Courses and Curriculum

Curriculum Summary

Download 2009 - 2010 Curriculum Summary Chart

Torrey Academy

Torrey Academy draws on the great minds of the Christian tradition for class curriculum and teaching methods. Students read Great Books, and participate in tutor-led discussions, helping them to wrestle with and think critically about the ideas that have shaped the Christian worldview for over two-thousand years.

Course Completion, Units and Grades

Students are expected each week to:
• read an average of 125 pages of primary source material
• complete at least one substantial written assignment
• participate actively in weekly group discussions
• complete assigned course work (required)

Benefits:
• students receive documentation and a grade for their efforts
• each core class is worth three high school humanities courses
• completion of all three year-long courses will have accumulated:
  • 30 units of English
  • 30 units of Bible
  • 35 units of History/Social Science
  • TOTAL: 95 units toward high school graduation.

Courses Offered

Listed by grade level.*

Logic (9–12)

This course introduces students to Torrey Academy by exploring the importance of clear thinking for Christian spiritual development. Students learn why great Christian leaders have traditionally seen the life of the mind as a key component of spiritual growth. Students examine the basics of Socratic Logic, including terms, syllogisms, and evaluation of soundness and validity. The class also explores how argumentation plays out in everyday life, including a lengthy study of informal fallacies. Students end the year by exploring good methods for reading and engaging essays and literature using logical principles. Readings include With Good Reason by S. Morris Engel, How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, and works by Plato, C.S. Lewis, Washington Irving, William Shakespeare, J.P. Moreland, and others. We recommend that parents and independent study programs count this class as meeting the requirements for ten high school academic units for Logic/Critical Thinking.

Torrey Academy Writing Lab (10–11)

The Torrey Academy Writing Lab is designed to guide students through the writing assignments required for the various Torrey Academy classes. Requiring separate registration, the Writing Lab complements Inklings and Foundations of American Thought class work by helping students to develop the skills needed to be successful in academic writing.

The Inklings (10–12)

Designed to spark a passion for critical thinking and for the beauty and wonder of the Triune God, the content of this first-year Torrey Academy class focuses on issues of faith, learning, and culture. The Inklings texts are provocative, challenging, and packed-full with theology, poetry, and apologetics.

Foundations of American Thought (11–12)

A natural progression from the Inklings, the Foundations of American Thought class takes students to the next level of academic, intellectual, and spiritual development. Following the same format as the first-year class, this second-year class changes only the content, not the amount of reading and writing. These readings and discussions focus on issues in American Literature, History, and Government from the pre-colonial period through the antebellum period in order to impart to students an understanding and vision of their own country and society. This course is aimed at helping students become responsible, knowledgeable citizens both in our democratic republic and in the City of God. Politics and literature are examined through a Christian perspective.

Faith of Our Fathers (12)

A core class for any Christian student who wants to understand the history of the Church in the West, the third-year class builds on the first two classes to strengthen students’ critical thinking abilities, writing and oral presentation skills, as well as their Christian worldview. As a natural next step in student development, the amount of required writing is reduced while the expected quality of work is higher. Class time continues to focus on Socratic discussion as in the first two Torrey Academy classes, and student research presentations are also added. The Early Church, Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation texts are pervasively thought-provoking, beautiful, and challenging as they elicit deeper discussions of Theology and Christian culture that were initiated in the Inklings class.

Shakespeare (12)

A perfect complement to Faith of our Fathers, this course explores in depth one of the most influential authors of the Western canon of great literature and provides students with an opportunity to experience his works in a Readers’ Theatre setting. Students study Shakespeare’s plays in an intense discussion-based environment, and learn to take the written words of plays and incarnate them in the manner intended by Shakespeare. The reading list is comprised of eleven of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as Aristotle’s Poetics. Students will explore the nature of story and narrative, and will be deeply immersed in the culture, history, and politics of Elizabethan England. The class is focused on reinforcing critical thinking and rhetorical skills and more emphasis is placed on repeated reading of the text, discussion, and rhetoric, which more closely matches the methodology of the Torrey Honors Institute. This course fulfills ten units of high school fine arts credit and supplements the world literature studied in other Torrey Academy classes.

* The course levels listed in parentheses are guidelines. We realize that homeschoolers often cross grade-level "boundaries" for many subjects; therefore students are welcome to enroll in any class that suits their level of achievement. Please remember that our courses are college preparation level, and students will be expected to maintain these high standards. Please see the site class overviews for class days and times.