Course Offerings:
Our Science courses teach how to analyze, deduce, and predict with the scientific method. Our Thinking courses use reading, writing, and discussion to teach how to think critically and use language in powerful ways. Each subject is developed as a year-long curriculum broken down into three 10-week terms. The complexity and depth of study is tailored to each individual group of students.
If a class you are interested in doesn’t show up in our calendar, we can start one at any open time.
Literature/Thinking:
Custom scheduling available
Thinking 101–103 (grades 9+)
Between the ages of 10 and 13, brain development reaches a threshold that allows for the beginning of abstract reasoning. But just because the brain is capable of a new skill doesn’t mean a person automatically knows how to use it. This year-long course will use the literature and history of the ancient world — Homer’s Odyssey, Gilgamesh, plays by Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and much more — to begin teaching students how to read and write critically. We will emphasize rigorous attention to the text without reference to personal ideas, feelings, or thoughts.
Thinking 201–203 (pre-req Thinking 103)
This class will continue the work of Thinking 101–103, developing the ability to dig deeply into a text to see what it can offer on its own terms and then write originally and rigorously about what is found there. In this course students will read literature of and about the medieval world, including Dante’s Divine Comedy, Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, and Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.
Biology:
Custom scheduling available
Fall: Biology Basics/Plants –Classification, Diversity, Bacteria, Single-celled Organisms, Algae, Fungi; Plants: Plant cells, Plant anatomy, Spore-producers, Flowering Plants, Trees
Winter: Animals –Animal cells, Marine Invertebrates, Worms, Insects and Spiders, Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals (focus on different groups depending on student interest)
Spring: Human Biology – Human Anatomy and Physiology – internal organs and functions; Viruses, Disease, Immune System and Healing, Genetics
Chemistry:
Custom scheduling available
Fall: The Building Blocks of Chemistry –Origins of Chemistry, Chemistry basics, Solutions, Atoms/Elements, The Periodic Table, Bonding, Chemical Compounds, Chemical Reactions
Winter: Inorganic Chemistry –Reactions of Hydrogen, Halogens, Chemical Analysis, Separation and Purification, Distillation, Metals: Different Groups of Metals, Reactions of Alkali Metals, Alkaline Earth Metals
Spring: Organic Chemistry – Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Water, Oxidation and Reduction Reactions, Combustion, Acids and Bases, pH, Soaps and Detergents, Catalysts and Enzymes
Physics:
Custom scheduling available
Fall: Force and Motion/Work and Energy – Force and Motion: Velocity and Vectors, Acceleration and Gravity, Projectile Motion, Forces, Equilibrium, Friction, Inertia and Momentum; Work and Energy: Potential and Kinetic Energy, Leverage, Tension, Energy and Mass
Winter: Waves — Sound and Fluids – Wavelength/ Amplitude/ Frequency, Doppler Effect, Sonic Boom, Interference, Standing Waves, Music, Fluid Dynamics, Heat vs. Temperature, Thermodynamics
Spring: Electricity and Magnetism –Voltage, Current, Resistance, Capacitance, Batteries, Serial and Parallel Circuits, Electromagnets, Motors, Generators
