At a Glance
WHAT
St. Benedict Integrated Homeschool Program unites the best of homeschooling and a structured academic program in the Catholic classical tradition. Students meet once or twice per week and work on assigned work at home the alternate days.
WHO
Our program is for homeschooled students in K-12th grade. As the program is thematic, self-paced to some degree, and family-centered, students of all ages are appropriately challenged and taught to work and learn together co-operatively.
WHEN
St. Benedict meets over 24 weeks from September to May. All students meet on Thursdays, while Upper School students also meet on Mondays. In addition, Chemistry students meet for labs on Wednesdays. The school day runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., beginning with Mass in the Extraordinary Form every Thursday, and Mass in the Ordinary Form each Monday.
WHERE
Classes are held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church Parish Hall in Imlay City, Michigan.
HOW MUCH
The cost is $400/semester for 3rd-12th grade. There is no cost for K-2nd grade, which is reserved for the younger siblings of registered students.
HOW
Is St. Benedict subsidized by any parish or donor? No. Our families are modest, generally larger, homeschooling families, and we have made every effort to keep the costs low. There is a great spirit of co-operation among the parents, of whom more than 3/4th stay throughout the school day to participate in the larger community interactions the program provides. This allows parents to support and help each other, aids in building friendships, and provides the necessary infrastructure to keep costs low.
HOW MANY
This year we have 33 students, with several additional high school students added to that number for Chemistry Lab and Father’s superb high school Church History class.
WHAT SUBJECTS
The approach to learning at St. Benedict is integrated, classical, oriented toward Christendom, and attuned to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. It cultivates the analytic in its proper place, while also fostering a sense of the poetic in understanding Man’s place in the world. Above all, we seek in these souls to whom we’ve been entrusted to guide, to cultivate a proper self-understanding, a love of the highest things in this world, and a devotion to serving the Highest Good through virtue, sensitivity, grace, and continual striving for perfection as evidenced in the lives of the saints. To that end, the following subjects are covered, in no particular order:
- Latin (All)
- Greek (Senior Upper School)
- Euclid (All Upper School)
- Composition (All)
- Grammar (All)
- Poetry (All)
- Science (this year General Science, Physical Science, and Chemistry) (All)
- Art History (All)
- Fine Arts (including pencil drawing, calligraphy, and music) (All)
- Area Studies (this year, Early Modern: Renaissance to French Revolution), includes: History, Literature, Geography, Culture (Elementary and Middle School)
- Great Books Seminar (this year: Machiavelli, Shakespeare – 9 plays, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Federalist Papers, and more) (Upper School)
- History of the Church (Upper School)
WHY
St. Benedict Integrated Homeschool Program seeks to restore education to its proper order as being in the service of God through the cultivation of the faculties He has bestowed upon each of us. While wisdom and sanctification are the proper end of that education, each faculty pursues its own goal: the intellect seeks Truth, the will finds its fulfillment in the Good, and the imagination bears fruit in its arching toward Beauty. And so, education, properly ordered, leads us to God Himself, whom we find faithfully revealing Himself and redeeming man throughout history. Continue reading about the reasons for the St. Benedict Integrated Homeschool Program here.