Distinctives & Statement of Faith
CHRISTIAN
We attract faculty and students from a variety of Christian churches and denominations. With Christians throughout the ages and around the world, we are united together in our commitment to the Scriptures as the Word of God, and we affirm the faith summarized in the words of the Nicene Creed. Rather than viewing our theological diversity as a hindrance to our mission, we embrace the opportunity to begin conversations about our faith in the classroom, which are then brought into your homes and churches. In an increasingly polarized culture, our students graduate with an appreciation for the diverse ways that Christians of different traditions understand the particulars of our faith.
Wondering if Twelve Stones is Right for Your Child?
CLASSICAL
The curriculum at TSCS is taught classically through a proven approach to learning known as the trivium. The trivium consists of the three arts of language: grammar (reading/writing well), logic (thinking well), and rhetoric (communicating well). In more recent times, these arts have been connected with stages of child development.
In the grammar stage of learning, the focus is breaking down new concepts to the required fundamental skills or facts and mastering them through memorizing jingles, chants, and songs.
The logic stage is the study of the relationship between those fundamentals and how they fit together. The examination of arguments is an important focus of this stage.
Finally, the rhetoric stage requires students to articulate their learning through oral and written expression.
Students, as they continuously learn through this time-tested process, acquire the skills that will prepare them to study even more challenging subjects in the future. They are prepared for whatever God ultimately calls them to do because they have mastered the art of learning itself.
At Twelve Stones Classical School, students in PK4 through 12th grade complete a rigorous, vertically-aligned, systematic course of study. History is studied chronologically from the dawn of the ages to modern times, which provides the outline for the study of literature, art, music, and science. Students read the best authors, such as Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and Dickens, which not only encourages critical reasoning and sharpens students’ writing abilities, but also develops the moral imagination as students grow in their love for what is good, true, and beautiful. Through the study of mathematics and science, God’s creation and order are clearly illustrated.
Students begin the study of Latin in third grade and develop logic and problem-solving skills while reinforcing their understanding of grammar and language. Studies have shown that students who study Latin perform better in other subjects, on the SAT, and have higher college GPAs.
COLLABORATIVE
Our parents are an active and vital component of the learning at TSCS. Our program resembles a university schedule in that students attend classes two days per week and work at home under the tutelage of their parents for the balance of the week. This model allows the family to actually be the God-ordained primary influence on their children. Parents are equipped with assignments, due dates, and grades. The effort required will vary according to the child’s strengths and weaknesses, age, and ability.
The students have the benefit of the classroom experience with a professional educator coupled with one-on-one reinforcement at home, all within the framework of a classical approach.
It’s a precious and rewarding time for parents of grammar students as they work alongside their little ones as they read good books and see the wonder of the world opened up to them. Logic school parents can maintain a greater voice and guidance as the culture, media, and peer influence enter more importance. Rhetoric school students not only benefit from the challenging coursework, but from the university model schedule as well. The students learn to handle substantial amounts of reading, as well as math and physics problems to work out on their own. They learn how to juggle athletics, off-campus jobs, and volunteer opportunities. These strengthen their college applications, but, more importantly, strengthen their character as they learn and develop crucial time management and other life-skills.
One of the primary reasons families apply to TSCS is so they can be involved in their children’s learning. This is not a part-time school—it is full time education. It is simply split between two campuses: our classrooms and your home.
Cyclical
Cyclical education starts simple and allows the students' understanding to grow as they mature. Our four curriculum cycles cover the entire scope of history three times in twelve years of education. Each time your child revisits a time period, they build onto the foundation of understanding already established.
This approach supports family discipleship and learning together. Whole-family learning means students study the same topic at the same time at the appropriate learning level. When the family comes together, everyone participates. Our families enjoy more meaningful dinner-table conversation and deeper evening devotions.
Integrated study brings subjects together to solidify them in the student’s mind and make them easier to understand, remember, and enjoy.
Statement of Faith
We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and was born of a virgin, Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hades, and on the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From Heaven He shall come to earth again to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, one holy catholic church, the communion of all true saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the gift of everlasting life. (Apostle’s Creed)
- We believe that God reveals Himself through the creation, preservation, and government of the universe. We believe that God makes Himself more clearly and fully known through the Scriptures, which are the only inerrant and infallible Word of God, our ultimate and final authoritative rule for faith and practice. These Scriptures are made up of 66 books, from Genesis to Revelation, the authority of which depend not upon the testimony of any man or church, and are all to be received as the Word of God.
- We believe that there is but one living and true God, eternally existent in three Persons of one power, substance, and eternity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is perfectly wise, the overflowing fountain of all good. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. In all things He is limited by nothing other than His own nature and character. We believe the God we serve is holy, righteous, good, loving, and full of mercy. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Governor of all that has been made.
- We believe in the true deity and full humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, such that two distinct natures, divine and human, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. We believe in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father and in His personal return in power and glory.
- We believe that Adam was made from the dust of the ground and formed after God’s image and likeness, which was good, righteous, and holy. Because of Adam’s sin all mankind is in a state of rebellion against God. For the salvation of such lost and sinful men, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary.
- We believe that salvation is by grace through faith alone, and that faith without works is dead. We believe that God freely justifies His own, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, for the sake of Jesus Christ alone.
- We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life, as the Spirit of Christ within us enables us to do freely and cheerfully what the will of God revealed in Scripture requires to be done. We believe that good works are only those which arise from true faith, conform to God’s Word, and are done for His glory.
- We believe God has appointed a day when He will judge the world in righteousness through Jesus Christ. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those who are saved to the resurrection of life, and those who are lost to the resurrection of damnation.
- We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. All who are united to Christ as Head of the Church are united to one another in love, and have communion in each other’s gifts and graces.
- We believe that God defined marriage as the life-long covenant between one man and one woman, and that all forms of sexual activity outside of marriage are sin.
- We believe that God immutably creates each person to reflect His image as male or female.