A life-preparatory high school opening fall 2021

Our Summer Program offers unique classes that showcase our educational philosophy. These courses are intended to augment and complement traditional classes offered at local schools. They range from life skills, such as financial literacy and habits for success, to learner-led projects in our Makers’ Lab. We use games, field trips, the Socratic method of discussion and project-based learning to make these classes fun and memorable. Come experience how we prepare teens for real life.
Our courses fall under five categories:

  1. life skills;
  2. community;
  3. humanities;
  4. science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); and
  5. Makers’ Lab.

Courses are typically four weeks long and offered in

  • Session 1 (Monday, June 14 – Friday, July 9, 2021),
  • Session 2 (Monday, July 12 – Friday, August 6, 2021)

or both. A few courses are eight weeks long and span both sessions – that is, they start Monday, June 14 and end Friday, August 6. Classes typically meet twice per week — Mondays & Wednesdays (MW) or Tuesdays & Thursdays (TTh) — for three hours each. Morning classes are 9:00am-12:00pm while afternoon classes are 12:30pm-3:30pm. A few classes with a significant number of field trips typically meet for the whole day (9 AM to 4 PM). Our facilities are open 8 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday, and learners are welcome to stay at school outside of class hours for a fee of $10 per hour.

  • Health & Wellness Understand your body and how you can influence it through diet, sleep and exercise. Track key health metrics and measurements and how they respond to various activities. Dive into the details of tests performed at your physical exam. (Access to Fitbit or similar activity tracker highly recommended.)
  • Cogs in the Community: Learn what makes your community run! Ever wondered how our community functions? How does the community make decisions and enforce them? Where do we get our power, water, and gas? What happens to the waste that is generated? What products and services do we provide to folks outside of the community? This fun-filled class examines the critical elements of our community via field trips to local facilities such as city hall, wind farms, local landfill, etc.
  • Environment and the Community – Where do we get our power, water, and gas? How do these essential utilities and services impact our environment? Understand the basic terminology, science, technology, and trends. This fun-filled class examines the critical infrastructure in our community via hands-on activities and field trips to local facilities.
  • Farm to Table – Explore the journey food makes from the fertile farms to our table. Visit farmers markets, dairy farms, vegetable farms, butcheries, and food factories to learn where our food comes from, how it’s processed and how it’s stocked at the grocery store. Interact with a farmer, chef or agricultural scientist and explore career options in the food industry.
  • Helping Hands – Learn about local non-profits & service organizations, how they benefit their communities and how you can support their mission. Volunteer your time to a cause that you support. Through the connections we provide, you can fulfill the twenty hours of community service requirements.
  • Classics Book Club – Avid readers who want to develop their critical-thinking skills will read two to three books from the Western canon of literature and participate in Socratic method discussions of the books. These discussions are intended to foster a constant, respectful dialogue between peers, the past and the present, and the real world and the classroom. Short compositions and book critiques will also develop their writing skills.
  • Classic Film Club – Do you love stories and popcorn? Join us on a journey to uncover what happens when people run with their imaginations and bring their visions to life on the big screen. Film enthusiasts will be introduced to movies that stood the test of time and engage in meaningful conversations to unveil what has changed and what has stayed the same. Short compositions and film critiques will also develop their writing skills.
  • Mathemagic I – Discrete Math Experience the fun of mathematics through logic puzzles like Sudoku, board games like Blokus, classic PC games like minesweeper, and card games. Students learn concepts in discrete math and number theory (like combinatorics and prime numbers) that play an increasingly important role in the modern world. This is a perfect complement to the continuous math that traditional schools focus on.
  • State of the Tech – We begin by unpacking the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is held each January, to peek at the technology just around the corner. We will explore a handful of student-selected technologies. Young minds will be dazzled as they experience virtual and augmented reality and learn to fly a quadcopter/drone. We will visit local tech companies to see firsthand the work of brilliant minds as they race to make our lives better.
  • Build Your Own Gadget (BYOG) – This is an introductory course for those interested in building their own electronic gadgets in our Makers’ Lab. Students will get an overview of the design-thinking process, block diagrams, tools and resources available, inexpensive single-board computers like Raspberry Pi or Arduino, sensors, and actuators.
  • The Mechanical Mind – This is an introductory course for those interested in building their own mechanical gadgets in our Makers’ Lab. Explore the field of mechanical engineering. Learn to design parts in CAD software and realize your creative ideas on a 3D printer. Students will get an overview of the design-thinking process.
  • Banking on our Future (BOOF) – Offered in partnership with Operation HOPE, this program empowers learners to participate in financial discussions with their families, save for college, and confidently manage their own money. Led by certified HOPE Corps volunteers, the program teaches learners money basics—budgeting, checking and savings, power of credit, and investments.
  • Habits for Success – This course introduces middle school learners to Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and puts them on a path to take ownership of their learning and lives. Through Socratic method discussions of real-life situations, learners will understand how to proactively respond to events and situations and how to effectively work with others.
  • What’s Going on in the World? – In this introductory journalism class, pick a current event — global, national, or local — and dive deep into it through reading, research and interviews. Understand multiple perspectives. Use dialectics to enhance understanding of the world and your sense of agency.
  • Invention Project – Each day, learners engage in an activity (such as solar power projects or origami robots) that combines hands-on fun and creativity with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts. These units are infused with intellectual property and entrepreneurial literacy. Eight total units offered through National Inventors Hall of Fame (invent.org).
  • Personal Finance I: Managing your money – This first course for high school students covers basics of money management, budgeting, earning and borrowing. Understand economic principles and how they influence money matters. Learn to avoid impulsive decisions and make rational ones. We will work through the process of buying or leasing a car. Learners will be exposed to college planning, costs and financing, as well as how to protect themselves from financial fraud. Have fun relating concepts to Monopoly and Ca$hflow board games.
  • Personal Finance II: Growing your money – In this continuation course for high school students, the focus will be on growing and protecting one’s hard-earned money. This class dives into payroll taxes and employee benefits to maximize savings; stocks, bonds and real estate to build personal wealth; and insurance to protect one from certain risks. Learners will research and compare financial tools and services to meet financial goals.
  • Habits for Success I: Independence With an emphasis on the first three habits of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, this class empowers students to become more independent. Learners will understand the importance of focusing on things under their control, setting goals and prioritizing tasks. Through numerous exercises, activities and tools, students will learn how to put these habits into practice for success in high school.
  • Habits for Success II: Interdependence Working effectively with others is essential, whether it be a group project or a team sport. This class focuses on Stephen Covey’s interdependence habits to nurture a cooperative environment. Learners are provided tools to periodically self-assess and make continual improvement a lifelong process. Additional topics include rational decision making and risk management.
  • Entrepreneurship – Learners bring entrepreneurship to life by gaining an understanding of economic principles that influence their lives in order to form, run, and liquidate their own business. These entrepreneurs will engage in experiential activities to synthesize how local, national, and global economic systems affect their business development and will have the opportunity to interact with professionals in their fields. This experience will allow learners to see the connections between what they learn in the classroom, their future professional journey, and their participation in the global economy.
  • Journalism – Go beyond the 60-second evening news clip. Pick a local issue – such as Covid vaccine administration, homeless camps or Aliso Canyon gas leak – and dive deep into it through reading, research and interviews. Separate misinformation from facts. Make a documentary or write a report or news article.
  • Mathemagic II : Visual Math – Experience the fun of mathematics through visualization of functions. Using Excel and Desmos, interactively graph and plot functions to learn how they behave. Explore the beauty of Lissajous curves and Mandelbrot set. You will be exposed to incredible properties of π, e, i and ∞ as well as some of the pioneers in the field.
  • Data Science – Dig deep into readily available data sets to answer a question that drives you. Dabble in statistical concepts and R programming language to learn how to distill large data sets into readily understandable graphics to effectively communicate Big Data to the masses. Build mathematical and statistical models to predict future observations.
View Brochure (PDF)

Working parents can have their child attend the full 8-week summer camp (Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm) for $2,400 and choose from the variety of classes we offer. Alternate schedules (four weeks or half-day options) are available to fit the needs of every family.

Registration

Registering for summer classes is simple – just send an email to admissions@vidyachs.org with student and guardian information as well as the class(es) you wish to register for. You may also call Myriah Bibian at 747-877-2001 and provide the information over phone. Once we have all the necessary information, we will send an invoice and an agreement. Please see the full brochure for details and policies.

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