FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ARISE CLASSICAL ACADEMY
The location is in Sewickley on the property of St. Stephen’s Church on the first floor of The Henning House.
We will do math four days a week and other subjects will alternate two days a week. Each program day will include an enrichment component. Our four day program (Monday-Thursday) will begin at 8:25 a.m. with an opening assembly and end at 1:30 p.m., allowing students ample time to complete academic work at home. Students can be dropped off at 8:00 a.m. and can sign-up for after school hours to stay until 3:00 p.m. In addition, we have an hour science lab on Fridays once a month.
Arise Classical Academy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit offering academic courses for students who are registered with the state of Pennsylvania as homeschool students. We are not a school, and we are not a complete substitute for homeschooling. We partner with parents to provide a classical education for their students.
Arise Classical Academy currently has 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students enrolled.
Arise Classical Academy’s first day of school was be September 3rd, and we will end on May 22nd. We offer a two-week Christmas Break as well as a spring break and a day off for Thanksgiving and Easter.
We will have a dress schedule that will alternate between uniforms, business dress, and student choice within parameters. Specific details are in the Family Handbook.
We are not affiliated with any particular church or denomination. We welcome families from various Christian denominations.
Students can be dropped off as early as 8:00 a.m. (start time 8:25 a.m.), and class concludes at 1:30 p.m. Students may sign-up for after school hours which last until 3:00 p.m.
ACADEMICS
Classical Christian Education is a time-tested method of equipping students to become lifelong learners. At Arise Classical Academy, we combine this methodology with a distinctly and consistently Christ-centered approach.
We focus on graduating cultured generalists. Many professionals today are well-trained in the skills needed for their fields but are poorly educated in how to think for themselves. When students specialize too soon, they narrow their options for later in life. Classical education seeks to broaden students’ horizons by spending the majority of their education in forming a strong intellectual foundation. By prioritizing the language arts of the trivium, (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the mathematical/scientific arts of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and harmonics), students are going through the same training experienced by many of the great minds in human history. If students opt out of classes, the experience of a robust classical education will be incomplete.
We currently have two relationships with institutions that partner with schools and programs to offer dual enrollment, and we are working through the details of that.
We have chosen to pursue dual enrollment. However, with the flexibility of our University Model program and our rigorous curriculum, students may pursue AP testing on their own, which is an option for all students regardless of having taken an AP class. This offers our students multiple options for pursuing college credits.
We have a scope and sequence that provides classical Christian instruction for all four years of our academy’s grade offerings. A sampling of curriculum includes Humanitas and Latin Alive from Classical Academic Press, Math-U-See, Apologia science, Lost Tools of Writing Curriculum, and Canon Press Logic.
Currently we do not have the staff available to work individually with special needs students. We can meet parents on a case-by-case basis and make a mutual decision about whether a student would be well-served at Arise Classical Academy. However, because of our small staff size, most of the accommodations would need to be done at home with the parent.
Arise Classical Academy is pursuing accreditation, which ensures that our program aligns with the high standards of the accreditation institution. This provides accountability and assures current and prospective families at ACA of our intention to maintain and aspire to a rigorous classical Christian way of education. Arise Classical Academy has membership through NAUMS, Inc., which provides standards and oversight for maintaining a Christian University Model program and accreditation through Cognia. Additionally, Arise Classical Academy is a member of the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS).
Yes, we will provide transcripts. ClassReach, our classroom management system, will aid us in generating transcripts for our students.
UNIVERSITY- MODEL®
The University-Model® combines the best attributes of traditional schooling with the best attributes of homeschooling and integrates them into one model. Parents are given the gift of time with their children as students spend fewer hours in the classroom setting. It allows parents time to impart their faith to their children but also provides for high quality instruction time for students.
As part of this hybrid education model, parents will be responsible for enrolling their child with the local school district as homeschooled. The Academy will provide the guidance and resources to assist parents throughout this process. ACA will assist in the development of the portfolio of the student and will coordinate its review with a Pennsylvania Homeschool Evaluator.
Once a student is registered with the state of Pennsylvania as a homeschooled student, the program supervisor (parent or primary caregiver) may educate their child as they see fit. ACA’s courses will meet or exceed Pennsylvania state standards concerning content and pedagogy.
While parents are still considered the primary educators, all core subjects will be taught by the teachers at ACA. Parents are not expected to know or teach any subject but instead offer guidance and wisdom on homework and other projects. Parents may choose to supplement the education with additional opportunities/resources that correspond to a child’s particular interest. For homeschool requirements, parents will have to provide documentation of 40 home education days and a student’s participation in music and physical education.
ADMISSIONS
Please go to our admissions page for more information and the link to the application.
A classical Christian education is most effective when both parents or primary caregivers agree to support and live out the Academy’s mission, vision, and values. As a program that seeks to train its students in the Christian faith, ACA is committed to ministering to Christian families so as to affirm and teach from a biblical worldview. This faith and worldview should first be instilled at home and in church. We are glad to have conversations with families who have questions about the statement of faith.
See below for tuition and fees.