High School
High school begins with an orientation week that includes valuable time together with classmates. School life includes clubs, athletic teams, performances, and lectures. Each class works collectively on community service projects as well—food banks, shelters, children’s services, hospice, restoration projects—with the goal of integrating service not only into a student’s high school experience but throughout their lives. Lunch time is on-campus, together with classmates and teachers, until mid-year when a day of off-campus lunch is available each week.
Faculty advisors stay with a class through high school; each student also has an individual advisor.
Explore by grade
Grade 9
Polarities: Ninth graders are ready for abstract analytic thinking and often see the world in black-and-white. Courses engage this polarity of thought and help students develop depth and complexity; the curriculum meets their stage of development with subjects such as Comedy & Tragedy and Black & White Drawing.
- Biology: Anatomy & Physiology*
- Chemistry: Organic Chemistry*
- Physics: Thermodynamics*
- Earth Science: Geology*
- Mathematics: Algebra I or Honors Geometry; Descriptive Geometry
- History: Revolutions; Heroes of Movements
- Cultural Studies: Pacific Rim*
- English: Comedy & Tragedy; Grammar; Native American Literature
- World Languages: Spanish or Mandarin
- Aesthetics: Art History*
- Music: Choir; Orchestra; Jazz Band; Drumming; World Music; Guitar (Beginning or Advanced)
- Visual & Practical Arts: Basketry; Black & White Drawing; Copper; Sculpture: Organic Forms
- Theater: Storytelling/Theater of the Oppressed
- PE & Eurythmy: Athletics; Volleyball; Basketball; Eurythmy
- Health & Wellness: Health; Wellness: Gardening
- Outdoor Education: Bay Area Geology Field Study (overnight trip)
*Main Lesson Blocks
Grade 10
Process: Tenth grade students are able to look more deeply at the world and how it continues to evolve. They seek to understand process, growth, and transformation, as they experience it in themselves. Courses include The Origins of Language and US Government. Students weave cloth from thread and explore the development of human life in Embryology.
- Biology: Embryology & Heredity*
- Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry*
- Physics: Mechanics*
- Earth Science: Meteorology*
- Mathematics: Honors Algebra II or Geometry; Computer Science; Conic Sections*
- History: Classical World Thought*; US Government
- Cultural Studies: Africa*
- Language Arts: Explorations in Ancient Literature; Origins of Language
- World Languages: Spanish or Mandarin
- Aesthetics: Poetics*
- Music: Choir; Chamber Choir; Orchestra; Jazz Band; Drumming; World Music; Guitar (Beginning or Advanced)
- PE & Eurythmy: Athletics; Volleyball; Basketball; Eurythmy: Student Choreography; Eurythmy Troupe
- Visual & Practical Arts: Techniques in Color; Weaving; Clay Molding; Cooking
- Theater: Stagecraft
- Health & Wellness: Health & Wellness; Gardening
- Outdoor Education: Biodynamic Farming & Kayaking (overnight trip)
*Main Lesson Blocks
Grade 11
Identity: At this age, students have a growing capacity for self reflection and begin to examine questions of identity: How am I shaped by my experiences and my learning? What is uniquely my own? They read Hamlet and Parzival, classics about finding one’s destiny, and study great artists and leaders in Music History and US History. They choose from more than a dozen eclectic art electives, such as film making, sculpture, and metal arts.
- Biology: Botany & Cell Biology*
- Chemistry: Periodic Table*
- Physics: Electricity & Magnetism*
- Earth Science: Astronomy*
- Mathematics: Honors Precalculus or Algebra II; Projective Geometry*; Statistics
- History: Medieval Studies*; US History: Civil War to present
- Cultural Studies: Latin America*
- English: Medieval World*; Shakespeare*
- World Languages: Spanish or Mandarin
- Aesthetics: History of Music*
- Music: Choir; Chamber Choir; Orchestra; Jazz Band; Drumming; World Music; Guitar (Beginning or Advanced);
- PE & Eurythmy: Athletics; Ultimate Frisbee; Movement electives; Latin Rhythms; Eurythmy: Dramatic Tales; Eurythmy: Orchestral Music; Eurythmy Troupe
- Visual & Practical Arts: Perspective; Life Drawing; Veil Painting; Bookbinding; Forging; Photography; Printmaking; Sewing; Woodwork; Video & Animation; Oil Painting; Sculpture: Human Figure
- Theater: Building Character in Acting
- Health & Wellness: Mindful Movement
- Outdoor Education: Astronomy & Caving at Lava Beds (overnight trip)
*Main Lesson Blocks
Grade 12
World Consciousness: Seniors are able to think analytically and imaginatively. They synthesize knowledge and experience, and begin to see their emerging place in the world. Students explore critical questions: What guides peoples’ action? How can I make a difference in the world? Why might I choose this path? They read Thoreau and learn about American Transcendentalists, explore the interrelationships of ecosystems in Environmental Science, and create a capstone senior project or play.
- Biology: Zoology & Evolution*; Honors Biology
- Chemistry: Biochemistry*
- Physics: Optics*; Honors Modern Physics
- Earth Science: Environmental Science*
- Mathematics: Honors Calculus; Precalculus; Calculus & Chaos Theory*
- History: Modern World History*; World Affairs
- Cultural Studies: Economics*
- English: Faust*; Modern World Lit; Senior Essay; Transcendentalists; Russian Masters: Honors Film & Lit
- World Languages: Spanish or Mandarin
- Aesthetics: History of Architecture*
- Music: Choir; Chamber Choir; Orchestra, Jazz Band, Drumming, World Music, Guitar (Beginning or Advanced)
- PE & Eurythmy: Athletics; Ultimate Frisbee; Movement; Latin Rhythms; Eurythmy: solo work, poetry, & music; Eurythmy Troupe
- Visual & Practical Arts: Painting elective; Drawing elective; Bookbinding; Forging; Video & Animation; Photography; Sewing; Glass Art; Woodwork; Printmaking; Sculpture: Woodcarving
- Theater: Play Production (optional)
- Health & Wellness: Mindful Movement
- Outdoor Education: Senior Quest; Final Adventure/Senior Trip (overnight trips)
- Senior Play or Senior Project
*Main Lesson Blocks
Explore Senior Projects
Education
Meet our Chair
Voices of our community
"I created a brushless electric motor that also functioned as a generator. The motor used a Hall effect sensor to sense the position of the magnet and a transistor to apply currents to the electromagnets at the correct times."
“Teachers hear from graduating seniors about their education and their plans, as well as ways for making our school stronger. Our students are always incredibly articulate, honest, and thoughtful in the wisdom they share. The education inspires thinking, feeling, and independent young adults.”
I was in a place of exploration / so open and undiscovered that /
It made me feel limitless.
“Nature has always been a big part of my life. The school has taught me everything from what we can do to save the planet to how to safely adventure in the great outdoors, and for that I am so grateful.”
“Sometimes I stop and I think and I wonder: How lucky am I to be able to travel, and not simply just travel, but be able to immerse myself in a culture, meet young people like me, and bring people the gift of eurythmy.”
"We read The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. The class was small and we were able to study the book together really carefully, which was so meaningful to all of us.”
“I am fueled by the way teenagers become fascinated by ideas—and by the philosophical implications and real-world consequences of those ideas. Of course, they continue to be intrigued by great stories, but now they have the capacity to consider the broader contexts of those stories. These are the sorts of questions that have engaged me throughout my academic career, and I get a thrill out of helping my students grapple with them, often for the first time, in sophisticated ways."
"The process of teaching science in Waldorf schools is much closer to the process of doing research than to the way science had been taught to me in high school. When one faces new territory in science it is important to keep an open mind to what nature is trying to tell you. New concepts are created out of a process of observation of phenomena in order to discover and formulate the so-called physical laws."