 The Classical Liberal Arts Academy was founded by William Michael in 2008 to research, restore, publish and teach the classical liberal arts curriculum. Since then, over 2000 students have enrolled in our distance learning programs from over 800 families around the world, and new students are being added daily. Our growth continues despite the fact that we have never advertised, maintain very rigorous standards and have many (temporary) shortcomings. The majority of our new families enroll at the recommendation of other CLAA families, pastors, friends and relatives. The rest happen to find us through their own prayer and research. In 2012-2013, we're moving into our second phase of development with the founding of CLAA schools.
The CLAA staff is made up of Christian laymen who work together to provide excellent instruction in their respective fields to CLAA families. It is not a glorified bookstore selling boxes of assorted books to families. It is a true curriculum, an integreated and progressive course of study with a clear beginning, middle and end. Every course is written for the CLAA by CLAA instructors.
As an organization, the CLAA is independent of any ecclesiastical affiliation and privately owned. The CLAA has sought no outside accreditation for its program because there is no accrediting agency that attends to classical liberal arts education. In a few years, we will be the accrediting agency for CLAA schools. We wish to be accredited only by the quality of our work, the excellence of our students and the testimonies of parents and teachers who have used our materials.
Two concepts separate the CLAA from all other study programs. First, we do not treat education as if it were a compartment of life, separated from everything else. Classical liberal education is a way of life that holds Wisdom and Virtue to be the goal of that life. We do not allow minimum requirements set by states and colleges to set our standards, but share the objectives that have consistently led men to wisdom in the past. We do not believe that all children are to be narrowly educated for college admission, but for all paths open to Christian students including religious life, marriage and home-making, business, mechanical trades, etc. We do not pretend that children become wise by reading a certain set of books or completing a certain number of workbook pages, but help families and schools to create a life of piety and wisdom required for children to grow in virtue in the courses that God had prepared for them--none of which we can predict when they are 7 or 12 or even 20 years old. Second, we do not water anything down, but train and enable teachers and parents to provide children with the most rigorous classical studies, even if they themselves have not had the privilege of studying the classical liberal arts themselves.
Most modern parents initially look at our study materials and don't think their children can handle them...only to find that the children thoroughly enjoy them--even more than "easier" programs. Moreover, parents and teachers can learn right along with their children, their duty being supervision and support----not lesson planning, teaching or grading student work. We even offer premium support services for familes desiring them. No one should be "designing their own classical curriculum" because the whole benefit of true and historical classical study program is that it is timeless and trustworthy--it was designed by men far wiser ane better than us. The work of curriculum planning has already been done and students have already successfully completed liberal arts studies for hundreds and hundreds of years. We know what they studied and how they studied it and we simply restore, publish and teach the same curriculum to children today. The CLAA allows students to enjoy an authentic classical liberal arts education--not an inferior imitation that depends on the education of a child's parents or local teachers.
To learn about the CLAA's course instructors, click here.
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