Overview

Curie Learning is a skill-based program designed for advanced students who are in need of a more challenging experience. The goals of our program include holding high expectations for our students, teaching students independent learning skills, and challenging students beyond their current level in their day schools. We hope to prepare students for a more academically inclined future—to not only be admitted into prestigious high schools or colleges, but to obtain the work ethic and skill sets that are necessary to succeed in these schools. Our standard program includes both Math and English courses. Our program is not a one-on-one tutoring program- students are expected to keep up with the pace of the class and to exhibit the efforts necessary to make this program beneficial for them.

Courses

Math Courses

English Courses

Beyond teaching students the methods to solve problems, our goals for our math program include teaching students to think mathematically. Not only will students be exposed to higher-thinking level problems and the methods to solve the problems, but how and why the methods work. Students will be expected to tackle problems that make them think; they will not be able to simply follow the method to solve, but will need to truly understand the concepts in order to solve them. Students are given ample practice in order to understand these concepts. *The methods taught in the math classes are similar to the methods taught to students in American day schools.

English Courses

There are four main foci of skills that are included in our English curriculum: reading comprehension, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. For each consecutive level of our program, each of these foci become more challenging and the expectation level is higher than the last; this is especially true for writing. Each of these components are included in the weekly lessons.

The Levels and the Placement Test

Our courses are tiered according to “level”. The level of a course is not directly determined by the grade level of a student in their day schools. Students are tested into a specific level and remain there for the duration of the course. Over the summer months, a Bridge Program may be considered in order to bridge the gap between the levels so that the student may resume at a higher level the following year. The “higher level” is the level whose number is in sync with the student’s current grade level in his or her day school.

Students are not placed into the program according to age or grade level in their day schools. For any new student, the first step in the enrollment process is to take a placement test. The placement test is used to determine the suggested level that the student be placed. The placement test includes skill-based math problems as well as a reading comprehension activity. The results of a placement test determine a recommendation of which level to place a student. Patrons are allowed to choose against this recommendation; however, a statement must be signed communicating that the patron understands that he or she is choosing a level outside of our recommendation and what that entails.

For any given level, the higher placement of a student coincides with the grade level in the student’s day school. For example, if a fifth-grade student is placed in Level 5 of our program, they are is placed in the higher level for their age group. The curriculum in this age group is loosely based on the National Standards for the following year (sixth grade) and even the next (seventh grade). Not only are the topics of higher level, students are given problems and activities of a higher rigor than what they typically experience in their day schools. Students may also be placed in the next level up or the next level down, as determined by their placement test score.

It is possible for a student to switch between levels during the course duration. To move down a level is typically not problematic; however, we do not recommend a student to switch to a higher level in the middle of a course. He or she will often struggle when joining a higher-level course midway through the curriculum: there are too many concepts missed for an easy transition.

If you are a new student, please contact us to take your placement test.

Please continue to scroll for more information about each level.

Elementary School Program (Levels 1-6) Academic Year

Level 3 - 6 Winter Condensed English starts on February

Level 3 - 5 Winter Accelerated Math starts on February

Level 6 Winter Accelerated Math starts on February

Level 1 Advanced Program

For the Math supplementary instruction, students will be taught number sense, money, multiplication, and much more. To learn more about the content, please view this PDF. For the English supplementary instruction, students will be taught introductory grammar and punctuation rules. To learn more about the class structure, please contact us.

Offered during Academic Year