Have you been looking for an Eastern Orthodox Christian school?
You've come to the right place!
We are a group of concerned Orthodox Christians from various parishes and jurisdictions in Central Massachusetts looking to make a change for our children.
Our board of directors includes seasoned business executives, young professionals, concerned parents and Orthodox clergy.
We are inspired by organizations such as the Chrysostom Academy in Pennsylvania and others that created amazing schools based on classical education and Orthodoxy.
Please help us in this endeavor:
Characteristics of a great school
- Maintain small class sizes
- Synchronize their school and liturgical calendars
- Led by headmasters who also teach
- Employ superlative instructors
- Minimize reliance on technology (tablets, Chromebooks)
- Maximize interpersonal interactions (live discussions, face to face)
- Maintain a clean, simple classroom environment (distraction free, focus on instructor and students)
- Embrace Greek and/or Latin language education
- Balance between structured and unstructured learning and vigorous free time (play)
- Encourage interaction with nature
- Focus on primary sources
- Include music and art in curriculum
- Utilize experiential learning to complement book learning
- Are homeschool friendly (homeschoolers can participate on an a-la-carte basis)
- Focus on long term success, not short term shallowness
- Produce students who consistently excel
Our Vision
We believe an Orthodox School with a classical learning orientation will provide children the best education.
Our goal for this school is to combine the wisdom of the Church with the best of secular culture to produce students that are spiritually mature and intellectually accomplished. We want to create a school that cultivates wisdom and virtue by nurturing the soul with the true, the good and the beautiful. What good can come out of a great doctor, scientist or writer that has no virtue?
The popularity of classical education has been growing since the 1980s, and the more we learned about it, the more we felt the methodologies and practices of this style of education are well suited to Orthodoxy.
A classical school is like other schools from the point of view that it teaches students reading, writing, math, the arts, etc. However, the books, discussions, and methodologies that classical educators focus on have passed the litmus test of being true, good, and beautiful over a period of decades and centuries. These sources will help give lifelong lessons to our students and bring them closer to God.
When trying to explain the source selection process, many Orthodox educators use the well-known analogy of the bee which flies over many flowers but only lands on the one that can supply it life giving nectar. This analogy is key when determining what sources to include in the curriculum of an Orthodox School.
The methods of classical education are nothing new. From the ancient days in Ephesus, Cappadocia, and Constantinople, to the medieval ages in Europe, and through the 20th century here in America, these concepts were the foundation of a well-educated person.
Most of the sources on classical education in America stem from Protestant schools. While the school we create will have much in common with these schools, the Saint Kosmas Academy will be grounded in the Orthodox Faith, including its Great Books and Church Fathers.
Our emphasis will be to never separate God from history, literature, writing, art, math, and science but to consider those subjects under the umbrella of everything our Lord revealed to us. Intellectually smart and competent students that also possess virtue should be the goal of an excellent school.