A Thomas Jefferson Education, developed by Dr. Oliver Van DeMille, divides the stages of learning into 4 phases.

•Core Phase - begining at birth
•Love of Learning Phase - ages 8-12
•Scholar Phase - ages 12-18
•Depth / Mission Phase - beyond 18 years

Between the ages of 12 and 18 students experience phenomenal growth. After spending considerable time studying young students and these growth patterns, LEMI have developed a unique philosophy about the Scholar Phase.We have discovered that the young scholar experience levels of growth. We have named these levels:

• Practice Scholar Level
• Apprentice Scholar Level
• Self-Directed Scholar Level

If students go through these levels well, they will soon be ready for a liberal arts mentor who can take them through all the disciplines of the liberal arts. They go through them well by learning and developing important skills and abilities, while gaining a vision of scholarship and a sense of unique mission.

Scholar Projects - We, at LEMI, believe that students can learn to think only when they are given the choice to study or not. Yet the dilemma is that there are many important readings that one must be exposed to in order to be able to learn to think. For this purpose LEMI has developed specifically designed Scholar Projects™ focusing on the Practice and Apprentic Scholar levels using the principles of A Thomas Jefferson Education to help them gain vision, sense of mission, scholar abilities and skills. These projects inspire the student to choose to study great classical philosophy and literature.