Welcome to Catholic Schoolhouse Green Bay – what we offer for the whole family!
Catholic Schoolhouse is a supplemental program designed to help homeschooling families in Northeastern Wisconsin enrich their educational experience through a flexible approach to learning inspired by classical elements. We have three main types of programs within our co-op: Dialectic (12-15 yrs), Grammar (4-12 yrs), and Nursery (1-4 yrs). In the last few years, we also been blessed to have had some a la carte high school course offerings on site as well. The whole family can have a place at Catholic Schoolhouse!
Our program meets once per week for a total of 24 weeks from September to May. Our program runs from about 9:00am-1:00pm and includes time to enjoy lunch with friends and recess. We take one week off per month. We also have a break around Thanksgiving, Advent & Christmas, an off-week for “Spring Break” and a week off at Holy/Easter Week. Our year is divided up into quarters.
The Tour Guide includes all 24 weeks of memory work
Grammar scholars use the Tour Guide to learn about geography, history, religion, art, science, math, language arts, Latin, and fine arts. Each week, grammar scholars have weekly science experiments/learning for 30 minutes, as well as a 40-minute hands-on art class. Both art and science classes are designed to fit what we are studying in history/science from the Tour Guide. In Classical education, the grammar level focuses on memorization of important educational facts which they will happily share with you at this level, learn to effectively communicate in the dialectic level, and later use in the logic/rhetoric level in high school and adulthood.
Dialectic scholars have alternating weeks of a 1-hour science experiment & study, and a 1-hour art class (which includes some art history/artist focus that align with the timeline studied). Dialectic scholars read selected great literary classics, study the timeline in-depth, and work on their written and oral communication skills through the Institute for Excellence in Writing program. In addition, Socratic-style discussions are a regular part of the dialectic program. Aligned with the classical model of education, dialectic scholars are given regular opportunity to make connections and develop skill in communicating what they have learned and are processing. This skills development and practice set them up beautifully for the logic/rhetoric level!
Having all scholars use the Tour Guide’s content facilitates family cohesiveness and simplifies lessons for home educators. At the dinner table, an 8th grader, 5th grader, and 2nd grader can all talk about physics, history, and art. The 8th grader will be able to go more in-depth into subjects than the younger siblings, but all children will be able to talk about the interesting things they learn. It is a one-room schoolhouse model!
Scholars learn about 5 key events in history each week. Each timeline card (5/week) has a picture or classic historical artwork representing each event on the front side, while the reverse side includes several paragraphs of information for deeper learning for older scholars.
In addition to a weekly co-op, we have quarterly Moms’ Nights Out/Moms’ Morning Out. The time spent with other moms – whether outside of our chapter day, but often at the chapter day, is a truly uplifting gift for our moms. We parents wear many hats, and Catholic Schoolhouse fellowship with others homeschooling moms in the thick of life is such a blessing.
We also work to coordinate a quarterly (optional) field trip for our families. Whenever possible, the field trips are chosen to complement content in the Tour Guide for that quarter. It’s a fun way to change up our learning, often making the material come to life even more.
All memory work is set to music to make learning easier and fun! A CD for each quarter is one of the best tools of easy learning for the family – some our parents and kids love to listen to them whenever they are in the car. :)
For the youngest children, we have an amazing nursery! As befitting for their level of learning, our nursery tots have a lot of time for free play. They enjoy story time, coloring/craft time, and the joy of spending time with their friends. The children in the nursery love chapter day as much as the older scholars! We’ve found that our youngest learners have thrived in an environment near mom (but not relying always on mom, learning to ask for/accept aid from other moms and scholars) – and this experience often helps them develop readiness and eagerness to join the next level of learning when they are at the age to join the grammar group.
Finally, we recognize that our Catholic faith is an integral part of the educational experience we want for our children (and for ourselves!). Our chorus includes learning a hymn or two, our regularly memory work includes religion as a subject, and we start and end our day with prayer. In addition, we work with local priests to have monthly Confession and quarterly Mass opportunities on site! We are so blessed. We’d love to share these experiences with you, if you find that you are looking for something more for your homeschooling path.
~Our community is more than a day out of the house; it can help bring structure, cohesiveness, and community to your entire homeschooling experience.~
To see some of the fun we’ve had at Catholic Schoolhouse, please visit our blog here!
To learn about the cost to join, please go here.