Cedar Tree Classical Christian School

Cedar Tree took my young one in a little late in her school year. She came from a public school setting and quickly fell into pace with the rest of her classmates. Where she only had one good friend in her public class of nearly 36 students, she is fast friends with all the girls and most of the boys in her class; two little girls in particular are her "besties".

I have never experienced so much structure, encouragement, accountability, and love in a school before. I was raised in private school and can attest that Cedar Tree is simply a cut above the rest. The classical education, the trivium, is an exceptional model that predates our modern and ill-equipped educational system in the U.S. Aside from pre-grammar, which is for K-2nd grade, which prepares students for the rigor of the trivium, the trivium itself consists of Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic. See their website for details. Grammar prepares your child for debate and rhetoric that comes in junior high. The latter and former together prepares your child for the rigor of Logic. While in Grammar and Rhetoric, your child will study Latin. They will be expected to translate multiple passages into Latin from English. In her first year alone, she memorized all the presidents of the United States, all the major bones and muscles of the body, and also latin poetry. She can still recite these by heart and when she has a hard time, she requests to read them.

Her reading comprehension astounds me. But, this is common for classically taught students. The method simply works the best. She could not read before she came to Cedar Tree. She was given phonograms here that she was expected to memorize all year long. These have helped with pronouncing difficult words like gastrocnemius and lastisimus dorsi. I kid you not, she can read these words.

Most of all, these children are surrounded by staff who want what is best for them. They show them love. They show them tough love. They hold them accountable and expect them to have integrity and produce excellence at all times, all the while understanding that each student is a child with their own needs, their own strengths, and their own weaknesses. This school is based on preparing each student to be an active and vibrant member of society, capable of contributing far beyond what is expected of the average individual. No wonder their test scores and 4-year college acceptances are through the roof.

Your child will not disappear here. These teachers will not let them slip through the cracks. Each child is treated with dignity. Parents are involved. Public school cannot and does not have the capability of doing what Cedar Tree Classical Christian School does so well each and every day, and that is to embrace your child as an apprentice of knowledge and Christian values. I never want my child to believe that education is simply something we have to do, but something we love to do. I never want her to see the broken system of many of our public schools. I want her to see that education is valued to the point where test scores are not the only means of gauging retained knowledge, but actual understanding and comprehension, valuing and articulation. This is what Cedar Tree does.

Do not hesitate to call our wonderful school. You certainly will not regret it.