A Harbor education is transformative.
Caring, Christ-centered community marked by authentic diversity
Passionate, gifted, and creative Christian teachers
Small class sizes (14 students maximum per classroom grades K and up)
Daily worship, Bible, and prayer time
A rigorous classical curriculum, including Science, Humanities, Art, and P.E.
Required parent involvement and accountability
A mandatory three-week summer session program
GRAMMAR SCHOOL CURRICULUM & HANDBOOK
The Harbor curriculum is based on a classical philosophy of education, guided by a historical timeline that integrates all subjects and saturates students in a language-rich environment. It emphasizes quality experiences in the humanities, sciences, math, and arts both in and out of the classroom.
Math & Science
Our math program is designed to develop critical thinking skills and number fluency. Our students become numerically powerful through fact fluency exercises, number sense talks, and math games geared to build critical thinking skills, all taught using the Singapore method. Our science curriculum is inquiry-based and emphasizes hands-on experimentation and exploration of the created order. Our science program is closely integrated with our poetry and fine arts instruction.
reading & writing
Beginning in Kindergarten, our students learn to read, spell, and understand the English language through explicit phonics instruction and daily reading practice. From Kindergarten on, students will be listening to quality literature, reading stories, exploring fables, and engaging with the written word. In the early grammar school, students actively engage in pre-writing mental exercises and oral sentence constructions. This prepares them to begin explicit writing instruction in third grade.
humanities
We follow a four-year world history cycle, beginning with Creation and ending with contemporary history. We supplement our humanities study with history-integrated geography, fine arts, literature, composer study, and art appreciation. At HCA, the humanities are an exciting, hands-on exploration of cultures around the world. We place particular emphasis on the Hispanic and African-American experience.
bible
Students study the story of redemptive history, touching on important figures and events. Our goal is to disciple students into the story of the gospel, with the hope that all our students will become saved followers of Christ. Students are exposed to scripture through stories, songs, chants, and scripture memory.
Shepherding the Soul
We approach discipline with a Biblical understanding of the heart, shepherding students together with their parents, to become more like Christ. Our grammar school classrooms are marked by order, discipline, and a warm, loving environment.
oracy
Oracy is to speech what literacy is to reading and numeracy is to math. Our Oracy curriculum works to build student oral communication skills so that all of our students are engaged in structured talk and learn to both listen well and communicate their own ideas effectively in group conversations and oral presentations.
Physical education
Students engage in rigorous physical activity every day. We believe that educating the whole child means attention to not just the mind and the soul, but the body. Our P.E. classes help develop sportsmanship and gross-motor skills.
MUSIC & FINE ARTS
Students conduct in depth composer studies, training their ears to distinguish instruments, styles, and famous compositions of the world’s best composers. All students receive instruction in the Monart Method of Drawing through our Science-integrated fine arts program. They will also use various art techniques such as clay, oil, pastel, collage, etc.