K-12 Scope and Sequence

The Curriculum at Saint Benedict Hall strives to root our students in the best of Western Civilization, give them a love and appreciation for our Hawaiian host culture, and prepare them to grow into young men and women who are committed to their church, their family, and their Creator.

Curriculum Scope and Sequence

Note: The 2024-2025 School Year is YEAR 2 in the Scope and Sequence.

    • Bible - Be read Bible stories out loud. Celebrate a few Saint Days: Patrick and Valentine, etc. Encourage the child's natural curiosity and develop love for the Bible and the Christian Tradition.

    • Language Arts- Learn the alphabet. Begin pre-reader book. Handwriting- script (Handwriting without Tears). Introduce phonograms.

    • Nature Studies- Explore the natural world through hands on activities such as Nature Walks, octopus day, drawing, and stories. Encourage the child's natural love and excitement about the natural world.

    • Humanities- Be introduced to great art and artists. Have stories read out loud. Integrate drawing and story. Encourage the child's natural love and excitement about stories and culture.

    • Latin- Learn a few Latin words in the classroom. Encourage the child's natural curiosity of a new language.

    • Bible - Aelfred Rex Bible Stories. Parents get a Bible to review at home with students. First Grade joins our school's six year cycle through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

    • Reading & Language Arts- All About Reading- Small Groups (starting in Lv 1 and cover Levels 1 and 2 in one year). IEW Primary Arts of Language: Writing Student Book for Spelling and Grammar. Read aloud Literature and Poetry. Introduction to nouns and verbs and mastering Phonograms.

    • Nature Studies- Develop Nature Journal skills. Content focus on Canoe Plants, Native Plants, and Invasive Plants. Create a knowledge base to identity local plants.

    • Humanities- Content focus on Ancient Hawaiian Culture including moon cycles chant and listening to stories about Ancient Hawaii.

    • Latin- Deferred until Third Grade.

    • Co-curriculars - Music, May Day Performance, & Gymnasium

    • Bible - Aelfred Rex Bible Story Curriculum: 1.5 Bible Story workbooks per year. We do a six year cycle through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

    • Reading & Language Arts- All About Reading- Small Groups (starting in Lv 3). Shurley English Level 2 for Spelling and Grammar. Read aloud Literature and Poetry. Includes a Read Aloud Book list for parents to read to their children. Learn basic grammar and start reading beginner books.

    • Nature Studies- Develop Nature Journal skills. Content focus on local birds and their environment as well as native gardening.

    • Humanities- Content focus on Monarchy Era of Hawaiian history including moon cycles chant and listening to stories about the Monarchy Era.

    • Latin- Deferred until Third Grade.

    • Co-curriculars - Music, May Day Performance, & Gymnasium

    • Bible - Aelfred Rex Bible Story Curriculum: 1.5 Bible Story workbooks per year. We do a six year cycle through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

    • Language Arts- Shurley English Level 3 for Grammar and beginner writing mechanics. Includes Shurley English Level 3 Student Workbook and a Practice Booklet.

    • Nature Studies- Apologia Zoology.

    • Humanities- Content focus on Modern Era of Hawaiian history including including the overthrow of the monarchy, the battle of Pearl Harbor, and statehood of Hawaii. Students will read three books that connect to what they are learning in class.

    • Latin- Picta Dicta Primer 1 Curriculum. This includes a workbook and online access to the Picta Dicta portal for practice lessons and review. Students will enjoy thinking and speaking in a different language, and begin recognizing cognate English words based on Latin.

    • Co-curriculars - Music, May Day Performance, & Gymnasium

    • Bible - Aelfred Rex Bible Story Curriculum: 1.5 Scripture Studies workbooks per year. We do a six year cycle through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

    • Language Arts- Shurley English Level 4 for Grammar and additional writing assignments to develop writing skills. Students should be able to write solid paragraphs, and develop Grammar understanding.

    • Nature Studies- Focus on Local General Science: Geography US focus. Revisit plants and animals. Identify vascular and non-vascular plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Introduction to reptiles, birds, amphibians, insects, and mammals. Cover the layers of the rainforest (shrubs, canopy, etc), and do some simple experiments at home. Also cover plant reproduction, seeds, root vegetables (monocot and dicot), connect with hands on gardening, and introduction to Hawaiian volcanoes.

    • Humanities- Story of US: Book 2- Early Settlers to America , Jamestown Book, Story of US: Book 3: American Colonial Period, Johnny Tremain, Story of US: Book 4: Developing Nation, Carry on Mr. Bowditch

    • Latin- Picta Dicta Curriculum. This includes a workbook and online access to the Picta Dicta portal for practice lessons and review.

    • Co-curriculars - Music, May Day Performance, & Gymnasium

    • Bible - Aelfred Rex Bible Story Curriculum: 1.5 Scripture Studies workbooks per year. We do a six year cycle through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

    • Language Arts

      YEAR 1:
      - Writing & Rhetoric Book 5: Refutation and Confirmation
      - Writing & Rhetoric Book 6: Commonplace

    • YEAR 2:
      - Shurley English Level 6

    • Nature Studies

      YEAR 1:
      -Astronomy and Space Science
      - Magnetism
      - Atoms and Molecules
      - World Geography Part 1

    • YEAR 2:
      - Apologia Anatomy

    • Humanities

      YEAR 1:
      -Story of the World Book Volume 4: Modern Era
      - Florence Nightingale Biography
      - Singing Tree
      - Number the Stars

    • YEAR 2:
      - Story of US: Book 5- Antebellum Era,Tom Sawyer, Story of US: Book 6: Civil War, Across Five Aprils, Story of US: Book 7: Reconstruction Era, George Washington Carver: Man's Slave Becomes God's Scientist

    • Latin- Picta Dicta Curriculum. This includes a workbook and online access to the Picta Dicta portal for practice lessons and review.

    • Co-curriculars - Music, May Day Performance, & Gymnasium

    • Bible

      YEAR 1: Old Testament Survey- House for My Name

      YEAR 2: New Testament Survey- The Four: A Survey of the Gospels

    • Language Arts

      YEAR 1:
      - Writing & Rhetoric Book 9: Description & Impersonation
      - Writing & Rhetoric Book 10: Thesis Part 1

    • YEAR 2:
      - Lost Tools of Writing

    • Nature Studies

      YEAR 1:
      - Novare Earth Science

      YEAR 2:
      - Apologia Physical Science

    • Humanities

      YEAR 1: ANCIENT ERA
      - Excerpts from Palto's Republic
      - Best Things in Life
      - Odyssey
      - Agamemnon
      - Theogeny by Hesiod
      - Plutarch's Roman Lives

      YEAR 2: MEDIEVAL ERA
      - Confessions by Augustine
      - Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Seamus' version)
      - Song of Roland
      - Consolation of Philosophy
      - Divine Comedy: Inferno

    • Latin- Picta Dicta Curriculum. This includes a workbook and online access to the Picta Dicta portal for practice lessons and review.

    • Co-curriculars - Music, May Day Performance, & Gymnasium

    • Bible

      YEAR 1: Systematic Theology-J.I. Packer's Concise Theology
      YEAR 2: Biblical Theology
      - Vaughn Roberts', According to Plan
      - Chris Bruno's, The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words
      YEAR 3: Cultural/worldview/apologetic theology

      YEAR 4: History and Tradition- Theological Primary Texts

    • Literature

      YEAR 1: Late Modern Era (European Focus)
      Dracula, Pride and Prejudice, Father Brown, The Space Trilogy

    • YEAR 2: American Lit
      Pilgrim's Progress, The Declaration of Independence, The American Constitution, The Autobiography of Fredrick Douglas, Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451      , Jaber Crow, Poetry by Dickenson, Emerson, Frost, Whitman, and Short Stories by: Melville and O'Connor

      YEAR 3: Ancient Era
      Selections from The Iliad, Oedipus the King, Enchiridion, The Apology and Phaedo,
      Epic of Gilgamesh, Enuma Elish, Egyptian Literature, The Analects by Confucius, & The Vedas

      YEAR 4: Medieval and Early Modern Era
      The Great Divorce, Everyman and Excerpts from Other Miracle and Morality Plays, The Prince, Hamlet and Merchant of Venice, Burke's French Revolution, Divine Comedy: Purgatorio & Paradiso

    • Science (9th and 10th Grade only)

      YEAR 1:
      -Apologia Chemistry

      YEAR 2:
      - Apologia Biology

    • History

      YEAR 1: Modern Era
      Spielvogel's Western Civilization

      YEAR 2: American Era
      A Short History of the United States by Robert V. Remini, Kalakaua's Myths, Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen by Queen Liliuokalani, Fornander's Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I, and Floor Parliamentary Speeches by King Kalakaua

      YEAR 3: Ancient Era
      Spielvogel's Western Civilization, Ben-Hur, Mid-Summer Night's Dream and Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.

      YEAR 4: Medieval Era
      Spielvogel's Western Civilization

    • Latin- Picta Dicta Curriculum. This includes a workbook and online access to the Picta Dicta portal for practice lessons and review.

    • Co-curriculars - Music, May Day Performance, & Gymnasium

Developmental Learning Objectives

  • Our Kindergarten program follows two primary goals outlined by Charlotte Mason for children under 6: “To form in children right habits of thinking and behaving …and to nourish a child daily with loving, right, and noble ideas.” (Vol. 2, p. 228). We believe that in this age group, our goal is simply to instill good habits and feed our children’s mind with loving, right, and noble ideas.

    Our Kindergarten Teacher structures mornings with these children to include free time, story time, snacks, outside walks, music, rest time, and crafts. We also take 40-60 minutes a day to focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic, with the rest of the day as restful enrichment education.

  • Form 1 introduces our students to the wonders of the world and walks alongside these young ones as they form dispositions, sensibilities, attitudes, and categories about the world. This form is the least abstract and most tangible in its approach. We want our Form 1 students to delight in the books they are beginning to read, find joy in their new abilities and skills, receiving a solid foundation for intellectual habits, and learning self-control and attention through listening and following instructions from their tutors. Special attention will be made in teaching reading and writing, alongside instilling a love for story and curiosity for God’s beautiful creation. 

    There is little to no homework for these students during program nights, and 1-4 hours of work is given to be done in the mornings of home days. 

    We believe that 20-40 minute blocks of instruction times are ideal for this age group with three times throughout the day to move and be outside (Gymnasium, Nature Studies, and Recess). 

  • In the upper elementary level, we believe students have the ability to look beyond just what is in their backyard and become aware that they are part of larger societies: the Church and America. We want our Form 2 students to begin to find their identity as sons and daughters of King Jesus, and not in becoming slaves to popular culture, social media popularity, or video games. We focus these students toward an embodied flourishing that involves books, ideas, music, imagination, worship, singing, dancing, etiquette, and feasting. 

    Form 2 is made up of our 4th-6th grade students. Our Humanities curriculum focuses on American history and literature in these years, with the goal that our students will have a deep love for their Mother Country, while still realizing that she is not perfect or spotless. We assign some homework for the afternoons on program days, and assign 1-4 hours of continuing education work for home days. We want to give parents the flexibility and discretion to structure these home days how they believe will work best for their family.

    By 5th and 6th Grade, students are beginning to become aware of belonging and not belonging. We are not surprised when students begin to experiment with these boundaries as they have “best friends”, try to exclude others, and publicize others’ vulnerabilities. Our children are sinners and it is naïve for parents to believe our children will not make these mistakes. It is our hope and goal at SBH, to have wise tutors and staff to lovingly shepherd these students through these sins, so that they will not make a habit of hiding their sin, but find the joy of a life lived in humility and reconciliation.  

  • Form 3 consists of the 7th grade and 8th grade middle school years. In these years, our students begin to individuate and gravitate more toward what they are “good at”, and try to make sense of their place in the larger communities they are a part of. Rather than feeding our students with quips like “Be yourself!”, “Follow your dreams!”, or “You can be whatever you want!”, we seek to direct our students to die to themselves, seek the good of others before themselves, to consider how their gifts, abilities, and talents may be used for the Kingdom of God & for the Common Good rather than simply as self-expression. 

    In these years, students become more aware of the narrative and story that they are part of. We hope that our students will enter their high school years with a deep and secure sense of their place in God’s family and his Church, and confident and secure in their relationships with God, their parents, pastors, and teachers. These students crave approval, validation, and encouragement. We want to be lovingly honest with them about their successes and failures. If they are struggling with laziness, we will not excuse them, but call them to perseverance and the satisfaction from hard work. 

    We do give our Form 3 students homework most evenings, and an increasing amount of continuing education work to do at home on non-program days, which we expect they are capable of doing without the constant monitoring of their parents. We hope to gently challenge them beyond their comfort zone and give them confidence that they have the ability to overcome academic challenges. 

  • High school is a very unique and formative season in a person's life as they begin to grow out of childish things and become young adults with their own convictions and tastes. Their experiences in high school put them on a trajectory for the rest of their lives. At SBH we want to encourage our high school students to be academically independent, searching Truth in all things, and be bold in their love of the Good and Beautiful. We recognize that a healthy high school student isn't just an individual but is meaningfully connected to their family and their church community- finding meaningful work, tasks, activities, and relationships. We hope that our high school students are not shackled to the current "zeitgeist" of the age- whatever is popular, but rooted in things that last and point to the more eternal things that matter in our lives.

    The high school years of education are specifically daunting for parents, especially for those who homeschool, as parents realize more expertise is needed in each subject area. Partnering with SBH allows your children to be tutored by experienced and passionate teachers, in a seminar classroom atmosphere.

    Because of our staff and relational networks, SBH is uniquely positioned to provide a quality high school education rooted in the Classical, Hawaiian, and Christian traditions.

    The SBH high school works the same way our K-8 program does — all our students are registered homeschool students with the DOE, and partner with SBH for a robust academic resource program. When they graduate they have a homeschool transcript full of classes they have taken at SBH and other schools (Math, Community College credits, etc). Our students have not had trouble being accepted in the colleges they have applied to.