The "Lost" Language of Latin

Good afternoon all,
I hope everyone had a restful Spring Break! Let's talk Latin!

Notice the title of this post- the "Lost" Language of Latin. I use quotation marks around "lost" because, frankly, many question the idea of teaching a language that is considered "dead" and no longer spoken by any cultures or countries around the world. Truly, if Latin were so wonderful, wouldn't it still be a primary, spoken language today?

Yes, it would be. In fact, it is. Students and people around the world still speak, write, and listen to Latin everyday. That's because Latin is the root many of Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian). Latin is the source of 75-80% of all words in these languages. In addition, more than 65% of English words come from Latin (and more than 90% of those over two syllables). This helps students with reading comprehension, word decoding and encoding, and vocabulary acquisition, three of the five major skills required when learning to read. These skills are particularly useful for students planning to enter fields with large technical vocabularies. Those of medicine and law, for example, are primarily based on Latin.

Latin also helps students with their study of English literature. Dante, Milton, Swift, Tolkien, Lewis and more studied Latin very vigorously and their writings reflect that in word choice, sentence structure and content.  Though Shakespeare and Chaucer did not study Latin very assiduously, each had studied English translations of Latin originals.  Some of their tales are simply retellings of Greek and Latin myths.

Although I put little stock in standardized tests as drivers of curriculum, it certainly says something when students can pass any test put in front of them with ease. Such is the case of Latin students with regard to the SAT. Click here for a 2012 comparison of Latin students' SAT scores versus students of other subjects as well as a comparison against other languages.

So while Latin might not be the answer to all the ills of today's education system, when used as a tool to help students become masters of the English language, it can provide students a certain advantage in an uncertain educational climate.

Vivere est vincere
(To live is to conquer),
Kelly

Letters of Intent

Happy Thursday!
Today you might receive a Letter of Intent for Pineapple Cove Classical Academy and they will become available on the Pineapple Cove Classical Academy website. Why do we need this information? 

Although the Academy is not opening until August 2015, we are hard at work getting ready to meet the needs of our students, our community, and to secure the vision we have for our new school. 

The state of Florida funds all schools on a per-student basis. Schools must report their enrollment twice a year in October and February to determine the number of students they have and the corresponding funds they will receive. We are working to develop a projection for the number of students the school may have in year one. This is where our Pineapple Cove parents can help!

The Letter of Intent provides us with a number of students who are interested in attending the school once it opens. It is not a guarantee nor is it a binding agreement, but it will help us make the determinations we need to make regarding space, number of teachers and support staff, and things like furniture and the like. The Letter of Intent will also serve as a mailing list once enrollment for the school opens, so those that fill them out will be the first to know!

Thank you again for all of your support!
Sola nobilitat virtus
(Virtue alone ennobles),
Kelly

Happy Monday!
As many of you know, we have decided as founders to defer the opening of the charter school for one year until August of 2015. This was not an easy decision, but the need for it became apparent to us for a couple of reasons, but it really boils down to two: the need for the perfect location and the importance of building the wonderful school we envision without compromising our basic principles. What does this mean?

It means we wanted a location that serves the needs of our current students and alumni and can provide the space we need to grow as a school. Many of the current properties we viewed needed a lot of work with regard to renovations that could be very pricey and still only see us through the first year of operations and not serve even half of our current students. Charter schools receive zero funding until the doors open and it seemed the less prudent choice to spend money on a temporary building when we felt funds could be better utilized hiring highly qualified teachers and purchasing equipment for the school.

Second, we wanted to provide the type of school that Pineapple Cove Academy parents expect- a well-organized, well-maintained, and safe property that they can be proud to bring family members to see. We want a community school that conveys the feeling that school and learning are the number one priorities of all who enter its doors. We want to be able to serve as many PCA alumni and current students as we can without turning anyone away. We simply were not going to be able to do that in a temporary, retro-fitted property that wasn't built to be a school.

So what WILL we be doing for the next year and a half? We will be working to diligently secure a property where we can build a building that is meant to be Pineapple Cove Classical Academy. We will be marketing the school and its principles to anyone who will listen. We will be fundraising and learning more and more about the classical model. Most importantly, we will be working to ensure this school opens as the best educational opportunity in Brevard, free of charge to any student who wishes to experience all the benefits a classical education has to offer.

Fortes fortuna adiuvat
(Fortune favors the bold),
Kelly