By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

Students enrolled in the Concordia Lutheran Academy in Geneseo are learning much more than the standard reading, writing and math.

I recently spent some time in the K-2nd grade classroom at Concordia Lutheran Church in Geneseo and I was impressed at the behavior and the knowledge of the students. Upon entering, I was greeted by smiling faces that mirrored the warm atmosphere of the room.

Marilyn Brondos is the instructor and she described the Classical Lutheran education curriculum as “rich in content, and a classical curriculum gives students the skills necessary to grow deeply in wisdom, communication, and critical thinking.”

“Our curriculum is built around a classical education in the Lutheran tradition,” she said. “We teach children to look to God in faith and to care for one another in love by means of the Six Chief Parts and the Seven Liberal Arts. The Six Chief Parts are The Ten Commandments, The Apostles Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, Holy Baptism, Confession and Absolution and The Sacrament of the Altar. The Seven Liberal Arts include Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy.”

Subjects include Bible history and beginning in kindergarten, Bible stories are read and discussed directly from the Bible. Old Testament and New Testament history will be studied in depth during the years at CLA, Brondos said, and added, “Students also memorize Scripture passages and Luther’s Small Catechism.”

The young people enrolled in CLA have excellent communication skills. When second grader Charlotte Prochaska was asked her favorite subject, she replied, “science.”

Just minutes later, the class of eight recited names and their knowledge of the planets and my visit included hearing the group recite the United States presidents.

Brondos explained basic information about the Classical Lutheran curriculum and said the K-2nd graders are learning Latin vocabulary that will then be used in succeeding years for translation…”Much of the English language stems from Latin,” she said. ‘These origins go beyond vocabulary and include grammatical rules, too. A firm foundation in Latin will help a student learn new words while improving English grammatical and structural knowledge.”

When it came to a lesson in spelling, the entire group recited perfectly the sounds of each letter, and Brondos explained that she uses “The Writing Road to Reading” which is a complete language arts curriculum that teaches phonics, handwriting, spelling and fluency…She said, “We begin with 70 Orton Phonograms that the children memorize to help them ‘sound out’ words for reading and for spelling. Children in kindergarten are already reading fairy tale books and will start their spelling lists in December.”

The group reads appropriate classic title books, not portions of books: fairy tales, fables, tall tales, fantasy, historical fiction and nonfiction…Their teacher said, “Kindergarten has just finished reading ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and the Three Bears’. First grade recently completed reading a number of classic children’s books, including ‘The Blind Men’ and the Elephant’ and ‘Madeline’. Second grader just finished reading ‘The Boxcar Children’.”

The CLA students are memorizing a 70-point history timeline in World History. The timeline outlines main events in the history of the world, starting with “God Created the World in the Beginning.”

In kindergarten, children will learn American History; grade one will learn basic facts of World History during Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the Middle Ages. Grades 2-5 will read, discuss, and do activities through the four volumes of “The Story of the World” by Susan Wise Bauer.

Art history and music history also are part of the curriculum.

After their instruction in art history, the children will imitate different types of art, from mosaic, poetry and sculpture to painting, portrait, still life, landscape and more.

The school day is not spent entirely in the classroom. In addition to a morning break, the students have recess after lunch and a physical education period in the afternoon. Their teacher said, “We want our children to have a sound mind and sound body, so we daily do exercises, run laps, and play organized games. This is a good time to build team leadership and cooperation skills, including good sportsmanship.”

The children do bring their own lunch and they eat together in the Fellowship Hall of the church. There are four students in kindergarten, three in first grade, and one in second grade.

Brondos added, “God willing we will add grades 3 through 5 in the 2024-2035 school year.”

She has 31 years of teaching full time and she has taught all grades between PreK-6th…”It is in the past 25 years that I have been teaching ‘classically’ in Lutheran schools,” she said. “Concordia Lutheran Academy just opened in 2022, so I have only been here for one-plus years. Our curriculum is rich in content, and a classical curriculum gives students the skills necessary to grow deeply in wisdom, communication, and critical thinking.”

Concordia Lutheran Academy is open to the public and for more information, contact the church office at 309-944-3993 or at Concordia@geneseolutheranchurch.com.