It’s silent reading time in the administrative area known as The Commons at the Camino School, Orange County’s first K-8 Catholic classical school that opened last September.
The independent school – recognized by the Diocese of Orange but operating independently – is big on introducing students to literature and poetry as soon as they can read.
One third-grade girl, dressed in a uniform of crisp white blouse and blue plaid skirt, is immersed in a book about the medieval mythological character of King Arthur. Another is tackling Roald Dahl’s “Matilda.”
In a downstairs classroom at the school, which rents space from a Presbyterian church in Old Town Tustin, a half-dozen first- and second-graders greet visitors by saying, in unison, “Good morning, dear guests, and may God bless you.”
Then they launch into a spirited recital of a poem they memorized, “America for Me,” Henry Van Dyke’s patriotic take on America written in the late 19th century. They’ve already memorized nearly 10 poems.
“Our school is idea for young families who are serious about their faith and want to stick with it,” said executive director Chris Weir. “There is a real convergence with a lifelong love of learning as well as a lifelong love of faith.”
Three Orange County families got together to launch the Camino School, which this fall will relocate to larger space at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Laguna Woods as it continues to look for a permanent home.
Currently with 48 students, the goal is to reach an enrollment of 300 with a maximum class size of 18 – one of the appeals of the new school, parents say….
The Camino School, and the other half-dozen independent Catholic schools like it in Southern California, focuses on providing a classical liberal arts curriculum that goes back over 2,000 years. It views education as more than preparing kids and teenagers for college and careers.
“It’s about the attainment of wisdom and virtue and the developing of habits of mind and heart that free a human being to be who God is calling them to be,” the Camino School describes in promotional materials.
Headmaster Martin Boles says the Camino School aspires to adhere to the spirit of Opus Dei, an institution of the Catholic Church that was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá. Opus Dei, officially recognized within the Catholic Church, aspires to help its lay and clerical members seek holiness in their everyday occupations and societies.
The Camino School has five full-time teachers and an Opus Dei chaplain, Fr. Luke Mata. Courses include art, music, Latin, literature/writing/language arts, science, history/geography, math and religion. A key part of instruction is memorizing and reciting poems, listening to great stories, phonics, spelling, vocabulary and penmanship.
“Our curriculum works,” said Boles, a former corporate attorney who with his wife, Julia, helped to found St. Monica Academy, an independent Catholic classical school for grades 1-12 in Montrose.
“It makes kids smart; it makes them think, it makes them speak well and they leave school and have a lifelong love of learning,” added Boles, one of whose nine children, Molly, is one of the founding members of the Camino School.
For more information, visit thecaminoschool.org
From OC Catholic
These independent Catholic schools are a gift to the Church. They are free from chancery and diocesan politics. Often pastors have no control over schools at their parishes. They’re required to subsidize them, yet cannot remove lesbian principals and teachers. These independent schools are examples of parents and other lay faithful doing what the Second Vatican Council called for: taking responsibility for the education of their children and using their secular skills to open schools that will form future Catholics to change the world for the better.
My children graduated from our local Catholic grade school many years ago. This week, on the website “Nextdoor”, I read posts from parents at the same school that shocked me to the core. In essence, the pastor had allowed the principal to introduce gender-affirming, LGBTQ books for first through eighth grades. Outraged, these young parents contacted the Diocesan Chancellor, who then referred them to the Office for Schools, who then told them it is a parish and school issue. My God. I reached out to the parents on the site and encouraged them to go en masse to the school and threaten to remove their children.
We don’t know anymore whether a Catholic bishop, priest, nun, DRE, music director, teacher, principal, parish, school, diocese is genuinely Catholic.
Hope, Faith, for results you cannot see, that is always the way it is, in life. You work hard for the Lord– let Him make something hopefully good out of our good intentions and hard work. All Christians must try, and give it their best.
Very inspiring. These Catholic children will oneday have much to offer to the Church and to society.
You hope. You don’t know.
Reply to hope– my comment of April 17 at 4:35pm was misplaced. Anyway, people with good intentions and hard work, for the Lord, work in His vineyard, and do their best– and God does the rest.
A great loss for Tustin, a huge win for L.W.
When I taught in a Catholic school, most of the students weren’t Catholic or didn’t practice.
Laguna Woods is a big, sleepy, wealthy retirement community.
sleepy, That’s not why they chose it. Until the school finds a permanent location, it’s good that St. Nicholas parish is willing to allow them to meet there. And, it’s good that they outgrew their previous facility. And, thanks to the Presbyterians for giving them a temporary location.
I’m sure the school paid rent to the Presbyterians and will pay rent to St. Nicholas.
rent, Yes, they likely pay and will pay rent. Typically, parochial/parish schools don’t pay rent. What’s your point?
We should be grateful that the Presbyterians and St. Nicholas are welcoming them as tenants. It doesn’t seem other Catholic parishes where inviting them there, rent or rent-free.
On May 1, 2025, the National Day of Prayer, the California Family Council is hosting a powerful prayer gathering to honor this special day, on the steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento, at Noon. On the opposite side of the State Capitol, at the same time, the evil Satanic Temple will hold a horrific event, mocking and blaspheming God and Christianity. Our California bishops will hopefully condemn this evil event. We all must valiantly fight hard, to drive Satan out of California.