Volume 8, Issue 10 October 9th, 2015 Bradford Bulletin

BRADFORD ACADEMY’S PARENT UPDATE

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST: AlexanderAlexander WilsonWilson • 10/12th - 16th Fall Break • 10/19 - Moms’ Prayer Group Bradford Academy was not the first rebuked the King to his face calling him, • 11/11 - Veterans’ Day - no school classical Christian school in this area. As a “God’s silly vassel.” Melville famously • 11/17 - Bradford Night matter of fact, this area has an interesting tie reminded him that in Scotland there were two • 11/24 - Bradford Feast to classical and Christian education. kingdoms and James was not head of both. • 11/25th - 27th Thanksgiving Break You may have seen the name Melville There was the civil realm headed by the man • 12/4 - Mebane Christmas Parade show up locally. We have the Melville Trading James the Sixth, and the heavenly kingdom, • 12/12 - Book Fair at B&N Company downtown and you may have seen the church on earth, headed by Christ Himself. • 12/15 - Middle school Christmas historic references to Melville Dairy Farms. While the church instructs the state in ethics concert Unbeknownst to many is the fact that Mebane and morality and the state protects the • 12/17 - Middle school Christmas is actually part of what is known as Melville church, the relationship between the two is concert at Burlington First ultimately one of separation. This way of Presbyterian Church Township. (You would border the township if you draw a line running east from Quarry Hills thinking shaped Presbyterian views of Country Club, by the Haw River, straight to the government in Europe and was carried to

PRAY ER Orange County line, then follow the county America by the persecuted in the Please pray for God’s supply line north to Fuller Road just north of Mill Northeast and later by the Scotch-Irish settlers regarding specific needs: Creek, then go west to Stagg Creek and follow here in the Carolinas. These forefathers were 1) Scholarship fund for next year! it southeast until it joins the Quaker Creek fiercely independent when it came to personal 2) Plans to expand into HIGH Reservoir and continue along Black Creek back and civil responsibility and at the same time SCHOOL program. to the Haw River. ) unashamedly dependent when it came to the The name “Melville” was taken from a Scriptures and their spiritual life. Their 3) Growing athletic program! Pray that the Spirit of God CLASSICAL and CHRISTIAN school that had dependence was wholly upon Christ. would use the practice and been established in 1851 by Alexander Wilson. This man, Andrew Melville who is competition to build character The school was located near the current almost lost to us in Christian history, stood tall in our scholar athletes. Alexander Wilson elementary school around in the mind of the energetic educator 4) Plans for facilities to house our Hawfields. Alexander Wilson, a Scotch-Irish Continued on page 5. growing school. Presbyterian educator and clergyman, came Andrew Melville’s to America around 1818. He arrived in Two Kingdom’s Speech America on July 4th and soon began to King James VI of teaching at various private academies Scotland (1596) particularly the classics and theology. Philosophically, these schools followed the “I must tell you, there are two kingdoms in Scotland: Presbyterian tradition of Andrew Melville, a there is King James, the head of the commonwealth, Scottish Reformer. and there is Christ Jesus, the King of the Church, Andrew Melville was a theologian whose subject James the Sixth is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a of the highest caliber and some consider him member. Sir, those whom Christ has called and as important to Scottish as commanded to watch over his church, have power . He fought for religious freedom and authority from Him to govern his spiritual from the government of King James and kingdom, both jointly and severally; the which no restored a high regard for the Scriptures in Christian king or prince should control and discharge, education. He served as head of various but fortify and assist; otherwise they are not faithful colleges and angered those who claimed the subjects of Christ and members of his Church. We will infallibility of , a popular position of yield to you your place, and give you all due the academic elite at the time. While he obedience; but again, I say, you are not the head of the Church; you cannot give us that eternal life which held a high regard for the classics and we seek for even in this world, and you cannot scholarship, he was a champion of the deprive us of it. “ ultimate authority of Scripture. He famously Timor Domini Principium Scientiae P a g e 2 Bradford Bulletin From the Teacher’s Desk

Mrs. Rivera (Kindergarten) Science : This week we watched a documentary on life in Math: Covering designs with pattern blocks, looking for a deciduous forests and identified the vertebrates and pattern to solve a problem, ordering numbers to 20, adding 1 invertebrates in the video while we were watching. Bird of the to a number, some, some went away stories, creating Month: Canada Goose subtraction problem situations, counting backwards from 10 to PE: Virginia Reel 1, and assessment. Hymn : “Take My Life, and Let It Be” (verses 5-6) Phonics: Target sound R, handwriting R, review of sight words: sat, sad, fat, fan, bat, and mat. Verse : I Peter 1:20-21 (NKJV)

History: Birth and Sacrifice of Isaac, B.C. History Fact Song Miss Stevenson (2nd Grade) verses 1 and 2. Math: Estimating, Measuring, and Drawing Line Segments Music: Bands - played instruments as we listened to marches Using Centimeters, Adding a Multiple of 10 to a Number Using and marched around the room; reviewed “Take My Life and Let Mental Computation, Ordering Three-Digit Numbers, Adding 5 It Be” and “A Round of Thanks.” and 6, Writing Number Sentences for “Some, Some More” and “Some, Some Went Away” Stories, Writing Story Problems for Art: Finished the color wheel, warm & Addition and Subtraction Number colors. Sentences P.E.: Practice jumping for Greek History: 1st Intermediate Period in Egypt Olympics, review of balance, hopping, and leaping. Phonics: Vowel Digraphs

Science: Unit on Trees, nature walk to Reading: Encyclopedia Brown - reading identify types of trees. aloud and looking for information by using key words. Verse: Ecclesiastes 9:10, Proverbs 10:19 (NKJV) Grammar: 2 Point Expository Paragraphs

Hymn: Take My Life And Let It Be Science: Durham Life and Science Field (verses1-6) Trip, Bird of the Month: Wild Turkey Mrs. Rivera begins Teacher Tuesday: Lucy; Oct 20th-Lilleigh, Teacher Tuesday! Art : We took a trip outside into the Oct27th-Peter sunshine and students drew trees as part of a positive and negative space Mrs. Campbell (1st Grade) composition.

Math : This week we practiced tallying and counting by 5’s, Music: The musical staff, clefs, rhythm, and notation; reviewed identifying horizontal, vertical and oblique lines, writing a unit “Take My Life and Let It Be” and “A Round of Thanks.” fraction using notation, weighing objects using nonstandard P.E. Virginia Reel units, comparing and ordering objects by weight and sums of 10. Students also completed their sixth fact and written Latin: Review (chapters 1-9), Test #2 on Friday, October 23 assessments. Verses: Philippians 2:4 Phonics : Final blends (st, sk, nt, mp, nk...) Mrs. Mitchell (3rd Gr.) Reading : The Grand Cat Math: Working with 3 digit numbers: writing checks, Grammar: Nouns (Ideas); Oral usage: “See/Saw/Seen”; Poem estimating and adding to them to 2 digit numbers; telling time memorization: “The Months.” to the quarter hour; assessments.

History: This week we discussed the royal governors and loyal History: Review week. captains of the colonies including the clever and brave Captain Wadsworth. Latin: Chapter 8, neuter nouns.

Art : Overlapping project. Grammar: Chapter 7 test, review of who/which clauses.

Music: We finished watching the dramatized biography about Writing: Final drafts of 3 paragraph history essay! the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. We also reviewed “Take My Music: We learned about the musical staff, clefs, rhythm, and Life and Let It Be” and “A Round of Thanks.” notation. We also reviewed “Take My Life and Let It Be” and “A

P a g e 3 Bradford Bulletin

Round of Thanks.” brought by Smaug is causing them to despair once again. Art: Armor project. Grammar: We added possessive pronouns, object P.E.: We started our unit on volleyball this week. pronouns, and possessive nouns to our sentence classification, Science: Greensboro Science Museum field trip. also learning the new vocabulary for the week and songs to remember the pronouns. Verse: Review

Enjoy the break! Latin: Our new Latin book has begun helpfully with a review of many of Latin’s foundational grammar concepts.

Mrs. Hamilton (4th Grade) Writing: The students have finished and turned in their Math: After completing their fourth assessment, students Spanish Explorers essays; I am really pleased with the effort began learning about dividing fractions and reading scales, the they put into these and how their writing is developing! division algorithm, and how to measure time and elapsed Art: We continued the still life picture in pencil of blocks and time. chess pieces.

History: Students learned about Charles Martel, the hero of Music: We continued our study of music history by learning the Battle of Tours against Islam; his son Pepin the Short, an about the Baroque period. We also continued working on unlikely king who gains the throne through the allegiance of harmony in “A Round of Thanks.” the pope; and his grandson Charlemagne, who tries to reestablish the old empire by restoring civilization, law, and Memory: Romans 12:17-19 religion. Science: We reviewed the digestive system and had the

Writing: Students read, edited, and commented on each pleasure of observing several stellar presentations. I cannot other’s stories and worked on poetry. wait to see more! Thank you so much for encouraging and helping your children with this massive project. Literature: Rolf and the Viking Bow: Determined to get the great house on the hill, Hiarandi’s nemesis, Einar, and his P.E.: We started our unit on volleyball this week. scheming friend, Ondott, are beginning to plot how to trick Upcoming tests: Hiarandi to go outside of the set boundary—a bow shot from Thursday, 10/22: Ch. 8 Vocab Quiz his farm—in order to kill him as an outlaw. Friday, 10/23: Spelling, Plymouth Colony History Test

Latin: This week students learned the function of each of the five cases in Latin, added a massive amount of vocabulary Mr. Garber (6th/7th Grade) words, and (our favorite!) worked with derivatives. Math: The students learned about the metric system, reading decimal numbers, rounding decimals, and adding, subtracting, Science: Students greatly enjoyed their field trip to the Science multiplying, and dividing decimals. museum!

Art : This week we learned about the life and work of Giotto, Science: The students learned about kingdoms and the classification system, and used a microscope. our artist of the quarter. History: The students learned about the War with Mexico. Music : The students did a great job on their first “performance assessment”! Please remember to practice a Grammar : We wrapped up the quarter this week with more minimum of 30 minutes before the return from Fall work on subject-verb agreement, focusing on special cases; Break. They also may practice anything up to the bottom of we then worked on developing well-structured expository pg. 12. essays.

P.E.: We started our unit on volleyball this week. 6th Literature : This week we focused on our quarter assessment, an essay on theme, character, or a related literary Miss Windes (5th Gr.) element in With Lee in Virginia. We then closed our week with Math: Angles; Multiplying Fractions; Reducing Fractions; Least our quarter group project, in which we retold the basic plot of Common Multiple; Reciprocals; Measuring and Drawing With Lee in Virginia using vocabulary gleaned from the novel. Angles with a Protractor. It’s been a great beginning to our 6th grade literature class!

History: This week we are learning about the pilgrims, their Logic: This week the students learned about the genetic story, and motivation, as well as learning about their fallacy. impressive journey on the Mayflower across the Atlantic Music : We are continuing learning our pieces for the Ocean. Christmas program. Reading: After passing through Laketown, our travelers spirits Art : The students finished their were high and ready, but their journey through the desolation Continued on page 4. P a g e 4 MiddleBradford School Bulletin From the Teacher’s Desk Events & Dates

Please note: (Continued) • Not all practices are listed here, watch for updates copies of photographs and drawings of faces. • TRIP to DC will be postponed to the SPRING

P.E.: We started our unit on volleyball this week. October: Verse: Philippians 1:27-28 - 9th Friday • 4:30 XC meet @ HOME vs. ACS Seventh Grade: -22nd Thursday • 3:30 Volleyball @ HOME - 23rd Friday Omnibus I: This week we wrapped up the first quarter with our final exam, • 4:30 - Co-Ed Soccer Scrimmage against Haw which covered the major events, themes, and characters in Genesis, River Christian Exodus, Gilgamesh, and Hammurabi. We also presented our quarter -30th Friday history projects, which included such riveting topics as early • Last XC practice - will have a timed run . Mesopotamian inventions, the temple and the ark of the covenant in November Israel, the development of writing in ancient Mesopotamia, and others. Basketball practice for boys and girls to begin. The class is off to a great start in Omnibus this year! (Days/times TBA) • 17th Tuesday Grammar : We wrapped up the quarter this week with more work on • Bradford Night subject-verb agreement, focusing on special cases; we then worked on • 20th Friday developing well-structured expository essays. • 3:00 - Girls Basketball @ ACS

• 30th Monday Art : The students finished their copies of photographs and drawings of • Basketball @ CCS (4:00 girls, 5:15 boys) faces. December Music : We are continuing learning our pieces for the Christmas program. - 4th Friday • 4:30 - Boys Basketball @ HRC (subject to change) Mr.Hamilton (8th Grade) • 7:00 - Mebane Christmas Parade Algebra: The students learned about the greatest common factor, - 10th Thursday canceling, and further learned how to use the distributive property. • Basketball @ ACS (3:15 girls, 4:15 boys) • Girls play at 3:15, boys follow Science: The students learned about order and design in the universe as - 12th Saturday well as evidence for an intelligent creator. • Afternoon? (TIME TBD)- CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Omnibus II : We finished off an extremely productive quarter this week @ Barnes and Noble, Burlington (Alamance Crossing) with our final exam, which covered The Church History, Augustine’s -14th Monday Confessions, and the sundry topics and questions contained therein. The • Basketball @ BCA (4:00 girls, 5:00 boys) students wrote comprehensive essays on church history from the Apostles - 15th Tuesday to Constantine, persecution in the early church, Eusebius as a historian, • 7 PM -CHRISTMAS CONCERT (Location TBD) Augustine’s spiritual journey, Augustine’s view of grace, and many others. - 17th Thursday It’s been a challenging and rewarding beginning to Omnibus II! • 11 AM -CHRISTMAS CONCERT @ Burlington 1st Presbyterian Church’s Senior Luncheon

Logic: Square of Opposition January - 8th Friday 8th Composition: This week we wrapped things up with our quarter exam, • 1:00 PM - School Spelling Bee a set of quizzes covering all the crucial topics in Strunk and White’s first • Basketball @ Pos. Attitude Youth Center (6:00 chapter . girls, 7:00 boys)

Music : We are continuing learning our pieces for the Christmas program. -11th Monday • Basketball vs BCA (location TBD) (4:00 girls, Art : This week we began a new project, painting a pumpkin in various 5:00 boys styles of art. - 14th Thursday • Basketball @ ACS (7:00 girls, 8:00 boys) P.E.: We started our unit on volleyball this week.

Verse: Colossians 1:15-20

P a g e 5 Bradford Bulletin Alexander Wilson. According to local historians, “When Alexander Wilson, a teacher in the Caldwell Institute in Hillsborough, decided to open a classical school of his own. Henderson Scott (1814–1870) convinced him to settle in Hawfields so the children in his community could be educated. Wilson moved into his home in 1851 and named his new school Melville…” According to the Alamance County Architectural Survey, “In 1850 Alexander Wilson purchased a tract of land at Burnt Shop in Alamance County and started a private classical school, the Melville Academy. Wilson named his house where the school was held ‘Melville’ and later the post office's name was changed to Melville. Wilson’s academy became another of the renowned private schools in the state... The original Melville Academy building was demolished in 1902.” Alexander Wilson was a very pious Christian man. While teaching at a previous school he began holding prayer meetings and demonstrated such a godly life that he was encouraged to become a pastor. He was ordained in 1830. During that time, it was said that most young Presbyterian clergy went out teaching at schools and preaching the gospel. While the term “Classical Christian school” is a bit anachronistic, century ago has almost vanished in this area. God has blessed it is certainly right to call his classical school a Christian school. faithful men of the past, but after generations of neglect we Any other kind of education would have been unthinkable to a have seen those blessings diminished. The name of Melville 19th century Presbyterian who had Andrew Melville as a hero. has been almost lost to us. The spiritual battles he won had After establishing the school, Wilson also had a gristmill built blessed generations and yet the man is largely unknown in our near the school making the area a center for trade and churches. Sadly, the work of Alexander Wilson has also been business. The gristmill was destroyed in 1875 and eventually virtually erased from our collective memory. I wonder what commerce moved a few miles to the north because a railway he would think of the school that now bears his name. depot was established in what is now downtown Mebane. Perhaps he would be thankful that so many children have the All this historical trivia makes for some interesting opportunity to get an education but at the same time I suspect conversations, but it also teaches us a few lessons. First, it is he would be desperately perplexed at the ineffective methods another reminder of the reality of our pervasively CHRISTIAN and the complete eradication of from the heritage. Sometimes we hear people criticizing “organized curriculum. The times have changed. Perhaps he would be religion” for all its supposed evils when in fact we can trace excited by the number of books students had access to in the virtually all of our civil blessings to the work of humble library. However, can you imagine his reaction to Captain Christians in our past. Where serious Biblical Christianity was Underpants, Goosebumps, or any of the other trite novels we taught and embraced, we see a corresponding blessing in many serve up as children’s literature? areas of life including, and especially, education. In order to build upon the blessing of our forefathers Second, we need to be careful about our judgment of we need to know and preserve those blessings. Alexander the past. I have to admit that I had grinned at the name Wilson loved the Bible and prayer. It prompted him to teach Melville because it had such a “folksy” sound to it. Little did I and speak. Should we be content to do less? At Bradford know it was the name of a courageous and brilliant Christian Academy we are attempting to give to our students something scholar who stood uncompromisingly against a tyrant king that was not given to us. We are trying to regain that which during the . Furthermore, the name came to this was the norm in the education of the past. If Alexander area by way of a Classical and Christian school. There is Wilson could do it in the backwoods of 1850’s North Carolina certainly nothing folksy about that grand heritage. countryside, can’t we do it again in Mebane? Can’t we regain Lastly, let it also be a reminder to us at the harsh a Classical education that is thoroughly Christ-centered and reality of compromise thrust upon by the passing of time. What produce a generation of godly leaders? I think we can. I think was a prosperous and effective school is now completely lost. we must. Peace and grace. The classical learning that had gained a noted reputation over a

For further reading: Andrew Melville's Two Kingdom Speech - http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2014/09/september-2/ Andrew Melville and the Revolt Against Aristotle in Scotland - https://archive.org/stream/englishhistoric03edwagoog#page/n260/mode/2up The Scott Family - (see Education) http://www.scottcollection.org/history/our-story/ History of Alamance County - http://www.hpo.ncdcr.gov/surveyreports/AlamanceCountySurveyUpdate(Historic%20Contexts)-2002.pdf North Carolina Schools and Academies - 1790-1840 (1902) https://archive.org/details/northcarolinaschcoon P a g e 6 Bradford Bulletin

4th Grade Class Performance of a Door in the Wall P a g e 7 Bradford Bulletin

SCIENCE is GREAT!