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Welcome to Brenham Christian Academy, a unique and blessed family, remarkable for its vision and its place in history at this time for God’s purposes! Brenham Christian Academy is a family of families – parents, students, educators, and covenant churches – providentially chosen by God to exercise truth in American Christian education.
Family – Biblically Defined:
The family was divinely established by God for the purpose of procreation [Genesis 2:24] and our children are a gift from Him. The family is God’s first ordained sphere of government and His Word relates His principles for governing our homes and raising our children [Colossians 3:20]. According to the Bible, the education of children is the exclusive responsibility of parents with the goal of building Christian character that glorifies God and represents Christ and His plan for men and nations [Deuteronomy 6]. We at Brenham Christian Academy serve and support our parents in this divinely mandated responsibility and hold this trust sacred.
The root meaning of the word family is most significant, for it describes our personification as members of the greater family of God – that of servants. It originates from the Celtic word, famul, which means servants. Our commitment is to growing the Brenham Christian Academy Family members as servants – dynamic, committed Christians, who lead by serving Christ and each other in many loving and generous ways! We are dedicated to raising up this generation of young people as leaders by cultivating the qualities of servanthood within ourselves and within our children.
We share the family ideal – the excellence of Christ in every sphere of life and learning—and believe with certainty that by serving each other, we can realize excellence for our children by the application of Biblical principles in education.
What it means to be an American Christian Family:
The family was established by God as the building block of nations. Providentially, we are an American Christian family who support the same ideals that forged our nation over two hundred years ago—ideals we intentionally weave into the fabric of our family life of teaching and learning at home and at school, giving pre-eminence to:
- God and His Word, the Holy Bible
- The individual and his limitless, unique potential in Christ
- Upright and virtuous character
- The traditional family, the building block of our nation
- The love of learning and Biblical scholarship
- Our nation and our heritage of civil liberty
Family And Personal Emphasis
The school is committed to the enrollment of families with whom is shared a unity of purpose in the education of their children. A diversity of abilities, gifts, racial, social, and economic backgrounds are included in the student body. Students are admitted without discrimination on the basis of race, color, national, or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic, and other school-administered programs.
A Christian standard of peer relationships, respect for self and others, and unselfish attitudes are promoted. The Sovereignty of God in all of life and in personal accountability through the knowledge of Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit are emphasized.
The standards of Christian character and self-government are held as the gauge of behavior, attitude, and performance. Through the inculcation of a sense of responsibility, the student is held accountable for his own actions, obligations, and learning. The school purposes to identify the best in each student and assist him to build upon that foundation a character and competence which will make him a productive, purposeful, fulfilled individual, the fullest expression of his unique value in Christ.
Facilities and Campus
The fourth through twelfth grade campus is located at 2111 S. Blue Bell Road. The telephone number is (979)830-8480. This campus houses the offices of the administration, staff, classrooms, library, and lunchroom in an aesthetically pleasing modular grouping of buildings with wooden decking connecting all classrooms. The final payment of the $250,000 note remaining on this modular facility will allow the board to proceed with plans to construct a permanent academic building and gymnasium in the future.
The acreage provides needed space for future football, baseball and softball fields as well as for the academic building and gymnasium.
Christian Education
Noah Webster, father of American Christian education, Biblically defined and identified the Christian qualities of education his 1828 Dictionary as “all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, form the habits and manners of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future station. To educate children well is one of the most important duties of parents and guardians.” Brenham Christian Academy serves parents in their role to educate their children.
Historic and Classic
By using historic methods of teaching and learning and by promoting a love for learning through inspiration, an academic excellence is produced that includes classics of literature, Greek and Latin roots and foreign languages, branches of science, fine arts, history, and geography. The curriculum standard provides a learning experience that interests and challenges young minds and engenders a worldview encouraging Christian dominion and responsible stewardship as the future citizens of our republic.
Brenham Christian Academy began in 1998 to research the Principle Approach and its elements of true classical education, the type that produced the thinkers, writers, and leaders of fine Christian character. It led to the conclusion that the Principle Approach begun by a group of individuals in the Tidewater, VA area resulting in the founding of the first Principle Approach and now demonstration school was the direction the Lord seemed to be taking the Academy. The research completed by this group proved that greatly educated men began academic studies very early in the “meat” of knowledge: languages, classics of literature, poetry, and history. By the age of ten they were literate far beyond the achievement of our modern high school graduates. Serious and diligent learning, high standards, essay writing, and Christian scholarship were all marks of past excellence. Please read the essays in the Appendix entitled The American Christian Model of Education and The Education of John Quincy Adams for further study and enlightenment.
Classic education included a tutorial environment with emphasis on individual accomplishment and teacher involvement and mentoring. The key element was the placement of the Bible and Christian principles at the heart of the curriculum as the source of methodology and as the rule of classroom and self-government. As the research solidified into a clear picture of past education’s standards and techniques, it was apparent that much had been lost. Stonebridge School in Chesapeake, VA began with a small pilot group of students and teachers with the vision of reclaiming the excellence of the original American Christian education ideals. Brenham Christian Academy is indebted to the work of these dedicated Christian men and women who labored and still labor to train Christian educators in exceptional Christian philosophy and methodology.
The By-Product of Education
The key to enjoying learning is in imparting a love-of-learning spirit in the classroom—philomathy. The variety and complexity of our curriculum inspire many special programs, presentations, projects, and field study tours and encourage the active participation of students. Each teacher develops his own enrichment and traditions that foster excitement in learning. The Notebook Approach instills a sense of property that inspires students to excel. It gives a tangible, visible, lasting reward for labor. Through its use students develop an interest in learning and a commitment to achievement.
Tutorial Emphasis
In addition to the academic substance of classic, American Christian education, Brenham Christian Academy emphasizes the learning success of every student by regarding individual distinctives. Every prospective student is tested to define the child’s abilities and to enable the teacher to identify the learner’s uniqueness. Loving affirmation of human individuality is balanced with reason and discipline in the classroom. Instruction is given to groups of children on grade levels in an orderly, scheduled manner. There are master teachers, classroom teachers, and tutors available to carry out the tutorial goals, each child working with several teachers in the normal course of the school day. The real difference is one of emphasis, which is placed on the learning success of each child. Goals are set individually to meet the child at his learning threshold and take him as far as he is able to go.
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