TPS News, Information, and Updates

Welcome! This is the place to stay current on TPS information about courses, events, and opportunities.

Featured Courses

In case you don’t read all our newsletters (or you’re new), review all our current featured courses and tracks in convenient pictorial layout.

Enrollment Highlights and Updates

Diploma Partnership. The benefits of our Diploma Partnership include priority in scheduling, enrolling, and switching courses, and support in preparing for and building your best college application.

Elementary School Classes. Uniquely purposeful and enjoyable for our younger learners (grade 4+) at home. Learn more.

AP Exam Top Scores! TPS AP students are top scorers every year: 48% 5 (top score), 72% 4 or higher. Learn more.

Be a High Scholar! Earn 24 university credits and 6 high school credits in the two-year “great books” Belhaven High Scholars humanities program for students grades 10-12.

College Dual Credit. Affordable credits, flexible options! Learn more.

Boost your summer! We offer a full range of summer math and writing courses to help you build up, catch up or get ready for 2022-23.

New (or significantly updated) Courses in 2022-23

Here is a selected list (not entirely comprehensive) of courses that are new or have been redesigned or significantly updated. For a complete list, go to the Course Catalog and select the New and Improved Category from the drop-down.

• Arts Appreciation for Young Explorers - This PreK to Grade 5 course is uniquely designed around video guided activities and project parties for our youngest learners. In this course we look at the work of artists (of many mediums) from all over the world, past and present, and get messy with a creative activity for our hands and minds. This course develops little learners' Critical Thinking skills through the Visible Thinking method. We also cover the elements of art on a beginning level...
• Introductory and Online Study Skills - Late elementary and early middle school is an ideal time to begin developing the skills of an independent, organized, motivated learner able to excel in the challenging academic environments. In this completely redesigned course, students learn and practice: organizing their workspace and materials; working with computer documents required for school and internet processes needed for online classes; employing effective time management skills; and developing several note taking and spaced learning techniques. There is also some training in the study skills that are unique to learning math (a challenge area for some young students). Students participate in creative hands-on projects, skills practice activities, and group interactions...
• Elementary Science - Discovering God's Heaven and Earth - In this course, grade 4 students "discover" God’s amazing "heaven above" and "earth below" through study of astronomy, meteorology, and geology. Activities and projects are used to explain and demonstrate the principles being studied. Students are introduced to the Scientific Method by learning to observe, record information, discuss findings, and form conclusions. Topics include weather and water, with the atmosphere and the oceans; solar system and planets, with stars, comets, and the Space Program; Planet Earth, with rocks, land formations, and the Ice Age...
• Elementary Science - Discovering God's Physical World - In this course, grade 5/6 students "discover" God’s amazing physical world through the study of machines, motion, energy, and technology. Activities and projects are used to explain and demonstrate the principles being studied. Students learn to observe carefully, ask good questions, and walk through the Scientific Method. Stories about scientists and science bring the discoveries to life. Topics include machines and motion, with airplanes, rockets, telephones, computers, and more; heat and energy, with electricity, magnetism, light, and sound; inventions and technology, with levers, inclined planes, friction, cars, and pendulums....
• Study Skills - This completely redesigned course will give students tools and skills needed to be successful in their coursework throughout high school and college, and will aid them in becoming lifelong learners beyond the classroom. Using the science of the way we learn and form habits, students will leverage this knowledge to approach their studies with confidence and a greater understanding of how we are created to learn about the world around us. This course will explore note taking, active listening, time management, and review strategies, as well as how to apply these skills to the various academic subjects. During the course, students will practice the skills they learn so they leave the course ready to immediately apply their new skills...
• African American History - This course is designed to introduce students to the rich and diverse history and culture of African Americans, tracing their accomplishments and struggles. Students develop an understanding of the African American culture through its history within the broader context of United States history...
• Ancient (Bible World) History, Lit and Comp (Honors) - In this course, students will dive deep into the world of the Bible, examining the interconnected history, literature, and cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Levant, Persia, Greece, and Rome. They will trace the major historical developments that shaped the ancient world, from the dawn of civilization in Mesopotamia, to the thriving cultures of the Ancient Near East, emphasizing Egypt, Israel, Assyria, Babylon and Persia, followed by the influence of the Hellenistic world and the rise of the Roman Republic and Empire. Students will read, study, and analyze biblical texts...
• AP Computer Science Principles - This course introduces students to the breadth of the field of computer science with a special focus on the impact of technology and computing on our everyday lives. In this course, students will learn to design and evaluate solutions that apply computer science to solve problems through the development of algorithms and programs. No prior programming experience is required...
• AP European History - This course is a survey of the political, diplomatic, cultural/intellectual, social, and economic/commercial history of Europe from 1450 to the present. This quintessential history course covers kings, revolutions, the Reformation, great art, science, mathematics, three world wars, colonialism, and more. Students will complete the course with increased understanding of the influence Europe had in shaping the contemporary world....
• Astronomy - In this high school level astronomy course, we will study all the celestial objects of our solar system, as well as stars, galaxies, and space travel. We will learn about the physical laws that govern the celestial objects, and gain practical knowledge such as how to determine one’s location using the stars in the night sky. We will also study some historical background to understand the academic and investigative paths taken to gain our current understanding of the universe. Since astronomy is an observational science, there are multiple observational lab exercises integrated throughout the course...
• Eastern Kingdoms - A Survey of Asia's History - Are you curious about...the development of yoga? The invention of fireworks and the cannon? The real story of Mulan? An ocean-going naval explorer 80 years before Columbus? The story of Indian curry? The origin of manga? The birth of Korean hangol writing? These and many more interesting topics are studied in this exciting course which focuses on the histories of India, South Asia, China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia from around 2000 years ago to the present day. This snapshot tour will not only consider events, but also seek to understand why Asian cultures developed as they have...
• English 5/6 College World Lit and Comp - This course explores the works of many countries and cultures, comparing and analyzing the effects of major historical events and movements and the ways they appear in different literary places. Through brief studies of world religions and their sacred texts as well as myths and philosophical writings both ancient and modern, students can understand the foundational beliefs that have built and changed complex cultures and societies, which in turn have fostered influential works of fiction and nonfiction...
• Web Site Design and Customization 2 - JavaScript and PHP - In this course, students will learn how to create and customize interactive web pages and apply these skills to actual web sites of their own. The majority of the course will focus on teaching students how to master the JavaScript programming language, which is used in virtually all modern web sites. Later, the course will shift to learning the PHP programming language to add further utility and complexity to their sites...
• Western Civilization - History Through the Humanities - Why did the Greeks have the Olympic games? Why did Europeans build such grand cathedrals? Why did Newton and Leibnitz independently invent calculus at the same time? Why did people in the 20th century try to create music and art with "random" elements? The things people create – art, music, literature, ideas, buildings, sports, technology – say much about them, and this course allows students to approach history through the understanding and appreciation of these creations in their historical and culture context. Using the history of the West as a framework, students will explore how people’s ideas were expressed in what they spoke, wrote, designed, built, and performed. While the course includes reading and writing, it focuses on student-selected projects...

Items of Interest

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