Middle School Overview
A look at the middle school program
The middle school academic curriculum engages the curiosity and budding capacities of the young pre-teen and emerging teenager.
Our online middle-school math courses use the Making Math Meaningful™ curriculum to stimulate self-confidence and trust in intellectual thinking. Science begins with Botany in 5th, with Physics and Chemistry in 6th-8th.
We also offer beginner and intermediate level Spanish as well as select 4-week Humanities blocks.
Find Schedules, Calendars, Tutorial Times and more on the Resources Page.
Quick Links: Middle School Courses
Master teacher Jamie York provides recorded lectures, tutors guide live sessions, and students collaborate in problem-solving groups for a discovery-based, content-rich, rigorous math program.
Thoughtful, developmentally appropriate courses in Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Science taught by veteran Waldorf science teachers that combine careful observation with critical thinking.
Middle School Teaching
The middle school academic curriculum engages the curiosity and budding intellect of the pre-teen and young teenager. Through age-appropriate challenges, practical experiences, and meaningful social interactions and peer-group work, students thrive academically and emotionally.
Students experience immersive, exploratory inquiry, broadening and deepening their understanding of the world while engaging their capacities to create, participate, listen, observe, and think practically.
Math in the middle school
In the early elementary grades students play with numbers and develop a love of math. By 5th and 6th grades, students consolidate the skills introduced earlier (such as fractions and long multiplication). In 7th and 8th grades the algebraic “real math” begins as they start to think more abstractly. Now the middle schooler learns to think more logically and critically, and engages deeply in problem solving.
As children approach adolescence their emotion life expands in many ways. Mathematics offers important support. Mathematical certainty allows the 6th grader to learn self-confidence and gain trust in intellectual thought processes.
They open to the curiosity of math rather than seeing it just as computation. We remind students that mistakes are important, as are taking risks in a safe learning environment to see the benefit of using visual models, and deep thinking, not speed, is the focus.
Science in the middle school
Studying subjects such as physics and chemistry in middle school rekindles the ebbing wonder and excitement for the natural world by engaging a child’s own observations. The child is asked to use their senses, and budding logical thinking in new ways to discover laws of the natural world. The scientific demonstrations provide a chance for the child to see the cause and effect of nature right in front of them.
Spanish in the middle school
As adults, we are often in awe at our childrens’ ability to learn languages and without the self-consciousness we have when we are older. Learning a language young has many advantages and wires us for later language learning. Our native Guatemalan Spanish teacher, Juan Pablo is one of the most creative and innovative teachers we know. In his first year with us, he live-streamed a report from a local food market and pulled off a miraculous online play. We are so grateful he is part of our community.
Humanities in the middle school
David Sloan and Juan Pablo Barillas are seasoned and talented teachers who will take your student on a journey that explores an understanding of the human being as much as an understanding of history, culture, literature, and social trends. We are grateful for their exemplary teaching.
Get to Know Us
Read more about how the Jamie York Academy came to be, our curriculum and more.
