2024/2025 Class 12 Full Experience Details
Live Zooms in Pacific Time
Main Lesson: Tuesday & Thursday 9am
Math: Tuesday at 11 am
Guardianship: Thursday 7 am
Enrichment: Wednesday 9 am (8:30 am Handwork rotation)
Apply Here
Humanities Main Lesson Blocks with Ms. Jaia
Government/Philosophy: This block immerses students in the many timeless questions that are posed in the study of philosophy. Students will explore the origin and evolution of government and philosophy and learn about the times, lives, and intellectual contributions of essential political philosophers from Plato to the modern political thought streams (including Steiner’s threefold social order and the “-isms”: liberalism, socialism, communism, fascism, and anarchism). Through an understanding of political philosophers, students will consider and discuss their impact on modern thought and political systems. Students will read, discuss, and work with a variety of great works, explore the structure and purpose of government, and consider how the processes of politics and government work.
World History: During this block, we will consider how major ideas, world views, and events have shaped our modern world. A look at how geography and climate have impacted world views, culture, architecture and art will also be considered. As always, students will embark on a variety of artistic and academic experiences as they explore these topics.
Faust: Goethe’s nineteenth century masterpiece Faust will serve as a centerpiece of study during this block. This work meets the students of the twelfth grade as they are seeking to find meaning, purpose and place in the world, and considering how they fit as individuals. Themes of freedom, good and evil, and the modern condition will be considered in discussion, poetically, and in essays. Students will also read related poetry, excerpts from plays, and compare the work of Faust to other great works. During this block, the students will also explore artistically with projects inspired by Goethe’s color theory.
Senior Project: During this capstone block, the students will embark upon the creative and organizational task of exploring an individually imagined project. During this endeavor, the students are seeking to answer the question; “How can my interests and strengths help to benefit the world and others in a way that is also personally fulfilling?” Through the process, the students will find guidance and support in the class lessons and Zooms, while also being encouraged in their personal growth as they seek to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their gifts as they prepare to step out into the world.
During this block, the students will be supported in the processes of creative brainstorming, artistic imaginings, researching and writing effective research papers, creating proposals and project plans, and creating an effective and engaging presentation about their projects.
Guardianship Class with Ms. Daniela and Mr. Siepker
Guardianship Class: Our Guardian teachers will support the full experience students through monthly and seasonal themes of focus and various projects. Students will have support and guidance in developing capacities for managing their time, leading and collaborating as a team, finding opportunities to go out and serve their local communities, asking for help when needed, and so on.
Guardian teachers are inspired by the striving to build a sense of connection and belonging for the group that will help students create ways of both, deepening their High School community and staying accountable to themselves and their teachers in their learning and creative work.
Math with Mr. Starzynski
Math Track: This course will cover topics from Precalculus, Statistics and Data Management and Calculus. We will begin with a thorough review of precalculus concepts including simplifying radicals and rational expressions, The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra and Analytic Geometry. We will also review and extend our knowledge of logarithms and trigonometric functions. As the year continues, the class will dive into Statistics and Data Management learning to analyze, organize, and graph large groups of data. There will be projects to undertake and present and the class will look at the current state of statistics in the world. We will then begin our transition into Calculus. The class will begin this journey by thoroughly looking at average rate of change. The students will work on numerous applications from everything involving speed to changes in the pricing of lumber. The next question that will be asked is how fast is something moving at an instant in time? The class will look at estimating what is known as the instantaneous rate of change or the derivative using the average rate of change. It will become apparent that in order to calculate the derivative, we need a new concept to overcome division by zero. What we need is the mathematical concept of a limit. We will look at properties of limits and continuity and then used the average rate of change and the idea of a limit to find the formula for finding the derivative of a power function.
Math Main Lesson Block: History of Math This main lesson will begin at the beginning of time and go through the modern age highlighting the journey humankind took towards the discovery of The Calculus. The students will look at how math developed in each Era and how it developed in different ways in different parts of the world. Themes include the continuous vs. discrete debate, irrational numbers, constructions, developing infinite series and much, much more. The students will look at how mathematical development shaped human thought around the world and they will look at what came after each great mathematical discovery.
“Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.”
~ Shakuntala Devi
Science Main Lesson Blocks with Ms. Vidhya
Physics: Grade 12 physics involves study of light, lenses, prisms, mirrors, the eye and all things colorful! We will study about the laws that govern Optics through experiments, science journals and projects.
Chemistry: The final year of school we will study biochemistry. We will study macromolecules such as proteins, fatty acids and DNA. We will learn about different kinds of Chemical bonds and revisit main concepts we learned through the years. Students will conduct experiments such as chromatography, read science journals and present a project.
Biology: Grade 12 life sciences will involve study of animals. We will look at different animal kingdoms, revisit genetics, touch upon paleontology and wonder about life! As a high school senior is ready to embark outside the classroom this block will offer a perfect segue.
Enrichment is incorporated in your full class experience!
Meet your Four Fold Enrichment teachers!
Handwork With Ms. Maggie
We will begin the year by exploring the history of papermaking from its origins to modern day times. Students will learn to make both practical and decorative handmade paper which they will then use to make stationary and bind into several different styles of books.
Eurythmy Inspired Movement With Ms. Tiffany
The theme of the twelfth grade is “Movement in Time". Another theme is “Personal Space.” We work with both of these themes by exploring deeper work with the Zodiac, as well as, applied eurythmy. For each gesture, we will dive deep into its accompanying quality, element, season, color, body part, and sound. We will learn to walk the circle of the Equinoxes and Solstices as this helps us better understand the Zodiac. For copper rods we will learn to master and properly execute exercises previously learned, as well as, advanced copper rod exercises.
German with Mr. Dornemann
The aim of the course is to experience the German language, to get used to its sounds, acquire basic vocabulary and speaking skills. It is intended for beginners with no or little previous exposure to the German language.
In the recorded part of the lessons there will be listening and speaking activities, poems, songs, stories and tongue twisters. Students will practice speaking by repeating what the teacher presents. In our live sessions we will engage in speaking and conversation as well as call and response.
The vocabulary covered will include actions, counting, phrases, cultural references and many words describing aspects of everyday life.
Music with Mr. Mark
Building on current students’ musical abilities (including instruments played and previously studied either in school or private lessons) and prior musical experience (in school, private lessons, music, making with family and friends), we will work together to create our own unique musical compositions. We will use traditional instruments as well as “found percussion” instruments and body percussion to facilitate our explorations. The 8-week course culminates with the professional-level recording/mixing of our composition, performed by us, and presented as a digital recording for us to keep and share.
