Letters, History, and Literature

At the heart of our program is the secondary school’s 2 hour Humane Letters course.  Often called a “Great Books Program”, this six year series between the 7th and 12th grade is supported by the grammar school’s in-depth study of history and literature.

In the grammar school, we prepare students well:

• Students begin reading great children’s literature in 2nd grade
• Our history track includes an in-depth immersion in ancient cultures
  • In 2nd grade, we study the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures.
  • In 3rd grade, we study the Greeks and Romans.
  • In 4th grade, we study Medieval Europe.
  • In 5th grade, we study Renaissance art, music, and history.
  • In 6th grade, we study American history.
• The literature in each year follows our historical track where possible.
• You can find details on the books we read in Curriculum Highlights.

In the secondary school we build an impressive literary impression:

• In grades 7-12, the Letters course integrates history, literature, art, philosophy, and theology into two hours– one as a lecture, the other in small-group seminars.  Students enjoy these classes because we ask them to think, not simply repeat what we tell them.  We ask them questions that provoke moral answers– answers that they have to contemplate using connections to other literature and scripture.  Students grow to appreciate the ideas contained in great literary and historical works.
• Our program is almost entirely based on original primary sources (see below), not history texts or worksheets.  By approaching the great books in search of the ideas, students develop an appreciation for these challenging works.  Our approach helps students in their search for truth answer key questions about life, purpose, and how we are to live.   This approach resonates with this age-groups growing desire to change the world for the better.
• This is an example of our readings during high school:
  • Freshman: Gulliver’s Travels; The Pilgrim’s Junior sample readings: 95 Theses, Luther; Candide, Voltaire; Progress; Selected writings of Winthrop, Edwards, and other City of God, Augustine; The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius; Puritans, Mayflower Compact; Tale of Two Cities; Autobiography of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer; Don Quixote, Cervantes; The Benjamin Franklin; Pride and Prejudice; The Federalists Papers; Inferno, Dante; The Koran, Mohammed; Paradise Lost, Milton; The Declaration of Independence; US Constitution; Common Sense; Prince, Machiavelli; The Tempest, Shakespeare; Summa Huckleberry Finn; Frankenstein; Uncle Tom’s Cabin; The Great Theologica, Aquinas; Beowulf; The Song of Roland; Utopia, More; Gatsby; Watership Down. Various readings from Shakespeare, Newton, Spenser, Tyndale,
  • Sophomore: The Aeneid, Virgil; The Annals of and other authors. Imperial Rome, Tacitus; The Apocrypha; Gilgamesh; I Claudius, Senior sample readings: The Pensees, Pascal; On Miracles, Graves; The Iliad, Homer; The Republic, Plato; Metamorphoses, Hume; The Rape of Lucrece, Machiavelli; Candid, Voltaire; Ovid; Ion and the Women of Troy, Euripides; The Last Days of Democracy in America, Tocqueville; Faust; Battle Cry of Freedom, Socrates, Plato; Plutarch’s Lives, Plutarch; Ben Hur; Theogony, Smith; US Founding Documents; Wealth of Nations, Smith; Faust, Hesiod; War with Hannibal, Livy. Goethe; Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky; The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne; Kubla Khan, Shelley; Brave New World, Huxley; The Stranger, Camus; Readings from Kant, Locke, Hobbes, Nietzsche, Marx, Solzhenitsyn, T.S. Eliot, and Descartes.
  • Junior: 95 Theses, Luther; Candide, Voltaire; Progress; Selected writings of Winthrop, Edwards, and other City of God, Augustine; The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius; Puritans, Mayflower Compact; Tale of Two Cities; Autobiography of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer; Don Quixote, Cervantes; The Benjamin Franklin; Pride and Prejudice; The Federalists Papers; Inferno, Dante; The Koran, Mohammed; Paradise Lost, Milton; The Declaration of Independence; US Constitution; Common Sense; Prince, Machiavelli; The Tempest, Shakespeare; Summa Huckleberry Finn; Frankenstein; Uncle Tom’s Cabin; The Great Theologica, Aquinas; Beowulf; The Song of Roland; Utopia, More; Gatsby; Watership Down. Various readings from Shakespeare, Newton, Spenser, Tyndale, Sophomore sample readings: The Aeneid, Virgil; The Annals of and other authors.
  • Senior: The Pensees, Pascal; On Miracles, Graves; The Iliad, Homer; The Republic, Plato; Metamorphoses, Hume; The Rape of Lucrece, Machiavelli; Candid, Voltaire; Ovid; Ion and the Women of Troy, Euripides; The Last Days of Democracy in America, Tocqueville; Faust; Battle Cry of Freedom, Socrates, Plato; Plutarch’s Lives, Plutarch; Ben Hur; Theogony, Smith; US Founding Documents; Wealth of Nations, Smith; Faust, Hesiod; War with Hannibal, Livy. Goethe; Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky; The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne; Kubla Khan, Shelley; Brave New World, Huxley; The Stranger, Camus; Readings from Kant, Locke, Hobbes, Nietzsche, Marx, Solzhenitsyn, T.S. Eliot, and Descartes.