Rhetoric School
Building on their foundations in Grammar School and Logic School, rhetoric students pursue the skills necessary to be persuasive and winsome for the sake of Christ.
The rhetoric stage prepares students to be excellent communicators who write and speak with confidence and eloquence. They apply their knowledge and skills to real-world situations and work to synthesize information across their studies. While grammar and logic provide students with foundations of knowledge and reasoning, rhetoric prepares students to effectively present and defend their beliefs.
Rhetoric
Quintilian defined rhetoric as “a good man speaking well.” Through the five canons of Rhetoric - INVENTION, ARRANGEMENT, STYLE, MEMORY, and DELIVERY - students learn a structured approach to composing persuasive arguments. Because students draw from all areas of their studies, they also learn that education is not a collection of fragmented subjects and disciplines, but that everything is unified in one story authored by God and written for His glory.
Literature
Students read whole pieces of excellent and time-tested literature. These pieces are beautiful, entertaining, and a deep well of truth and beauty. Students use literature to study the styles and techniques of excellent authors. They also discuss how the patterns in literature reflect truths about God, mankind, history, and the redemption story. The rhetoric literature classes include World Literature, American Literature, and Medieval Literature.
Math
Math is the language that reveals the logical order of the world that God has created. It reflects God’s eternal, orderly, and unchanging nature. Students in the rhetoric stage are faced with more challenging work, real-world problems, and put their logic skills to the test as they solve proofs in geometry. After students take Geometry and Algebra II in 9th and 10th grades, options for 11th and 12th grades may include Pre-Calculus, Calculus, and Statistics.
Science
While the usefulness of scientific knowledge is a wonderful blessing from the Lord, classical education focuses first on the joy of knowledge for its own sake. The science classroom cultivates enthusiasm and wonder by studying the amazing things God has revealed and those things which are beyond human comprehension or explanation. Our curriculum emphasizes the study of fundamental content as well as the scientific process through lab experiments and historical studies. Students in Rhetoric School take Biology and Chemistry and then can choose between options that include Anatomy and Physiology, Physics, Marine Biology, and Dual Enrollment Chemistry.
History
The aim of the Rhetoric School history teacher is to guide students in a conversation with the past. Students ask questions about motivations, consider differing viewpoints, and track patterns seen in the historical story. They are encouraged to bring imagination to their studies and consider how different decisions and events could have changed the course of history. Learning through a biblical worldview, students seek to grow in wisdom and imitate the pursuit of righteousness seen in so many godly and courageous people of the past. In the Rhetoric School students take World History, U.S. History, and American Government.
Bible
Scripture and a biblical worldview are part of every class taught at Riverbend Academy. In addition, students take a half-year Bible class in each grade in upper school. As 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” We hold to these truths, and our Bible classes seek to teach the knowledge of the Scripture and foster a lifelong love and hunger for God’s Word. Students in the Rhetoric School take New Testament Survey, Systematic Theology I and II, and Apologetics.