"Being personally acquainted with a number of Waldorf students, I can say that they come closer to realizing their own potentials than practically anyone I know."

— Joseph Weizenbaum, Ph.D., Professor,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Author: Computer Power and Human Reason

HUMANITIES

Pivotal events of history and the spiritual struggles portrayed by the great authors of literature provide context and meaning for the adolescent's own personal struggles for freedom and individuality.

History Component: Through engaging in thoughtful and deeply felt discussions with teachers and peers, students are able to come to an understanding of not just the events and personalities of the past but the universality of human experience.

The emphasis in the history curriculum is on developing an understanding of the political ideologies and cultural undercurrents which dominate historical periods and changes. English courses include a skill building component and a literature component.

English Component: By learning to write in a variety of styles - the critical essay and research paper, the short story and the poem -students are able to hone their critical thinking skills.

Developmentally appropriate themes determine the choices of readings and the topics, so that the subject matter resonates with the students’ level of maturity and capacities. The goals are skils in written and oral self expression, development of critical thinking and sound judgment, and superior reading comprehension.

Tragedy and Comedy

9th Grade Main Lesson

This main lesson explores the opposite impulses of tragedy and comedy. We begin with the beginnings of drama in Greek religious festivals, where tragedy develops as an exploration of humanity's relation with the gods, and comedy as a burlesque of that relation. We end with with tragedy and comedy functioning as social commentary and conscience. We read a Greek play, a Shakespeare play and modern play.

The Novel

9th Grade Main Lesson

The novel main lesson traces the development of the genre from the eighteenth century through the twentieth century, and the various elements that work together to create a good novel. The students read A Tale of Two Cities in its original serialized form to understand the importance of such things as setting, character, plot and theme. Each student writes a novella to experience those elements in practice.

Myth to Literature

10th Grade Main Lesson

This main lesson explores the idea of mythos. We will examine what myths are, how they develop, how they serve a culture, and how they transform into literature. The idea of a myth is very old, and most often, now, we think of myths as fancy lies. Yet the importance of myth throughout human history cannot be over emphasized. Cultivating an appreciation for that importance will help us situate ourselves in the universe, and hopefully, perceive an organizing principle that still informs our contemporary world.

Ancient Cultures

10th Grade Main Lesson

We explore ancient India, where we witness the development of Hinduism through the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita, Mesopotamian cultures of Sumeria and Babylon, the vigorous Persian Empire, and ancient Egypt.

Medieval History

11th Grade Main Lesson

This class covers Western history from the Roman Empire and 5th century barbarian invasions to the 14th century waning of the Middle Ages. Within that context students study the development, the decline, and the rise of Islam, the feudal system, monarchies in Europe, and aspects of medieval music, art, literature and philosophy.

Renaissance History

11th Grade Main Lesson

This course covers the reawakening of Europe in northern Italy, when the European view of religion, the world, and the solar system drastically changed. Through the lives of Lorenzo de Medici, Michelangelo, Leo X, and others, we see the cultural explosion of Renaissance Italy. We discuss Machiavelli’s pragmatic political views at length, Luther’s confrontation with the Church, the Reformation, expansion of the “known” world by Vasco da Gama and Columbus, and Copernicus’ new alignment of the solar system.

Philosophy

Coming soon....

Parzival

11th Grade Main Lesson

This class focuses on the most famous and best developed medieval story concerning the quest for the Grail: Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival. The course seeks to understand this quest on many different levels, but most importantly as a timeless pursuit for meaning and fulfillment in which we all engage throughout our lives. Students survey the historical and mythological images of the Grail and the panorama of archetypal characters that surround this powerful object and analyze the book’s content and themes.

Russian Literature

12th Grade Main Lesson

This course focuses on the "Golden Age" of Russian literature. Students read a long Russian novel (usually by Dostoevsky) over the summer, and then a number of short stories by Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, and Chekhov. The discussion is directed by student questions and interests. The nature of good and evil, the presence or absence of the spiritual, and the human capacity for transformation are often topics of conversation.

Senior Philosophy

Coming soon...