Our Lady of Hope Catholic School A National Blue Ribbon, K-8 school located in Potomac Falls, VA Messengers of Hope for the World!

Classical Leaning

Classical Leaning

Our Lady of Hope is a classical leaning school which strives to direct students to the most profound aspects of being human.  Plato taught that the object of education is to love all that is good, true and beautiful, and we strive to impart that passion to all our students.

The pillars of our teaching framework are faith, the virtuous life, experiencing wonder in God’s creation, higher order thinking and the ability to express ideas clearly and convincingly. 

The following is a list of classical components at Our Lady of Hope:

  • Emphasis on teaching and living the Faith
  • Teaching the truths of our Faith
  • Emphasis on practicing virtues through our Virtue Program
  • Study of the life cycles of animals with real wildlife, chicks and butterflies
  • Outdoor and hands-on classes
  • Appreciation for music and the arts seen in lessons throughout the year and in after-school opportunities
  • Socratic Seminar in Literature classes 
  • The study of grammar, essay writing, and cursive
  • Shakespeare taught and performed
  • Poetry Units which include memorizing poems
  • Novel Units 
  • Structured class debates
  • Science curriculum promotes problem-solving and higher-order thinking through lab-based learning
  • Geometry and an advanced math program  
  • All science labs include use of the classic scientific method
  • Science is exploratory with labs once a week
  • Traditional science fairs for both 6th and 7th grades to promote public speaking
  • The use of primary sources to read and for research
  • Study of Greek/Roman civilization
  • Latin taught in grades 1-8

We believe that a classical leaning education will help form your child into a messenger of hope for the world.