What if you had a window into your children’s classroom? What if you could grow closer to them by discussing and understanding the books they are spending hours in the classroom reading? If you knew what thoughtful questions to ask? If you knew the deeper themes of the texts and the significance of knowing these stories?
Introducing: The Classics Unveiled
This school year, HSP is thrilled to launch The Classics Unveiled, a six-part evening lecture series geared toward parents of students of various grade levels. This project, which will explore specific books from the HSP curriculum, is meant to empower and support parents who desire to be involved in their children’s education. By analyzing the complexities behind core texts – the virtues and the overall importance of the stories, it is my hope that HSP parents bond with their children through meaningful conversations that arise, whether on car rides home, around the dinner table, or during goodnight chats.
As I host each of these sessions, I pray they will be an invaluable resource to you. It is essential that parents have a clear understanding of the stories and images making impressions on their child. We know that children’s imaginations and minds are framed by the information they are exposed to on a daily basis through stories, video games, TV shows, and other forms of media. So, the questions arise: What are they viewing? Who is influencing their young minds? What types of characters are modeled for them to imitate?
Support Our Rich Literary Tradition
A high school student reads in the campus library
Across grade-levels, the stories that we have integrated into our curriculum relate a variety of formative lessons and themes: the battle between good and evil, love and logic, faith and reason, friendship and morality. Through examining the sacrificial friendship of Charlotte the spider for Wilbur the pig, or the profound conviction of the young girl, Antigone, who faces the conflict of choosing the moral law over the law of man, or the struggle of Hamlet to take on his calling to be a leader, we seek to help students understand the value and relatability of these tales to their own lives.
At HSP, we are proud to have such a supportive community of teachers and parents who work together to achieve the shared mission of forming strong and virtuous children through our rich literary tradition. In addition to helping you cultivate your relationship with your children and actively engage in their education, The Classics Unveiled will be an enriching experience for you too: after each session, you will have the opportunity to grow in community with fellow HSP parents by discussing the topics covered during the course of the evening.
I strongly encourage you to join us for these joy-filled and thought-provoking events!
The Classics Unveiled – Tentative Series Schedule:
Please Note: RSVPs for each session will be sent closer to the date.
| Talk Pairings | Grades | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Talk 1: Charlotte's Web and The Hobbit | 3rd and 8th | Thursday, September 21, 2023 |
| Talk 2: Aesop and Antigone | K/1 and 9th | Thursday, October 12, 2023 |
| Talk 3: Pinocchio and Frankenstein | 2nd and 10th | Thursday, October 26, 2023 |
| Talk 4: Robin Hood and Hamlet | 7th and 12th | Monday, November 13, 2023 |
| Talk 5: Up from Slavery and Across Five Aprils | 5th and 11th | Thursday, February 1, 2024 |
| Talk 6: Bronze Bow and The Jungle Book | 4th and 6th | Thursday, March 14, 2024 |
Mary Zuniga is the Classical Education Consultant at Holy Spirit Preparatory School.
