Our Curriculum exceeds the University of California
A-G admissions requirements.

 

A. History / Social Science

9^th: Cultural Studies and Geography: The Pacific Rim, Latin America, Africa, The Arab World

10^th: World History: Ancient Cultures, The Classical World, The Middle Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment, The Modern World

11^th: United States History: Native Americans and Revolution, Law & Constitution, The Civil War, America in the Modern World

12^th US Government and Economics:

 

B. English

9^th English Polarities: Dramatic Literature, Grammar and Writing Process, The Short Story, The Research Paper   

10^th English Process: The Origins and Development of Language, The Epics, The Harlem Renaissance and the American Novel

11^th English Identity: Romanticism & the Quest, Creative Writing, American Transcendentalism

12^th English World Consciousness: Modern World Literature, The Essay, Senior Project

 

C. Mathematics 

Students move through the traditional progression of math courses: Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Geometry, Advanced Algebra, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus.

 

D. Laboratory Science

Students can take up to four years of science.

Earth Science: Geology, Meteorology, Oceanography, Astronomy, Environment Science

Biology: Anatomy, Embryology, Botany, Cell Biology Zoology

Chemistry: Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, The Periodic Table, Biochemistry

Physics: Thermodynamics, Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, Optics

 

E. Language Other Than English  

As we grow we will offer students a choice of languages.

 

We currently offer Spanish and French

 

F. Visual & Performing Arts 

Students take a Waldorf Core Class in ninth and tenth grade that includes: music, visual art, drama and gardening

 

Other VPA electives are offered in alternate years:

Theater: storytelling, characterization, improvisation, set design

Painting & Drawing: black and white, Asian brush painting, life drawing

Sculpture: wood, ceramics, environmental sculpture

Photography and Digital Arts

Music Electives: Taiko Drumming, Chamber Music, Guitar are examples

 

Selected Reading List

 

9th Grade

Short stories from Around the World

And Then There Was Light

The Adventures of Huck Finn

The Chosen   

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Miracle Worker

Oedipus, the King

The Pigman

A Tale of Two Cities

Romeo and Juliet

The SamuraiÕs Garden

Tortilla Flats

 

10^th Grade

All Quiet on the Western Front

A Story Like the Wind

A Far Off Place

Beowulf

The Bone People

Canterbury Tales

Cry, The Beloved Country

The Iliad and the Odyssey

The Invisible Man

Gilgamesh

Grapes of Wrath

Harlem Renaissance Writers

The Poisonwood Bible

Ramayana

Tanakh

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Things Fall Apart

Selected poetry

 

­­11th Grade

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Brave New World

Don Quixote

Frankenstein

Hamlet

House of Leaves

The House of Spirits

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Lord of the Flies

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

The Merchant of Venice

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Paradise Lost

Pazival

Romantic Poetry (Byron, Shelley, Keats)

Songs of Innocence and Experience

 

12^th Grade

The American Scholar

Cotemporary Essays

Crime and Punishment

Death of Ivan Illyich

Half a life

Kite Runner

Nature & Self-Reliance

Night

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Queen of Spades

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Stranger

Walden

White Teeth