These are my ideas for a new type of school curriculum. This is just an overview and the subjects, of course, would need to be taught in an age appropriate way, which I haven’t done here. Ideally, the student would pick from each subject what interested them.
5th grade
1. mental health
– activity therapy
– recreational exercise outside (hiking, tennis, etc.)
– journaling
– relaxation
– arts and crafts
– music therapy
– camping
– expressive therapy (self expression through creative expression)
(excited, tender, scared, angry, sad, happy)
– art
– dance
– drama
– role play
– writing
– film based
– poetry
– play
– sandplay
– dreamwork
– cognitive behavioral therapy
– thinking of problems and solutions
– writing self-statements to counter negative thoughts
– new opportunities to think positive thoughts
– visualizing the best part of the day
– learn to accept disappointment as part of life
– dialectical behavior therapy
– mindfulness: observe, describe, participate
– distress tolerance
– emotion regulation
– interpersonal effectiveness
– meditation
– lie comfortably
– close your eyes
– breathe naturally
– focus on breath
– notice your body
– return to your breath when your mind wanders
– do for 2-3 minutes
2. self-defense
3. time management
– environment conducive to effectiveness
– setting priorities
– carrying out prioritization
– reducing time on non-priorities
– incentives to modify behavior
4. sports
5. leadership/management
– planning
– organizing
– coordinating
– commanding
– controlling
– interpersonal
– informational
– decision
6. music (listening)
– pitch and melody
– harmony and chords
– rhythm
– expression
– genres
– african
– asian
– avant garde
– blues
– caribbean
– country
– easy listening
– electronic
– folk
– hip hop
– jazz
– latin
– pop
– r&b soul
– rock
7. dance (history)
– early dance
– means of social communication and bonding
– as folk celebrations
– in ceremonies and rituals
– as a method of healing
– as a method of expression
– asia
– indian classical dance
– china
– europe
– court dancing to romanticism
– ballet to contemporary dance
– last 20th and early 21st centuries
– 20th century american
8. theater (history)
– classical and hellenistic greece
– roman
– sanskrit
– chinese
– post-classical in the west
– eastern traditions
9. film (animation)
– traditional
– stop motion
– computer
– 2D
– 3D
– mechanical
10. fine arts (sculpture)
– stone
– metal
– glass
– pottery
– wood carving
12. chemistry
– matter
– atom
– element
– compound
– molecule
– substance and mixture
– amount of substance
– phase
– bonding
– energy
– reaction
– ions and salts
– acidity and basicity
– redox
– equilibrium
– chemical laws
13. the law
– the constitution
– criminal
– taxes
14. geography
– physical
– human
– integrated
– geomatics
– regional
15. languages (greek and latin roots, stems, and prefixes)
16. writing (fiction)
– character
– plot
– setting
– theme
– style
– narrator
– point of view
– tone
– suspension of disbelief
