Christian, Classical Education
In a Joyful and Relational Community
Thoroughly Christian
Everything we do at The River Academy flows from our commitment to the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. This means every subject taught comes from a distinctly Christian worldview. It also means all our relationships and interactions are informed by our Christian faith. By necessity, all of our faculty and staff share in this love for God and His Word. As you would expect, the Bible is taught as its own subject, but a biblical worldview weaves its way into every subject we teach because we believe the Good News informs all things. In other words, Christianity is not an isolated topic. Rather, it is at the center of everything we do at The River Academy.
Innovatively Classical
Classical education has been making a resurgence in America recently. And while the name itself may conjure up images of ivy lined brick buildings, it is simply an education aimed at teaching students to think and learn for themselves. You have probably heard of a liberal arts education. Classical education at The River Academy is rooted in this approach and specifically focuses on the first three of the liberal arts - Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric - also known as the Trivium. Trivium based classical education has been practiced for centuries and we have the joy of recovering the education that most of the western world used up until the nineteenth century when it was abandoned for an education more suited to prepare students for the industrial revolution. Now that we are past this revolution a new method is needed and we happen to believe that the way forward is to go back to the past - to a tried and true method of classical (aka liberal arts) education.
Boldly Joyful
At The River Academy, we believe joy is the natural outworking of our Christian faith. We also believe it is the natural outworking of all learning. If you have spent time around a young child recently, you will undoubtedly find them to be naturally curious and interested in learning. We believe if we are doing our job, this natural curiosity and desire to learn will be most fulfilled at school. And when this happens, joy will be the result. Said another way, we believe school should be fun!
Intentionally relational
Education is not just a transfer of information from one human to the next. It is the impartation of virtue, wisdom and character. It is discipleship. And we believe our greatest tool to impact students is the relationship we have with them. For this reason we prioritize relationships as one of our chief values here at The River Academy. One of the most common pieces of feedback we receive from our graduates is that their teachers were not merely their instructors - they were their mentors and friends. This is intentional on our part and we are grateful our graduates experience us as such.