Description
Middle school literature is a good books-style class that focuses on preparing students for a Great Books course of study in high school. We do this through a two-year literature cycle that centers around the quest motif and shows students how different works of literature “talk to each other.” Students will enjoy a beautiful and perilous quest through the world of Narnia and select Celtic literature. Activities include an introduction to close reading, reading aloud, projects, literature discussions, commonplacing, and an introduction to annotating.
In history, students will study American history’s people, events, and stories. Students will begin to learn to see cause-and-effect relationships in history and study history from different viewpoints. We will explore how decisions, curiosity, and ideas affect the people, communities, and culture around them. History in Middle School includes working through biographies, living history books, selected speeches, primary documents, related poems and art, class discussion/debates, narrations (written and oral), map work, timelines, and other history-related activities.
In logic and writing, students study advanced narrations, the four primary forms of the essay, the progymnasmata, and logic through language study. The content of their writing is primarily whatever they are studying in history and literature. The middle school program shows students the vital connection between writing and reading and builds their skill set for various writing projects. At Paideia Academics, logic is taught through mastering the relationships between words in a sentence. Students will study the parts of speech, advanced grammar topics, and diagram sentences drawn from great literature. This is the foundation for traditional and material logic studies in high school.
In Oratory, students learn how to become intimate with short writing selections, get an empathetic sense of the piece, memorize it, and perform it in a way that embodies the truth of the piece. Students practice this with selections from literature, speeches, plays, and poems and perform their selections at various times throughout the year.
Books
- Literature
- Selections from Celtic Mythology (Provided by Teacher)
- The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
- Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis
- Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis
- The Faerie Queene: Book I (translation TBD)
- Selections from Celtic and American Poetry (Provided by Teacher)
- History
- Collection of American Tall Tales (Specific edition TBD)
- George Washington’s World, by Genevieve Foster
- Abraham Lincoln’s World, by Genevieve Foster
- Three Biographies (Specific biographies TBD)
- Selected fine art, music, speeches, poems, essays, and primary documents (Provided by Teacher)
- Oratory
- The Winter’s Tale, by William Shakespeare, Folgers Edition
- Selected Speeches & Essays from American History (Provided by teacher)
- Selected American & Celtic Poetry (Provided by teacher)
- Writing & Logic
- Narration & Progymnasmata based Writing Handouts and Printed Instructions (Provided by Teacher)
- Sentence Sense: A Diagramming and Parsing Handbook, by Cottage Press Publishing (Link to Text)
- Our Mother Tongue: A Guide to English Grammar, by Nancy Wilson (2nd Edition)
Tuition & Logistics
Who: 7th-9th-grade students. (Depending on their skill level, 9th graders can enroll in either the middle school or high school program.)
When: Monday-Thursday, 1:30pm – 2:30pm ET (10:30am-11:30am PT; 6:30pm-7:30pm GT)
Calendar: 33-weeks, August 21, 2023 – May 31, 2024; Parent Orientation: Thursday, August 17th, 2023, 8:00pm EST.
Breaks:
– Labor Day Holiday: Monday, September 4th, 2023
– Fall Break: October 9th – 13th, 2023
– Thanksgiving Break: November 20st – 24th, 2023
– Nativity/New Years Break: December 18th, 2023 – January 5th, 2024
– Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday: January 15th, 2024
– Winter Break: Monday, February 19th – Friday, February, 23th, 2024
– Easter Break: March 25th -29th, 2024
– Pascha Break: April 29th – May 3rd, 2024
Where: Zoom for Live Classes & Canvas for our Virtual Classroom
Teacher: Mrs. Deanna Martin & Ms. Jennifer-Ruth Dow
- 4 hours of Live Classes (Instruction, Discussion, and Community) Weekly (1hr daily, M-Th)
- All classes are recorded and available in the virtual classroom.
- All assignments, materials, and class correspondence are available in the virtual classroom.
- All syllabi, assignments, projects, teaching, and assessment are governed by the teacher.
- End of Year Reports and course descriptions are made available at the end of the year for each student
Total Middle School Classes
1. English/Literature
2. American History
3. Language Logic
4. Oratory
Tuition: $1647 (Five Classes, One Program, One Price)
Pay all at once, by the semester, or in 10 monthly installments.
Seats Available: 16
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