Menu
9th - 12th grades
2025-2026
General Info:
Students in the Upper School taking French, Spanish, Math, and/ or Science courses will attend on both Tuesdays and Thursdays. Some classes meet only on Tuesdays and others meet only on Thursdays. Please consult the schedule as you plan your classes.
All Upper School courses may be taken à la carte. A 10% tuition discount will be applied to an upper school tuition total for any student taking four classes. The four classes must include at least two core classes (Lit/Comp, Science, Math) and two additional courses in order to qualify for the tuition discount.
All Upper School courses are designed to fulfill requirements for a full high school credit in the subject area providing all of the work assigned is completed. Parents, you are responsible to check with your accountability associations to ensure that you are meeting their requirements.
Upper School classes meet for 28 Thursdays from 9-3:15 and 26 Tuesdays from 9:15-5:15. Esprit classes begin on 8/28/2025 (no classes Tuesday, 8/26).
2025-2026 Course Schedule
Course Descriptions
Intro to High School Literature & Composition - 9th Grade+
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Thursdays, 10:45-12
Course Fee: $400
This course is designed to offer one high school credit in English. Students will be introduced to upper school literature and learn writing skills that will assist them in academic writing throughout their high school career. Students will discover strong study skills, how to transform written narration into organized writing for essays, research papers, and creative writing, explore and memorize poetry, enjoy vocabulary expansion, book discussion, and earn an introduction to annotation in this course that welcomes them to the Upper School!
American Literature & Composition - 10th Grade+
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Thursdays, 9:15-10:30
Course Fee: $400
Students will read notable literary works across the span of America’s history, from the time of the settlers to the present day. Weekly reading assignments and classroom discussions will be supplemented with vocabulary exercises, individual and collaborative research and writing projects and presentations, and opportunities to write poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Students will keep a commonplace journal for ideas and thoughts in addition to more formal writing.
British Literature & Composition - 11th Grade+
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Thursdays, 10:45-12
Course & Class Supply Fees: $400
Students in this upper level course explore the works of literature from the Anglo Saxon time period to the modern day. Students can expect to develop critical thinking skills as they read, discuss, and analyze novels, poems, essays, and plays from some of the greatest authors to put pen to paper. Students will keep a commonplace journal for ideas and thoughts as well as write various types of essays including descriptive, narrative, expository, argumentative, and analytical. This is an upper level clsss and students must be in 11th or 12th grade to take this course. British Literature is on rotation with World Literature and we do not expect to offer it again until 2026-2027.
Biology & Nature Study - 9th Grade+
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:45-2
Course & Lab Fees: $650
This course is designed to provide one high school lab science credit. Using the Berean Builders’ Discovering Design with Biology text, students will study the molecular and cellular basis of life, the different kinds of organisms found in nature: archaea, bacteria, protists, fungi, invertebrates, vertebrates, plants, the biogeochemical cycles that keep environments hospitable to life, and ecosystems. Throughout the course, students see that life is the result of design and that organisms have been given the ability to adapt to their surroundings. Students will conduct labs that facilitate tactile learning of the material offered both in the text and via lecture while also learning to record data using the scientific method. Microscope-based labs and dissection will be included in the lab component. Students will also participate in a science fair at some point during the year.
In unity with all other Esprit students, biology students will engage in a focused nature study of reptiles (Fall), brooks, rivers, and oceans (Winter), and garden flowers and weeds (Spring). Nature Study home assignments include some light outside reading and one or two nature walks and studies each week. A book list will be provided for all books needed for home assignments.
Chemistry & Nature Study - 11th Grade +
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2-3:15
Prerequisite: Biology
Course Fee: $650
Using the Berean Builders’ Discovering Design with Chemistry text, students will study units of measurements, classification of matter, chemical and physical change, atomic structure, electron configurations, the periodic table, chemical names and formulas, writing and balancing chemical equations, gram to mole conversions, stoichiometry, limiting reactions, kinetic theory and states of matter, thermochemistry, behaviors of gases, use of gas laws, periodic trends, ionic and covalent bonds, molecular geometry, solutions, reaction rates, equilibrium, acid/base chemistry, and oxidation-reduction reactions. The lab component of the course will include weekly experiments that will illustrate the concepts being learned.
In unity with all other Esprit students, chemistry students will engage in a focused nature study of reptiles (Fall), brooks, rivers, and oceans (Winter), and garden flowers and weeds (Spring). Nature Study home assignments include some light outside reading and one or two nature walks and studies each week. A book list will be provided for all books needed for home assignments.
Health & Nutrition & Nature Study
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Thursdays 9:15-10:30
Course & Lab Fees: $450
This course is a comprehensive health course for high schoolers exploring physical, nutritional, emotional, social, mental, concepts. Topics include why health matters, mental and emotional stability, nourishment and hydration, food science, body systems and structure, physical fitness, immune systems and more. This course is not a lab science and may count for a science elective. It also may count for one Physical Education credit if the student chooses to log and complete a schoolyear long fitness regime throughout the course.
In unity with all other Esprit students, health students will engage in a focused nature study of reptiles (Fall), brooks, rivers, and oceans (Winter), and garden flowers and weeds (Spring). Nature Study home assignments include some light outside reading and one or two nature walks and studies each week. A book list will be provided for all books needed for home assignments.
Algebra 1
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays & Thursdays, 9:15-10:30
Prerequisites: Pre-Algebra
Course Fees: $650 (includes textbook & notebooking materials)
Algebra is often called a gatekeeper course because it opens the door to all other areas of study in mathematics. This course provides a comprehensive teaching of the fundamental aspects of problem solving. Major topics of study include: evaluation of algebraic equations, exponent rules and manipulation, polynomials, solving and graphing linear equations, solving and graphing two variable inequalities, solving systems of equations, radicals, word problems, solving and graphing quadratic equations, and factoring.
Algebra 2
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10:45-12
Prerequisites: Algebra 1
Course Fees: $650 (includes textbook & notebooking materials)
Algebra 2 emphasizes linear and quadratic expressions, equations, and functions. This course also introduces students to polynomial, rational and exponential functions. Students explore the structures of and interpret functions and other mathematical models. Students build upon previous knowledge of equations and inequalities to reason, solve, and represent equations and inequalities numerically and graphically.
Geometry
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:45-2
Prerequisites: Algebra 1
Course Fees: $650 (includes textbook & notebooking materials)
This course is a high school course covering various geometry topics and principles. Students will focus on problems that review Algebra skills, critical thinking, and geometry studies including geometry basics, logic and proof, parallel and perpendicular lines, triangles and relationships, trigonometry, polygons and quadrilaterals, transformations, circles, volume and surface area, and probability. It is recommended that students have completed both Algebra I and Algebra II before taking this class, but the only prerequisite is completion of Algebra I.
World Language: Spanish 1
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays & Thursdays 2-3:15
Course & Lab Fees: $550 (includes textbooks)
This course provides a language-rich environment that promotes learning Spanish in a natural and organic way. The methodology provides natural language acquisition in humorous, non stressful situations, not stressing grammatical instruction, especially in Year 1, but rather encouraging grammatical correctness by modeling correct structures through conversation and stories. Students will relate language to actual objects and actions, promoting long-term memory retention through visual, physical, acoustical, and contextual exercises. This course will provide one high school language credit.
World Language: French 2
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:45-2
Course & Lab Fees: $550 (includes textbooks)
After having gone through studies in French 1, students will reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the language. They will acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the French language and its cultures, and demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons between French cultures and their own. Students will show evidence of becoming lifelong learners by using French for personal enjoyment and enrichment. The skills acquired in year one will be developed and enhanced so that the students master them and are able to have a conversation in the language. Grammar studies will be explored, including present tense, past tenses (both preterit and imperfect), articles, infinitives, conditional tense, gerund, reflective verbs, indirect and direct object pronouns, verb conjugations within the context of oral stories.
World Geography
Class Duration: 26 weeks; Tuesdays, 10:45-12
Course Fee: $450
This exciting course provides students with a cultural experience of geography based upon the exploration, discovery, and mapmaking of the world. Students will view and learn maps of places throughout the world, discovering famous explorers, various landscapes and environments, world cultures, geographical tools and methods used throughout history, and be able to locate the wonders of the world both ancient and new. Learning the political map is a core skill that will be unlocked as the year progresses and students discover how to easily label a political map of the world from memory.
Online readings and videos, the marvelous Richard Halliburton books, a journal for written narrations, illustrations and thoughts, and cultural experiences including music, dance, cooking, and more both make for a robust and exciting study of our beautiful world and the people who live within it.
American History
Course Duration: 26 Weeks; Tuesdays, 9:15-10:30
Course & Class Supply Fees: $400
From the first European contact with indigenous peoples of the Americas to the modern American landscape, students will learn the history and heritage of the United States through a variety of living books, media, and other resources.
Students will discover that understanding their nation’s historic events and the consequences on our society is relevant to their modern lives. Reading, documentaries and films, research, and discussion make our country’s past come alive.
Art Lab
Course Duration: 26 Weeks; Tuesdays, 3:15-5:15
Course & Class Supply Fees: $550
This à la carte course is for students 7th grade and older who love to make art and want to hone their skills. Students may earn one high school credit in Fine Arts exploring watercolor, acrylics, and reduction linocut printmaking.
Local artist Mark Mulfinger teaches this class, inspiring students to create meaningful artwork and gain skills to practice art for life. 7th grade students may enroll in Art Lab if they are able to fully participate and not engage in distracting activities during class.
Study Hall
Class Duration: As necessary
Course Fee: $150
Upper School students who are not enrolled in a particular course may register for a supervised study hall during the hours in which they do not have a class. Students may not register for two back-to-back study hall hours unless special circumstances occur. While attending the study hall, students are expected to study. A list of allowed homework to study will be requested from parents by the first day of class.
Off Rotation
These courses are off the Esprit Upper School rotation and may be offered again 2026-2027
- Advanced Biology with Human Anatomy & Physiology
- French 1
- Government & Economics
- Worldview & Apologetics
- World Literature & Composition
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
New Family Application Begins
February 17, 2025
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds