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St. Michael the Archangel Academy (SMAA) is a year
round, private school satellite program (PSP)
for Catholic families grades K—12. We specialize in serving homeschooling families
who want to choose the curricula which best suits their students.
We begin with
our own recommended curriculum and then encourage parents to adapt
each student’s curriculum to fit their learning
style. We recognize that every student, even
in the same family, learns very differently. Further, their learning style
often changes over the years. Thus, we provide
individual curriculum counseling, monthly inservices for teaching parents, the SMAA newsletter and regular email
updates to inform parents on how to best
educate their children.
In addition to this, SMAA also provides a full
range of services including: the filing of school records, fulfilling transcript requests, field trips,
school pictures, weekly tutorial classes for
high school students in a range of subjects, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and
the PSAT annually.
We host weekly religion classes taught by a
Norbertine priest at numerous parish sites, an
annual First Communion Mass and enrollment in the brown scapular at St.
Michael’s Abbey, and a graduation Mass and
ceremony for 8th and 12th grade students complete with caps, gowns, and diplomas.
We are committed to being an affordable
independent study program for Catholic families. St. Michael the
Archangel Academy invites you to join us in celebrating 20 years of
providing member families with the best in Catholic
education.
4790 Irvine Blvd., Suite 105-286
Irvine, CA 92620
714.730.9114
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 Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is at the heart of all
Christian endeavors, especially those involving the family.
Fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church and to the Pope
and Bishops is necessary to maintain a Catholic identity.
One of the principal aims of marriage is the bearing and
raising of children as an expression of spousal love.
Parents have the primary right and duty of educating
their children. They also have the right to choose a suitable means of accomplishing this
education.
The families of St. Michael the Archangel Academy have
chosen an alternative classical style of education, with the understanding that parents are
the most competent persons to determine the true needs and talents of their children.
Parents have the consequent responsibility of ensuring that
their children are equipped to be responsible members of society and committed disciples of
Christ in the Church.
Parents, moreover, have the right and duty to educate
their children in the Faith. This is accomplished through the witness of their lives, by
creating an atmosphere of faith in their home, by teaching their children to pray, and leading
them to the sacraments. Instruction in doctrine is necessary
for the growth and nourishment of their children’s faith.
St. Michael the Archangel Academy exists to provide a means
for member families to support and minister to each other within the wider support that each
family finds in the Church.
Besides spiritual support for each other, SMAA provides
opportunities for socialization, curriculum counseling, continuing education for faculty, and
other means of meeting the unique needs of Catholic alternative classical education.
The Academy guides, counsels, and monitors Catholic
families participating in our private satellite program (PSP). This guidance
directs families toward excellent curriculum in‐line with our Catholic teachings and to avoid
publishers or texts that promote heresies and false teachings with regard to our Catholic
faith.
We believe that parents should fit the curriculum to their
children and not their children to the curriculum. Most parents recognize their
children have different learning styles; i.e., visual/watcher's, manipulative/doer's or
auditory/ listeners. Parental love and commitment motivates teachers to search, to study and
to learn ahead of their children, or alongside them as they increase in knowledge and grow in
God's goodness.
The Academy offers Socratic style tutorial courses for SMAA
enrolled high school and middle school students that meet once a week in a group
setting. The goal of learning is to emphasize the formation of logic and
reasoning, rather than training for a particular job or skill. Many parents realize that their
current career paths may be unrelated to their previous college degrees, or that they have
changed career paths as opportunities prevailed. The change often reflects their ability to
think and utilize other social skills.
Homeschooling graduates have demonstrated outstanding
success in college and career paths by their independent learning skills fostered through home
education. Several resources reference a classical approach to education.
Dorothy Sayer wrote an essay, "The Lost Tools of Learning," outlining this approach. Sayer's
entire essay is on‐line at: http://www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html. She outlines
the skills of the classical Trivium
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