Our Unique Curriculum
Our curriculum is divided into a revolutionary wheel of education. The spokes of the wheel become subjects such as: Understanding People, where students learn to understand others as well as themselves through history and the study of great lives; Cooperation, where students learn about the cultures around them, including their own, and how to best cooperate with cultures, peoples, teams, families, and friends; Self-Expression and Communication is where students learn to express truth elegantly and beautifully through mathematics, the arts, and writing; Our Earth Our Universe opens the student’s eyes to the wonders of the natural world and helps them to understand their place within this magnificent universe we call our home; Personal Development, where the student discovers and stretches their physical and mental powers as well as their spiritual awareness; and finally, Wholeness – the hub of the wheel of our educational approach– where students learn to bring together all the various branches of learning into a unified central understanding of life, the world, and themselves, through the study of great and exalted art, literature, music, and the wisdom of the ages.
Self-Expression & Communication
Mathematics, Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Theater Arts, Singing
By pairing self-expression always with communication, we emphasize to students the need for sharing something meaningful with others. Too often, when writing essays or participating in discussions, students are most concerned with appearing clever to their teachers. They lack sincerity rooted in authentic inspiration. When communication is emphasized, the need for clarity and meaning naturally rise to the surface.
The attempt for communication of one’s ideas to others has the benefit of not only sharing inspiration, but also brings with it the beneficial effect of clarifying one’s own ideas. Students are asked to introspect deeply before presenting their creative works to ensure that what they have to say is both sincere and true.
Through mathematics an appreciation for systematic, efficient, thinking is cultivated, as well as an appreciation for truth– for what simply and elegantly is. Mathematics is not the mere execution of computation, but is an expression of clear minded perception. In this way, mathematics becomes not a discipline distinct from other branches of learning, but one intimately connected to all mediums of expression. In writing, grammar and logic form the bridge of communicability between an individual’s inspiration and their audience. The art of rhetoric, with all its attendant structure, then, provides the medium through which students learn to express themselves in meaningful ways to others– thus learning to share what they find most meaningful in a way others can appreciate. In the creative arts, such as writing, singing, acting, videography, and photography, students learn how to develop the essence of creative originality– how to create from their own origin, from their own inspiration. Students are taught to draw creative inspiration at will and, in time, to cooperate with the laws of creative success which govern more than the ability to produce a satisfactory essay but, if understood deeply enough, are the essential skills to success in all undertaking.
Personal Development
Physical Education, Sports Science, Diet, Yoga, Memory Development, Concentration, Secrets of Happiness, Chanting, Affirmations, Meditation
Personal Development is a class where students learn to integrate and refine the three main aspects of individuality: body, mind, and soul. Students learn how to clarify the mind through techniques of concentration, develop it through memory, and uplift it by the study of the art of happiness. The physical body is cultivated through exercise, sports, and challenging themselves against an age-old adversary: the great outdoors. Students are introduced to their own inner reality through the gradual refinement of awareness and the interiorization of the mind.
Music is a central part of student experience at Living Wisdom. Students are taught the central elements of melody, rhythm, and harmony through group singing traditions from East and West. Melodies are selected for their upliftment and refinement, as well as for the noble qualities which the song expresses. Students all learn to meditate using ancient yogic techniques and pranayam (breathing exercises). Calmness of mind is essential for refined awareness, and we recognize that meditation is the greatest tool known to man for the cessation of mental agitation.
Cooperation
US History & Government, Spanish Language & Culture, Political Science, Economics, Personal Finance
Cooperation is essential to human life, for without it, nothing truly great can ever be accomplished. For a person to be successful they must understand and cooperate with the reality around them. First, a child learns to function within their family and nuclear relations, then with friends, schools, a broader community, a nation at large, and finally with a world. Cooperation is the bedrock of civilization as well as individual success, for even the scientist alone in a laboratory must cooperate with the laws of reality.
It is only through understanding the underlying purpose and unifying ideals which animate a group of people that one can truly learn to cooperate with them. The study of US History and Government, then, falls under this curriculum category. Citizenship is more than an understanding of laws and past events– it requires a dynamic understanding of a national story, a story to which each of us must see ourselves as essential. Citizenship is the act of cooperating with the highest ideals of a country to bring out its best, and to help draw out the best in each one of us. The study of world cultures also falls under the branches of Cooperation. It is not enough to speak the language of another country by mechanical memorization of vocabulary and grammatical rules. Language is an expression of culture, and as such even to speak a language well requires an understanding of the history, mores, and ideals of the people who speak it. By seeking to understand the beating heart of another world culture as well as the highest shared aspirations by its people, students of Living Wisdom High School are invited to step into a new experience of life and a new experience of themselves. In this way, foreign languages become not-so-foreign afterall, as students begin to discover new facets of themselves through cooperating with the qualities exemplified in the high culture of other nations and peoples. Economics teaches students to relate to the human experience in broad, impersonal terms. Many of history’s greatest catastrophes were ushered through the gates by a Trojan horse of high hopes and promised utopia. The study of economics helps students to cooperate, again, with reality– a human reality, and a universal reality, as economics helps to form a bridge between the understanding of individual psychology and motivation with impersonal laws such as supply and demand. Students also learn to understand business in terms of cooperation: how to cooperate with a market, with the needs of one's customers, with a boss or subordinate, and with the resources available. In this way, students learn to see business as a creative act as well as an act of service– for a business to be deemed truly successful it must be more than financially solvent, it must be of meaningful service to our fellowman. At Living Wisdom High School, all students are taught to earn money in creative, industrious, and honest ways as a part of our yearly Service Adventure Trip.
Our Earth - Our Universe
Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Anatomy & Physiology
The sciences, either a source of great awe and wonderment, or a cause of disenchantment and despair– how many a student has wailed at the sight of grueling physics test, but far more importantly, how many have walked away with a jaded sense of the world’s mundane meaninglessness? Our approach to the sciences is a return to classical scientific heritage, to a sense of awe, to a sense of unity with this magnificent earth and universe we have the privilege of calling our home.
Students in Our Earth– Our Universe learn the fundamentals of scientific learning in such a way as to inspire the heart, rather than dull it. The life sciences are a window through which awe before the complexity and miracle of life are studied and marveled at, and the physical sciences become an exploration of the laws and underlying principles of our reality.
We are in the midst of developing a cutting edge biology program where students will learn the fundamentals of the subject primarily through the lens of the human body– with all it’s magnificent structures and functions, the study of the human form provides not only the perfect laboratory for education, but an expanding sense of awe and connectivity to the magnificence of all life.
Our students also engage in an original applied physiology and kinesiology course where they learn the fundamentals of human movement, athletic development, and injury prevention and rehabilitation. Students also learn the basics of right diet and nutrition, taking their study of biology all the way from the cellular to the practical. In the physical sciences, students learn abstract and applied lessons side by side. Far from the bleak memorization of dreary facts alone, our approach to science aims always to invoke appreciation for the magnificence of the natural world– be it through the phenomena of combustion, the launching of bottle rockets, or the building of balloon-powered race cars. For advanced students, mathematical application is applied, giving ample opportunity for students of all levels to grapple with the laws of the universe. Many of our students walk away from Our Earth– Our Universe with a deeper sense of appreciation, awe, and enthusiasm for science and the natural world. Be it through the cultivation of a healthier body, or the desire to design the next space telescope, our students all walk away with a greater sense of the wonders of our world.
Understanding People
World History, Psychology, Sociology
Many people blunder their way through life harming themselves and others not so much through malice, but by simple misunderstanding. Too many people are ignorant of their own motives, what to speak of the motives of others. Lacking insight, they turn to popular culture to teach them how to behave, what to think, and what to aspire towards. What is needed then, is understanding.
Understanding People includes the study of mankind, not in a dehumanized way as if examining particles of dust under a microscope, but in a dynamic and, at first, personal way. All true knowledge is rooted in self knowledge and as such, students are taught first to understand themselves through the stories and lives of history. By learning to see themselves in the lives of the great men and women of the past, students learn more than just dates and events– they begin to learn how to lead a fulfilling life.
But to end one’s understanding of people with the personal, merely, would be to suffocate in the confines of one’s egoic limitations. As such, we understand that the personal understanding (which is to say, self awareness) is only the first step in this educational branch. The personal provides a springboard from which students learn to abstract impersonal truths– truths which govern the lives of all, regardless of time or space. Students learn to perceive the underlying motives of all people, most especially the underlying desire to avoid pain and the pursuit of happiness. Through this awareness there arises a naturally expanding sympathy as students learn to feel a sense of companionship with all.
Wholeness
Literature, Music, Arts, Philosophy, Religion
Wholeness is the subject which unifies all others– it is the hub of the wheel of our educational approach.
All education shares a unifying element: the human perspective. Even our exploration of distant stars and galaxies inextricably involves mankind, for without us, there wouldn’t be anyone to gaze at all. A common absence in modern education is a lack of meaning, a lack of cohesion; a lack of purpose. Wholeness shows the interconnectedness of all life, interweaving the various disciplines of the scholastic environment, and life itself, into one integrated whole.
Wholeness includes common topics such as the study of literature, music, great art, philosophy, and the study of religion. In every great story there lies an element of eternity, for what makes a story compelling is not just its structure or form, but what it conveys about the human experience– what we learn about ourselves through it. As such, literature is a mirror through which we learn to perceive ourselves, and others, more clearly, aided by the insight of the greatest writers of the past. Stories, too, teach us to see the fitness of life. It’s easy to see in a story when an action or plot point is out of place– it jars the reader, creating a sense of disharmony rather than a feeling of integrity. In this way, the study of great stories can teach us to abstract a feeling of fitness into our own lives; they teach us how to understand the story of our own lives more clearly, and how best to write it. Music is far more than entertainment. Contained within melody lies the song of the heart, for melody expresses aspiration. Music is the universal language, transcending barriers of time and culture. Through the study of the sublime melodies from the West and East, students at Living Wisdom learn to feel within themselves the echoes of the aspiration encapsulated in notes by great composers. In this way, we can learn to not only appreciate the capacity for nobility within the human heart, but emulate and– eventually– create it ourselves. The purpose of religion is simple: the upliftment and enlightenment of mankind. In Wholeness students are taught to see the underlying unity of all religious paths: man’s search for happiness. Teachers draw from the paragons of the ages from traditions from East and West, drawing on a heritage of wisdom millennium long. Students are taught to appreciate, but also to experience the essence of all religions until they are able to express it through their writing, their creative works, and through their own radiant happiness.
