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9th - 12th grade
General Info:
Students in the Upper School taking French, 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. Students who need a Study Hall may choose to attend one. Two Study Hall hours may not be taken back-to-back.
A 10% discount off the course fees ($300 for lab and supply fees not included in this discount) is offered to Upper School students who enroll in full load. A full load includes a literature class, a science class, and at least two other courses.
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 9-4:15 and 26 Tuesdays from 10-3:15. Esprit classes begin on 8/29/2024 (no class Tuesday, 8/27 with the exception of the Upper School Tuesday Art Lab which does meet on this date).
2024-2025 Course Schedule
Course Descriptions
General Literature & Composition - 9th Grade+
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Thursdays, 9:15-10:30
Course Fee: $400
This course is designed to provide one English credit for students in the first two years of high school (9th-10th grade), which includes grammar, vocabulary, writing, and literature. The General Literature component explores fiction, non-fiction, short stories, drama, and poetry from a variety of cultures and eras. The composition component focuses on literary analysis, but also includes creative writing, poetry, and introductory research writing. The teacher will assist students in building upon any previous writing experience. Students should expect to read roughly 100 pages most weeks, and parents must supervise and support their student’s work at home, particularly the development and implementation of writing skills and strategies.
American Literature & Composition - 10th Grade+
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Thursdays, 10:45-12
Course Fee: $400
High school students will create a timeline that tracks notable literary works across the span of America’s history, from the time of the settlers to the present day. They will also create a map to organize writers and published works with regional significance. Weekly reading assignments and classroom discussions will be supplemented with grammar and vocabulary exercises, individual and collaborative research and writing projects and presentations, literary essay, and opportunities to publish their own works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Students should expect to read roughly 100 pages most weeks, and parents must supervise and support their student’s work at home, particularly the development and implementation of writing skills and strategies.
Modern Literature & Composition - 11th Grade+
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Thursdays, 2-3:15
Course & Class Supply Fees: $400
Students in this upper level course explore the works of literature and various worldviews that have shaped modern man since the late 19th century.
Students will hone critical thinking skills as they read works by influential authors and discuss man’s ideas such as existentialism, atheism, and relativism through a Christian lens. 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. Students must be in 11th or 12th grade to take this course.
This class goes hand in hand with the Worldview & Apologetics elective offered on Tuesdays and it’s highly recommended that students enroll in both courses in order to do well in this class.
Biology & Nature Study - 9th Grade+
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays, 2:30-3:30 & Thursdays, 2-3:15
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 cultivated crops (Fall), the weather and climate (Winter), and insects (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 - 10th Grade +
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays, 12:30-1:30 and Thursdays 3:15-4:15
Course & Lab Fees: $650
This course is designed to provide one high school lab science credit. 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, biology students will engage in a focused nature study of cultivated crops (Fall), the weather and climate (Winter), and insects (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.
Anatomy & Physiology & Nature Study - 11th Grade +
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays, 1:30-2:30 & Thursdays, 12:45-2
Prerequisite: Biology
Course Fee: $650
This course will provide one high school lab science credit. Using Apologia’s Advanced Biology text, students will study: body organization, cellular structure and function, body tissues, the integumentary and skeletal systems, skeletal histology and movement, muscle histology and physiology, the skeletal muscle system, neurons and neuroglia, the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, the endocrine system, the cardiovascular system, the lymphatic system, the digestive system, the respiratory system, the urinary system, the reproductive system. A minimum of one lab per chapter as well as dissections of an eye, brain, kidney, heart, and fetal pig will be performed.
In unity with all other Esprit students, biology students will engage in a focused nature study of cultivated crops (Fall), the weather and climate (Winter), and insects (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, 10:45-12 & Thursdays, 10:45-12
Prerequisites: Pre-Algebra
Course & Lab Fees: $550
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, 9:30-10:30 & Thursdays, 9:15-10:30
Prerequisites: Algebra 1
Course & Lab Fees: $550
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.
World Language: French 1
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays, 1:30-2:30 and Thursdays 12:45-2
Course & Lab Fees: $550 (textbooks included in this fee)
The methodology for teaching French used in this course is “Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling,” which was invented by Blaine Ray. It provides a language-rich environment that promotes foreign language learning by what sounds right. TPR Storytelling provides natural language acquisition in humorous, non stressful situations. It does not stress grammatical instruction, especially in Year 1, but rather encourages grammatical correctness by modeling correct structures in stories. It teaches students to relate language to actual objects and actions. It does not promote simple regurgitation. TPR Storytelling promotes long-term memory retention because it is visual, physical, acoustical and contextual. This course will provide one high school language credit.
World Geography
Class Duration: 26 weeks; Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30
Course Fee: $400
This exciting course provides students with a chronological overview of geography based upon the exploration, discovery, and mapmaking of the world. Students will view and chart maps of places throughout history while 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. Students will also create a map of the world from memory, use a journal for written narrations, and create a timeline of exploration and discoveries throughout the world.
American History
Course Duration: 26 Weeks; Tuesdays, 10:45-12
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.
Government & Economics
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Thursdays, 10:45-12
Course & Class Supply Fees: $400
Using a combination of primary source documents, videos, engaging living books, and even dystopian novels, students will study the following topics: United States Federal Government structure and power division, the U.S. Constitution, civil liberties and rights, the politics of public opinion, interest groups and lobbying, voting and elections, courts and the judicial system including some Supreme Court decisions and their historical context, local governments, domestic and foreign policy, economic theories and principles in both microeconomics and macroeconomics, and economic history including a selection of U.S. government economic policies and their effects.. Students will learn to recognize logical fallacies and think critically about the importance and functioning of our government and economic policies. This course will provide .5 credit for American Government and .5 credit for Economics. Students should expect to spend approximately an hour a day on course work. This course will not cover personal finance, but parents are strongly encouraged to cover personal finance at home alongside this class.
Worldview & Apologetics - 11th-12th Grade
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays, 10:45-12
Course & Class Supply Fees: $400
In this course students will delve into the essential principles of a Christian worldview and how to defend it. The course will encourage critical thinking, foster a deepened understanding of Christian beliefs, and prepare students to navigate the complexities of the modern cultural landscape. Students will explore the primary elements that comprise every worldview, the eight categories of worldviews, and the unique nature and explanatory power of the Christian worldview. With that foundation, students will engage with contemporary challenges and questions, including the nature of belief, the authority of the Bible, scientific challenges, and questions about morality and ethics. The ultimate goal is for students to be better equipped to articulate and defend their faith with confidence, engaging thoughtfully with a diverse and challenging world.
Texts will include The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog by James Sires and What’s Your Worldview? by James Anderson with selected readings from C.S. Lewis, Nancy Pearcey, Al Wolters, Tim Keller, and John Frame.
Students enrolled in Modern Literature & Composition class are highly encouraged to also enroll in this Tuesday class for a full understanding of the material.
Art Lab
Course Duration: 28 weeks; Tuesdays, 12:30-1:30 OR Thursdays 2-3
Course & Class Supply Fees: $400
This Art class explores art processes and techniques through a historical context. In class students will practice watercolor and acrylic painting, printmaking, mixed media art, clay, drawing using pencils, colored pencils, oil pastels, and more. Homework includes continuing art practice in a sketchbook, videos and some reading, projects, quizzes, and pertinent field trips. Choose one section of this class to take, not both days.
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. 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.
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
New Family Registration Begins
February 16, 2024
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