What’s in a Name?

Founded as a means to minister to the youth and families in the Capital District of New York, Augustine Classical Academy holds to these principles expressed by Augustine, father of Christian education.
“I believe in order to understand.”

We believe that Christ is the cornerstone of wisdom, learning, and knowledge.  Without faith, our intellectual pursuits are vanity and we cannot truly and fully understand the world in which we live.  The books we read and discuss, from Dante’s Inferno to Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, the mathematical and scientific principles we explore, the beauty we seek to create and admire in arts and music, will only make sense through the lens of a Christian worldview.  Faith is strengthened through studies not because we avoid controversial issues, but because any discussion that seeks to be truthful and honest will bring us to the very feet of God.
“My heart was restless until it found its rest in thee.”

Man was created to know and worship God; our hearts hunger for this relationship. By training our children to have faith which rests on the promises and character of God, we teach them to find rest for their souls.  Their studies point them to God’s work in His Word and His world.  With hearts at peace with their Redeemer and Creator, they will be free to pursue God’s calling on their lives.
“Tolle, legge.”

Augustine credits his conversion to the time when he heard young children chanting in Latin, “Take up and read, take up and read.”  At Augustine Classical Academy, we prepare our students to follow the Spirit’s prompting by providing them with life-long learning tools.  Beginning with phonics instruction in Kindergarten and continuing through our Great Ideas courses, our students are steeped in a culture of rich literature.  Discussion of Great Books forms the core of their humanities study and exposes them to all major ideas they will encounter in our culture today.