HIGH SCHOOL THEOLOGY
Bioethics/Apologetics 12th Grade
Fr. Peter Fonseca Senior Bioethics examines ethical issues in health care through the lens of the Catholic moral tradition. It will engage specific teachings of the Catholic Church that bear directly on issues of health care ethics, regarding the sanctity and dignity of human life from the moment of conception until death. Through weekly lectures, readings, and discussions, as well as case studies, and a final paper, students will be exposed to the foundational principals of medical ethics and prepared to defend their Catholic faith while living in the culture of death.
Apologetics reminds students of St. Peter's exhortation for Christians: “Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, but do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). This course will introduce students to the art of fulfilling this mandate to explain and defend the Truths of our Catholic Faith. It will teach students how to overcome objections to the faith in a charitable, patient, and respectful manner by presenting the logical, biblical and historical case for the Catholic Christian worldview.
Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics, Nicanor Austriaco, O. P., 2011.
Catholic Controversies: Understanding Church Teachings and Events in History, editor Stephen Gabriel, 2010.
Philosophy 12th Grade
Mr. Michael Martel The Philosophy Course will be a gradual, historical introduction to Western Philosophy treating the natural philosophy of the Pre-Socratics, studying the ethical philosophy of Socrates and Plato, surveying Aristotle’s works and his philosophic achievement, and finally ending with the philosophia of St. Thomas Aquinas.
History of Philosophy: Greece and Rome by Fr. Frederick Copleston SJ
Selected Dialogues of Plato: Charmides, Lysis, Laches, Ion
Morality 11th Grade
Dr. Steven Pieper The objective of this course is to come to understand and be able to apply the fundamental principles of Roman Catholic moral theology in the virtue tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. Students will acquire an introductory understanding of the moral life in Roman Catholic theology, an introductory understanding of the acquired and infused moral virtues. An introductory understanding of virtue’s role in relation to the natural and supernatural attainment of the end of human life, and an introductory understanding of the concepts of natural law, obligation, freedom, conscience and moral development.
Additionally, students will acquire an introductory understanding of intentionality, in relation to the object, end and circumstances of human action and begin to analyze the various ways in which human moral agency is intertwined in a world where good and evil often intersect, including where our actions contribute to the evil actions of others and where they make use of the results of the evil actions of others.
Our Moral Life in Christ, The Didache Series published by Midwest Theological Institute
The Four Cardinal Virtues, Josef Pieper
Handbook of Moral Theology, Dominic Prummer, OP
Veritatis Splendor, John Paul II, Vatican Press
Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI Vatican Press
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Vatican Press
Church History 10th Grade
Mrs. Lynn Dery The objective of this course is to help the students to better understand the historic perspective of the salvation that God offers to mankind after the Redemption. It is imperative for them to see that the Church is made up of human beings…who sin. There are periods of history where sin abounded, but this study will show that “where sin increased, grace abounded even more.” God allowed growth in holiness during and after difficult periods of history. It is also important for them to understand that the Church is the only institution that has stood the test of time, through good times and bad, as her founder Jesus Christ promised that the “gates of hell would not prevail against her” (Mt 16:18).
A second goal for the class is to learn note taking skills from the power point lectures and organize them on their home days, using the Cornell Method of note taking and the study guides.
The History of The Church, A Complete Course: Didache Series, Midwest Theological Forum.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Vatican Press
Sacred Scripture and the Paschal Mystery 9th Grade
Mrs. Lynn Dery The revelation of God in Jesus Christ is transmitted through Scripture and Tradition as one common source. Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit. Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. The Word of God in written or oral form is interpreted authentically by the Magisterium of the Church.
Although the Bible is made up of many books, together those books tell one story. God created us perfect in the beginning, but our first parents, through their free will, sinned and brought death upon themselves and their descendants. The rest of the Bible tells how God gave human being the means to salvation. We learn how God chose the people of Israel to lead all people back to Himself, and how God the Father completed that work in His only Son, Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the Cross. Finally, we learn the truth about the end of history: good triumphs, evil fails, and the people of God live forever in paradise.
Sacred Scripture is not the only authority for our faith, as Scripture itself tells us. The Church was founded by Jesus Christ to keep the living Tradition of the faith alive. At Pentecost, after the death and resurrection of Christ, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles to swell in and guide the Church. The teaching of the church opens up all the riches of the Bible to us. Because we have the living truth of the Church, we can rea Scripture with more confidence, more understanding, and more freedom.
Understanding the Scriptures, A Complete Course: Didache Series, Midwest Theological Forum.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Vatican Press
HIGH SCHOOL LANGUAGE ARTSAmerican Literature 12th Grade
Mrs. Alysia Horst
This course seeks to engage the students with writings of fellow Americans from the early explorers to modern America. They will explore the meaning of the “American experience” as it relates to literature and our lives today. Students will learn to use history and psychology to understand the context and meaning of the works. This class will be a mixture of lecture and class discussion to challenge students to reflect and analyze what they have read.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
The Adventures in American Literature, Pegasus Edition, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
British Literature
Mr. Sebastian GarrenBritish Literature covers non-American Literature in the English Language from 1500-1950. The general themes of the course are contained in the intellectual movements of the British Isles with a special emphasis upon the spiritual dimension for the artistic history and social changes of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
| Tragedie of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe | Poems by William Blake, Keats, Shelley, Byron, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge |
| Shakespearean Theater | The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde |
| Henry V by William Shakespeare | Horatius by Thomas Babington Macaulay |
| Holy Sonnets of John Donne | Ulysses by James Joyce |
| Paradise Lost-Book 1 & 9 by John Milton | Charge of the Light Brigade Alfred, Lord Tennyson |
| Excerpt from John Dryden’s Translation of Aeneid | An Irish Airman Foresees his Death by W.B. Yeats |
| Essay "On Man" by Alexander Pope | Invictus by William Ernest Henley |
| A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift | Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen |
| A Brief to Free a Slave by Samuel Johnson | The Soldier by Rupert Brooke |
| Dictionary of the English Language | The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot |
| Horace 1.11 | Stop All the Clocks by W.H. Auden |
| Excerpts on Industrialization | The Shield of Achilles by W.H. Auden |
| The Cry of the Children by Elizabeth Barrett Browning | Archaeology |
| "On Individuality" J.S. Mill | The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton |
| The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti | On Fairy Stories |
| The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde | |
Medieval Studies 10th Grade
Mr. Robert SheaThe Middle Ages encompasses many developments which today we take for granted. Bound books, spaces between words in sentences, Romanesque and Gothic architecture, castles, chant, polyphony, religious orders, schools, waterwheels, universities, merchant banking, algebra, theology, optics, and ships that can travel on the open sea. Those ships will sail the Atlantic Ocean and around Africa opening up trade routes that will springboard Europe into becoming the most powerful region in the world.
In our class we will use a textbook Medieval Europe: A Short History, but we will also read literature and primary texts. Students will understand how the Empire collapsed and converted to Christianity, how the barbarian tribes operated and related to one another before their conversion, be introduced to the Old English Language and the Literature of the northern cultures, and glimpse the Roman Empire’s continuation in Byzantium and the rise of Islam. Additionally, students will witness the intellectual life and material culture of the Middle Ages, understand the good and the problematic aspects of the Italian Renaissance, and see how life as caricatured in The Canterbury Tales will be disrupted by war, corruption, and eventually the Reformation.
Medieval Europe: A Short History by Charles Warren Hollister, Judith M. Bennett
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Public Speaking: Religious Topics 10th Grade
Mrs. Lynn DeryThe objective of this course is to help give students effective tools for public speaking, help them conquer any fears that they may have, and help give them an effective means for communicating the most important message of all…. Christ and His Church. This course will also help them develop strategies for spontaneous prayer and teach them how to lector.
John Paul II Beginning Public Speaking DVD series
Course material written by Lynn Dery
Ancient Literature/Composition and Rhetoric 9th Grade
Mrs. Alysia Horst and Ms. Anna Catalano Ancient Literature explores several key thematic questions: what it takes to be a leader, the psychological effects of war, why humans love storytelling, what it means to live a good life or be a wise person, how to deal with hardship. We explore these topics from the perspective of the language, history, and storytelling of the Greeks, Jews, and Romans.
About one quarter of this course is given over to English Composition. This means that the course will require many writing assignments, and those writing assignments will undergo multiple revisions. Class time will be taken aside to analyze writing, to read Elements of Style, and to practice rhetorical argumentation.
Antigone by Sophocles
Iliad by Homer
Hadestown by Anais Mitchell
Elements of Style by Strunk and White
Odyssey by Homer
Apology by Plato
The Book of Ecclesiates
The Book of Job
The Aeneid by Virgil
Against Cataline by Cicero
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Classical Composition: Refutation and Confirmation, Memoria Press.
Classical Composition: Thesis and Law, Memoria Press
HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICSCalculus 12th Grade
Mr. Michael MartelCalculus is designed to give students an overview of Calculus topics such as limits and continuity, derivatives, anti-derivatives, integrals and differential equations. This course covers topics in these areas, including concepts and skills of limits, derivatives, definite integrals, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. The course teaches students to approach calculus concepts and problems when they are represented graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally, and to make connections amongst these representation
Calculus of a Single Variable published by CENGAGE Learning
Pre-Calculus 11th or 12th Grade
Mrs. Anne KleinThis is a college preparatory math course which reinforces important concepts covered in Algebra II and lays a foundation for Calculus. It challenges students to practice study skills relevant to learning mathematics.
Topics include Linear Functions, Polynomial and Rational Functions, Exponential and Logarithmic Functions, Trigonometric Functions, Periodic Functions, Trigonometric Identities and Equations, Further Applications of Trigonometry, Systems of Equations and Inequalities, Analytic Geometry, Sequences, Probability, and Counting Theory,
Introduction to Calculus.
Pre-Calculus published by OpenStax
Algebra II 10th or 11th Grade
Mrs. Kelsey MurphyThis is a college preparatory math course which builds upon the foundation laid in Algebra I and prepares students for Pre-Calculus. Topics include equations/inequalities; linear equations/functions; systems of equations; quadratic functions, polynomial functions, exponential and logarithmic functions; rational functions, quadratic relations and conic sections; trigonometric ratios, functions, identities, graphs, and equations.
Algebra 2 published by McDougal Littell
Geometry 9th or 10th Grade
Mr. Sebastian GarrenThis Geometry course is designed to follow an Algebra I course and is typically it is taken by 9th or 10th grade students. By studying laws of basic reasoning, students learn how to form logical conclusions. Plane, solid, and coordinate geometry are studied. Basic geometrical principles are taught. Since Geometry and Algebra are closely related, students use algebraic methods to solve real-world geometry problems.
Geometry published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
Algebra I 9th Grade
Mrs. Alysia HorstAlgebra I is the foundation for all high school mathematics courses. This course is typically taken in the 8th or 9th grade after completing Pre-Algebra. It is a prerequisite for taking Geometry or Algebra II. Students will study operations and relationships of numbers through the use of variables. Algebra 1 introduces students to algebraic expressions, equations, functions, inequalities, and their multiple representations. Problem-solving and reasoning skills are emphasized in writing and solving algebraic equations. The primary goal in Algebra 1 is to help students transfer their concrete mathematical knowledge to more abstract algebraic generalizations.
Algebra-Structure and Method: Book 1, published by McDougal Littell
HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCEPhysics 11th/12th Grade
Mrs. Alysia HorstThis class is a hands-on approach to physics as used or encountered in everyday life. The students will read about the concepts and the mathematical equations needed to calculate information then apply them first in sample problems and finally in experiments which prove these concepts. The students will then complete review questions and additional practice problems before taking a test over the unit. Students will also complete to multimedia semester projects which will require research into and application of a topic covered during the year. The role of Faith is overtly addressed in the class; the students are asked to consider the compatibility of faith and reason. Whenever possible, tie ins are made with the CCC and with religion class.
Exploring Creation with Physics, 2nd Edition published by Apologia
Human Anatomy and Physiology 11th/12th GradeMr. Bradley GieskeThis course is a college preparatory Human Anatomy and Physiology class. The class is designed to examine the structure and function of cells, tissues, organs and organ systems in humans. All organ systems are introduced. A & P details the integumentary, skeletal, muscular, neuronal, endocrine, Respiratory, Urinary, and the Reproduction system. This course will present students with some ethical issues present in today’s society, including birth control, fertility drugs, and genetic engineering.
While the students will be learning specific content, the development of scientific thinking will be heavily focus on during class. The students will learn how to evaluate and interpret scientific ideas in order to develop their scientific thinking skills and learn to understand the world around them.
Upon completion of this course students should be able to name the majority of the human body’s anatomical parts and understand the physiological processes that are necessary for day to day processes to occur.
Hole’s Human Anatomy and Physiology Twelfth Edition, published by McGraw Hill
Chemistry 10th Grade
Mr. Bradley GieskeThis course is a college preparatory Chemistry class. The class is designed to give students an appreciation of creation and of the order and complexity of atoms and their interactions with each other. This course will emphasize the basic chemical interactions between atoms, compounds, and molecules. This course will present students with Chemical Processed in everyday life in order for them to understand the importance of the chemical sciences.
Chemistry by Wilbraham, Staley, Matta and Waterman, published by Prentice Hall
Biology 9th Grade
Mr. Bradley GieskeThis course is a college preparatory Biology class. The class is designed to give students an appreciation of creation and of the order and complexity of living things. This class will emphasize the basic biological processes of how life systems work while occasionally looking at the more in depth physiological processed. This course will present students with bioethical issues that exist in today’s world, such as stem cell research, genetic engineering, and cloning.
Biology by Miller and Levine, published by Prentice Hall
HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY
American Government/History 12th Grade
Dr. Brian BirdnowThis course presents the history of North America from the landing of Columbus in 1492 to the late 20th century. In particular, this course includes the contributions of the Catholic Church, Catholic communities, and individual Catholics – along with Catholic ideas – to the rich American story. Half of this course is comprised of the study of American government; all students must pass extensive Civics, U.S. Constitution, and Missouri Constitution tests.
Lands of Hope and Promise published by Catholic Textbook Project
Book of Readings: Declaration Statesmanship by Richard Ferrier and Andrew Seeley, published by Key Books
History of the Modern World 11th Grade
Mrs. Alysia HorstThis is a college preparatory history class. The class covers European history form approximately 1450 to the present. The overarching focus of the class is on how the events of the past have helped to shape our modern world. The students will see how events that happened several hundred years ago set in motion events which led to or made possible current events. The art and culture of the time periods covered will be discussed in conjunction with the historical events which shaped them. When possible, tie ins with literature and religion classes will be made.
A History of Europe in the Modern World published by McGraw Hill Education; workbook published by Memoria Press.
Medieval Studies 10th Grade
Mr. Robert SheaThe Middle Ages encompasses all sorts of developments which today we take for granted. Bound books, spaces between words in sentences, Romanesque and Gothic architecture, castles, chant, polyphony, religious orders, schools, waterwheels, universities, merchant banking, algebra, theology, optics, and ships that can travel on the open sea. Those ships will sail the Atlantic Ocean and around Africa opening up trade routes that will springboard Europe into becoming the most powerful region in the world.
In our class we will use a textbook Medieval Europe: A Short History, but we will also read literature and primary texts. Students will understand how the Empire collapsed and converted to Christianity, how the barbarian tribes operated and related to one another before their conversion, be introduced to the Old English Language and the Literature of the northern cultures, and glimpse the Roman Empire’s continuation in Byzantium and the rise of Islam. Additionally, students will witness the intellectual life and material culture of the Middle Ages, understand the good and the problematic aspects of the Italian Renaissance, and see how life as caricatured in The Canterbury Tales will be disrupted by war, corruption, and eventually the Reformation.
Medieval Europe: A Short History by Charles Warren Hollister, Judith M. Bennett
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Ancient History 9th grade
Mr. Sebastian GarrenThe Ancient History course covers human history from the time animals were domesticated up to the creation of dioceses in the 3rd century AD. In our limited purview, we will only be able to cover a tiny sliver of this ocean of time. Our primary focus will be the Mediterranean civilizations from which spring the lion share of our culture today, and into which was born our Savior.
In this class students will learn what civilizations are made up of. How they come into existence, how a city works, how politics work, how war comes about and is executed, what drives diverse people to do things great and wicked. We will see people creating art, practicing the high ideals of religion, and investigating the world through questioning. We will strive to understand the culture into which Christ quietly came.
The majority of the course will be spent on the Histories of Greece and Rome with a month set aside for the history of Judaism, and a month set aside for history from domestication to Greece.
Book of the Ancient Greeks, Memoria Press.
Book of the Ancient Romans, Memoria Press.
HIGH SCHOOL LATINLatin III: Great Debaters 11th Grade
Mrs. Kelsey MurphyThis course focuses on building a solid grammatical foundation upon which the student can build, to read and write Latin. Fluency in a language requires immersing oneself in that language, and true mastery of Latin requires a familiarity with text and expression beyond a simple knowledge of grammar. But a focus on immersion cannot neglect study of grammar, for it is grammar that will carry students through readings of the Classical authors.
Students are encouraged to ask questions, read, and write stories in Latin. The grammar and vocabulary is taken from Jenney’s Second Year Latin and follows its order of review and introduction of new concepts, which will then be supplemented with readings, including the novels Cloelia and Piso Illle Poetulus, selections form Familia Romana (Orberg), Lingua Biblica (Memoria Press), the Roman Missal, and classical authors. There will also be activity and culture days, focusing on details of Roman life and culture, Ecclesiastical traditions such as chant and illuminated manuscripts, and personal ownership of Latin in modern day culture through compositions and competitions.
Jenney’s Second Year Latin, Latin Grammar for the Grammar Stage by Memoria Press
Cloelia: Pualla Romana by Ellie Arnold
Piso Ille Poetulus by Lance Piantaggini
Selections from various texts
Latin II: Strong Women 10th Grade
Mr. Sebastian GarrenThis is a second year Latin class. The class covers reviews the fundamentals of Latin nouns and verbs learned in the first year and moves on to introduce more advanced grammatical constructs such as the Perfect System of Tenses and the Passive Voice. The overarching focus of the class is on teaching students how to identify and translate basic Latin passages. The students will learn how to decline nouns in all five declensions and how to conjugate verbs from all conjugations and construct the six indicative tenses. They will also learn about the culture of the Ancient Romans and discover links to the material of their history and literature classes.Latin II assumes students have a familiarity with the case system, the active voice, the first three declensions, some pronouns, some adverbs, some conjunctions, and some adjectives. Latin II increases students’ ability to understand Latin by means of 1) constant practice, 2) comprehensible input, and 3) formal introduction to all major grammatical features of Latin.
Jenney’s Second Year Latin, Latin Grammar for the Grammar Stage by Memoria Press
Latin 1: Christian Culture 9th Grade
Mr. Robert SheaThis is an introductory Latin class. The class covers the fundamentals of Latin nouns and verbs. The overarching focus of the class is on teaching students how to identify and translate basic grammatical constructions.
Jenney’s First Year Latin, Latin Grammar for the Grammar Stage by Memoria Press