Ivywood Classical Academy
2026 Featured School
Ivywood Classical Academy in Plymouth, Michigan, strives to form thoughtful, articulate, and virtuous young people, recognizing that strong writing and clear communication lie at the heart of that mission. Founded in 2018 as a K–5 public charter school, Ivywood embraces the belief that education cultivates virtue and wisdom through truth, goodness, and beauty. IEW is pleased to partner with schools like Ivywood, a Hillsdale K-12 Education Member School that receives curriculum recommendations, scope and sequence, and teacher support and training from Hillsdale College K-12 Education. Now in its seventh year, Ivywood serves more than eight hundred students from kindergarten through eleventh grade. As Head of School Kayla Cruthers explains, students are being trained “to become moral and intellectual leaders in our society.”
Laying a Classical Foundation
“Ivywood chose a classical model primarily because we want to see a change in our community and in our country that focuses on what is true, good, and beautiful,” Cruthers explains. “We believe wholeheartedly that we are equipping our students to think critically and independently. They are taught how to think, not what to think.”
IEW’s Structure and Style writing method fits that vision seamlessly. “Prior to IEW, we did not have a systematic writing curriculum,” Cruthers recalls. “IEW has provided the foundation for our teachers to equip students with the tools that they need to better articulate the thoughts and ideas that we work on helping them develop through all content areas here at Ivywood.”
That systematic approach of teaching clear structure and layering in stylistic techniques reflects the order and intentionality that classical education values. “Through the process of creating a key word outline but then also adding the beauty to it through the dress-ups and sentence openers,” Cruthers adds, “students get to create writing that articulates their thoughts and their independent thinking while using structure and style that make it beautiful.”
Teaching as the Framework
For teachers, IEW offers more than just a writing program. It is a framework that supports consistent, purposeful instruction. Fourth-grade teacher Melissa Knutsen, who uses Discoveries in Writing in her classroom, has seen the structure help both teachers and students thrive. “IEW materials are fluid and coherent, and they move from one level to the next. It makes it much more manageable for teachers and for students to introduce a little bit at a time to progress to the point that they are solid writers.”
IEW’s EZ+1 approach impresses middle school teacher Laura McMahon. “You are not overwhelming students with all these writing techniques at the same time. I can encourage my students to try new things as they keep honing and using the skills that they have already learned.”
Cruthers agrees that IEW’s detailed teacher materials and comprehensive training make the method approachable for educators at any level of experience. “It is user-friendly in so many ways,” she reiterates. “All the lessons are spelled out with the support of the lesson videos, the teacher's manuals, and the [Teaching Writing: Structure and Style] teacher training program. It is easy for a teacher to love it quickly so that they can support the students sooner.”
That kind of teacher empowerment is paramount to Ivywood’s model. “Our teachers are the masters of their content,” Cruthers states proudly. “I often refer to them as missionaries for their subjects. They love it so much that they want the students to catch a love. IEW supports the teachers so well that they get to love it quicker.”
Building a Culture of Writing
As IEW’s Structure and Style method became part of Ivywood’s curriculum, writing took root across all grade levels and disciplines. “Our goal is for students to be writing cross-curricularly,” says Cruthers. “It is not just our composition and grammar teachers that it can help, but it is also really our entire school and part of our culture to be a writing culture, to be a writing school.”
One of the most distinctive features of Ivywood’s course of study is how seamlessly IEW’s curriculum integrates with other subjects. In third through sixth grade, Ivywood uses a line of titles that IEW created to directly align with Hillsdale College K-12 Education’s curriculum. “The IEW curriculum is now mapped and beautifully coupled with other curricular resources up through sixth grade, with seventh and eighth being added for the 2026–27 school year,” Cruthers explains.
“What the students are learning in history and literature, they now write about in their compositions. It is not random, but purposeful.”
She continues, “That helps us with our mission of making the curriculum spiral so that it creates wonder in our students. Wonder is one of our Ivywood virtues. If students are learning about the Revolutionary War in history, reading Johnny Tremain in literature, and memorizing ‘Paul Revere’s Ride,’ then they get to write about that too. Instead of writing about something different or on a different topic, it really helps them connect the dots, and they also ask their teachers excellent questions.”
Knutsen adds that the alignment makes writing more meaningful for her students. “They are engaging with ideas that matter. When what they are writing connects with what they are learning, they take pride in their work.”
Even teachers in other disciplines have noticed IEW’s influence. McMahon, who teaches seventh and eighth grade science, uses elements of the Structure and Style writing method in her science classes. “There is a lot of writing in science, so I use some of the language from IEW,” she explains. “For example, my students will try and write down every single word on the board. I remind them to use IEW’s key word method to write just the essential ideas. That helps them focus on what matters most.”
Setting a Standard of Excellence
When asked what she would say to the IEW team, Cruthers did not hesitate: “Thank you for making a writing curriculum that allows students to grow and allows teachers to love teaching writing. Students do not ask why we are doing this; they understand why it is important. That will help them go far in life if they can take their thoughts and passions and express them through writing.”
Through the partnership with IEW and Hillsdale College K-12 Education, Ivywood has built not only a curriculum but also a culture that reminds everyone who walks its halls that words, thoughtfully chosen and beautifully written, can shape the mind and the heart.
by Andrea Pewthers
