Almeda Lahr-Well may not be a household name, but her work is worth your notice. Lahr-Well is a distinguished educator from southern Illinois who has received advanced degrees from prestigious institutions, has taught at several universities, and she’s fluent in five languages. What’s gaining attention though, is that Almeda has developed a classical K–12 curriculum that has garnered national attention for its academic rigor and success.
Observers of today’s many educational alternatives might notice that Lahr-Well was way ahead of her time. Her academy has been doing for forty years what many new “microschools” are doing in the wake of the so-called “pandemic.” Many of those have been founded by former public school teachers fed up with woke propaganda and lack of solid academics. Like the Lahr-Well Academy, microschools serve small numbers of students, but few are likely to measure up to Lahr-Well’s level of academic rigor.
Graduates of the academy often complete their studies one to two years early and perform at second- or third-year college levels on standardized tests. Lahr-Well believes her curriculum surpasses many university programs in depth and quality. Yet, her attempts to share these methods with public and private education sectors has faced many challenges. Lahr-Well’s K-12 curriculum, officially titled Lahr-Well Curriculum Concept, takes “a very classical approach” to education.
The curriculum begins with the basics — reading, writing, and arithmetic (phonics based of course). However, it quickly dives into a multitude of oft-forgotten but important educational components: Public speaking, creative writing, great literary masterpieces, philosophy, robotics, and even macro and microeconomics to name a few. As if all of that isn’t comprehensive enough, the academy’s curriculum also includes Biblical studies of the New and Old Testaments and teaches the Lord’s Prayer in each of the five foreign languages offered!
Almeda Lahr-Well’s “Curriculum Concept” is representative of the incredible renaissance happening now in American education. Parents and larger communities of families are aiming to provide a comprehensive education that equips their children, and Almeda Lahr-Well’s academy is right on the cusp of that movement!
This post originally appeared at https://phyllisschlafly.com/family/illinois-educators-curriculum-gets-national-attention/
Phyllis Schlafly