World Revolutions & Norse Mythology
World Revolutions: Inventions, Ideas, & Exploration
Norse Mythology, Beowulf, & The Lord of the Rings
Humanities & Good Books Program for 7th – 9th Grades — Literature + Writing + History + Logic + Oratory
The middle-school years (7th-9th; 9th graders can enroll in either the middle school or high school program, depending on their skill level.) are those years of beautiful transition from childhood to young adulthood. The Paideia Fellowship Middle School liberal arts program is a unique two-year course of study which supports this transition and prepares students for the great books course of study in 9th-12th grades. Content, skills, and ideas increase in depth and breadth as they take their journey of becoming independent and self-aware truth-seekers.
Middle school literature is a good books style class, which focuses on preparing students for a Great Books course of study in high school. We do this through a two-year literature cycle. Year one centers around the quest motif and shows students how different works of literature “talk to each other.” Year two continues the quest motif, but with more advanced works of literature. Activities include an introduction to close reading, reading aloud, projects, literature discussions, commonplacing, and an introduction to highlighting/annotating.
In history, your student will study the people, events, and stories related to our world’s revolutions. Specifically, students will focus on explorers, inventions, the industrial revolution, and the scientific revolution. Students will begin to learn how to see cause-and-effect relationships in history. We will explore how decisions, inventions, and revolutions affect the people and communities around them. History in Middle School includes working through biographies, living history books, selected speeches, primary documents, related poems and art, class discussion/debates, narrations (written and oral), map work, timelines, and other history-related activities.
In logic and writing, students study advanced narrations, the four primary forms of the essay, the progymnasmata, and informal logic and debate. The content of their writing is, primarily, whatever they are studying in history and literature. The focus in middle school is to show students the vital connection between writing and reading as well as build their skill repository for a multitude of writing projects.
In Oratory, students learn how to become intimate with short selections of writing, how to get an empathetic sense of the piece, how to memorize it, and how to perform it in a way that embodies the truth of the piece. Students practice this with selections from literature, speeches, plays, and poems and perform their selections at various times throughout the year.
Books
Note: Final and official books lists will be released to parents by the end of July.
- Norse & Anglo Saxon Mythology
- The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Two Towers, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Beowulf
- Selected Living History Accounts: TBD
- Selected Biographies: TBD
- Selected fine art, music, speeches, poems, essays, and primary documents
- The Tempest, by William Shakespeare
- Art of Argument, by Classical Academic Press
- Grammar reference of your choice
- Writing Lessons are taken from Know & Tell by Karen Glass & Various Progymnasmata Resources. Students will be placed in the appropriate writing level breakout group based on the assessment of the teacher and course availability.
- Level 1: Narration-based. Training and practice in different types of narrations, revising, and an introduction to the progymnasmata.
- Level: Building on prior narration training. Introduction to the four common forms of essays. Advanced progymnasmata exercises.
Tuition & Logistics
Who: 7th-9th-grade students. (9th graders can enroll in either the middle school or high school program, depending on their skill level.)
When: Monday-Thursday, 1:30pm – 2:30pm ET (10:30am-11:30am PT; 6:30pm-7:30pm GT)
Calendar: 33-weeks, August 22, 2022 – May 26, 2023; Parent Orientation: Thursday, August 18th, 2022, 8:00pm.
Breaks:
– Labor Day Holiday: Monday, September 5th, 2022
– Fall Break: October 10th – 14th, 2022
– Thanksgiving Break: November 21st – 25th, 2022
– Nativity/New Years Break: December 19th, 2022 – January 9th, 2023
– Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday: January 16th, 2023
– Winter Break: Monday, February 20th – Friday, February 24th, 2023
– Easter/Pascha Break: April 3rd – April 14th, 2023
Where: Zoom for Live Classes & Canvas for our Virtual Classroom
Teacher: April Branch
- 4 hours of Live Classes (Instruction, Discussion, and Community) Weekly (1hr daily, M-Th)
- All classes are recorded and available in the virtual classroom.
- All assignments, materials, and class correspondence are available in the virtual classroom.
- All syllabi, assignments, projects, teaching, and assessment are governed by the teacher.
- End of Year Report and course descriptions made available at the end of the year for each student
Total Middle School Classes
1. English/Literature
2. World History, World Revolutions & Exploration
3. Logic
4. Oratory
Tuition: $1547 (Five Classes, One Program, One Price)
Pay all at once, by the semester, or in 10 monthly installments.
Seats Available: 16
Middle School FAQ
What is a Good/Great Books style humanities program?
A Good/Great Books style humanities program means the ideas and the literature lead. Practically this means that more time will be spent on the literature and in coaching writing and reading skills. History will be present for sure, but there may be shorter discussions or class time devoted to the specific historical topics. Whenever possible the class will seek to see the common thread of ideas woven through both the history and the literature and respond to these ideas with writing, discussion, and other projects or activities.
Does my Middle School student need their own books?
Yes, especially the literature books, and a student planner. Students may be asked to take notes in their books or highlight a variety of passages. They need their own copies of books so they can do these things.
Does my student need to take additional literature, history, and writing courses?
We ask that you not sign your student up for additional core classes in these areas. In our experience, extra courses in these areas tax a student unnecessarily. If you would like to give your student some independent or family work to fill out the experience a bit more we do provide several quality suggestions in the PFHC Learning Guide.
Can you tell me more about PFHC’s approach to writing?
Writing is a skill that takes years to develop. We can know that our students are on the path to excellent writing if they are moving along the milestones that lead to excellent writing. Charlotte Mason had a thorough understanding of these milestones and laid out a practice for leading our children in the development of writing skills. This practice is called narration. Narration is the art and science of composing our thoughts, first in our minds, then in our spoken words, and finally in our written words. Narration allows the student to really know something, rather than simply know about it. The idea and practice of narration takes a student through this process seamlessly. Karen Glass’s book Know & Tell: The Art of Narration gives a structure and path to walk on this journey of learning to write well. Not only does she give a grand understanding of the art of narration, she outlines how to teach and assess writing as our students move through the writing milestones.
Students at Paideia Fellowship Homeschool Community will receive consistent and developmentally appropriate instruction and assessment in the art, practice, and particulars of writing, grammar, and logic from 1st -12th grades. We use Karen Glass’s book as our primary guide to structuring our writing program from 1st – 8th grade. In addition, 1st-8th grade students will receive grammar instruction as is appropriate for each grade level. In high school, students will work through formal rhetoric and logic using The Lost Tools of Writing & Memoria Press’ Traditional & Material Logic programs. A complete outline of language skills taught in each class is provided in the PFHC learning guide.
What books and supplies will my child need for PFHC?
You can find the projected booklist above. However, this is subject to change. Finalized and complete book/supply lists will be provided by the end of July to all families who have enrolled.
What do parents need to teach at home?
- Formal English Grammar and Spelling, if still needed
- Handwriting & typing, if still needed
- Mathematics
- Natural Science
- Foreign Language
As much as possible, a liberal arts course of study should include, living books on a variety of topics, related and integrated into the above studies and oral narrations in response to readings. The Paideia Fellowship Learning Guide provides tips and suggested resources that follow the Classical and Charlotte Mason traditions.