Contact St. Thomas Aquinas Academy

Welcome. If you long for the heart of a St. Thomas Aquinas Academy education for your high school student, the classical, Catholic core of strong reading, careful writing, sound reasoning, and a faith woven through the whole school day, yet you intend to draw your student’s diploma from another source, then the Foundations Track was made for your family. Here, you and an experienced STAA advisor craft a personalized plan built around the studies that matter most, fitted to your student’s gifts and to the path that lies ahead.

What Is the Foundations Track?

The Foundations Track is for families who love the substance of our program but will issue or obtain the diploma elsewhere, whether parent-issued, through a state equivalency examination, or through a state or community college dual-enrollment program. Rather than following the requirements of a St. Thomas Aquinas Academy diploma, you and your advisor design a specialized plan that reflects your student’s interests and post-high school pursuits.

The name says what it means: a foundation is meant to be built upon. We help you put in place strong core skills, and your family builds on them.

Built on the Four R’s

Planning the Foundations Track resembles how we plan the grammar-school years, lifted to the high school level. Every school day gives at least an hour apiece to the Four R’s: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Religion. These are the venerable three R’s of a classical education, with Religion added as the fourth, because for a Catholic family, the formation of the soul belongs at the center of the school day, not at its edges.

The Four R’s in High School

At the high school level, the Four R’s take this shape, with a fifth movement that lets each family personalize the balance of the day:

• Reading. The content-rich courses: history, literature, the sciences, economics and government, the fine arts appreciation and history, and advanced foreign-language study with reading and translation.
• Writing. Language Arts, our Writing and Reasoning sequence carried alongside English Mechanics: composition, essay writing, logic, critical reading, and rhetoric, together with cursive penmanship, grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling.
• Arithmetic. Mathematics, with the aim of mastering pre-algebra and algebra and developing a strong understanding of geometry and second-year algebra by graduation.
• Religion. Church history, apologetics, Sacred Scripture, and moral reasoning.
• Personalize the balance. The applied and making arts, coached physical education, lecture-based co-op classes, introductory language study, and vocational, technical, apprenticeship, or agricultural-science pursuits.

Together these fill a full day of six or more hours of structured study, across roughly 180 school days each year.

How Your Advisor Walks With You

There are two ways to join us, so you are not planning alone:

• Enroll in the STAA program for the full advisor partnership: an annual skills assessment that focuses on the two foundational subjects, writing with English Mechanics and mathematics; personalized placement recommendations for your student; and regular advisor support meetings throughout the year for you and your student.
  To enroll »  
• Choose the Independent Study option for a lighter-touch path that activates your student’s access to the STAA Student Zone, so you may use our study guides and online resources at your own pace.
  To activate an Independent Study subscription »

Live Classes and Advisor Grading

Foundations families are warmly welcome in our live classes. You may register your student for live classes, with or without advisor grading added, or you may use our advisor grading service on its own, without registering for a live class. These options are open to every family, regardless of the track they choose. You can learn more about our live classes and browse the class catalog at your leisure.

Transcripts and the Diploma

Because the Foundations Track does not pursue an STAA diploma, your student’s diploma comes from your chosen source. Should you wish to keep an STAA record of the work your student completes, the Transcript Option is available for the courses taken from the STAA catalog, while your family’s own personalized pursuits rest on your family’s own record.

How to Begin

The best first step is a free consultation. We will talk through your student’s background, find the right placement, and begin shaping a plan that fits your family and its hopes.