RHETORIC SCHOOL - Grace Academy

9TH THROUGH 12TH GRADES

During the Rhetoric stage, students learn to clearly express themselves and defend their understanding of the truth by communicating winsomely and effectively. In these final years at Grace Academy, students bring the knowledge they gained in the Grammar and Logic stages and apply it in solving difficult problems, becoming self-aware, and expressing their thoughts and understanding of concepts through both oral and written assignments. It is the Rhetoric School's objective to cultivate Christian virtues in students. While the School of Rhetoric will certainly prepare our graduates for college, the chief end of education is to prepare students to worship and glorify God.

Rhetoric School Trips:

9th Grade: Washington DC
12th Grade: Italy Trip

Rhetoric Retreats:

Fall Team Building Retreat
Spring Leadership Retreat

The Rhetoric School can be described in terms of methods of teaching, culture, and curriculum.

METHODS OF TEACHING

The courses in the rhetoric school are all focused on teaching students how to construct and express arguments through deeper exposure to and practice with the subjects taught. It is this emphasis on Rhetoric that sets our high school apart from other programs. At this final stage of secondary education, our students not only synthesize all that they have learned in their previous years, but they gain a nuanced and complex understanding of the material that they are studying. Cultivating multiple literacies, not limited to the spoken and written word, allows our students to engage meaningfully with our ever-complicating world. All methods of teaching in the Grace Academy Rhetoric School aim to cultivate students who embody the Portrait of the Graduate and who, by loving and pursuing proper things, are prepared to engage the world with humble skillfulness and confident care.

CULTURE

In Rhetoric School, students and faculty regularly discuss the importance of intellectual maturity as a key component of spiritual growth. Rhetoric students are partnered with a faculty or staff mentor and enjoy meeting weekly for fellowship and discussions. This relationship is established in 9th grade and carried out through graduation. Rhetoric students are held in high esteem by grammar and logic students and are encouraged to be leaders in all aspects of campus life.

Rhetoric Activities:

Varsity Athletics
Art Club
Choir
Math Club
Mock Trial Team
National Honor Society (By selection)
Yearbook Staff
Mascot Team

CURRICULUM

GRACE ACADEMY STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES

SAT Average 2026: 1239

Mathematics and Science classes awaken wonder and impart skills to see and study the orderly world of creation as beautiful evidence of God’s design, not divorcing scientific knowledge from its place in a unified cosmos. Students are encouraged to see the subjects of their studies as an integrated whole before they analytically dissect them into parts.The senior year culminates in a thesis project, drawing together in practice all that students have learned about constructing a thoughtful and persuasive argument on a significant topic. In their 12th grade Rhetoric course, students spend time reading, researching, writing, discussing, re-writing, and presenting deliberative arguments. The result is a well-researched, academically written and formatted thesis, which must be defended in front of a live panel.

SCOPE AND SEQUENCE

	History	Literature	Math	Science	Foreign Language	Theology	Logic and Rhetoric	Fine Arts and Electives
9th Grade	American History	American Literature	Geometry	Biology	Latin III	New Testament I	Speech and Debate	Electives: Art Drama Choir HCU Art Appreciation Outdoor Education HCU Latin Computer Science Principles Philosophy Creative Writing
10th Grade	Ancient History	HCU Ancient Literature	Algebra II	Chemistry	Latin IV	New Testament II	Classical Rhetoric
11th Grade	Medieval History	HCU Medieval Literature	Precalculus or Finite Math	Physics	AP Latin	Apologetics and World View	Junior Thesis
12th Grade	Modern History	Modern Literature	AP Calculus and/or Finite Math	AP Biology or Science Elective		Senior Thesis	Senior Thesis