Course Descriptions
Courses for Grades 7-12
English and Communications
American Literature
A survey of American literature from the period of exploration and settlement to the present. Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical and cultural contexts. Texts will be selected from among a diverse group of authors for what they reflect and reveal about the evolving American experience and character. The texts studied in the course include standard fiction and poetry, as well as primary sources such as government documents, personal narratives, other forms of nonfiction. This course emphasizes traditional literary study but is also a concentration on research, writing, and critical thinking. Students will continue to develop composition skills through expository, persuasive, and research oriented writing.
Grade(s): 10, 11, 12
AP Language and Composition
AP English Language and Composition is an introductory college-level composition course. Students cultivate their understanding of writing and rhetorical arguments through reading, analyzing, and writing texts as they explore topics like rhetorical situation, claims and evidence, reasoning and organization, and style. The course ends with the AP exam, through which students have the possibility of earning college credit. The AP exam is required for students to earn weighted credit. Summer reading is a requirement.
Grade(s): 11, 12
AP Literature and College Composition
This course is an Advanced Placement course, alternating between AP Literature and AP Language each year. The course follows those frameworks and is geared toward improving student writing, communication, and critical thinking. The course is devoted to the reading of important texts including classic and contemporary works. Students spend time reading such works and writing both expository essays and research papers dealing with the works and the cultures to which they belong. The course ends with the AP exam, through which students have the possibility of earning college credit. The AP exam is required for students to earn weighted credit. Summer reading is a requirement.
Grade(s): 11, 12
British Literature
This course is a chronological study of British letters beginning with early Anglo-Saxon texts and ending with contemporary works of the 21st century. The course follows major literary and artistic trends, as well as political events, as students study works related to colonialism, the British Civil War, and the slave trade. The texts studied in the course include standard fiction and poetry, as well as primary sources such as government documents, personal narratives, other forms of nonfiction. This course emphasizes traditional literary study but is also a concentration on research, writing, and critical thinking. Students will continue to develop composition skills through expository, persuasive, and research oriented writing.
Grade(s): 10, 11, 12
Mathematics
Algebra 1
A high school level course that focuses on the study of variables to represent unknown quantities and then solving for those unknown quantities by writing equations and inequalities. Topics include a review of order of operations with integers, solving equations, and simplifying expressions. Students will work extensively on solving and graphing linear and quadratic equations and inequalities. Additional topics will include rules of exponents, factors, and polynomial fractions, the Cartesian coordinate plane, radicals, and the quadratic formula. Students will learn to read, analyze and solve real-life applications with a Biblical viewpoint.
Grade(s): 8, 9
Algebra 2
Algebra II is designed to reinforce the foundational algebraic concepts learned in Algebra I while preparing the student for higher-level courses by expanding known concepts and introducing new topics. Some of the new concepts include matrices, complex numbers, polynomial functions of higher degree, the relationship between rational exponents and radicals and logarithmic functions. Four methods for solving quadratic equations (factoring, taking roots, completing the square, and the quadratic formula) will be introduced. Prerequisites: Algebra I, Geometry
Grade(s): 10, 11, 12
Fundamentals of Math
This course covers concepts such as whole numbers, decimals, number theory, fractions, and an introduction to algebra and geometry.
Grade(s): 7
Geometry
Geometry is another step in the overall educational process. It enhances the students’ abilities to work practical problems. It also develops thinking processes that are essential in future math classes and in everyday life. This geometry course deals primarily with Euclidean geometry. You should expect the students to show all of their work and explain orally how a problem is solved. Topics to be covered in this course are ranging from basic geometry principles (i.e. sets, subsets of lines, planes and space) evolving into segments and angle measurements, to triangles, polygon, and circle measurements and finally to how these can be used in connecting to real life.
Prerequisite: Algebra I
Grade(s): 9, 10
Science
Biology
Biology is the science of life and living things. Topics by chapter taught are the science of life, cell structure & function, homeostasis and cell transport, photosynthesis, fundamental of genetics, bacteria, viruses, protists, fungi, the importance of plants, plant structure & function, introduction to animals, worms, mollusks, arthropods, and insects.
Grade(s): 10
Earth Science
Students study general science concepts including the nature of science, life science, physical science, earth and space science.
Grade(s): 8
Life Science
Students study general concepts for science including scientific methods, life sciences, body and reproductive science, and physical science.
Grade(s): 7
Physical Science 9
Physical Science focuses on the two physical sciences of Chemistry and Physics. Topics covered are introduced to science, matter, states of matter, atoms, the periodic table, the structure of matter, chemical reactions, solutions, acid & bases, motion, forces, work and energy, heat & temperature, waves, sound & light, electricity, and magnetism.
Grade(s): 9
