The High School Curriculum

Science

We follow the standard sequence of Biology, Chemistry and Physics for high school science. The biology and chemistry courses include a lab component. In addition, we offer elective courses in computer science topics including Web Design, Android App Development and Full-Stack Programming.

Biology

Biology is a complex and fascinating subject, and an area where technology and discoveries are perhaps more transformative than any other field of science today.

We use Khan Academy's AP Biology course as a framework. Khan Academy is especially strong in high school science, and the course is well produced, comprehensive and kept up to date.

For the lab component, we include Kristin Moon's Biology Lab video course. Lab projects are completed once per week during the course.

We round out the course with a selection of popular science books which present the latest advances in various facets of biology in a thorough and entertaining way. These include explorations of genetics and gene editing, forest ecosystems, animal senses, neurobiology, and a biography of the scientist who developed CRISPR. The books show how biology is a rapidly progressing field which will have a major impact on the future of humanity.

Chemistry

As with biology, we use Khan Academy's AP Chemistry course as a framework. Khan Academy is especially strong in high school science, and the course is well produced, comprehensive and kept up to date.

For the lab component, we include Kristin Moon's Chemistry Lab video course. Lab projects are completed once per week during the course.

This course has fewer reading materials than our other science courses, because there are not nearly as many enjoyable and informative popular science books in chemistry as there are for biology and physics. We have included one good read, The Disappearing Spoon, toward the end of the year.

Physics

Physics is possibly the most intriguing of the academic subjects, as it deals with questions like the ultimate composition of matter, and the origin and fate of the universe.

This course starts with the excellent Physics and Our Universe series of lectures from Great Courses, which covers both Newtonian physics and more advanced topics.

Students then proceed to a series of popular science books on quantum mechanics, astrophysics, string theory and cosmology.

The course ends with a research paper on a topic in physics of the student's choice.