Valor Christian High School represents over 80 different middle school students. This makes the freshman year (including summer school), at Valor, extremely important because there is limited time to fill in any academic gaps prior to engaging in a rigorous four-year curriculum. Summer school ends up being one of the best opportunities to fill these gaps. In addition, summer school is a great way for freshman to get acquainted with each other and the campus.

This is for students who traditionally struggle in math. The class is designed identify and remediate gaps to increase preparedness for Algebra I. Not all interested students are enrolled in this summer program because it is reserved for students who need to make significant jumps in math prior to the start of the freshman year. Students will be scheduled with two or three other students who are at a similar math level. It is highly recommended that students tutor for four weeks in a row for two hours a day.

Recommended for students who may have struggled with science in the past and would like to be better prepared for freshman biology. Biology tends to be one of the toughest classes for a majority of the freshman class. Through a series of fun, hands-on activities, labs, and games, students will learn about study habits unique to science, the scientific method, how to read a scientific textbook, how to set up a proper experiment, basic microscope use, how to conduct basic research for scientific papers using the Valor library, and how to make and analyze graphs and tables.

This class is for students who traditionally struggle in English. It is designed to prepare students for text, vocabulary, and grammar that they will encounter during the school year. Reading comprehension is the main focus becuase it is the best predictor of success or struggle for English students at Valor. Class will also work towards completing any summer assignments.

Not all interested students are enrolled in this summer program because it is reserved for students who need to make significant jumps in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing prior to the start of the freshman year.

This two-week class is open to incoming freshman who want to review key Pre-Algebra concepts prior to start Algebra I at Valor. In addition, this class will be taught similarly to how the freshman Algebra I class, giving students a chance to get comfortable with the structure and teaching style at Valor prior to the first day of school.

This class is designed to assist those students who would like to be placed in Geometry but did not meet the placement test requirements. A placement test will be given at the end of the class to determine whether or not Geometry is a good placement or not.

This two week class is open to incoming freshman who want to get a jump-start in English. Students will learn about Valor’s expectations in grammar, vocabulary, and writing. In addition, students will be able to prepare and practice their oral presentation on the summer reading that is due the first week of class. Students who take this class can expect to be more successful because they will be familiar with the rhythm and expectations of the class before it starts.

Summer Courses provide a great opportunity for students to explore in a discipline of interest or to get ahead in order to free up a busy schedule in the coming year.

This summer long intensive Geometry course is designed so that students can accelerate their Math course sequence. The desire is for students to be prepared to advance into Algebra II/Trigonometry the following fall semester. The course does not satisfy any part of the four-year Math graduation requirement but allows students to reach the Pre-Calculus or AP Calculus level which is beneficial for many college and career paths.

This course will examine the major ideological/philosophical movements of the 20th century within their historical context and trace them as they trickle down from academia to popular culture. We will investigate pragmatism, existentialism, analytic philosophy (epistemology), structuralism, post-structuralism, and several contemporary movements.

Students will be challenged to identify evidence of these varied approaches in popular culture through art, architecture, city planning, music, and film. Students will compile their findings collectively on a blog tracing the movement of ideas across the century.

Students will also be challenged to identify how these ideas have shaped their own thinking and living. Alternatively, students will be invited to see elements of God’s Kingdom in popular culture – focusing on the redemptive elements of our lives. In this, students will be asked to identify new cultural practices that form their thinking and living around the ideals of God’s Kingdom and seeing the redemptive elements in the contemporary philosophies we have studied.

This course addresses composition from a topical standpoint and evaluates various modes of writing. The course will compare and contrast types and styles of writing with a particular eye on the impact that the digital age has on contemporary writing. Students will develop their own writing skills through analysis of exemplars and practical application of technique.

This college preparatory course is designed to give students a better understanding of the role of freedom and prosperity. This class is designed around the question of whether the United States’ best days are still in front of it. We will be focusing on the following questions: Is America really the land of the free? What makes some countries freer than others, and what that freedom means for the people living there? Students will also read Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose", Frederic Batiat's "The Law", and Arthur Brooks' "The Road to Freedom" in order to enhance answers to those questions. This class will be project based and will ask students to consider the importance of preserving the American system for future generations.

UPDATE: Students will not attend St. Louis Seminar but will cover same topics on campus and through local field trips.

It has been the task of Christ followers in every generation to be not only a witness to but also a defender of the Biblical worldview. This defense must be done with gentleness and reverence, reflecting true godliness through the power of the Holy Spirit. Defending the Faith will help equip you to respond to the honest questions and doubts which believers and unbelievers have about the Christian faith. The course will introduce students to key topics in apologetics and provide the foundation for a confident defense of the Christian faith that will help thinkers to believe and believers to think.

This college preparatory course is designed to give a student a better understanding of what ideas sparked the American Revolution and have been sustained during the American Experiment. This course will focus on the roots of representative democracy, natural law, individual liberty, the Enlightenment, and why the Founders chose to fight the most powerful empire in the world for one simple idea, liberty. The course will also look back to look ahead. Using the writings of the Founders, the class will look at modern issues and how the Founders might feel about current policy. Lastly, the course will look ahead to examine how the United States will continue to, “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Emphasis will also be placed on improvement of writing skills, oral presentation skills and technology skills as part of the Valor History Department.