By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@thecitizennews.com

Coweta County parents concerned about their children's education will have another option starting in late August.

The Newnan Classical School will open its doors for students from kindergarten through fifth grade at the former Immanuel Baptist Seminary at the intersection Of Ga. highways 54 and 34.

The school has been searching for a home all summer and wants to show off its location at an open house this Monday at 7 p.m.

Classes begin Aug. 21 for all students and Principal Carol Brown said there are still a few slots open.

The curriculum, according to Brown, is back to basics.

The school will focus on the classic method of learning with a Christ-centered approach. Starting in elementary school, students will study Latin and move on to Greek in high school. Students will focus on logical, critical and rhetorical aspects of education and will use the trivium method of learning how to think, instead of just memorizing facts to pass a test, she added.

“Eighty percent of our language derives from Latin. If you're in the medical or legal profession, you constantly deal with Latin,” Brown said.

The school is partnering with Newnan Christ Church, where Brown's husband, Kyle, is an assistant minister. The church currently meets at White Oak Elementary School, but is looking at building a church with an adjoining building big enough for the school.

Tuition is around $3,000 and Brown is hoping to have 50 students for the first year.

“Every classical school has doubled after the first year and we'd like to keep the class sizes small,” she said.

But if 100 students want to attend the school, they won't be turned away, she said.

There are currently 160 classical schools around the country, with just two in Georgia, on St. Simon's Island and in Smyrna.

The idea for the classical instruction came after World War I, when several soldiers returned home with brain damage. After the classical method worked on the injured soldiers, educators began wondering if the process wouldn't work for healthy students.

The experiment proved successful and classical schools started popping up around the country.

Brown emphasized that parents will be extremely important at the new school and discipline will be emphasized. In the school's mission statement, an entire entry is given to discipline.

“It is our intent at Newnan Classical School to instruct every child to obey his parents and to show respect to all persons,” the statement reads.

For information on the school, phone 770-252-0110.