Lotus & Ivy
Waldorf-Inspired Virtual Classes
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Class9LanguageArts

Lotus & Ivy provides live, interactive Waldorf math classes online for 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, and 8th grade. We follow the Jamie York Math Academy curriculum for our live math classes. Eighth grade topics: Number bases, Ancient number systems, Expanded decimal notation,Scientific notation, Octal, base-five, base-sixteen, base-two (binary), Converting between binary and hexadecimal, Square root algorithm, Pythagorean Theorem, Percents & Growth, Percent increase and decrease, exponential growth, the rule of 72, Dimensional Analysis, Converting between metric and U.S. units, Converting units for rates, Converting areas and volumes, Density, Proportions, Rate problems, Algebraic expressions, The laws of exponents, Review of fractions and negatives, Algebraic equations, Converting repeating decimals into fractions, Computer memory & ASCII code, Computer algorithms, Mensuration, Baravalle’s proof of the Pythagorean Theorem, Area of a trapezoid, Heron’s formula, Areas of four types of triangles, Area of a circle, Portions of circles, Volume and surface area of solids (box, prism, pyramid, cylinder, cone, sphere, octahedron, tetrahedron), Archimedes’ ratio, Stereometry, Types of polyhedra, Platonic solids, Duality, Archimedean solids, Euler’s formula, and Imagination 3-D transformation exercises.

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Class 9 Language Arts

Our Class 9 Language Arts classes are live, interactive and meet one per week with the teacher.  Students are invited to interact with the teacher and ask questions as part of class time.

Students will continue to improve their writing craft and deepen their understanding of more complex poetry and prose. They will do reading comprehension based on a wide variety of sources. They will keep reviewing grammar to perfect longer essays.

In the ‘Comedy and Tragedy’ Main Lesson in Class 9, the students build on skills they have started to develop in Class 8, but go further, making comparisons between texts, and finding parallels and connections between plays written in very different time periods. Language Arts affords the opportunity to read and discuss two such different plays, Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus Rex’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. The presentation of the tragic hero in each play will give the 9th grader the chance to make judgments and comparisons, and to argue an individual point of view, which will need to be supported by referring closely to the text.

The History of the Novel is also studied in LA, with a study of Herman Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’ Students will learn how the novel recapitulates the earlier genres of epic, drama and poetry, and understand how Melville’s work expresses all of these in different chapters. As in the Comedy and Tragedy ML, students will wrestle with the problems of fate and free will, and explore other themes and key characters. Students will present individual chapters to the rest of the class, commenting on interesting and notable features, backed up with relevant quotations. They will write in a range of different styles, including essays, persuasive and descriptive writing inspired by Melville’s style, and participate in vocabulary enrichment exercises based on new words they have encountered in the novel.

First semester: The Novel - Moby Dick

The precursors to the novel - the epic, drama, and lyric poetry - and the development and elements of the novel. Characters in Moby Dick: Ishmael and Queequeg; first impressions of Captain Ahab, Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask. Language: epic and lyrical passages and a chapter written in the form of a scene from a play. Examine characters, symbols and themes: fate and freewill; the exploitative nature of whaling; surfaces and depths.

The students will make notes on characters, language, themes and style as they read the novel and also look up and share new vocabulary. They will do a presentation on the opening paragraph of a novel they have read and enjoyed and comment on stylistic features that draw the reader in. They will draw portraits of Queequeg and Captain Ahab and draw a picture of a whaling ship and a diagram of its interior. They will draw a map showing the route of the Pequod and of Melville’s journeys around the world. They will write essays on the novel and its precursors, the relationship between Ismael and Queequeg, and a character study of Captain Ahab. They will write a short analysis of a passage they particularly enjoyed, commenting on its epic, lyrical or dramatic features. They will write a short lyrical piece about the experience of feeling one with nature, inspired by Ishmael’s reflections on the sea and emulating Melville’s style. They will also write a short extra scene using the conventions of drama, which will be based on the characters and plot of Moby Dick, and which will include vocabulary appropriate to the characters. There will be weekly vocabulary extension exercises and, for students who request it, spelling practice. 

Second Semester:

Students will study descriptive, expository and narrative writing, and deepen their knowledge of all aspects of grammar in order to develop their writing style. They will study the rhetorical features that make writing persuasive, and analyze the language of speeches and of newspapers. This will culminate in the students writing their own speech on a chosen topic, as well as a range of newspaper articles.


Class 9 English: Grammar & Punctuation: The main goal of this work is to help the students deepen their understanding of the rules of the English language, as well as to gain comfort in and develop their own voice as writers.

  • Individual vocabulary extension.

  • Punctuation

  • Revision of punctuation as necessary

  • Grammar

  • Revision of aspects of grammar as necessary

Homework

Homework is provided to do outside of class. Class 9 students can expect to spend 2-3 hours outside of humanities class on humanities homework. Homework includes reading, writing, and other assignments. Assignments are given and graded in Class 9. If you prefer to receive feedback only, communicate this with the teacher.

 

The Outsiders Literature & The musical Analysis

We’ve created this course thoughtfully to meet the students at a pivotal stage of their development, when young people begin to step more consciously into the questions of identity, justice, and their place in the wider world. Grade 8 and 9 students stand at a threshold: no longer children, not yet adults, and deeply responsive to stories that reflect their own inner awakening.

The Outsiders is one such story. Through exploration of friendship, social division, loyalty, prejudice, and moral choice, it speaks directly to the adolescent experience. In this class, students will enter the novel slowly and attentively, allowing the characters and themes to live inwardly before encountering its transformation into a stage musical.  

By following the journey from written word to script, music, and song, students gain a living understanding of how different art forms express the same human truths in distinct yet complementary ways.

Our work will be engaging both thinking and feeling, weaving together literary study, musical listening, artistic response, and creative writing. Students will explore how music and lyrics reveal inner life, how motifs and themes echo across works, and how stories give shape to the often unspoken experiences of growing up. Artistic activities—drawing, painting, and imaginative presentation—support comprehension and allow students to meet the material with their whole being, not only the intellect.

This is a course that honors the inner life of the adolescent. It offers a space for careful listening, meaningful conversation, and thoughtful preparation, encouraging responsibility and independence while still holding students within a warm, guided structure. The aim is not simply analysis, but awakening interest, moral imagination, and a deeper relationship to literature as something that illuminates life.

Grown-ups who value education as a path of becoming—rather than mere information—will recognize this as a rare opportunity for their child to engage with literature and music in a way that is developmentally attuned, artistically rich, and inwardly strengthening.

Please contact us if you have questions.

Testimonials:

“Thank you very much for Shael's report and for teaching the 9th grade class. Our family is profoundly grateful. You are such an gifted and also patient teacher. Your love and passion for the subject are reflected in the classes. Thank you with all my heart. ” - Fabienne S.