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Sixth through Eighth Grade
Fox River Country Day School’s Middle School program combines curricula,
varied teaching strategies, and emphasis on learning how to learn
as well as mastering a body of knowledge. This educational core,
when paired with a solid framework of character education, creates
a
unique experience that supports the school’s mission: to educate
the whole child through a values-based curriculum, conducted in
a home-like environment, combining academic excellence with individual
character development. By focusing on each student’s academic abilities
as well as his or her character qualities, that is, the “whole”
child, FRCDS develops well-rounded young people who will be successful
at school, in their homes, and throughout life.
Academic Excellence [top]
A Combination of Curriculum and Quality Practice
The goal of FRCDS’s Middle School is to prepare students to
be successful as high school freshmen and beyond. Through membership
in a number of national professional associations, FRCDS stays up
to date with curriculum and teaching trends. Core teachers spend
close to twenty hours of class time with their students each
 week,
allowing them greater flexibility to adjust class schedules so students
make the most of their lessons, as well as greater ability to understand
each student as a unique individual.
Instructors
at FRCDS recognize that each child learns differently. They utilize
an eclectic blend of teaching strategies to address the variety
of learning styles found in any classroom. Specials teachers are
kept well informed of each class’ progress, enabling them
to better integrate curriculum with the core teacher. Staff recognize
that students have years of formal education
ahead of them and also focus on teaching skills that create lifelong
success, such as the ability to study from a textbook and to proofread
one’s work accurately.
Character Development [top]
The Second Curriculum
FRCDS believes that parents choose to send their children to a school
where the framework of values and beliefs mirrors those of the family.
FRCDS’s Character Building Qualities (CBQ’s) derive from
the school’s Christian Science heritage and provide a moral
and ethical backbone that celebrates the similarities of each family’s
background. They help to clarify the complexities young people face
 by
providing consistent answers to questions and pressures that arise
in day to day life. Teachers use what is in the curriculum content
to reinforce the CBQ’s on a regular basis. Additionally, each
class takes responsibility for a project within the school or local
community that helps them to further internalize the CBQ’s
message.
Environmental Education [top]
Understanding the Natural World
Fox River Country Day School’s fifty-three acre wooded campus includes twenty-three
acres of hiking trails that the State of Illinois designated as
a Natural Heritage Landmark in 1989, as well as one of the state’s
last remaining white cedar forests and other endangered plant and
animal life. This setting forms the backdrop for FRCDS’s Environmental
Education Program.
Middle School students perform stewardship activities for the
land, working together with the staff naturalist to restore the
 campus’s
forested fen to its presettlement 1800’s condition. Students
study lifecycles and plant and animal identification through the
observation of nature on campus. The experience of understanding
and nurturing the environment provides yet another opportunity to
put to practical use the Character Building Qualities. Respect for
each creature’s role in the cycle of life is reflected in
the students’ respect for their teachers, families and each
other.
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