Our philosophy
Thomas MacLaren School is founded upon the conviction that all people can know truth, create beauty and practice goodness. This pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness is best achieved together in a community of learners. The community of learners at Thomas MacLaren includes both the faculty and the students. The teachers, as the senior and more expert members of this community, must not only communicate knowledge, but also gradually draw students into the life of the community of learners, and nurture a sense of wonder. 

According to Aristotle, all human thought and art has its source in human wonder. If students do not wonder about the “why” and “how” behind what they study, they will likely find little delight in what they are learning. As students mature and advance in grade level, additional emphasis is placed upon developing a depth of inquiry and creative and analytical thought processes to answer these questions.

Elements of a classical education
We stratify our curriculum according to the categories of grammar, logic and rhetoric. The sixth, seventh and eighth grades are considered grammar courses; they communicate the basic elements of things. The ninth and tenth grade courses are logic courses that begin to articulate the implications and relationships that exist among the ideas already learned. The eleventh and twelfth grade courses are rhetoric courses, wherein students begin to synthesize and relate concepts already learned.

For example, six through eight grade writing students learn the parts of speech, grammar, punctuation and basic sentence and paragraph structure. In the ninth and tenth grades, they are taught to develop and order their thoughts in a logical way by writing essays. In the eleventh and twelfth grades, students develop more substantial and compelling arguments through more sophisticated analysis and different stylistic and organizational techniques.