Lower School

"Holy Family has been one of the greatest blessings of this past year.  Our daughter has flourished being in a joyful and truly Catholic community. My husband and I say on a frequent basis, it is very much worth the drive from Saint Paul."

William and Erica Faulkner,
Parents of two lower school students

Preparation for the reception of First Holy Communion in second grade starts in the fall as students read the earliest stories of Salvation History, and review the Sacrament of Baptism.  Students are interviewed by our pastor or deacon to ensure they understand the sacrament, then during Advent, they make their First Confession. 
 
As the year progresses, second graders read New Testament stories about Jesus’ life, learn about all of the parts of the Mass and come to see how the Last Supper is the new Passover.
 
Forty days before their reception of Holy Communion, students begin to pray and do acts of sacrifice and love, modeled after St. Therese, the Little Flower.  During the last week of preparation, they study five different saints that had a special devotion to the Eucharist.  Students are again interviewed by our pastor or deacon, and participate in a half day retreat at Holy Family Church. 

On the day of First Holy Communion, it is quite a beautiful sight to see all of the First Communicants dressed in suits or white dresses and veils kneeling at the Communion rail waiting for this most important moment in their life, when they will meet Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.  On the Monday following First Communion, the students wear their First Communion clothes to the daily school Mass.  After Mass, there is a reception with the entire student body followed by a special reception with the parents of the First Communicants. 
 

What makes a Catholic classical education during the grammar stage of the Trivuum so special?  In 1st - 5th grade, students continue to have a great ability to soak in knowledge. Yet, their minds are so literal that we have to be careful that we expose them what is true, good, and beautiful. The key here is to draw out the lessons mankind has learned throughout all of salvation history.   We know where these lessons can be found: in the great stories from literature and in the historical/scientific realities that mark mankind’s growth throughout time.  Latin, poetry, phonics, geography, art, music, movement and many more stimulating studies highlight the progress of students who by now are well on their way to becoming learned.

The content alone, however, is not what makes classically educated students experience such high levels of success. The instructional techniques, steeped in the use of the memory and the imagination, are what pushes classical education over the top.

Humility when seeing the glory of God in His great gifts to us is the result of a learner guided in his instruction to appreciate the eternal and the beautiful. 

* Fith grade students have the potential to test into sixth grade Math and will be on a track to take Geometry in their eighth grade year