“Our son came home from the visit day asking what the seventh graders were reading. The teachers answered him as if he were one of them.”
Leann B.
Kindergarten to grade 8 in Northfield, Minnesota
A small school for Latin, logic and a long reading list
Lyceum is a classical school of about eighty-five students and nine teachers. Children read aloud, learn by heart and learn to argue well, and in the middle school they sit down to a seminar on a great book. Come on a school morning and see it for yourself.
What students read
A reading list for every grade
A school day here has a book at its center. These are the titles a class reads in a year; the office sends the full list each spring.
Fables, verse and read-alouds
Kindergarten to grade 2
Teachers read aloud every day, and children learn poems by heart. Early readers come from the library, a few at a time, and are read again.
Aesop's fables
Nursery verse and fairy tales
Greek and Norse myths, retold
Myths, histories and the first long books
Grades 3 to 5
Children read one book at a time, together and alone, and write a few sentences about each. Latin begins with chants and grows into short sentences.
Tales of King Arthur
The Wind in the Willows
Treasure Island
The epic and the first seminar
Grade 6
Sixth graders meet the long poem. They read it aloud in turns, then talk it over around one table, going back to the page whenever they disagree.
The Odyssey, in a plain translation
Short lives from Plutarch
Euclid's first book, with compass and straightedge
Argument and the republic
Grade 7
Seventh graders read how people have argued about justice and government, and learn to make a case and answer one.
Plato's Apology and Crito
Julius Caesar
Selections from the Federalist Papers
The long conversation
Grade 8
Eighth graders lead parts of the seminar themselves and write a longer essay on a book of their own choosing.
The Aeneid, with Latin passages
Hamlet
Poems from Dante to Dickinson
Classes
Classes by grade and by day
Each grade band is taught as one class. The size of each class is on its row.
| Ages | Class size | Monday to Thursday8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.4 days | Friday8:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.1 day | Before care7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.5 days | After care3:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.5 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower schoolKindergarten to grade 2Read-alouds, poems by heart and Latin words each day. | 8 | OfferedLatin and reading daily | OfferedNature morning | Offered | OfferedFrom 12:30 p.m. on Fridays |
| Upper elementaryGrades 3 to 5Latin, logic and the first long books. | 10 | OfferedLatin and logic daily | OfferedArt and music | Offered | OfferedFrom 12:30 p.m. on Fridays |
| Middle schoolGrades 6 to 8A seminar on a great book, four mornings a week. | 12 | OfferedSeminar four mornings | OfferedWriting workshop | Offered | OfferedQuiet study hall |
Fees and what each is for
- Application
- Covers reading the application and meeting the student. Due when a family applies.
- Enrollment
- Holds a place once a family accepts an offer.
- Books and materials
- The texts on the reading list and the supplies for the year, ordered by the school.
- Before and after care
- Billed by the month for the days a family uses.
- Field trips
- A few day trips in the year, billed when a family signs the permission slip.
Sample programs.
The seminar
A seminar is a conversation about one book
Middle school students gather at the long table with a marked-up copy of the text. A teacher opens with a question and then mostly listens. Students read a passage aloud, say what they notice, ask what the author means and disagree politely, always going back to the page.
Every text is read in full, in translation where it needs one
Everyone speaks, and no one raises a hand
The teacher asks and rarely tells
The year at a glance
A visit day every month from October
Come on a school morning and see a class at work. There is no single deadline to beat, so visit when it suits you.
This school year
October
November
November
Applications open
For the fall a year away.
December
January
Mid-January
DeadlineApplication deadline
Applications read in the order they arrive after this date.
February
Late February
Decisions
By phone first, then by letter.
March
Mid-March
DeadlineEnrollment agreements
Signed to hold a place.
Late August
First day
Sample dates.
From families
What parents tell us
4.8
46 reviews
5★38
4★6
3★2
2★0
1★0
4.8Google · 314.7Facebook · 15
“The school day is quiet, with a book on every table. We liked that nothing was in a hurry, including the head of school.”
Prudence W.
Sample reviews.
Questions
What families ask us
How does admissions work?
Families visit, apply, and the student spends a morning in class. The office calls within three weeks of that morning. The admissions page lists each step.
Can we visit before we apply?
Yes, and we ask you to. A visit day runs every month from October to March: a morning in a classroom and a conversation with the head of school. Students are welcome to come along.
What is a day like?
It opens with a morning meeting and a Latin lesson, then reading, math and a seminar or a project. After lunch there is time outdoors, music or art, and a story before dismissal.
What are Latin and logic for a child of eight?
Latin at eight is chanting word endings, learning roots that turn up in English and translating a short sentence. Logic is a game of questions: what do you mean, how do you know, and what follows? Each is a short daily lesson, not a heap of homework.
What do students read?
A book at a time, in full, with a teacher. Younger children hear fables, verse and myths read aloud; by middle school they read the old and new books that a good conversation can be built on. The reading list on the home page shows each grade.
How big are the classes?
Each grade band is one class, and the size of each is on the programs page. Every teacher knows every student in the room by name.
Come on a school morning
Visit days run every month from October to March. Students are welcome to come along.