Arts Cycle

Western Civilization has a cultural heritage that has been largely forgotten. It is a great loss to us that we no longer have a shared cultural knowledge. It is also a great loss that we no longer know the masters and recognize the beauty of their works—in painting, music and poetry. We no longer even learn the same folk songs and hymns as one another.

At Cedars, we have a four-year rotation called our Arts Cycle which aims to teach our students about artists, poets, and composers along with memorizing a hymn and long Scripture passage each quarter and a folk song each month. There are so many ways these studies benefit our students academically, but they can benefit our families even more. Because we focus on these as an entire school, all our students are learning the same passages and hymns and studying the same great works of art. Our families love the togetherness this shared knowledge brings, and everyone is impressed with the memorization of our students. However, this is no feat for showing off, but rather something to be shared and enjoyed—at recitation days, around a campfire, at the nursing home, while raking, at church, during devotions, and on car trips.

We provide our students with a beautifully-designed Arts Cycle book which includes the Scripture memory passages, hymns, folk songs, and poetry selections, along with poet and composer biographies and QR codes to listen to composer playlists and folk song recordings.

Below is our schedule for the 2023-24 school year.