Our Classical Curriculum
We embrace the time-tested curricula, materials, and teaching methods that formed generations of young men and women—Americans who helped build our nation and uphold the best of Western civilization.
NorthShore Classical Academy joins hundreds of schools across the country in a national effort to revive and sustain classical liberal arts education. Like all classical schools, NCA is built on intellectual rigor, the cultivation of virtue, and the development of responsible citizens.
How We Bring This to Life: Teacher-Led Classrooms
We anchor our school in the traditional curricula, materials, and methods that have long prepared students for thoughtful, meaningful lives. Our approach includes teacher-led instruction, limited technology, and traditional mathematics. Students engage deeply with big ideas and significant events. They diagram sentences, study nature through demanding science and math coursework, and learn Latin. They write in cursive, and they study the founding documents and principles that shaped our country.
Our students do the real work of learning—and they grow because of it.
Importance of Books
Second, we hold a deep conviction about the central role books play in a student’s education. The works in our curriculum represent some of the greatest literature ever produced—books that have shaped minds for generations. These texts nurture and refine a child’s moral imagination. Students read and explore the classics, from Aesop’s Fables to The Chronicles of Narnia to Hamlet and Macbeth—and many more.
Developing the Whole Person
Third, we are committed to educating the whole person—heart, mind, body, and soul. Through this approach, students gain the habits and skills needed to be self-disciplined, intellectually capable, and grounded in strong moral character and civic virtue.
Curriculum Sheets
We invite you to review our NCA Curriculum Sheets, which you will find below. This will give you a good feel for the CLASSICAL curriculum from grades 9-12. (We currently enrolling for grade 9 and will be adding a grade each year until 9-12 are served.) Here is a quick-read listing of the courses.
Download copies of our Grade 9-12 Curriculum Sheets
High School Curriculum Highlights
In high school, students engage in a rigorous, content-rich classical liberal arts education. Our curriculum spans literature, mathematics, history, civics, the sciences, music, and art—meeting and surpassing state standards. Program highlights include:
- Four years of history: Ancient History (Grade 9), the Middle Ages through the Enlightenment (Grade 10), American History (Grade 11), and Modern European History (Grade 12)
- Four years of literature: Ancient Literature (Grade 9), British Literature (Grade 10), American Literature (Grade 11), and Modern Literature (Grade 12)
- Four years of science: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and either Astronomy or an AP-level science
- Four years of math: Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry, and Calculus
- A minimum of three years of a world language: The Latin language.
- Foundational coursework in American Government, Moral Philosophy, Logic, Rhetoric, and Economics.
- Electives in studio art, music, personal finance, and entrepreneur studies