Rebecca Sandberg of Wheaton believes her children have a more advanced education than she did when she was their age.

“Oh, absolutely,” she said, laughing when asked about it. “Absolutely.”

She credits a small private school across the street from Wheaton College with helping her children learn Latin, read classic literature and love learning.

Her two children attend Clapham School, which first opened in 2006 with 22 children. This year, the school has 81 students.

Doug Reynolds, who founded the school along with his wife, Julie, and other families, said the school is gaining students because of its unique offering of a classical education.

“I think just over time, as people begin to understand what we stand for, they’re drawn to the model and the quality of the program we offer,” he said. “It is really the way education operated from the middle ages all the way up to about (the) 1900s. We in this country have gotten away from that in the last hundred years or so.”

The students get a rigorous education, which includes among other things, Latin in third grade and Shakespeare in sixth grade.

“I personally grew up not reading (Shakespeare) until college,” said Reynolds. “They’re reading books beyond what they would typically find in school, Christian or public.”

The school is also uniquely Christian. That’s because teachers weave the Christian philosophy into the day’s lessons. That is one of the things Sandberg likes about the school.

“I love the school. I’m a big advocate of classical education, especially Christian classical education,” she said.

With a tuition of $8,500 per semester and 16 students per class, the school will not grow larger than 200 students, according to Reynolds.

Classes are held in space rented from College Church. Reynolds said they have plenty of room, although he does predict that might change in five years.

“We’re probably going to be at the point where we’ll have to look for additional space,” he said.

The growth had been expected from the start, when he and his wife were still in the planning stage, he said.

The school may be private, and out of some parents’ price range, but Reynolds said the school’s leaders embrace diversity. Last year, they handed out nearly $200,000 in scholarships.

“We recognize that not everyone can afford something like this,” he said.
In fact, giving back and service are two more characteristics that founders use to define Clapham.

Reynolds said teachers encourage children to use their natural abilities to help others. Once a week, students play with refugees, for instance. On a recent weekend, some of the school’s fifth- and sixth-grade girls held a garage sale to help fund a local service organization. Reynolds believes the service mentality guards students against developing an elitist attitude.

Because they attend Clapham, Sandberg’s children are memorizing poems, hymns and scriptures. Now, those hymns fill the Sandberg home.

“And it really does affect the way they live,” she said. “Rather than go to school, come home, turn it off, it comes home with us.”