Turning Point Academy Certificate Tracks

Turning Point Academy
Certificate Tracks

A Warm Welcome

Turning Point Academy is thrilled to partner with ClassicalU to provide premier online training for those dedicated to reclaiming and revitalizing education. Rooted in truth, goodness, and beauty, we aim to restore God as the cornerstone of learning. As C. S. Lewis wisely said, “What you see and what you read is a matter of life and death; it will either be a source of wisdom and a building block of a good life, or it will lead to the loss of your soul.” We cannot give what we do not possess ourselves; only through our own pursuit of wisdom and the building of a good life can we guide our students to do the same.

Embrace this journey of gaining wisdom and sharing it with those God places in your path.

-The Turning Point Academy Team

Network Certificate Tracks

Follow these steps to start your own odyssey as a classical education parent:
 
  1. Register here for a user account, and give ClassicalU a call at 717-857-3362 if you need help.
  2. Sign in here with your registered user credentials.
    1. At any time to reset your password, you can follow the “Forgot Password?” link for the sign in page 
    2. Check your Spam or Junk email folders as needed for the reset email.
  3. Save these pages with your two parent training certificate tracks:
      1. Christian Classical Education: History and Core Concepts
      2. ParentU Partnership in Classical Christian Education
  4. If you are looking for more, consider subscribing to our other content with a monthly or annual subscription of your own.
If you have already had a user account on ClassicalU in the past, simply sign in here with your credentials to start reviewing your materials and courses.
 
ClassicalU is happy to help in any way with access or content questions at [email protected] and phone number, 717-857-3362.

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the principles and practices of Christian classical education, drawing on the expertise of renowned educators with decades of experience. Dr. Christopher Perrin provides an orientation to the timeless philosophy and methods of classical education, while Brooke Diener, an experienced homeschooling parent and educator, shares practical insights on guiding students as a tutor in the home. Dr. Matthew Post, assistant dean at the University of Dallas, offers an historical overview of American education, highlighting the rise of progressive education after centuries of classical dominance and drawing out key lessons for modern educators.

Christian Classical Education: History and Core Concepts (with Christopher Perrin and other presenters)

In these lessons, Justin Whitmel Earley—a father with students at the Veritas School in Richmond, Virginia and the author of Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms—shares about the journey that he and his wife took in deciding to educate their children in a Christian classical school and about the harmony between home and the school.

Parent Partnership in Christian Classical Education (with Justin Earley)

In this foundational course, Dr. Christopher Perrin provides a clear definition of classical education and then explores key questions that trace the history of classical education and describes its modern renaissance.

Introduction to Classical Education for TPA Certificate Tracks

In this course, master grammar school educator and principal Lori Jill Keeler blends her knowledge and insights into the classical tradition of education with practical counsel on how grammar school teachers can plan and teach with excellence, shepherd the hearts of children, and create dynamic yet peaceful classrooms.

Grammar School Teaching and Leadership for TPA Certificate Tracks

In this course, Dr. Christopher Schlect, director of the Classical Christian Studies Graduate Program at New Saint Andrews College, addresses what it means to teach upper-school students effectively and to provide excellent leadership in a classical upper school.

Effective Upper School Teaching & Leadership for TPA Certificate Tracks

This pithy course on essential school leadership will prove to be of great benefit and importance to any classical headmaster, administrator, or principal. Veteran head of school Keith Nix leads one of the flagship classical schools in the country–the Veritas School of Richmond, VA, and is joined in this course by upper school principal Robyn Burlew.

Essential School Leadership

Join Dr. Christopher Perrin as he walks through what many classical thinkers have to say about leadership and the liberal arts. Learn about how virtue is connected to leadership in the classical and Christian traditions. In this course, you will learn about leading your classical school from Augustine, Basil the Great, Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Jonathan Edwards, and from biblical wisdom.

Leadership and the Liberal Arts

In this foundational course, Dr. Christopher Perrin provides a clear definition of classical education and then explores key questions that trace the history of classical education and describes its modern renaissance.

Introduction to Classical Education for TPA Certificate Tracks

In this course, Robyn Burlew (upper school and academic head at the Veritas School in Richmond, VA) shares her accumulated wisdom and practical insights into what it means to be an effective classical educator by demonstrating the philosophical and historical elements of classical education with practical planning, assessment, and execution in real classrooms with real students.

Essentials of Effective Teaching

In this second course to Essentials of Effective Teaching, popular presenter Robyn Burlew (upper school and academic head at the Veritas School in Richmond, VA) shares her accumulated wisdom and practical insights for forging meaningful partnerships with parents in order to develop a rich and healthy classroom culture.

Growing Classroom Culture through Parent Partnerships

The English educator and reformer Charlotte Mason (1842 – 1923) encouraged the practice of a reading practice called narration in which students learned to tell back and summarize passages which they have read. In this course, Charlotte Mason expert, Jason Barney explores and explains this practice and shows how teachers in classical schools can employ it to great effect and benefit. 

Narration: A Classical Guide

In this course, Dr. Christopher Perrin presents the essential principles of classical pedagogy that have been part of the classical tradition of education and explains how each of them can enable one to teach with great effectiveness and impact.

Principles of Classical Pedagogy

In this foundational course, Dr. Christopher Perrin provides a clear definition of classical education and then explores key questions that trace the history of classical education and describes its modern renaissance.

Introduction to Classical Education for TPA Certificate Tracks

In this course, Robyn Burlew (upper school and academic head at the Veritas School in Richmond, VA) shares her accumulated wisdom and practical insights into what it means to be an effective classical educator by demonstrating the philosophical and historical elements of classical education with practical planning, assessment, and execution in real classrooms with real students.

Essentials of Effective Teaching

In this second course to Essentials of Effective Teaching, popular presenter Robyn Burlew (upper school and academic head at the Veritas School in Richmond, VA) shares her accumulated wisdom and practical insights for forging meaningful partnerships with parents in order to develop a rich and healthy classroom culture.

Growing Classroom Culture through Parent Partnerships

In this course, Dr. Christopher Perrin presents the essential principles of classical pedagogy that have been part of the classical tradition of education and explains how each of them can enable one to teach with great effectiveness and impact.

Principles of Classical Pedagogy

In this course, Joshua Gibbs, upper-school humanities educator at the Veritas School in Richmond, Virginia, shares what he has learned over the course of 10 years about teaching the Great Books to upper-school students. He considers not only the character of teenage students and the challenges they face (such as acedia), but also the disposition appropriate to the teacher. Josh also addresses a number of practical pedagogical issues and features several discussions between Josh and Dr. Christopher Perrin that will prompt further thought and discussion among those taking the course.

Teaching the Great Books

Introduction to ClassicalU
with Christopher Perrin

ClassicalU.com is a teacher training service provided by Classical Academic Press with asynchronous video courses covering the practice, the history, and the philosophy of classical education across multiple subject areas and grade levels. Our presenters include educators, leaders, and university professors experienced in the field of classical education. In this 11-minute lesson, “What is Classical Education?”, Dr. Christopher Perrin invites you to contemplate this foundational question.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Aristotle