COMPOSITION I
‍Theme/Master
How can we organize and present our ideas to best persuade our audience?

Description:
In this course, students learn to write persuasive essays using the five canons of rhetoric and the six parts of arrangement. Instruction focuses more heavily on the first three of the five canons, namely, invention, arrangement, and style or eloquence. As students in the logic phase of writing, they will write their own story narratives and poetry by imitating great writing, asking why and how great writing is created. Vocabulary exercises teach students the habit of understanding words through their context and by recognizing their Greek and Latin roots. This course is the first of two courses focused on writing persuasive essays. In grades 5–7, students focused on summarizing others’ writing and practicing different ways of ordering their own writing depending on the topic and audience.Composition II lays the foundation of the five canons of rhetoric and the six parts of arrangement that will be built on in all following rhetoric courses at Colquitt Christian Academy.

This is done through: 
• Writing assignment topics should be integrated with other 8th-grade humanities courses, and should be coordinated with other 8th grade assignments via an internal assignment calendar
• As often as possible, students should see and discuss a model of the type of writing assigned before composing their own (there are sample essays in the appendix of The Lost Tools of Writing for this purpose)
• Students should be given a rubric for each assignment highlighting the teacher’s expectations for that writing assignment; each assignment should focus on a limited number of new writing skills
• Teachers should limit feedback on each writing assignment to what a student can apply in his or her next writing assignment; usually, feedback should highlight one strength and two-three items on the rubric for the student to continue to improve
• Read and discuss works of poetry from the 8th grade humanities time period and imitate different poetic forms
• Not every essay needs to have a new topic; students can expand on a previous essay topic when appropriate
• Students should present works of poetry as well as their own writing orally

History, Bible, Literature
‍Theme/Master
How does our view of the world influence how we live? How does our view of God influence the way we live?

Description: 
This course will briefly cover the early Mesopotamian cultures, biblical history, and Egyptian culture before turning its focus to Ancient Greece and Rome. Students will consider what a worldview is and how it affects life and culture, both in their personal experience and in history. Much of the course will be spent on understanding Greek thought, philosophy, culture, literature, and art as the foundation of Western civilization. It will then turn to the Roman culture and its influence on the world as well as Christianity’s influence on Rome. The integration of Hebrew Scripture,Roman culture and Greek thought into Christianity is taught from the perspective of God’s divine plan for His Church. Students will focus on logical applications and inquiries from this time period, preparing them for the rhetoric track in 10th grade.

This is done through: 
• Primarily lecture and discussion-oriented, based on individual or in-class readings using Socratic Discussion Rubric as a methodological guide; aim for at least 30% discussion
• Classes and units built around Key Questions, which build to higher Major and Master Questions for each work, unit, semester, and course
• Debates, recitations, and student presentations
• Lecture and discussion, particularly as introductory material or historical framework requires
• Viewing and discussing of pertinent works of art, literature, music, and poetry
• Beginning class each day with a brief activity, questions to consider, or written response designed to focus the class discussion and prepare students for the lesson.

Math
‍Theme/Master
How do equations reflect the order of Creation?How does one solve for the unknown?

Question: 
God reveals Himself as a God of order.

Description:
This course focuses on the development of the algebraic skills and concepts necessary for studies in further mathematics courses. In AlgebraI, students learn to use the fundamental language of algebra to describe patterns. They work with formulas, discuss unknowns, and graph functions, as well as learn to apply these concepts to everyday problems.Statistics and geometry will be included to motivate work with algebraic expressions, equations, functions, and fractions.
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This is done through: 
• Teaching is primarily presenting new concepts to the class, coaching, working with students individually and in small groups to practice problem-solving strategies and conceptual thinking about math
• Math should be presented as often as possible with real-life situations
• Emphasis should be placed on logical evaluation of how and why math works as well as aesthetic evaluation of the elegance of the mathematical systems and solutions
• Class should begin each day with a brief activity, questions to consider, or written response designed to focus the class discussion and prepare students for the lesson.

Conceptual Physics

Question: 
How do the principles of physics explain events in our everyday lives?
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Description:
In this course, students learn to appreciate the beauty and orderly nature of God’s creation as manifest in the laws of physics. Students are introduced to key concepts of a traditional physics course, with a focus on qualitative rather than quantitative aspects of the field. The course covers kinematics, motion, forces, waves, optics, electricity, and magnetism. Students demonstrate mastery through labs, case studies, discussions, projects and logic-based summative assessments.  

This is done through: 
• Class is structured around lecture, discussion, readings, labs, and projects
• Teaching should be inquiry-based, posing key questions around which student learning is centered
• Class should begin each day with a brief activity, questions to consider, or written response designed to focus the class discussion and prepare students for the lesson
• Laboratory work and experimentation is a key part of this class, both individually and in groups.