Where the focus is on the whole child
Academics
Our curriculum
Living
Our curriculum consists of “living” books, “living” things, and “living” ideas that meet Pennsylvania’s state standards. As research demonstrates, books and other learning tools and activities must be full of concepts that intrigue, delight, question, and enlighten (thus, “living”). We offer a rigorous and challenging curriculum using whole books that are narrative and informational, rather than relying on textbooks. Students read, narrate, and converse about living ideas that promote analytical thinking. In math, we emphasize real life problems and understanding mathematical concepts so that memorized math facts, equations, and formulas are meaningful and understood.
Broad
Our curriculum is also broad. Our students experience what Charlotte Mason called a banquet of learning. Students deeply study and experience the sciences, math, English, history, and philosophy as well as the visual arts, music, Spanish, and Shakespeare. They participate in a variety of school sports as a regular part of their learning, starting in Kinderleben and continuing through graduation.
Accountable
Our curriculum and its implementation are monitored by both the Charlotte Mason Institute and Pennsylvania’s Department of Education. The Charlotte Mason Institute is a nonprofit organization that brings together relational educators from across the globe to accredit schools, train teachers, and tailor curriculum for public, private, and home schools. The Institute’s public charter branch offers a non-sectarian curriculum based on the teachings and philosophy of Charlotte Mason and meets all Pennsylvania Department of Education’s current state standards.
Living Books
Charlotte Mason figured out that the person’s mind needs “food” just like the person’s body needs food. Mason once opined that feeding dry facts to the mind is like feeding sawdust to the body. So, we feed the mind with living books and living ideas that are full of nutrients – living ideas.
A living book is chock full of ideas that ignite the imagination, pique the soul, and open up the world. Unlike dry, fact-filled textbooks and lectures, living books are written by someone who loves the subject and knows the subject well. Emotions and the imagination are engaged, so persons find it easy, not laborious, to remember events and important facts because they matter—they have meaning when mixed with the ideas. Thus, we read the best, well-written books that we can find in all subjects. Instead of PowerPoint lectures, students read a living book, narrate it and question it, and then they are ready to join with the author in the “Grand Conversation” about the ideas. Wonderful dialogue and synthesis ensue, and then we see THINKING taking place and becoming a habit for life.
Structured Literacy
Latest research shows that we are not prewired to read and process written language. Structured literacy is an educational model that focuses on building the foundation of basic literary skills so students have the best chance at achieving and maintaining literary proficiency. Dogwood’s literacy program incorporates living books, teacher and student read-alouds across the curriculum, writing across the curriculum, and Mason’s dictation, copywork, and recitation, along with direct, explicit phonetic instruction. Research shows that structured literacy strengthens brain connections for reading and processing written language, and that all students, especially those at-risk for literacy acquisition, gain from the efficacy of structured literacy instruction.
MATH AND SCIENCE
We also offer alternative and dynamic practices in our mathematics programs. Dogwood’s mathematics curricula emphasize the understanding of math concepts so that memorization of facts, equations, and formulas is meaningful and understood. Students not only learn the core curriculum required by PA State Standards, but they also learn to truly understand math and its applications in real life. Math becomes “relevant and compelling.” Students can strategically engage with math in college courses, in the trades, and in day-to-day situations.
We offer an interesting, delightful science program that grows a sense of “awe” about our world. Students take nature walks, observe and paint specimens with the drybrush watercolor technique, experiment, practice careful illustrated copy work, read living science books, and study outside the classroom at museums, labs, and the great outdoors. The living books and living things engage and ignite the curious scientist in all children of all ages!
