← Back to Curriculum Middle School · ages 10 to 13 · 5th to 8th Grade · 15h/week

From reading to argument.

Fifteen hours per week of live and recorded classes. The student goes deeper into the classical, opens the first books of world literature, translates Latin fables, defends Catholic doctrine on solid ground, and learns molecular biology. It is the transition from childhood to intellectual life.

At thirteen, he writes with clarity, argues with foundation, and reads the first great books of world literature.

Subjects

Subjects in this stage.

Each subject with its core topics. The curriculum grows in density across the years of the stage.

Portuguese

  • Grammar instruction grounded in the great works
  • Advanced syntactic analysis (subject, predicate, complements)
  • Word classes in depth
  • Compound periods: coordination and subordination
  • Nominal and verbal agreement (rules and special cases)
  • Punctuation in complex periods
  • Figures of speech in literary texts

Portuguese (Composition)

  • Biography and formal letter
  • Informative text and news writing
  • Argumentative text (classical structure)
  • Cohesion, coherence, and context-appropriateness
  • Narrative short story and fictional structure
  • Summary, paraphrase, and basic oratory

Portuguese Literature

  • 5th grade: Pollyanna (Porter), Peter Pan (Barrie), Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • 6th grade: The Hobbit (Tolkien), Pinocchio (Collodi), Oliver Twist (Dickens)
  • 7th grade: The Prince and the Pauper (Twain), Heidi (Spyri), MacDonald
  • 8th grade: Treasure Island (Stevenson), Black Beauty (Sewell), Jules Verne
  • Reading plan curated by Fr. Rodrigo Gurgel
  • Analysis of narrative structure, genre, and authorial technique

Mathematics

  • Rational and real numbers
  • Expressions and equations
  • Polynomials and factoring
  • Linear functions, ratios, proportions, percentage
  • 2D, 3D, and analytic geometry
  • Statistics, probability, and logic

Latin

  • Advanced morphology (declensions, conjugations)
  • Latin syntax (subjunctive, gerund, gerundive, supine)
  • Guided reading of Phaedrus (fables)
  • Guided reading of Eutropius (History of Rome)
  • The influence of Latin on Portuguese
  • Final disputatio (debate in Latin)

English

  • Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs
  • Personal narratives and business letters
  • How-to articles and descriptions
  • Book reviews and creative writing
  • Expository writing and research reports
  • Syntactic analysis (sentence diagrams)

Sciences

  • Biomolecules (water, salts, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins)
  • Cytology: cell structure and metabolism
  • Molecular biology and cell division
  • Genetics: Mendel's Laws, mutations
  • Evolution, speciation, genetic drift
  • Biotechnology: cloning, GMOs, bioethics

History

  • Eastern civilizations (China, India, Japan)
  • The Middle Ages
  • Enlightenment and the French Revolution
  • Napoleonic era and Latin American independences
  • Imperial Brazil: arrival of the Court, opening of the ports
  • 19th century: Congress of Vienna, the Belle Époque

Geography

  • Globalization and geopolitics
  • The American continent (natural, economic, political)
  • African and Antarctic continents
  • Advanced cartography

Christian Moral Teaching

  • Sanctifying and actual grace
  • Sacraments: Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Orders
  • Consecrated life and priesthood
  • Virtues and merit
  • St. Thomas and the virtue of religion
  • Christian life as public witness
Reading plan

What your child reads, from 5th to 8th grade.

Reading plan curated by Fr. Rodrigo Gurgel. Meeting the classics of childhood and youth.

5th grade · ages 10–11

  • Eleanor H. Porter — Pollyanna
  • J. M. Barrie — Peter Pan
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder — Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, By the Shores of Silver Lake
  • E. B. White — Charlotte's Web
  • Michael Bond — Paddington Helps Out
  • Charles Dickens — The Life of Our Lord

6th grade · ages 11–12

  • J. R. R. Tolkien — The Hobbit
  • Carlo Collodi — The Adventures of Pinocchio
  • Michael Ende — The Neverending Story
  • Charles Dickens — Oliver Twist

7th grade · ages 12–13

  • Mark Twain — The Prince and the Pauper
  • Rudyard Kipling — The Jungle Books
  • Johanna Spyri — Heidi
  • George MacDonald — The Princess and the Goblin

8th grade · ages 13–14

  • Robert Louis Stevenson — Treasure Island
  • Anna Sewell — Black Beauty
  • Howard Pyle — The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
  • Jules Verne — Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Companion readings (5th grade)

Hans Christian Andersen — Fairy Tales · Phaedrus — Fables, Book II · Italo Mariconi — The 100 Best Brazilian Poems

By the end of this stage

What your child will have achieved.

  • · Writes essays with grounded argument and classical structure
  • · Reads literature in Latin (fables and historical narrative)
  • · Knows the principles of molecular biology, genetics, and evolution
  • · Commands algebra, 2D/3D geometry, and basic statistics
  • · Recognizes the action of Divine Providence throughout history
  • · Articulates with clarity themes of philosophy and Christian doctrine
  • · Ready for classical High School and its texts in the original

Want to enroll your child in this stage?

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