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Methodology of Syllabi, Course Plans, & Study Guides
Beginning in 2003, Kolbe began the very long and arduous task of completely overhauling all of our syllabi and course plans and adding many study guides to the curriculum. When the home school began selling curriculum around 1995, our course plans were extremely rudimentary, as if parents were told ,”Get to X,” but without a map of how to get there. That was fine for the seasoned home schooling parent, but as Catholic home schooling grew, we recognized the need to give parents more direction.
All the components of Kolbe’s curriculum are designed to help guide the student through the four stages of intellectual development:
- Understanding what is read
- Retention of explicit information
- Recognition of implicit concepts
- Making connections—Mastery
The syllabi and course plans are the road maps through the first, third and fourth stages. They provide the parent/teacher and the student with key points for understanding and also help make connections across subjects and to our Catholic Faith. The discussion questions and key points focus attention to the recognition of implicit concepts, while the paper topics primarily focus on making connections. The quarterly exams generally have multiple sections designed to test the student on understanding, retention, recognition and mastery.
The study guides focus on development in the first, second and third stages of intellectual development. They are designed to lead the student to a better understanding of what he has read, help him to retain explicit information through repetition, and guide him in understanding and recognition of implicit concepts. Although it may seem trivial to simply repeat given information, it is critical to mastery.
Kolbe Academy Course Plan Samples
The following are links to samples of Kolbe Academy Homeschool Course Plans. Course plans with exams are available for free to enrolled families or for purchase from our bookstore. Our online courses generally follow Kolbe’s homeschool course plans with the opportunity to modify as needed for the online classroom.
Please avoid using sample course plans to order books. Although these samples provide a helpful overview of want you can expect from Kolbe course plans, they may not accurately reflect the current book lists.
Note: Courses listed below with an asterisk have been archived. Please read information about archived courses here.
Sample Course Plan Links
6th Grade
Click the following links to view samples of our course plans for 6th Grade:
- Religion
- Composition and Vocabulary
- English Grammar
- Phonics
- Reading
- Classical Composition
- History (All Ye Lands)
- History (Land of Our Lady)
- Geography
- Math (Saxon)*
- Math (Singapore)
- Science*
- Earth Science (for advanced students)
- Life Science (for advanced students)
- Second Form Latin
Elementary Literature (5 - 6)
Click the following links to view samples of the syllabus and course plans for Elementary Literature:
7th Grade
Click the following links to view samples of our course plans for 7th Grade:
- Religion
- Composition & Vocabulary
- English Grammar
- Classical Composition
- Bible History
- History (Land of Our Lady)
- History (Light to the Nation I)
- Math with Pre-Algebra (Saxon)*
- Pre-Algebra (Sadlier)
- Earth Science (Pearson)
- Life Science
- Third Form Latin
- Greek 1
8th Grade
Click the following links to view samples of our course plans for 8th Grade:
- Religion
- Composition & Vocabulary
- English Grammar
- Classical Composition
- Bible History
- History (Christ and the Americas)*
- History (Land of Our Lady)
- History (American Venture)
- History (Light to the Nation II)
- Pre-Algebra (Saxon)*
- Pre-Algebra (Sadlier)
- Algebra 1 (Foerster)
- Earth Science (Pearson)
- Life Science
- Physical Science
- Fourth Form Latin
- Greek 2
Junior High Literature (7 - 8)
Click the following links to view samples of the syllabus and course plans for Junior High Literature:
