July 12, 2022

Dear Saint Michael School Families,

Are you ready?  I am so excited to be welcoming you to the 2022 – 2023 school year! And yes, we are ready to begin an amazing year with you here at Saint Michael School!  We are so blessed to have you joining or returning to this vibrant community infused with faith, learning, and joy. We believe we are a school community where your child knows he/she is cared for, valued, and will be challenged to do his/her best every day.  We strive to partner with you to educate your children according to the traditional understanding of education as the pursuit of wisdom.

SMS offers a program with a solid academic foundation using the time-honored “trivium,” (three-fold way) and its three stages of learning as a guide.  Curriculum materials are chosen to ensure that students in the Grammar Stage (grades K–4) acquire the necessary phonetic, reading, math, and writing skills in traditional core subjects.  Science and history are learned through hands-on exploration, engaging each child’s imagination, and fostering the natural wonder that all children possess. 

In the Logic Stage, (grades 5-8) emphasis is given to developing critical reading and thinking skills using original sources. Studies in math, the sciences, history and geography all support the Logic Stage.  Work with memorization, recitation and retellings help to develop the students’ mind. Latin is introduced in grades 7 and 8 as well.

The Rhetoric Stage focuses on the cultivation of effective and persuasive communication skills in original research, reports, and presentations. All coursework from Euclid’s geometry for our 9^th graders, to the Great Books read by all middle and high school students to the Natural Philosophy and Logic classes support the trivium and prepare students to graduate ready to choose the path they are being called to. The teachings of the Catholic Church are embedded in all grades and classes, but students will also have formal instruction and will attend Mass weekly.  PE, art, music, and technology classes enrich and complete our classical studies.

Please be sure to find the letters and supply lists from your child’s teachers enclosed in this mailing. I feel extremely blessed to be partnering with you this upcoming school year.  I value communication and invite you to reach out with any questions you have for me as we move through the last weeks of the summer and prepare for a truly blessed year.

With much anticipation,

Mrs. Elaine Beam, Principal