The Carden Curriculum is designed to teach children to think, to express themselves clearly and successfully, and thus to command their lives.
- Sequence and patterns make learning a joy and an easy task.
- The curriculum is one in which the subjects are interrelated, joining poetry with science, and language with numbers.
- Language Arts is a complete integration of listening, reading, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, critical thinking, composition, and comprehension.
- The Language Arts program builds the ability to understand what is read, to analyze, to think about, and to use the material that is read.
- Reading and spelling are based on a unique phonetic approach with simple, clear rules.
- Students learn 1,500 vocabulary words each year, beginning in the First Grade.
- Because of the success the children achieve in the language arts, time is released for a broadened curriculum, which includes music, poetry, foreign language, chess and drama.
- The teaching material is designed to awaken the students' mental images, leading to greater mental penetration and focus.
- In Math, Language Arts, Science, and the other subject areas, children develop the ability to explain what they are doing, and teach it back to the teachers.
- The teaching method leads to independence and accomplishment in study.
- The school culture avoids pressure and rivalry. It encourages stamina and good sportsmanship.
- The Carden experience spares the child nervous strain and tension because competition is not a part of the learning experience.
- The teacher maintains a pleasant, calm classroom atmosphere in which the child develops powers of concentration and works in a relaxed manner.
The Carden Curriculum includes:
- Learning to Listen
- Reading
- Spelling
- Penmanship, with cursive beginning in First Grade
- Speech (clear enunciation, fluent expression, public speaking)
- Vocabulary (program for every grade level)
- Reading and oral comprehension
- Grammar: parts of speech, verb conjugation, sentence analysis
- Critical Thinking
- Composition (guided and creative)
- Literature (classics, prose, poetry, drama)
- Mathematics (thorough, conceptual, applied)
- Geography (California, USA, world)
- History (American, Californian, Western Civilization, Ancient History, Renaissance and Middle Ages)
- Science (concepts, experiments, observation, field work; overnight science camps for grades 5-8)
- Physical Education (individual and team achievement, sportsmanship)
- French (beginning in Kindergarten: vocabulary, grammar, conversation, songs, drama)
- Music (sight singing, major and minor keys, rhythm and phrasing, voice, wind instruments)
- Art (appreciation and application: charcoal, paints, ceramics, 3-dimentional)
- Poetry (listening, composing, reciting)
- Drama (character development, story building, improvisation, grade-level and all-school performances)
- Chess (beginning in Kindergarten)
- Latin (beginning in Sixth Grade)
