Class Schedule
Saturdays 9:00-10:00 am PST
August 24, August 31, September 7, September 14,
(No Class September 21), September 28, October 5th
Note: Classes are listed in PST, click below to convert time to your time zone.
Course Overview
Children are natural philosophers: they ask all of those really big, philosophical questions that adults find so annoying because they can't answer them. Everyone can think, but too many adults have never learned how to think well. In Philosophy, students learn the skills of clear, orderly, rational thinking and how to begin to apply these skills in conversation with each other on open-ended topics in Ethics (right and wrong), Aesthetics (beautiful and ugly), Epistemology (learning and knowledge), and Metaphysics (the nature of the reality). We don't expect to find The Truth: instead, through the power of rational argument and disagreement, we help each other to take a few steps closer to the truth by pushing each other to deepen our thought and understanding.
**Please note that this class is sequential, so missing any classes will mean that your child will miss the foundation for the next class. We plan to start promptly on time with whoever is there, and those who arrive late will have to do their best to catch up.
Student Outcomes:
- Learn to define our terms, and by doing so, to interrogate concepts we tend to assume we already understand.
- Begin to learn and use skills such as: various forms of comparative relationships, recognizing assumptions, making distinctions, determining the sources of ambiguity and vagueness, etc.
Student Experience
Literary Analyst
Debater
Journalist
Pattern Seeker
Your Teacher: Matt Berman
- M.A.T. in Philosophy for Children, Montclair State University
- B.S.Ed. in Elementary Education K-8 University of Connecticut
- Gifted Certification, University of New Orleans
- 46 years in education
Recipient of the NEH Teacher-Scholar Award, Matt Berman has been an elementary school teacher for more than 40 years, with certification in gifted education and degrees in education and philosophy for children. A nationally recognized expert in children's literature, Matt has written four books on the subject, and his reviews, articles, and columns have appeared in many journals, including Kirkus, School Library Journal, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He has also taught children's literature at Tulane University and the University of New Orleans, and his reviews have appeared on numerous websites, including Common Sense Media, Disney Family, Family.com, iVillage, and the Child Lit Wiki. Matt has also been a consultant with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, as well as a freelance writer and editor, website developer, teacher trainer and consultant, photographer, communications director, and founding director of the Nueva Center for the Humanities.
