Available courses

Writing Course #2: College Prep Writing

This course is designed to prepare high school students for college-level writing, reading, and critical thinking assignments. Students will complete a persuasive research project, provide a literary analysis of a classical work, and learn to communicate professionally through media such as formal emails and cover letters. They will also practice giving quick, thoughtful responses to timed essay prompts as required by the ACT or SAT essays and the in-class essay exams of many college courses. In preparation for college composition and literature classes, the course’s poetry unit will help students tackle the form and content of poems through poetry analysis and their own creative writing. Students who complete this course will be able to demonstrate sound reasoning, excellent grammar, and an awareness of structure and style in their written work.



Writing Course #1: Reading to Write

This course is designed to help high school writers learn to read critically, write persuasively, and research thoroughly. As students practice their academic and creative writing, they will analyze the content and form of novels, autobiography, and allegory. They will respond with persuasive essays, a comparison and contrast of characters, an author-based research project, and their own personal narratives and short allegories. Students will learn correct sentence structure as a tool of good writing and keep a year-long journal of interesting words and phrases to inspire them in their own work. By the end of the year, they will feel confident in their ability to use written words to express ideas, tell stories, and persuade readers.



Writing for 7th & 8th Grade Students

This course is designed to teach 7th and 8th grade students the skills they need in order to write excellently as they approach high school. The course will cover both academic and creative writing, and students will learn to master the five-paragraph essay, write engaging descriptions through prose and poetry, and correctly use and cite outside sources in a relevant research paper. The course will also cover literature analysis as students read a novel and respond intelligently to its fiction elements, worldview, and value to them as readers. Throughout the year, students will strengthen their abilities through regular grammar exercises and a vocabulary journal, ultimately coming away as confident and capable writers.

Introduction to Speech/Creative Communications

This course is designed for 7th- 8th grade students to learn the basics of public speaking – choosing a topic, putting together a speech with an outline format, and implementing effective delivery tools for presentation. each speech will be objectively graded based on written expectations.  In class presentations of a variety of speeches prepared will include pantomime, oral interpretation, impersonation, and informative which will stretch the students to become creative communicators. Parents are expected to be “assistant coaches” as they overview the outline/speech and listen to the speech prior to presentation in class.  This class welcomes the timid novice to the talented; all students will be challenged and hopefully find themselves more confidant and better able to communicate after course completion.

Creative Communications

This course is designed for 9th – 12th grade students desiring to be good communicators. The basics of speech communication will be covered, enhanced by utilizing Power Point and audience engagement tools. The addition of theater games, improvisation, and a variety of impromptu speaking opportunities will be provided. Each speech/project is objectively graded based on written expectations. Parents are expected to be “assistant coaches” as they overview the outline/speech and listen to the speech prior to presentation in class. In class, presentations of a variety of speeches will include pantomime, oral interpretation, impersonation, and informative, stretching the students to become creative communicators. Students will also be provided with the opportunity to learn how to work cooperatively in a group and learn the beginning essentials of debate. Class participation will include a formal presentation for an invited audience at year’s end.

United States Government

This class fulfills high school graduation requirements for a class in government.  For scope and sequence, please refer to the textbook’s table of contents.  We will closely follow the contents of the Notgrass curriculum, Exploring Government, which includes the textbook and a book of readings entitled, We Hold These Truths. Our goal is to cover the material in the the textbook through weekly assignments of reading with study questions, while focusing on selected topics in more detail at our class meetings. There will be a few essay and/or written report assignments in addition to the regular textbook assignments.  A major goal of the class will be to give students a good understanding of the Biblical principles that are the foundation of good government.

Exploring Creation with Physical Science

This course is designed to be the last science course the student takes before high school biology. The text discusses such topics as the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, weather, the structure of the earth, environmentalism, the physics of motion, Newton’s Laws, gravity, and astrophysics. The author especially concentrates on the myths generated by the environmentalist movement.

Exploring Creation with Chemistry

In order to be able to understand this text, the student needs to have completed Algebra I. This course is designed to be a high school chemistry course and gives the student a rigorous foundation in chemistry, in order to prepare him or her for a college-level course. The course covers significant figures, units, classification, the mole concept, stoichiometry, thermochemistry, thermodynamics, kinetics, acids and bases, redox reactions, solutions, atomic structure, Lewis structures, molecular geometry, the gas laws, and equilibrium.  The revised 3rd edition offers more in-depth discussions and explanations of concepts, as well as biographical sketches of Christian scientists who have made a difference in the field while giving the glory to God.

Exploring Creation with Biology

This course provides a detailed introduction to the methods and concepts of general biology. Heavily emphasizing the vocabulary of biology, it provides the student with a strong background in the scientific method, the five-kingdom classification scheme, microscopy, biochemistry, cellular biology, molecular and Mendelian genetics, evolution, dissection, and ecosystems. It also provides a complete survey of the five kingdoms in Creation.