Grades 4-8

Philosophy

Kindi Academy offers an accelerated curriculum for fourth through eighth grades. The program is designed to meet children’s interests in learning and their ability to absorb and comprehend difficult concepts when introduced properly. The content taps into the natural intelligence of children, only to push the envelope higher. Our teacher to student ratio is kept low in order to attend to a student’s needs in a more individualistic form. Our multiple track system in certain subjects along with our breakaway sessions combined with before and after school support play a big role in helping students gain confidence and succeed.
The school’s core academics are Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). The school offers an elaborate Humanities curriculum that combines both English and Social Studies in one approach.

Mathematics

The school’s math curriculum is one of its greatest strengths. In a nation suffering from deficiency in mathematics education, Kindi fills the gap with a rich, focused, and advanced program. Math topics are
taught in depth and with relevance. The topics are linked together naturally in a seamless manner that keeps many of the ideas fresh and current on students' minds. The school offers two tracks of math for most levels: a regular track and an advanced one. In the regular track, students are introduced to concepts one year above their current grade. In the advanced track, students tackle concepts at least two years above their current grade. In this track, students transition from pure rote practice to dealing more with problem solving and critical thinking scenarios. Students handle hard problems that usually appear in competitions and contests. Students in eighth grade can advance to pre- calculus or calculus, based on their abilities . The school participates in many math contests on the local, state, and national levels.

Science

The school’s science program
follows the same approach in teaching math, which emphasizes both breadth and depth. The science curriculum takes a project-inquiry approach. Students conduct experiments before concepts are introduced or after a light discussion of the topic. Students then discuss their observations and come up with conclusions, after which the teacher formally teaches the thesis and concepts involved. This approach makes students think and act as scientists while using the scientific method in exploring different topics. Students are required to write journals and reports on a regular basis and to frequently conduct extra research. Students use high-tech equipment for data collection and online resources for analysis and documentation. Science is conducted in a collaborative environment where students work mostly in groups. The foundation for the different sciences is laid in the fourth grade, after which students take a full year of astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics. By the time they graduate from the eighth grade, students are fully prepared to handle Honors and AP classes in high school and score high on any Entrance Exam or standardized test.

Engineering & Technology

The school believes in children’s creative minds. Kindi Academy introduces the concepts of engineering and technology through projects employing simple and motorized machines to more
advanced projects exploring sustainable solar and wind energy. Students are introduced to building and programming robotics. Plans are in place to introduce programming languages and PCB logic at the 7th and 8th grade levels to advanced students. All projects are collaborative and solely built by the students with guidance from our experienced teachers. Through the whole process, students learn many technical and social skills that prepare them well for high school and beyond.

Humanities

Our approach to humanities features the integration of subjects, a focus on globalization, and the building of multiple basic and advanced skills. We like to call this “Literistory” or “Histerature”, which translates to Kindi's humanities approach to the instruction of history, literature, geography, social studies, reading, composition, science, and technology within the same context. What this means is that students study history and literature from the Ancients to Renaissance to Modernism, and from the Reformation to the Space Age. We plumb the depths and vastness of the most significant events and most profound writings of the last 2500 years. For the past to matter, it has to be resurrected to the ranks of the living again through literature and imagination. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn puts it, “Literature becomes the living memory of a nation." Literature is our driving instrument through which we explore all other aspects of study, for as Aristotle once said, "Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular."
Kindi’s humanities approach opens the door to asking the Big Questions. Students will grapple with questions such as “Do we live in a Darwinian world where the survival is only for the fittest?” or “Should religion be part of government?” or “Is democracy fit for any society?” or “Is a capitalist society a free one?” or “Does terrorism have a religion?” and many more. These questions are explored through free classroom discussions and reflected upon using many forms of expression. These include writing essays, poems, or short stories; debating issues in the classroom; or preparing presentations. Through these activities, students master their basic language skills such as grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling, while enriching their vocabulary and improving their public speaking, presentation, and debating skills. This approach also improves the critical thinking skills of students as they tackle issues from different aspects and listen to different viewpoints.
Although this approach is the hallmark of middle grades from sixth to eighth, many of its elements are employed in the fourth and fifth grades in a more structured format. All grades participate in plays and many language contests. All textbooks chosen from the best authors known in the field to serve the school’s goals and objectives.

Languages & Religion

The modern world we live in
today has truly become a
small village. In just a few
hours, a person can be
strolling the streets of another
country with different culture
and language. In a few clicks,
a person can be browsing a web page or watching a video from a country thousands of miles away. Realizing that language is the first barrier to overcome between cultures, the school is offering multiple second languages that students and their parents can choose from. These include three of the world's most widely spoken languages, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. The school also offers its students the opportunity to learn about the different religions of the world. Classes are offered in Islamic Studies as well as Studies of World Religions, with all classes asserting better understanding and absolute respect for the other.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Albert Einstein

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”
Nelson Mandela

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude”
Thomas Jefferson