At Covenant Classical Academy, we believe the way a child is taught matters.

Classical education is sometimes associated with Latin, great books, logic, rhetoric, and the study of Western civilization. But the classical tradition begins somewhere much simpler: children must first acquire the tools of learning.

Before a student can wrestle with great ideas, analyze an argument, appreciate great literature, or communicate persuasively, that student must learn to read—and learn to read well.

That is why phonics and the principles found in the Orton-Gillingham approach fit so naturally within a classical education.

Reading Is a Skill That Must Be Taught

Children acquire spoken language remarkably naturally. Reading is different.

Written English is a code. Letters and combinations of letters represent sounds, and students must learn how that system works in order to become proficient readers.

A strong phonics program therefore does not ask children primarily to guess unfamiliar words from pictures, memorize the visual appearance of large numbers of words, or rely upon context to determine what a word might be.

Instead, we teach them to decode.

Students learn that spoken words consist of individual sounds, that those sounds correspond to letters and letter combinations, and that words can be systematically broken apart and put back together.

In other words, we give children the key to the code.

This emphasis is strongly supported by decades of reading research. Explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics is particularly important during the early stages of learning to read.

For a classical school, however, there is another important reason this approach makes sense. It reflects how we understand education itself.

Classical Education Builds from the Foundations Up

Classical education has always emphasized mastery of foundational skills before asking students to perform more sophisticated intellectual work.

Traditionally, the first stage of the Trivium is called the Grammar Stage.

“Grammar” here means more than the rules governing sentences. It refers to the fundamental building blocks of a discipline.

Before students can reason mathematically, they need number sense and arithmetic facts. Before they can analyze history, they need historical knowledge. Before they can translate Latin, they need vocabulary and grammatical forms.

And before they can read great literature, they need to be able to read words accurately and fluently.

Phonics is, in a very real sense, the grammar of reading.

Rather than asking beginning readers to develop sophisticated strategies before mastering the basic code of written language, systematic phonics begins with the elements and builds toward the whole.

That progression—from simple to complex, from foundational knowledge to greater independence—is deeply compatible with classical pedagogy.

Why Orton-Gillingham?

The Orton-Gillingham approach was originally developed particularly with struggling readers and students with dyslexia in mind. Its principles have since influenced many structured-literacy programs.

Several characteristics make the approach especially attractive in a classical classroom.

It is explicit. Teachers do not simply expose students to words and hope they discover the patterns themselves. They teach those patterns intentionally.

It is systematic and sequential. Students progress from simpler concepts toward more complex ones rather than encountering phonics rules in a largely incidental fashion.

It is cumulative. New material builds upon previously mastered material, and earlier concepts are continually reviewed.

It is diagnostic and responsive. Teachers pay careful attention to what students have mastered and where they need additional instruction.

And it is often multisensory, engaging students through seeing, hearing, speaking, and writing as they learn the relationships between sounds and symbols.

These practices can be particularly valuable for students who find reading difficult. They can also provide an orderly framework for beginning reading instruction more broadly.

Structure Creates Freedom

There is sometimes a misconception that highly structured instruction limits creativity. Classical education recognizes the opposite.

We memorize multiplication facts so that students can eventually tackle complex mathematics without being overwhelmed by basic computation. Musicians practice scales so that they can eventually play beautiful music. Students study grammar so that they can eventually write eloquently.

Reading operates similarly.

A child who must labor over every word has relatively little mental capacity left to contemplate what the author is saying. As decoding becomes increasingly automatic, attention can shift from identifying words toward understanding sentences, following arguments, appreciating imagery, and discussing ideas.

Mastery of mechanics makes higher-level thinking possible.

That is precisely what we ultimately want.

Phonics Is the Beginning, Not the Destination

Of course, reading instruction cannot end with phonics.

Our goal is not to produce children who can merely pronounce words accurately.

We want students who understand what they read.

That requires rich vocabulary, background knowledge, oral language, fluency, comprehension, and sustained exposure to excellent literature.

A classical curriculum is particularly well positioned to provide those things.

Students should hear beautiful language before they can independently read it. They should encounter fairy tales, poetry, Scripture, history, mythology, biographies, and great stories. Teachers should read aloud books beyond students’ independent reading levels and discuss their meaning.

There is no contradiction between systematic phonics instruction and a classroom overflowing with wonderful books. In fact, they belong together.

Phonics gives children access to the written word; excellent literature gives them a reason to want that access.

Serving the Struggling Reader

A rigorous education should never mean leaving behind the child who learns differently.

Some students acquire reading skills relatively quickly. Others require considerably more repetition and explicit instruction. Students with dyslexia may need especially systematic and intensive instruction.

An approach influenced by Orton-Gillingham allows teachers to slow down, reinforce patterns, revisit previously learned material, and provide additional practice without abandoning the underlying intellectual expectations of a classical education.

This distinction matters.

A student can struggle with decoding while possessing tremendous intellectual curiosity and ability. Difficulty learning to read should not be mistaken for an inability to think deeply.

Our responsibility is to give that student the tools necessary to gain access to the same rich intellectual inheritance we desire for every CCA student.

The Goal Is Independence

Ultimately, good phonics instruction is designed to make itself unnecessary.

We explicitly teach the code so that students eventually encounter an unfamiliar word and possess the tools to read it without assistance.

That independence opens an extraordinary door.

Once students can read fluently, books allow them to converse across centuries. They can encounter Augustine and Shakespeare, Lewis and Tolkien. They can read the founding documents of nations, examine scientific discoveries, study history from primary sources, enjoy poetry, and—most importantly for a Christian school—open the Scriptures and read God’s Word for themselves.

The mechanics of beginning reading may seem humble compared with those ambitions. But classical education understands that great things are often built from small beginnings.

A child sits at a desk. A teacher introduces a sound. The child learns the letters that represent it. Sounds become words. Words become sentences. Sentences become stories and arguments and ideas.

And eventually, a student who once needed a teacher to explain the sounds represented by letters can independently open a great book and encounter the thoughts of another human being.

That is why we take beginning reading so seriously at Covenant Classical Academy.

We teach the foundations carefully because we know where they can lead.