On November 6, 2011 Mrs. Nancy Huston Hansen, hostess of the Capstone Living Legacies Radio Program, interviewed Mrs. Lee Anthony, Head of School, about her personal testimony and about The American Academy.  Click the link below to listen.

Interview with Lee Anthony of the American Academy

We are very grateful to the Capstone Legacy Foundation for inviting Mrs. Anthony to the program.

Please visit Capstone’s web site to learn more about their mission.  From their home page:

Capstone Legacy Foundation exists to provide Christian donors with tax-efficient charitable gift planning, fund strategic ministries, advocate and leverage support in the Greater Philadelphia Region and beyond to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After studying fairy tales, and reading a number of Hans Christian Andersen’s tales, the kindergarten and first grades were able to attend the world premiere musical based on his story, “The Flea and the Professor” at the Arden Theatre on May 10. The children were quite surprised at the ending of the musical, which was much different from that of the story, but they thoroughly enjoyed the tale of unusual friendships and rousing adventure, and each has chosen a favorite character.

On Thursday, May 12, the classroom was literally brought inside from the outdoors when a large and beautifully marked moth decided to pay a visit, much to the delight of our students. The moth was lovingly kept on a table to warm in the sunshine and our students were able to closely observe the creature and identify him in an encyclopedia of insects as a Polyphemus moth. From Wikipedia:

The Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is a North American member of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths. It is a tan colored moth, with an average wingspan of 15 cm (6 inches). The most notable feature of the moth is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hindwings. The eye spots are where it gets its name – from the Greek myth of the Cyclops Polyphemus. The caterpillar of the Polyphemus Moth can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months. It is widespread throughout much of North America, from southern Canada to parts of Mexico.

You see another reason why knowledge of the classics and mythology comes in handy and enhances our understanding and enjoyment of the world!

Dr. Allen C. Guelzo and Dr. James M. McPherson will be giving a talk on “Lincoln and Statesmanship.”  This event is sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for teaching America’s Founding Principles, and is presented by the Program in American Studies at Princeton University.  Grades 8 and up will be attending this lecture on February 15, 2011, at 4:30 PM at the Betts Auditorium.  Dr. Guelzo is on the TAA Advisory board, and Dr. McPherson is a very well-respected and famous historian.

For more information, see this page on the Jack Miller Center’s web site.

Our junior high students have begun ceramics class. Every year grades 4 through 12 enter a piece of pottery into the annual Philadelphia Classical Society art competition in February.  Our students have been working hard on their pottery, as well as on other entries such as paintings, poems, and stories.

Our students enjoy viewing theater productions of books they read throughout the school year.  Grades 2 through 7 will see an adaptation of Mary Norton’sThe Borrowers in January, and grades 5 and up will see stage productions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped and Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer.

Mrs. Hanko’s kindergarten/1st grade class has been learning about simple machines. The students have been taught new vocabulary and a new song about these machines, and have also been doing hands-on experiments.  They constructed and used makeshift catapults to shoot ping-pong balls at their “castle” made out of blocks.

On Monday, December 7, Mrs. Mary Hanko’s K-1 class had a wonderful day in the city of Philadelphia.  First they attended the “Sound All Around” program at the Academy of Music, where Mr. Loren Lind of the Philadelphia Orchestra introduced them to the flute and piccolo.  They enjoyed his music, joined in sing-alongs, and listed to a story accompanied by the flute and piano.  After that they walked to Macy’s where they watched the Christmas lights show.

As announced on WFIL 560 Christian radio, The American Academy will be holding an open house for interested parents and their children on April 18th at 10AM in Villanova, PA (not at the school location in Conshohocken).  This is a great time to meet the faculty, staff, students, and board of the school in an informal setting.

Please contact us at 610-864-6288 for more information and directions.

• Mr. Pat Devine, former TAA Board member, now an army chaplain, deployed on December 4.  Prayers are welcome! Our school has adopted an additional military man, Lt JG Garrett Moore, who is a Navy SEAL in California. Our other military adoptees are: Lt JG Matthew Anthony, deployed in early December to the Arabian Gulf, LCpl Jonathan Guelzo, Marines, and Cpl James Chun, Marines, and member of Antioch Presbyterian Church.
• Older students started a unit on Greek pottery in ceramics in early December at the Whitemarsh Community Art Center. We will study Greek pottery and produce our own, which shall be entered in the Philadelphia Classical Society Art competition in February.
• Special thanks to Mr. Tom Anderson for an enlightening discussion on John Milton’s Paradise Lost.  We celebrated Milton’s 400th birthday with a special birthday cake and a pencil with the Milton quote, “What is dark in me, illumine.” (We trust that students know that Milton also wrote Paradise Regained.)
• The final installment in the fall FPRI lecture series on the Middle East was Thursday, December 11, at the Union League.  The lecture was “U.S. Policy Toward the Middle East,” by one of our favorite speakers, Dr. Harvey Sicherman, President, Foreign Policy Research Institute. Mrs. Chagan prepared her world affairs student over the last several weeks on this important and timely subject.