Academics.
Core Fields of Study
During our three days, Knox focuses on the core fields of humanities, mathematics, and science. Well-paced lessons in these disciplines allow students the time to go deep and have meaningful discussions, making connections across content areas.
Narration
These discussions are enhanced through our primary method of learning — narration. Narration is the retelling of learned material in a student’s own words, a practice that promotes assimilation, connection to other content, an increase in vocabulary, and descriptive communication - laying a foundation for masterful writing. Narration is scientifically shown to increase recall and long-term learning because it is an active process wherein the student must attend well to content, internalize the information, and reconstruct it again outloud. Contrast this to rote memorization or passive absorbtion of a lecture and you’ll begin to see why narration is a foundational practice at Knox.
Parent Partnership
All classes are taught on campus Tuesday-Thursday. Mondays and Fridays are home days where parents are free to curate a home-learning environment that fits the unique needs of their children. Knox expects that parents practice and prepare for our on-campus days with material assigned weekly by our faculty. The other rhythms of these home days should include instruction in the content areas Knox does not cover and can include field trips, extracurricular activities, and general enrichment.
Curriculum
For a detailed review of our curriculum selections, please reach out to our Head of School. A summary is included here.
HUMANITIES - History, literature, Bible, and language arts are all integrated in various ways but there are specific ways of accessing the content, listed here:
Early Literacy - In Primary Prep thru 2nd grade, we use SoundsWrite, a highly-structured, systematic phonics program based on the science of reading.
Spelling - Sequential Spelling is used through the end of lower primary classes.
Formal Writing - Writing is developed in two ways at Knox, through the curriculum Scriptorium, which uses the progymnasmata and begins in 3rd grade; and via the progression from oral narrations to written narrations during a student’s time at Knox.
History - A spine is provided and living books are chosen according to the time period (4 eras) studied by the whole school during a given year. American history is woven in to upper primary studies and geography is integrated to ground students in the physical world in which God’s story unfolds.
Grammar / Poetics / Latin - Beginning in 3rd grade, we use Michael Clay Thompson’s language arts curriculum, which is a comprehensive, multilevel curriculum designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of the English language and latin roots.
MATH -In primary grades (K-6) we use the concrete to pictorial to abstract approach of Singapore Math, Dimensions. Principles of Math 1 & 2 are our middle school math texts, along with Elementary Algebra by Harold Jacobs.
SCIENCE - Knox implements a two-year rotation that alternates between emphasizing animals (Year A) and plants & earth science (Year B). This rotation allows the entire school to be studying similar parts of creation, but at deeper levels for higher-level learners, with labs as appropriate.
Nature Study - We prioritize nature study once a week, which hones skills of observation and inquiry, the foundational elements of the scientific method. The ultimate goals of all scientific study are collective worship of God, wonder at the beauty and majesty of His creation, and skillful care-taking of it.
Schedules
During your tour of Knox, you’ll be able to get an up-close look at our curriculum selections, but our sample schedule allows a look at how we move through each field of study.
