Humanities

ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE 

Lower School English Curriculum

MLCA introduces students to classic children’s literature often overlooked in modern schools. 

From kindergarten onward, students explore fairy tales, myths, legends, fables, and biographies, including works by Aesop, Grimm, Kipling, and the D’Aulaires. They not only read classic poetry and prose but also memorize and recite them at festive Poetry Nights, sharing works by Blake, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Frost, and more. Along the way they develop skill with literary tools such as meter, rhyme, metaphor, and allegory.

As they advance, students read Shakespeare, Swift, Austen, Dickens, and Hawthorne alongside inspiring historical and Biblical stories. These timeless texts spark imagination, broaden understanding of history and culture, and present courageous characters and adventures that captivate young readers.

Our language arts program complements this literatary training by emphasizing grammar, spelling, composition, penmanship, and oratory. Early study of English deepens understanding of syntax, vocabulary, and literary expression. Older students explore oratory, memorize literary and rhetorical texts, develop analytical skills, and hone their confidence, leadership, and eloquence.

Upper School English Curriculum 

MLCA’s Upper School humanities program integrates English, French, Latin, and History through a series of interconnected seminars. Spanning from the 8th century BC to the 20th century AD, the curriculum emphasizes literature, poetry, and the dialogue between cultures across time.

Students read extensively, exploring Anglophone works alongside texts in Greek, Latin, French, German, and Russian to understand the conversation between different epochs and traditions. The program highlights the development of Western culture, tracing themes from Greek tragedy to Shakespeare, the Bildungsroman, and Romantic literature, encouraging students to see continuity and evolution in ideas, identity, and human experience.

By examining literature both as a product of its time and as part of an ongoing cultural conversation, students cultivate deep critical thinking, historical awareness, and an appreciation for the enduring questions of human nature.

HISTORY 

Journeying and Encountering

MLCA students discover fascinating characters in distant times, and places — heroes and villains, kings and saints, warriors and thinkers, artists and inventors. Throughout, we work closely with primary source materials and highlight the connection between these encounters and parallel studies in literature, languages, and science.

The emphasis of our history program is fourfold: contrast between ancient Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman cultures; the ongoing synthesis of these two traditions throughout Western history; the central role of both traditions in the founding and development of American democracy; and the implications that this twin legacy has for the role of America in the present-day world.