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade includes the following subjects: Religion, Language Arts (Learning to Read and Write, English Grammar, Dictation, Literature, Composition), Latin, History, Geography, Mathematics, Nature Study and Science, Music and Art, and Physical Education.
Formal religion instruction holds the place of honor in the curriculum. Classes include an ordered presentation of the Catholic Faith through the study of Christian Doctrine, the life of Our Lord, the Mass, the Liturgical Year, Bible History, and the Lives of the Saints. The child is taught to memorize his catechism, and at the same time to see behind these truths the Face of Our Lord, calling him to a life of holiness in union with Him. Thus the students are encouraged to develop a profound spiritual life in union with the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church.
A literature-based language arts program is also of great importance at our school. Good literature is essential to the proper, healthy development of both the intellectual and the spiritual life. As Our Lord knew when He chose to teach through parables, stories naturally engage the intellect, inspiring wonder and understanding. Literature presents accurate depictions of reality, including the best and the worst of human nature, allowing students to experience—vicariously yet profoundly—circumstances and scenarios that will inspire them to embrace the good and reject the bad. Through the teaching and discussion of good literature, as well as its profound integration through composition exercises, students gain an openness to the noble realities of the soul, and thus are made docile to the call of grace, which draws them toward the noblest of all realities.
Fine arts—music (sacred and secular), poetry, art, and drama—are also an important part of the curriculum. The school encourages performing skits, copying and drawing pictures, dramatizing poetry and singing, along with creative projects and presentations in all subjects.
Formal religion instruction holds the place of honor in the curriculum. Classes include an ordered presentation of the Catholic Faith through the study of Christian Doctrine, the life of Our Lord, the Mass, the Liturgical Year, Bible History, and the Lives of the Saints. The child is taught to memorize his catechism, and at the same time to see behind these truths the Face of Our Lord, calling him to a life of holiness in union with Him. Thus the students are encouraged to develop a profound spiritual life in union with the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church.
A literature-based language arts program is also of great importance at our school. Good literature is essential to the proper, healthy development of both the intellectual and the spiritual life. As Our Lord knew when He chose to teach through parables, stories naturally engage the intellect, inspiring wonder and understanding. Literature presents accurate depictions of reality, including the best and the worst of human nature, allowing students to experience—vicariously yet profoundly—circumstances and scenarios that will inspire them to embrace the good and reject the bad. Through the teaching and discussion of good literature, as well as its profound integration through composition exercises, students gain an openness to the noble realities of the soul, and thus are made docile to the call of grace, which draws them toward the noblest of all realities.
Fine arts—music (sacred and secular), poetry, art, and drama—are also an important part of the curriculum. The school encourages performing skits, copying and drawing pictures, dramatizing poetry and singing, along with creative projects and presentations in all subjects.
High School Curriculum
At the basis of the education offered at St. Robert Bellarmine Academy is the idea that human reason can discover and understand an order outside itself, the order created by God. Students receive a thorough and integrated view of this reality through the organic unity of all subjects. They learn to think in an orderly fashion, and to speak and write as clearly as they think, and ultimately to judge with wisdom and prudence.
At St. Robert Bellarmine Academy, students learn from the saints, ancients, and secular masters through literature, history, philosophy, math, science, and religion. By opening to them the treasury of human knowledge, teachers strive to inspire students with an ardent love of truth and an increasingly clear vision of their final end. By teaching them to think not only critically but classically, and to integrate that truth into their own actions, the education of our academy prepares students both to face the concrete conditions in the world, and to embrace supernatural as well as natural happiness.
At St. Robert Bellarmine Academy, students learn from the saints, ancients, and secular masters through literature, history, philosophy, math, science, and religion. By opening to them the treasury of human knowledge, teachers strive to inspire students with an ardent love of truth and an increasingly clear vision of their final end. By teaching them to think not only critically but classically, and to integrate that truth into their own actions, the education of our academy prepares students both to face the concrete conditions in the world, and to embrace supernatural as well as natural happiness.
|
9th Grade
Religion Latin I Literature and Composition I History: Ancient (Adam – 300 AD) Biology Algebra II Choir/Theater Physical Education Fine Arts I |
|
|
10th Grade Religion Latin II Literature and Composition II History: Medieval (300 AD – 1300 AD) Physical Science Geometry (or Advanced Math) Choir/Theater Physical Education Fine Arts II |
|
11th Grade Religion Latin III Literature and Composition III History: Early Modern (1300 AD – 1750 AD) Chemistry Advanced Math (or Geometry) Choir/Theater Physical Education Logic |
|
|
12th Grade Religion Latin IV Literature and Composition IV History: American and Modern (1750 AD – Present) (including political philosophy) Physics Pre-calculus (elective) Choir/Theater Physical Education Introduction to Philosophy |