Coming soon · For Catholic schools and families
Built like the Carpenter.
Honed by work. Formed by faith.
Cedar & Cross is IronSharp for Catholic schools and families. It's a full curriculum from grade 3 through high school, built on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Students master the work, keep screens in their place and grow toward real college credit.
“Is not this the carpenter…?”Mark 6:3
The why
Why Cedar & Cross
Jesus worked with His hands. So do we.
A Catholic education forms the mind, trains the hands and points the heart to God. Cedar & Cross keeps the faith at the center of the school day and keeps teachers at the center of the classroom.
The Church has said it plainly: a teacher's presence can't be replaced by a machine (Antiqua et Nova, 2025). We agree. Teachers lead. The software helps. Mastery comes first, real books stay on paper and afternoons go to making real things for real people.
Where the name comes from
“The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.”Psalm 92:12
The cedar stands for growth that is slow, strong and lasting. The cross is the reason behind all of it.
How it works
Four parts. One plan for every student.
Placement
Placed by mastery, not by birthday.
Each student starts each subject at the level they have actually mastered. A student can work ahead in math and get extra help in reading at the same time.
Mastery
Move on when you've proved it.
Students show 90% on a skill, 85% on a unit test and 80% on an end-of-course exam before they move on. Nobody moves up just because the year ended. A teacher signs off on every grade.
The Family Workbench
Parents see the work.
One screen for every child in the family: today's work, the week ahead and mastery by subject. Each quarter brings The Proving, a report the student presents to the family in person.
Raphael, your IronSharp guide
Hints, not answers.
Raphael is the built-in study helper, named for the archangel who walked beside Tobias. He asks questions and gives hints so students do their own thinking. Teachers can read every conversation. He never hears confession, gives spiritual direction or stands in for a priest.
The school day
Mornings for mastery. Afternoons for making.
Screens with limits
Daily screen work starts in grade 3. Middle school is capped at two hours a day and high school at three. The software enforces the cap.
Short stretches
About 25 to 30 minutes on a screen, then a task on paper. Phones stay put away.
Real books, real pencils
Novels and great books are read on paper. Early drafts are written by hand.
IronSharp Works
Afternoons go to workshops and student businesses, where students learn it, build it, sell it and give it.
Grades & college credit
Grade 3 through high school.
One path from chapter books to college credit.
Foundations
Novels and informational texts on paper. Cursive and handwriting. Touch-typing begins. Multiplication, fractions and decimals until they are second nature. Science and history every week.
Building
Literary analysis and research papers. Latin or Spanish begins. Pre-algebra, then Algebra I in grade 8 for students who are ready. Life, earth and physical science.
Launch
A full high-school plan with daily theology, lab science, a world language and electives. AP courses and dual-credit college classes.
Up to 60 college hours.
That's an associate degree's worth, about halfway to a bachelor's. The credit tracker counts every hour.
The plain truth: college credit depends on the college. Each college decides what it accepts, and we'll name our partner colleges once agreements are signed. Sixty hours is the ceiling, not a promise for every student.
- AP examsCourses designed for AP exams. A strong score can earn credit where a college accepts it.
- Dual creditReal college courses taken in high school, counting toward high school and college at once.
- Credit by examTests that turn what a student already knows into college hours.
Electives on the drawing board
- Marketing and Brand Design
- Personal Financial Literacy
- Entrepreneurship
- Leadership and Public Speaking
- Computer Science Principles
- Audio/Video Production
- Art
- Music Appreciation
- Health
- Principles of Agriculture
- Sacred Scripture
On the draft reading list: The Odyssey, Flatland, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and A Christmas Carol.
The faith
The faith at the center
Taught as seriously as math. Never scored.
Grades 3–8 build on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with the Gospels read in full by middle school. High school follows the U.S. bishops' (USCCB) Doctrinal Elements curriculum framework, with daily theology.
Faith is never scored. We never grade belief, prayer, worship or Mass attendance. Every faith lesson is checked by a Catholic reviewer before a child sees it.
Seven strands, grade 3 to graduation
- Scripture
- Doctrine
- Sacraments, liturgy and prayer
- Moral theology and Catholic social teaching
- Apologetics
- Church history and the saints
- Virtue
Three times, a student stands up and speaks
A short talk explaining a teaching of the Church.
Answering common objections in front of a panel.
A senior paper and its defense.
Milestones to prepare for and grow into. They are never a measure of anyone's faith.
Software never hears confession, gives spiritual direction or stands in for a priest. Prayer and the sacraments stay with people: priests, teachers and families.
Cedar & Cross is offered by an independent company. It is not sponsored or endorsed by the Catholic Church, any diocese or any parish.
Not Catholic? IronSharp is being built for other Christian traditions too. Visit IronSharp →
Who it's for
For schools. For families.
For Catholic schools
- Runs the school day: placement, mastery records, teacher sign-off and reports parents actually read.
- Daily theology from grade 3 to graduation.
- Screen limits enforced by the software, not by willpower.
- Teachers stay in charge. A teacher approves every grade.
- Works in a web browser on a Chromebook or a basic laptop.
- Your school owns its students' data.
For Catholic homeschool families
- The full curriculum, with you as teacher of record.
- The Family Workbench: one screen for every child.
- Transcript and portfolio export when you need it.
- A credit tracker that counts every college hour.
- Afternoon projects and a real student business through IronSharp Works.
Our promise to parents
The rules we're building it to keep.
- No ads. No selling data. Ever.
- Raphael never receives a child's name.
- Teachers can read every Raphael conversation. Parents can see every message sent to their child.
- No messages to students between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.
- Raphael never diagnoses anyone. If a student may be in danger, Raphael points them to a trusted adult and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and a real person is told right away.
- Families can download their records any time.
- Raphael never hears confession, gives spiritual direction or stands in for a priest.
FAQ
Straight answers.
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No. Cedar & Cross is the curriculum and the software that runs it. A school runs it in the classroom, or a family runs it at home. Teachers and parents stay in charge.
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No. Cedar & Cross is offered by an independent company and is not sponsored or endorsed by the Catholic Church, any diocese or any parish. Faith lessons are built on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and each one is checked by a Catholic reviewer before a child sees it.
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Cedar & Cross is IronSharp for Catholic schools and families. Same software, same mastery standards, same promises to parents, with the faith strand written for Catholic schools and families.
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We’re building Cedar & Cross now. Join the waitlist and you will hear first when enrollment opens.
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We’ll share pricing when enrollment opens. Waitlist families hear first.
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No. Daily screen work starts in grade 3, and it is capped: two hours a day in middle school and three in high school. Younger grades have their own caps. Students work about 25 to 30 minutes at a stretch, then switch to paper.
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Yes, through AP exams, dual credit and credit by exam, up to 60 college hours. Credit depends on the college that grants it, and not every student will reach 60. We’ll name our partner colleges once agreements are signed.
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No. Faith is never scored. Students study it seriously, but no one grades belief, prayer, worship or Mass attendance.
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Raphael is the built-in study helper. He is software, not a person, named for the archangel who walked beside Tobias in the Book of Tobit. He gives hints, not answers, and teachers can read every conversation.
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No. No ads and no selling data, ever. Schools own their students' data, and families can download their records any time.
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Cedar & Cross is built on Texas standards first, and we plan to support other states’ standards too. Join the waitlist and we’ll keep you posted.