Grand Tour Blog

All things grow and evolve, including educational practices established centuries ago.

The principles of a Classical Christian Education date back to ancient Greece and its master philosophers. Classical Christian Education is time-honored, and it firmly establishes a Biblical worldview as it integrates concepts based on the natural phases of child development. It also cultivates the seven Christian virtues (humility, kindness, patience, diligence, temperance, abstinence, and chasity) while fostering in all students the concepts of reasoning, critical thinking and confident public presentation.

In the parlance of Latin, these principles are coined: the Paideia (the fostering of the soul); the Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric); and the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy).
A Classical Christian Education uses a Biblical framework to understand everything. It also sees subjects, not as individual classes based on a single topic (say, mathematics, or history), but a curriculum that intersects and flows, where math might inform language arts which in turn informs social studies, science, the arts, and beyond.

Subjects are integrated around the truth that God is Creator of all that exists.

Now, what sets Trinity Christian School in beautiful Kailua, windward side, apart from the many wonderful CCE schools around the globe? How has TCS continued to grow and evolve as a living curriculum and a vibrant and close-knit community, alive and awash in the Spirit of our Lord?

It begins with the humble understanding that we are always a work in progress, actively listening to parents, students, faculty and staff. We are growing constantly in our recognition and praise of our Creator.
Christ forms the very center of our purpose and practice at Trinity. Our intellectual pursuits are satisfied by Him, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). Our moral pursuits are motivated by the life HE lived, the cross HE bore, and the gift HE secured. It is through Christ that we find our ultimate purpose in education.

At TCS we view ourselves as an Ohana—or a “family.”

While we have grown since our founding in 1981 (and even more so in recent years), we are still at our core a welcoming fellowship, striving to know and care for our students and their families by name with mindful intention.

One important conviction at Trinity is to partner with parents as they raise their children. We believe that parents are the primary educators of their children, and that this partnership can be a nurturing source of support, spiritually, educationally, and socially.

As we collaborate each day with our families, we also strive to look at new and exciting ways to learn and evolve. First and foremost, we believe that YES, learning can and should be fun. The fundamental problem with institutionalized, rote education is that the end result is many students dread going to school. We strive to instill in every Trinity Christian student a deep-seated love of learning and a foundational curiosity for life, beauty, and knowledge.

All across our integrated curriculum, our extra-curricular activities, and our many off-campus excursions, we guide students to value learning as a lifetime pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. Students delight in all subjects and disciplines with wonder and awe for the Author of them.

We guide students to undertake with confidence challenging subjects and to read carefully, critically and copiously. Trinity students seek to understand both sides of an argument with intellectual honesty. They are thinkers. Again and again, they exhibit a mastery of subjects and excellence in academic pursuits. They recognize the mind/body connection and are physically trained for health, fitness, and strong mental health as a result.
Our broad range of “excursions” takes students—PreK all the way up to 12th grade— outside the classroom to learn – whether it’s at a local Hawaiian farm, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Lyon Arboretum, or our “Grand Tour” for seniors which embarks upon a two-week trip around the world to destinations such as Europe.

Our robust athletics program recognizes the inherent value in sports—teamwork, confidence, good sportsmanship, and a healthy sense of competition. The Trinity Lions  glorify Jesus Christ through athletic participation and competition in volleyball, basketball, soccer, cross country and more.

At Trinity Christian School, our Classical incorporation of technology into the classroom is handled delicately with wisdom and moderation. At TCS, we utilize technology, not as a shiny new device but rather as a tool to be used within our curriculum. This is how the classical education model meets the modern world. When technology evolves, we evolve with it, but we do not change the focus and content of our curriculum.
Above all, as we humbly surrender to the idea that each day, we as educators have as much to learn as our students. We arrive to our campus inspired to learn and grow, inspired to collaborate with our families, and grateful that we can, in theory and in practice, celebrate the word and glory of Jesus Christ, or Lord.

Learn more by visiting https://www.tcskailua.net/academics/homeschoolextension.cfm or give us a call at (808) 262-8501