A Day at Nativity
Nativity offers a nurturing environment to do serious learning and begin to discover your gifts and understand your life’s calling. Small classes give you the opportunity to ask more questions. Your teachers will know you, your interests, your talents, your struggles, and your faith.
Below is a short discussion of topics you might cover in a day at Nativity:
Convocation
We spend the first 15 minutes of each day gathering and mingling. A student, a visitor, or a teacher will offer a reflection or a story about their life. Any house points that were awarded the prior day are tallied. We conclude with a prayer or song and head to our first class.
Theology & Philosophy
In theology, we’re reading the ancient and current ‘proofs’ for the existence of God, relating them to what we learned in our science curriculum and debating their merits openly. Freshman year is devoted almost entirely to studying the incredible history of Judaism. A faith that, in the Torah, has perhaps the oldest surviving, and continuously studied religious text on earth. Sophomore year we study the historical record of the Gospels and read books like “The Case for Jesus” – a modern scholastic approach to ascertaining the true origins of the Gospels. By senior year we’ll study the Catechism of the Catholic church and the incredible history of a document that is one of the only texts in the world that attempts to write down the radical standards of our faith and also explain the radical mercy we are offered when we inevitably fall short. We read the greatest Christian apologists - Augustine, Chesterton and Lewis, but we also read the strongest intellectual critics of the Christian faith – Hobbes, Nietzsche and others. Faith untested is no faith at all and we learn not to be fearful of questions nor of open dialogue about our beliefs.
History
In History we are studying the American revolution and the early presidencies. We refer to our textbook and understand the facts and dates, but we spend considerable time reading primary documents that put us in the place and time of the people we study. We read the Diaries of George Washington, the letters of Abigail Adams, and the poetry of the abolitionist Phyllis Wheatley. We study the faith lives of our founders and we incorporate modern media to improve our memory and understanding. We watch sections of American revolutionary dramas. We ask online AI tools to summarize portions of history and compare those to what we read in the primary documents. And we celebrate the genius of the founders of our country but also grapple with how a mostly Christian people built a society that allowed the atrocity of slavery and the inhumane treatment of Native Americans. All of this with a goal of making sure our perspective of history is drawn from a plethora of sources.
Math
We study anything from multiplying binomials to integrating functions. The small class size allows for a short general instruction period, and then group or partner work with individual attention from your teacher for any areas you find particularly challenging. If you and a friend feel like you’re ready to take on more advanced material – that’s easily facilitated as well.
Science
In Science we study the leading theories for the origins of the universe and human life, including the Big Bang Theory, first proposed by George Lemaitre, a physicist and Catholic priest. We look at the evidence for the Cambrian Explosion and understand what parts of human life on earth can be explained by the theory of evolution, and what parts of the story of the creation of the Universe (namely, the questions who? And why?) can only make sense by an understanding of a Creator. We study and marvel at creation as the most important fingerprint of the original first mover. These foundations prepare us for the rigorous mathematical sciences of Chemistry and Physics later in our development.
Rosary
After a morning packed with learning, we say a calm, quiet Rosary, perhaps offered for a relative of one of our students. Our whole community gathers in a small and beautiful space to spend time in prayer together. This time reminds us what is truly important, refocuses our perspective on those in need and allows time for reflection. This mid-day routine calms our minds and refreshes our souls.
Lunch and Free Period
Each day we allot 30 minutes for lunch and an additional 30 minutes for an open period. Lunch can be eaten outside, or as a senior, off campus. During the free period, catch up on homework, chat with friends, play a game of basketball in our gym, or get involved with one of our club activities.
Fine Arts
After a morning of logic, reasoning, and left-brain activity, the afternoon feeds our right side of the brain. In our four-year music and art program we acquire skills that will bring us joy and will equip us to make beautiful art and music for the rest of our lives. Every student will paint a replica of one of the great masterpieces from da Vinci, Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, or Monet. We paint original portraits of Saints or one of the many Christian and Catholic Nobel Prize winners. Those student works adorn our walls. Even after you graduate you can come back to see your work. In music we sing four-part, acapella harmonies of ancient and modern sacred music. With every student learning the same repertoire – our assemblies and Masses are filled with the beautiful.
Service
“If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?” James 2:15.
Talking about our faith and celebrating our faith in the Mass will prove pointless unless we LIVE our faith. Our service block on Friday afternoons sends us out of our school to serve the poor, the poor in spirit, the weary, the sick, and the lonely. Whether we are stocking shelves at a food bank or soup kitchen, playing bridge with residents of a nursing home, or just offering free help to local small businesses, we have a chance to take our joyful, loving, faithful community outside our school walls. We are sure to learn that giving is better than receiving, and we all know the electric, joyful feeling one has after several hours spent helping someone who needed it.
Heading Home
At 3pm we can finally wrap our day knowing that we studied in depth in the morning, reflected, prayed and socialized at mid-day, created art and music in the afternoon, and concluded by devoting time to those in need. You meet up with friends for an ice cream at an important local institution in our neighborhood: Toy Boat. Filled with the satisfaction of a productive day we can relax and enjoy each other’s company.