Highlands Latin Cottage School serves the community by offering a robust classical education to the modern student within a community of moral excellence. We seek to inculcate wisdom and virtue through the study of the liberal arts and the Great Books in a distinctly Christian environment. Our one day program blends traditional homeschooling practices with onsite, high-quality teacher-led learning.
At Highlands Latin Des Moines we teach the Memoria Press curriculum. Memoria Press offers a complete classical curriculum structured with age appropriate, process-based learning. Well-paced, visually-appealing, and systematic, the Memoria Press curriculum will bring out the best in your student’s academic abilities.
Highlands Latin Cottage School will meet on Mondays from 8:00-3:30 p.m. with breaks for lunch and recess.
Highlands Latin Des Moines is a Classical Latin School Association member.
At HLS Des Moines…
We take a truly classical approach to learning. At Highlands Latin we take a Latin centered classical approach to, as Aquinas says, “ordering things rightly” in the heart and mind of the student.
We order the mind with Latin. The study of Latin begins as soon as the student reads English fluently and with mastery, typically in 2nd grade, and provides a unifying spine for our language arts curriculum. Vocabulary, spelling, and grammar are all augmented through a mastery of the Latin language. Latin study also orders and disciplines the mind. As the mother tongue of Western Civilization, Latin is central to classical education.
We are focused on the liberal arts, which are the skills needed to equip a thinker to approach any subject. They consist of the trivium and the quadrivium.
The trivium are language skills:
Grammar – the structure and science of language
Logic – the structure and content of argument
Rhetoric – the art of persuasion
The quadrivium are mathematical skills:
Arithmetic – the study of discrete number
Geometry – the study of continuous number
Music – the application of discrete number
Astronomy – the application of continuous number
We teach the Great Books. These books form the literary foundation of the Western world. We read the classics in their original languages. We read and discuss the best of literature throughout the ages supported by the Memoria Press curricular materials.
Course Offerings:
Kindergarten
| First Start Reading Primary Phonics readers Core Skills Phonics K & 1 Spelling Workout Copy Work Arithmetic and Speed Drills Bible Story Time | Memory Work Science Social Studies Classical Music Art Poetry Appreciation Read-Aloud Books |
1st Grade
| First Start Reading Book E Core Skills Phonics 2 Traditional Spelling Book I StoryTime Treasures & More StoryTime Treasures Arithmetic and Speed Drills Copy Work | New American Cursive Memory Work Science Social Studies Poetry Appreciation Classical Music Art Read-Aloud Books |
2nd Grade
| Prima Latina English Grammar Traditional Spelling Book II Literature Arithmetic and Speed Drills Copy Work | New American Cursive Memory Work Science Social Studies Poetry Appreciation Classical Music Art Read-Aloud Books |
3rd Grade
| Latina Christiana Composition Spelling Literature Grammar Christian Studies Arithmetic and Speed Drills Copy Work Greek Myths | New American Cursive Memory Work American History – 3rd Grade Science: Astronomy Geography Poetry Classical Music Art |
4th Grade
| First Form Latin Composition Spelling Literature Grammar Christian Studies Arithmetic and Speed Drills Copy Work Famous Men of Rome | New American Cursive Memory Work Science: Insects American History: 4th Grade Geography Poetry Lingua Angelica Art |
5th Grade
| Second Form Latin* Composition Spelling Literature Grammar Christian Studies Arithmetic and Speed Drills Copy Work Famous Men of Middle Ages | New American Cursive Memory Work Science: What’s That Bird; History of Medicine American History: 5th Grade Geography Poetry Lingua Angelica Art |
6th Grade
| Third Form Latin* Composition Spelling Literature Grammar Christian Studies Arithmetic Famous Men of Greece | Greek Alphabet Memory Work Science: Book of Trees; Exploring the World of Biology American History: 6th Grade Geography Poetry Lingua Angelica Art |
*Students will be placed in appropriate level of Latin per assessment.
Will start accepting applications for K-6th grade in December 2019 for the 2020-21 school year.
To join our email list or for more information, please contact Dana Reddin, Head of School at 515-418-9106 or by email Dana@Highlandslatin.org.
Highlands Latin Cottage School meets on the campus of Highlands Latin School. For more information about Highlands Latin School call 515-418-9106.