Curriculum

The Waldorf Inspired high school looks at the developmental stages of high school students and teaches accordingly. Each grade is guided by a different overarching theme or mood depicted as a question. The curriculum for each subject in each grade is brought to students through the lens of the grade’s question.

The 9th Grader asks, "What?" What is my place in the world? What do I see in the world?

The answer is found in opposites and polarities.

9th Grade is all about observation through polarities. It is a discovery of what the world is like. It includes observation, description, individuality, and questioning. Certainties are called into question. The overarching question is “what?”. What is the world? What do I see in the world? The answer, of course, is opposites and polarities. The 9th Grader works with Tragedy and Comedy, Combinations and Probability, Anatomy and Physiology, Revolutions, and other opposites.

The 10th Grader asks, "How?" How does the world work? How do I reconcile opposites and polarities?

The answer is found in balance, judgement, and reconciliation.

10th Grade is about comparison through processes. It brings contrast into balance. The overarching question is “How?”. How does the world work? How do I reconcile opposites and polarities? The answer is found in the development of comparison, discrimination, and judgement. The 10th Grader works with the Hero’s Journey, Archetypes, Euclidean Geometry, Chemistry, World History, and other balancing forces.

The 11th Grader asks, "Why? Why am I here? Why do things work the way they do?"

The answer is found in analysis, purpose, and finding meaning.

11th Grade is about analysis through individual study. It is an individual study of the internal world. The overarching question is “Why?”. Why am I here? Why do things work the way they do? The answer comes through analysis, meaning, and purpose. The 11th Grader thinks deeply and independently about all subjects. They grapple with Descartes, physics, astronomy, history of religions, perspective art, and other ideas.

The 12th Grader asks, "Who?" Who am I? Who do I want to become?

The answer is found in individuality and transcendence; new creation and synthesis.

12th Grade is about the power of synthesis or creation through organization. It is time for the students to express and understand their emerging individuality. The overarching question is “Who?”. Who am I? Who do I want to become? The answer is created through individuality and transcendence. The 12th Grader works to comprehend the evolution of the human being through identity and purpose, a quest to become, and a senior project. They study Faust, American history, portraiture, and other ideas of synthesis.