The Fellowship of Learning: Adventures in Education at Lorien Wood

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." - Socrates

At Lorien Wood, a Christian school in Northern Virginia, we approach teaching through an integral lens grounded in our distinctives: Teaching grounded in classical study and joyful discovery, nurturing the uniqueness of each child, and cultivating character based on a biblical worldview. While each of these elements is integral to one another, woven together like a tapestry, we want to highlight the integral role classical learning plays in equipping our students to engage in the joy of lifelong learning.

Classical Education at Lorien Wood

The pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness is at the heart of our curriculum. In Latin, these essential truths Verum, Bonum, and Pulchrum form the foundation of all that we do in the classroom. Through the classical models of inquiry-based learning, Socratic seminars, and lectures, we cultivate a love of learning and foster intellectual growth in our students. Form 2’s unit on the “Quest for Beauty: Creative Heroes” is a wonderful illustration of how beauty, truth, and goodness are pursued in the classroom.

Inquiry-based Learning in the Lower Grades

On this Quest for Beauty, we invite 2nd and 3rd graders to ponder the following essential questions: 1) What is beauty? 2) How has the Fall marred our understanding of and ability to capture beauty? 3) Who is the source of all beauty? 4) Why should we pursue beauty? 5) What does color teach us about God and His creation? These essential questions invite students to think more deeply as they study how beauty is revealed through literature, music, and art.

Journeying with Shakespeare and Crafting Poetry

The study of the life and works of William Shakespeare is a foundational element of classical study. Shakespeare dedicated his life’s work to finding and portraying all that is true and beautiful in this life through the written word. In his plays, we also see things which are not beautiful and not true, a result of how sin has marred our understanding of beauty. We read aloud a children’s abridged version of his tragedy Hamlet, noticing the flaws and mistakes characters experience in this play in light of following the Lord (pride, greed, and guilt). We consider Shakespearian words and poetry, and students create their own poems based on iambic pentameter. The life and plays of Shakespeare inspire us in our own quest for beauty, as we seek to discover and share this excellent aspect of God’s character in ways that honor Him.

Harmonizing with Bach

In our journey through history, we encounter Johann Sebastian Bach, whose musical compositions reflect the divine beauty of God's creation. Through a read-aloud of Anna Harwell Celenza's "Bach's Goldberg Variations," students gain insight into Bach's artistic genius and his unwavering commitment to glorifying God through his music. We discover how Bach faithfully reflected God’s beauty and served others with his gifts in musical composition – on every single one of his musical compositions, Bach proclaimed: Soli Deo Gloria – Glory to God alone!

Form 2 students also embark on a study of jazz in their "Quest for Beauty." They learn yardstick dancing, where two or more students have to keep a yardstick balanced between them to highlight that in jazz, someone might be improvising creatively or doing something unexpected, but it still connects and beautifies the song as a whole.

Exploring Beauty through Art

Transitioning to the realm of modern art, students explore the works of famous modern artists including Mark Rothko, an American painter known for his abstract expressionist style. Rothko's use of color and form challenges us to consider the emotional and spiritual dimensions of beauty, inviting us to explore the depths of our own perceptions and experiences.

The culmination of this unit is a field trip to the National Gallery of Art’s East wing to tour their collection of modern and contemporary art. Students eagerly observe the live paintings they have been studying and participate in art-making activities designed to prompt deeper reflection on both the art and the artists themselves.

Through classical learning and immersive experiences, we seek to empower our students to seek beauty in all its forms and to cultivate a deep appreciation for the wonders of God's creation. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” proclaims Psalm 150 (one of our memory work verses for this unit). At Lorien Wood School, a private school in Vienna, we celebrate the enduring power of these timeless truths–verum, bonum, pulchrum– to nourish the mind, body, and spirit.

Explore the integral curriculum at Lorien Wood!