Plumfield Academy Curriculum

 

Plumfield Academy provides a fulfilling academic program by offering students rich materials across a wide variety of subject areas.

The curriculum of Plumfield Academy is based on Charlotte Mason's conviction that, "children should read worthy books, many worthy books." She called these sources "living books" because they inspire great thoughts and generous deeds. In her work, A Philosophy of Education, Charlotte Mason set the following standard for the choice of books to be used in the classroom:

 

"They should furnish readers with fruitful ideas, and should afford them with knowledge, really valuable for its own sake, accurate, and interesting, of the kind that the child may recall as an adult with profit and pleasure."

 

09-10 Curriculum Outline

 

For many aspects of our learning, Plumfield Academy turns to people in the community who are experts in their field. We utilize some of the following Satellite Learning Locations:

 

    Saugus River Association

    Local vegetable gardeners

    Lynn Woods

    Lynn Heritage State Park

    Peabody Essex Museum, Salem

    Salem Maritime National Historic Site

    Saugus Ironworks National Historic Site

    University of Massachusetts, Lowell, SMARTS programs

    New England Aquarium

    MIT, Edgerton Center

    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

    Peabody Museum, Cambridge

    Essex Shipbuilding Museum,

    Roger Williams Park Zoo,    Providence, RI

    Franklin Park Zoo, Boston

    Museum of Science, Boston

    Bradley Palmer State Park

    Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary

    Plastics Museum, Leominster, MA

 

What cannot be presented at this time are the elements of the curriculum that students will design for themselves: the books they will choose to read and the projects they will initiate. At the beginning of the year, students are asked to respond to an interest survey which helps the staff gain an insight into their strengths and interests. Students also take a multiple intelligences test based on the work of Howard Gardner in Multiple Intelligences: The Theory and Practice. Students are encouraged to know their strengths, pursue their interests with vigor, and develop a self understanding based on the truth that, "we have gifts that differ according to the favor bestowed on us." (Romans 12:6)  From this perspective, Plumfield Academy individualizes its curriculum to meet the unique needs and interests of each student.