Classical liberal arts education has never been merely about curriculum. It is about formation. Long before a student encounters a text, a lesson, or a teacher, the student encounters a space. That space silently teaches what is worthy of attention, what is permanent, and what kind of person the learner is becoming. The Formation of Wisdom: The Formative Environment in Classical Catholic Education offers the first comprehensive framework for understanding the learning environment as the foundation of classical education. Rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition and supported by contemporary neuroscience and psychology, this book argues that environment is not decorative or secondary, but the first curriculum through which formation begins. Drawing from Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Benedict, and St. Thomas Aquinas, this volume recovers the classical conviction that beauty, order, rhythm, and sensory coherence shape moral perception and intellectual readiness before formal instruction occurs. It demonstrates how the senses form attention, how habit precedes reasoning, and how beauty regulates the nervous system and prepares the soul for awe, wonder, and contemplation. Written for school leaders, teachers, curriculum designers, and formation directors, this book translates ancient wisdom into practical guidance for modern Catholic schools. It integrates philosophy, theology, environmental psychology, neuroscience, and educational design into a unified model: the Classical Environment Model (CEM). Through this model, readers are given a clear framework for designing classrooms and school spaces that support regulation, attention, virtue, and wisdom rather than distraction, overstimulation, or fragmentation. Inside, readers will explore: Why environment precedes curriculum in classical education - How beauty functions as a regulatory and intellectual force - The science behind color, light, sound, scent, and material choice - How sacred art, natural materials, and rhythm form the moral imagination - Practical guidance for auditing and redesigning learning spaces through a classical lens This book was developed in response to a growing movement within Catholic education, where schools adopting classical models often lacked clear, coherent guidance on environmental formation. Rather than offering trends or stylistic prescriptions, The Formation of Wisdom provides principle-driven clarity that can be applied across diverse contexts, budgets, and school models. More than a guide to classroom design, this work is a call to restore beauty as an act of educational renewal. It invites educators to see space as pedagogy, design as formation, and the environment as a quiet but powerful teacher shaping students toward truth, goodness, and beauty. This volume is the first in The Formation of Wisdom series, a multi-book framework designed to support the renewal of classical Catholic education through environment, literature, curriculum, teaching, and leadership.