I
KindergartenWonderfully Made
The body as gift
Integumentary · Senses
Grade by Grade
The Twelve Volumes
Thirteen years of a child's life, thirteen volumes of the Quintivium (K + twelve), grouped into five developmental stages. Every volume carries the same spiral argument about the body — read at the depth a child can read it at that age.
Overview · Five Stages
The Arc, at a Glance
K–2
Wonderfully Made
The body as gift and wonder.
3–5
Stewards of the Body
The body as something entrusted.
6–8
The Integrated Self
Puberty, vocation, and the whole person.
9–10
Human Dignity
The body as imago Dei, philosophically defended.
11–12
Bioethics & Vocation
Christian bioethics, vocation, and the body at the thresholds of life.
A Note from the Curator
Each book of the Quintivium is the same argument read at the right depth for a child at that age. A kindergartner learns that she is “wonderfully made,” that her heart beats while she sleeps, and that God made her good. A high-school senior learns how moral theology applies to end-of-life decisions, how Catholic bioethics frames fertility, and how her vocation fits her body. Same argument; different depth; thirteen books.
Stage I · Grades K–2
Wonderfully Made
The body as gift and wonder. Story voice throughout. Psalm 139 is the spine.
II
First GradeBones & Songs
The frame and the voice
Skeletal · MuscularIII
Second GradeThe Breathing House
Lungs, breath, life
Respiratory · Cardiovascular◊
Stage TransitionFrom Wonder
to Stewardship
Voice shifts, gently
Grades 3–5 ahead
Stage II · Grades 3–5
Stewards of the Body
The body as entrusted — something the child is learning to care for. Primer voice; the Tacuinum Sanitatis in the foreground.
IV
Third GradeThe Table & the Bowl
Food as gift, food as fast
Digestive · EndocrineV
Fourth GradeWakes & Sleeps
The rhythm of a day
Nervous · CircadianVI
Fifth GradeDefense & Healing
Immunity, wounds, the saints
Immune · Lymphatic◊
Stage TransitionFrom Steward
to Self
Puberty approaches
Grades 6–8 ahead
Stage III · Grades 6–8
The Integrated Self
Textbook voice begins. Puberty, the passions, and the question what is my body for? in developmentally honest form.
VII
Sixth GradeThe Changing Frame
Puberty, the body as voice
Endocrine · ReproductiveVIII
Seventh GradeOrdered Desires
Passions, attention, virtue
Nervous · PsychologyIX
Eighth GradeThe Whole Person
Integration of body & soul
All Eleven Systems, Seen at Once◊
Stage TransitionFrom Self
to Dignity
The philosophical turn
Grades 9–10 ahead
Stage IV · Grades 9–10
Human Dignity & the Body
The body as imago Dei, philosophically defended. Aquinas, JPII, the anthropology of the person.
X
Ninth GradeImago Dei
The Christian anthropology
Philosophical AnthropologyXI
Tenth GradeTheology of the Body
JPII, 129 audiences
Sexuality · Vocation · Marriage
Stage V · Grades 11–12
Christian Bioethics & Vocation
The body at the thresholds of life — conception, suffering, death. Catholic bioethics, vocation, the Capstone.
XII
Eleventh GradeChristian Bioethics
Life, suffering, death
Applied Moral TheologyXIII
Twelfth GradeVitae XIII
Vocation & the whole life
Capstone · College-level
From the Book of Proverbs
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”Proverbs 22:6 · RSV-CE
From “The Child Is Father to the Man”
The child is father to the man. How can he be? The words are wild. Suck any sense from that who can: ‘The child is father to the man.’ No; what the poet did write ran, ‘The man is father to the child.’
Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ · 1883