NCEE Results are in!

21 Jan 2018

WHA received our National Classical Etymology Exam results! Under Joanna Hensley's brilliant leadership, an impressive number of students participated this year, and 65 earned medals! Thank you, students, for your fantastic efforts! We are proud of each of you and grateful for all of our talented Latin teachers who make our program exceptional! National Classical Etymology Exam Results Advanced Level (grades 11 and 12) 22 Participants Awards Latin 1 Latin 2 Latin 3 Latin 4

Writing and Rhetoric at WHA

WHA is fully committed to student mastery in writing. The following outlines and summarizes our approach to writing instruction, beginning in the 5th grade and ending in the 12th grade. Key points about our writing approach: Our primary focus is essay writing. To teach essay writing is to teach thinking. All students can learn to write essays with proficiency and eloquence. Writing instruction is most effective when provided in a process that emphasizes ability, not just

Independence Day

5 Jul 2016

Today is the 5th of July.  I hope your celebration of the 4th included ice cream, hot dogs, swimming pools, fireworks and many other common ways we celebrate “Independence Day.”  But as we celebrated yesterday, I also noticed that our culture seems far more focused on the three-day weekend celebration than on the liberties we often take for granted.  If Rip Van Winkle were to awake again two centuries after his “brief” two-decade nap, what

Chickens in Church

9 Jun 2016

The following is an open letter from Scott Baker, WHA Rhetoric Instructor, to his students in the Rhetoric 2/Senior Thesis class this year. Dear Seniors: Congratulations on a great year completing the Senior Thesis process!  Now that you have survived the Defense and have completed your Final Draft, it’s time to celebrate.  Everyone in the WHA community is suitably proud of your achievement, especially since writing and defending a thesis is such a rare accomplishment

Next Steps for College Planning . . .

Seniors, make sure you are tracking your college applications and maintaining good communication with your prospective colleges. Update colleges on any new accomplishments or changes regarding your records or circumstances. Also, remember financial aid deadlines are approaching. Many families believe that they will not qualify for financial aid and fail to realize that many private colleges and universities encourage filing the FAFSA for merit aid consideration. Submitting the FAFSA also gives every student an opportunity

A Focus on “Math in Focus”

One of the oldest proverbial sayings in the English language is, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”  If there are any of you out there that still insist on calculating math solutions with a slide rule (or who even remember what a slide rule is!), you know what I mean. As the march of time presses on, I tend to resist change, especially for change for change’s sake. If something has worked well

Math Foundations

3 Jun 2015

On what rock should your mathematical house be built? In Matthew 7:24-27, the wise man built his house upon the rock. In all branches of mathematics, knowledge is built on previous learning, so for the higher mathematics courses, what is that secure foundation? Many suppose, erroneously, that it is the work done with arithmetic in the early grades. While manipulation of numbers cannot be discounted in importance, the real bedrock is algebraic studies, specifically Algebra

Is Summer School for Me?

29 Apr 2015

In today's world, there is an ever-greater pressure for more. We see it in youth sports programs, a growing move toward year-round schooling, college entrance exam prep programs and everything in between. As a Classical Christian school seeking to prepare students for college and beyond, this is not a topic that we can afford to avoid. What should be our approach to offering summer school classes?  There are always more great books to read, more

Getting to Know You

7 Apr 2015

Petro-Pavlosk Fortress from across the Neva Education is often about relationships.  Good teachers love their students, love their subjects, and most of all, love introducing their students to those who have been their own teachers.  And books give us all the opportunity to learn from "teachers" who have committed their thoughts to print.  This is where the WHA "Get to Know ..." series of elective classes comes from. Our first offering in this series was