Where can I find information about courses?
Course descriptions are linked on the registration page. Each course description provides a course overview and identifies required texts and other materials.
How are classes conducted?
We meet as a whole group each Thursday, where we participate in discussions related to the course material and also spend workshop time developing skills and knowledge relevant to student-identified projects. These meetings are conducted over Zoom. We encourage students who are geographically close to each other to congregate in a central location (a home, park, library, etc.).
Each Friday, students receive assignments through Google Classroom that they work on throughout the week. Some of the assignments are related to fundamental skills and knowledge they need to develop, others are related to the projects they are working on. In many cases, this includes collaborative work with other members of their project team.
What do you mean by “project?”
In addition to whole-class work, students work individually or in small teams to develop semester-long projects which are framed by the theme(s) of the course and incorporate topics of interest. Based on their choices, students design and develop an artifact which reflects their exploration of the topic. Some examples of artifacts are: website, video, paper, children’s book, spoken word presentation.
At the end of each semester, students showcase their projects to a public audience of peers and adults, presenting their artifact and learning process as evidence of learning.
What materials does my student need?
Every student needs a computer or mobile device (tablet, smartphone) that they bring to every class. We use the Google Workspace suite of tools for classwork (Docs, Sheets, Classroom, etc.) which is all available free of charge and provides easy ways for us to collaborate. Throughout the year, we will also use several other free technology tools.
Social Studies classes often require a central mass market text, available through Amazon or other book retailers. Books for Literature are usually available through public libraries, and films are typically available on one or more of the major streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc.). Each course description (linked on the registration page) identifies the materials we will be using throughout the year. It is the student’s responsibility to cover any costs for these materials.
What is the cost for a Meliora course?
The tuition for each Meliora course is $600 per student per each full-year (32-week) course. A discount is offered when a family enrolls multiple students.