An American Classical
Curriculum delivered in
a Christian setting

At PWCA,  Hillsdale’s K-12 Classical curriculum is taught in alignment with the three natural human stages of learning: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, otherwise known as the Trivium. 

These stages roughly correspond to Grammar School, Middle School, and High School. As a Christian school, we situate this renowned curriculum within an explicitly Christian worldview, mindful of God’s Revelation and ongoing engagement with human beings and history. 

At Penn Woods, we encourage lively and intelligent engagement with truth, goodness, and beauty as realities with their origin in God. From a perspective of gratitude and awe, in the early Grammar Stage of learning, students will apply themselves to mastering the fundamental governing rules and basics of language, literature, history, mathematics, science, music, and the arts. Also in these formative early years, students will develop habits of the heart as they discover themselves to be beloved children of the Father, come to love God and His Word, and appreciate the beauty of Creation, practice virtue, and make friends. 

By the close of the Grammar stage, these habits of mind and heart will have begun to form a “second nature” which is the foundation of a thoughtful, disciplined mind, a virtuous character, and a life of faithful discipleship. 

Building upon this foundation, students in the second, Logical Stage of learning, will begin to engage more with big ideas and identify the perennial human questions through direct engagement with primary sources: historical documents, and great works of literature, history, art, and science. Through these, they will begin to apprehend “the big picture.”  They will also begin to understand themselves within that picture and as an active agent in Salvation History.  

By the time they reach the Rhetoric Stage, they will begin to find their voice with a proper measure of historical perspective, humility, and self-possession. They will be prepared to articulate and grapple intelligently with the “big questions”  and present their thoughts with skill and confidence.

Throughout these years and stages, emphasis will be placed on growing in relationship to Christ and maturing as disciples. This growth will be fostered by the witness and example of faculty and administration, by experiences of individual and communal prayer and worship, the study of scripture, and the formation of intentional Christian friendship and community among students and families.

Ultimately, through the study of classical primary sources in the Liberal Arts and Sciences and immersion in Scriptural wisdom and a Christian Worldview and ethos, Penn Woods students will be marked by their robust and well-rounded education, their lively, creative, and inquisitive minds, their heart for Christ, and their commitment to Christian discipleship and good citizenship.