The model behind it
Why the trivium?
The grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages match how students naturally learn at each age. For the full explanation, see The Classical Difference.
The Classical Difference
Grade by grade
From JK through Grade 10
Each grade band is shaped by where students are in the trivium, and taught by a teacher who knows them well.
JK / SK
Suzanne Wright
Early language, numbers, and character formation through singing, chanting, and repetition — the grammar stage's earliest building blocks, three days a week.
Grade 1 / 2
Emily Laprise
Foundational reading, writing, and arithmetic, taught with the memory work and delighted repetition young grammar-stage learners thrive on.
Grade 3 / 4
Melissa Cecile
Students deepen their grasp of language and mathematics while building the store of facts and history that later stages will reason with.
Grade 5 / 6
Jacob Van Gelderen
The transition into the logic stage — students begin forming arguments, asking why, and applying what they've learned rather than simply absorbing it.
Grades 7 – 10
Ben Emery, Laurie Bunch & Nate Wright
Upper-grade Humanities, Math & Science, and Christian Studies, taught by subject specialists as students move fully into logic and toward rhetoric — debating, analyzing, and persuading.
Across every grade
Core subjects at KCA
The specific emphasis shifts by grade band, but every student's week is built around these.
Christian Studies
Scripture, doctrine, and discipleship woven through every grade — not a separate subject bolted on, but the foundation the rest of the day is built on.
Humanities & Language Arts
Reading, writing, history, and literature, read in conversation with the great books of the Western tradition.
Math & Science
Foundational arithmetic through upper-grade math and science, taught with an eye to order, precision, and wonder at God's creation.
Logic & Rhetoric
As students reach the logic and rhetoric stages, formal training in reasoning and persuasive, winsome expression joins the curriculum.
Music
Singing and musical training — a grammar-stage staple that continues through the upper grades.
Physical Education
Taught by Jordan Cecile across grades 5–11, building healthy bodies alongside healthy minds.