Spanish Classes
¡Juguemos!
Next session starts on September 23rd! Check out the schedule of classes.
Our Spanish class for the younger crowd is designed to get kids talking in Spanish through the use of games, songs, rhymes, and storytelling. The class is taught 100% in Spanish, and children will pick up the language naturally from hearing it spoken to them. Grammar topics are addressed integrally rather than as stand-alone exercises. Children are expected to know the basics of reading and writing in English. Find out prices here.
¡Hablemos!
Our Spanish class for teenagers is focused on developing students' spoken and written fluency. The class is taught 100% in Spanish, and students pick up the language naturally from hearing it spoken to them. Grammar is explained and addressed, but practice is focused on developing conversational fluency. Language games are used extensively. Students are expected to know the basics of English grammar rules. Find out prices here
Science Classes
Our science classes run for 4-6 weeks. Check each description below for details on a specific class. Dropping in is allowed, but you will get a much better experience by sticking to the whole session.
Shocking Science
Learn all about electricity and magnetism! Students in this class will learn about batteries, circuits and their various elements, magnets and electromagnets, electric motors, and more! We will explore each topic by doing a lot of hand-on experiments while testing out ideas and finding what works and what doesn't. We will learn about the history of each concept and how they came to be discovered, as well as understand in depth how it all works. Find out prices here
Quantum Quest
In this class, we will explain what exactly quantum physics is, and why it sounds so mysterious. We will explore some of the experiments that got it going in the first place, as well as some of the many applications to our everyday technology, including lasers and copiers, semiconductors and transistors. We will even look into what exactly a quantum computer is. Find out prices here
Reach for the Stars
This is our astronomy class, where we find out not just details about our near neighbors in our very own solar system, (including a whole lot about Mars exploration!), but we also dig deep into much more ambitious destinations. Students in this class will get a glimpse into the vast distances of the universe and learn about black holes and the Big Bang, the Cosmic Microwave Background, and how stars and galaxies are formed. We will also help NASA through one of their several citizen science projects! Find out prices here
Food for Thought
In this class, students will learn all about nutrition science and the truth behind so many fad diets and fashionable ingredients. We will learn about proteins, starches and sugars, fats, and fiber and why some are better for our bodies than others. We will do some experiments to measure the amount of calories in some food items, and learn why calories are not all that matters. We will explore the changing nature of experts' advice on this topic and discuss how science and scientific discoveries truly work and why it's so full of mistakes (and why that's good!). Find out prices here
Plastic Fantastic
This is a class about materials science in which students will explore the nature of plastics - how they are made, why they are such a problem for our environment - and how come there are so many different kinds. We will learn about the properties of different plastics and you may find us melting some of them and freezing others. We will discuss their history and how their invention changed the way so very many things are done nowadays. Find out prices here
Rocks and Roll
This minerals and Earth science class will turn the students into expert geologists! We will learn about the different types of rocks that exist and what each is used for. We will use a microscope to learn to identify them, and learn about rocks that are as old as our planet! We will learn about crystal structures and the molecular shapes that make them happen, and we will grow different types of crystals ourselves. Find out prices here
Flesh and Bones
In this anatomy class, students will be introduced to the wonders of the human body. We will not only learn about each system and its function, but we will also go deep into the working of the immune system and our genetic make-up. The class will discuss what we know as well as what we don't know about how our bodies function, and discuss how the scientific discovery process works. We will look at how much our knowledge has advanced throughout the ages, and study some of the key developments in the history of health and medicine. Find out prices here
Whither the Weather?
A meteorology class where students will learn about the complexities of studying and predicting the weather. We will learn about wind (why does the air move so?), atmospheric pressure, and the many factors that affect how cold or hot we feel. We will perform some experiments to try to predict the weather ourselves by using our own barometers that we will build in class, and we will talk about the many other factors that professional forecasters look into (and why they're not enough). We will discuss the chaotic nature of weather and look briefly into other chaotic systems. Find out prices here
Elementary!
This is a chemistry class that takes students on a wild ride down the periodic table. We will study what exactly an element is, why they are arranged in the strange way they are, and who came up with such a thing. We will look at the historical development and discoveries of various elements, and we will learn in depth about many of the most fascinating ones. We will learn about how sodium can smoke in water but also makes up table salt, why the "golden record" of the voyager mission is made of gold, why fluorine is in both toothpaste and non-stick pans, and about how low-temperature labs make a lot of use of helium, among many other interesting facts about many other elements. We will interact with many of the (safer) elements we study, and we will even test some of their properties.Find out prices here
Lighten Up!
An optics class that will delve into the nature of light, why we see only the colors we see, what other types of "invisible" light there are, and how it's the fastest thing in the universe. We will discuss and test geometrical considerations, such as the reflection of light in mirrors and the bending of it in lenses and through water and other media. We will also look at the physical properties of light and the weird, fascinating phenomena of diffraction and interference and even make our own diffraction gratings. We will learn why soap bubbles and CDs have rainbows on them, why the sky is blue, and the silly historical reasons behind the color indigo, among many other topics. Find out prices here
'Yum' Begins with 'Why?'
In this delicious class, we will learn all about the chemistry and nutrition of baked products, while making a gingerbread house from scratch! Children will learn about the role of each ingredient in the final product, about starches and fats, about the way sugar is processed by our bodies, and even about the history of many of the spices used in our delicious treat. They will also mix, whisk, knead, roll, bake and have enormous amounts of fun decorating their very own house. Best of all, they'll get to take it home and enjoy their fine creation! Find out prices here. (This class requires an additional materials fee of $10 that covers absolutely everything needed to bake).
Go with the Flow
This is a class all about fluids - that is, liquids and gases. We will explore why these things flow and how, why some liquids are more "sticky" than others, how some insects manage to walk on the surface of the water, how garden hoses manage to spray water out with such force (and why they sometimes don't), why radiators are noisy and water pipes sometimes buzz, what makes helium and hot air balloons rise up, how soda siphons work, how air conditioners work, and so many other air and liquid topics! Find out prices here
Get in Gear
Next session starts on September 25! Check out the schedule of classes.
This is a class about the principles of mechanical engineering, which we will explore by looking at all sorts of simple machines. This is one of our most hands-on classes! We will be building levers and pulley systems, using ramps and screws, wheels and wedges and studying how they all help us do things more easily. We will learn about how complex machines are built from iterations of these simple ones, and we'll be testing this idea ourselves by building complex Rube Goldberg-esque machines. We'll go in depth into some of the machines that the students find most interesting, and learn to read technical blueprints. Find out prices here
Math Classes
Money Matters
This is a class designed to teach the basics of personal finance to children and teenagers. From the basics of budgeting, to how credit cards work and what a mortgage is, the goal of this class is to form financially savvy children that will be able to navigate the complexities of today's world. Older children can expect to learn about interest rates and percentage changes as well as more complex calculations, while younger children will be exposed to the topics in a more qualitative way and asked to perform simpler calculations. Find out prices here
Change is Everywhere
This is a calculus class that strives to teach students of a wide age range about this branch of math that studies changes. Students who have already learned the necessary algebra can expect to learn in depth all the topics in a standard calculus class while also learning to understand both the logic behind them and the many uses and applications in a large variety of scientific fields. Younger students who have not yet acquired the necessary mathematical prerequisites can still expect to learn calculus through a much more graphical approach, and still learn some of the more basic calculations, as well as a lot of the history behind the discovery of calculus. Find out prices here
The Inner Workings of Math
If your child finds math fascinating and always wants to go deeper, this is the class for them! In this class we will understand how and why our decimal number system works the way it does, where all those algorithms to do operations come from, what the deal is with prime numbers and why we care so much about them, and other fascinating tidbits from number theory. Find out prices here