Vine Classical Community

Bridge

In 2016, Vine developed the Bridge program as a dialectic stepping stone designed to prepare middle school students for upper-level work by developing both the skills and knowledge needed for the rhetoric stage.

Bridge Goals

  • Bridge helps students develop excellent study skills as well as independence and responsibility. To accomplish this, Bridge students learn how to keep organized notebooks and study spaces, how to schedule their work week and manage their time well, and how to meet deadlines and be accountable for completing quality work on time.
  • Bridge links memory work from the grammar stage with dialectic understanding and lays the foundation for future work in rhetoric. Memory work (e.g., historical dates, grammar definitions, literary terms, and geographical places) will be reviewed, polished, and used in conversation, writing, and other projects. Thus, Bridge students will finish mastering basic knowledge while seeing its relevance.
  • Bridge lays the foundation for critical thinking and analysis, which is so central to all higher-level work.
  • Parents are responsible to help their Bridge student achieve these goals in partnership with teachers as well as review their student’s work and assign grades, if desired.

Bridge Classes

  • Writing: The Lost Tools of Writing program develops the basics of the classical essay and literary analysis.
  • Grammar: Using Analytical Grammar, students complete their study of English grammar and mechanics. This crucial discipline equips students to think and communicate clearly.
  • History: Through Mystery of History IV, which covers American and Modern history, students learn about the key people and events which have shaped our world today. Students learn how to ask the key questions that will unlock wisdom from the past.
  • Geography: As a perfect complement to the global studies of Mystery of History IV, students will memorize all the countries and capitals of the world as well as key geographical features. Through this study, students learn to care about all God’s people across the globe.
  • Science: Using Apologia General Science, students will learn the tools of scientific investigation. Bridge science focuses on memorizing key terms and grasping basic concepts in geology and anatomy.
  • Apologetics: Students prepare for more advanced logic and apologetic studies by exploring the theory of Intelligent Design using It Couldn’t Just Happen and exploring informal fallacies through The Art of Argument by Classical Academic Press.

Note: We feel that it is best for math and foreign languages to be studied independently. Math levels vary widely in the dialectic stage, and Latin interest and skills are often quite variable as well. We recommend finding a personal course of study using local, online, or home-based resources.

Age: Students eligible for Bridge should be considered 7th grade and be 12 or older by the start of the school year.

Flexible: We understand that students have varying academic skills. Moreover, families may have different capacities during different seasons. In short, while striving for excellence and coherence in our Bridge program, we know that homeschooling each unique student requires some amount of flexibility. Parents are encouraged to modify various elements of the workload as needed for their student.

However, because Bridge focuses on developing comprehensive study skills, it is a complete program and classes cannot be taken separately. Furthermore, the ability to develop fruitful discussions at this stage requires relationship building as well as course integration. This cannot be done when the class is piecemealed.

Parental Involvement

Parents are required to attend Vine with their student(s) each week. Moms of multiple students are encouraged to attend wherever they are most needed. Parental involvement facilitates joint parent/student learning, is necessary to operate our community day, and fosters a well-shepherded classroom. If the Bridge drop-off option is chosen, a minimum of one visit per semester is required by a parent as well as supporting the Vine community in other small ways as needed.