Philosophy of Formation
“A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.” CCC 1803
Parents who choose to enroll their children at Koinonia Hybrid Academy choose to partner with the school to form their children. We consider this role an honor and aim to collaborate with parents to form virtuous children who desire to serve God and choose to do good of their own volition. While Koinonia is a school and thus designed to teach academics, our Catholic identity encompasses spiritual formation as a vital part of the comprehensive education we provide our students.
Our goal is to nurture a love for Christ that motivates children to imitate Him for the sake of pleasing God and doing what is right and good rather than simply for the sake of following rules. Ongoing formation through discipleship–striving to become more like Jesus Christ by following Him–can be found in our virtue training curriculum, Virtues in Practice, which was created by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. By prioritizing formation, we hope to preempt negative behavior in the classroom while also cultivating lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.
We also believe in clearly communicating expectations upfront, explaining why rules are in place, and teaching our students how rules are truly freeing and essential to living the fullest life God desires for us. As discipline is part of the virtue of temperance and thus an interior disposition of the heart, we cannot mandate that our students be disciplined and virtuous. We do, however, mandate a standard of behavior in order to maintain order and safety at the school. Any corrective measures taken to enforce our standard of behavior are an effort to enlighten the child of his or her inappropriate behavior, provide an opportunity for the child to right the wrong of his or her actions, and encourage growth in virtue.