Seventh Grade Curriculum: Cusp of Adolescence

 

This is the final year of Primary School and the year in which the children turn 13. Now the children stand on the cusp of adolescence. It is a time of exploration, searching and discovery as they come into a new relationship with the world; a time of rapid growth and many changes as their soul life erupts into the world outside them.

They are beginning to experience all the turmoil and excitement, questioning and wonder that this age brings. It can be a disorientating time as they turn their backs on the balance of Grades 5 and 6 and look forward towards the world of adolescence and adulthood that lies before them.

This future appears full of possibility as well as uncertainty, and this duality is lived out loudly and exuberantly as they try to balance and grapple with the many confusing moments this gives rise to.

The children are developing the capacity to think critically and judgmentally. Now they accept with less certainty and show the need to question their authority figures (parents and teachers), demanding a right to be heard and for their ideas to be taken seriously. They display an appetite for knowledge of the world, of how and why things happen the way they do.

Simultaneously, they turn inward, becoming more introspective and self-centred, showing the early promptings of inner self-reflection.

Together with a yearning for independence and great bursts of energy, there is a great need for the support of their peers as well as a desire for solitude and subdued introspection.