Social Sciences Studies in the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social aspects of human kind


Social Studies in the Elementary School is an introduction to human kind, key dates, and events in American and World History.

In the Elementary School, the students:

• begin to read maps and globes.
• discuss seminal events and important personalities in the founding of our country, connecting them to subsequent democratic processes.
• relate current events and mark holidays by discovering their inception.
  
• study personal family heritage and the role of the individual as citizen, volunteer, and leader in the community.

In the Middle School, the students:

• expand map and globe-reading skills to state, capital, and city locations while being introduced to land and water forms and major geographical and climatic regions.
• learn about early explorers, famous Americans, Native Americans, and invention from the discovery of the New World to the founding of our nation.
• investigate branches of government and review political and societal events and their relationship to current holidays and occurrences.
• address interpersonal skills while considering their own ethnicity in the context of our country's rich cultural diversity.

Social Studies in the Junior High and High School is an in-depth exploration of the world covering all periods of history and studying multi-cultural influences from classical civilizations of antiquity through contemporary society.
In the Junior High, the students:

• develop more advanced map and globe skills with particular emphasis on historical cultures.
• trace the course of Western Civilization from the pre-Egyptian and pre-Columbian peoples through the Medieval European and Asian cultures to the New World settlement patterns and expansion west, including the U.S. Civil War.
• explore current events through media analysis, discussion, debate, and participation in simulated political processes
• learn objective research techniques and appreciate all cultures through the comparative perspective.

In High School, the students:

• achieve a deeper understanding of our evolving world geography, its relationship to, and continuing impact on the planet's peoples.
• study world cultures, western civilization, governments and philosophies, and their effect on American foundations and political system to the 21st century.
• monitor and evaluate major world and national events and issues, placing them in a historical but personally relevant perspective.
• engage in a sociological and psychological investigation of ourselves and our culture as both producers and consumers.

Course Description

• Course: American History and Government

1 year; 1 credit
Textbooks: Out of Many: A History of the American People by Faragher, et al; Out of Many Documents Set; The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society by Nash, et al; Nation of Nations: A Narrative History of the American Republic.
Course Content and Objectives: A concurrent and interdisciplinary study (along with American Literature) of the social, political, and philosophical influences on American History. Readings in the various textbooks, with a comparative approach, aimed, in part, at identifying the particular prejudice of each historian/author. Readings in the primary document collection. Research in primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.

• Course: British and Irish History

1 year; 1 credit
Textbooks: The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain and The Irish Experience
Course Content and Objectives: A concurrent and interdisciplinary study (along with British and Irish Literature) of the social, political, and philosophical influences on British and Irish History. Readings in both textbooks, with a comparative approach, aimed, in part, at identifying the particular prejudice of each historian/author. Readings in the primary document collection. Research in primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.

• Course: Classical and Modern World History

1 year; 1 credit
Textbooks: The Oxford Illustrated History of the Classical World
Course Content and Objectives: A concurrent and interdisciplinary study (along with Classical Literature) of the social, political, and philosophical influences on Classical History. Readings in both textbooks, with a comparative approach, aimed, in part, at identifying the particular prejudice of each historian/author. Readings in the primary document collection. Research in primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.

• Course: Modern World History

1 year; 1 credit
Textbooks: TBA
Course Content and Objectives: A concurrent and interdisciplinary study (along with Modern World Literature) of the social, political, and philosophical influences on modern world history. Readings in chosen textbooks, with a comparative approach, aimed, in part, at identifying the particular prejudice of each historian/ author. Readings in the primary document collection. Research in primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.