Joyful Discovery

Through narration, dictation, recitation, literature study, and picture study children describe - in oral and written form - what they have read, seen, experienced, or heard. In the process, they discover new ideas and learn to describe what they have understood, developing skills in reading, comprehension, writing, and expression.

Wilberforce has half days for Explorers One (Junior Kindergarten) and Explorers Two (Kindergarten) and a half-day option on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for students in Classes One and Two. We believe that at these young ages, everything we need to do academically can be done - and done well - in limited school hours, thereby freeing children to spend afternoons at home with their families and at play. Also, in Classes One and Two, we emphasize the major academic areas of reading and math during the morning when the students are fresh and alert. Afternoons are devoted to more creative activities such as music, art, and nature studies.

Recognizing that the early years are the time when children are forming habits, we emphasize developing habits of life and of scholarship, such as kindness, attentiveness, diligence, respect, order, and follow-through. Habits in young children not only establish their character but also become their future academic practice. We not only talk explicitly about these habits and their fruit, but we also incorporate them into the daily routines of the school.

We seek to bring ideas and history alive through biography, fiction, art, drama, exploration, and play. The books we read are carefully selected works of proven excellence that are age-appropriate both in reading level and content. We take advantage of a child’s capacity to memorize and their natural curiosity to discover.

We share Charlotte Mason’s conviction that contemplative study and exploration of God’s creation should not be dull or tedious but full of life and delightful discovery, for God has given us these things for our enjoyment.