Just as the modern reader struggles with the loss of the shared literary, cultural, and imaginative landscape of the literary tradition, so has the modern listener lost touch with the imaginative language of music. C.S. Lewis says that it is the first duty of a reader to read the work like the original audience and this is no less true…
There are certain historical characters whose lives seem woven out of the stuff of romantic fiction more than attested fact. One such character is the last Catholic queen of Scotland. The life of Mary Stuart spanned a period of religious revolution, war, intrigue, plot, and political drama unparalleled in the history of her country. Join us on Thursday, September 5th to…
Individual Price: $99 (Non-Refundable) ***NEW Family Rate for 3 or more students*** Price: $250 (Non-Refundable) The Harry Potter series rivals both The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings as the most popular fantasy series of all time. Behind all the hype, film franchises, amusement parks, cos-play, and controversy are stories deeply steeped in the same Literary Tradition…
A Summer Class by Dr. Jason Baxter Dostoevsky once proclaimed: "Mankind can live without science, and even without bread. But it cannot live without beauty." But what is beauty for Dostoeveky? And why is so hard for mankind in modernity to find it? This four-part summer series will read Dostoevsky's greatest novel, Brothers Karamazov, within the context of European modernity,…
In the 5th century A.D., the world of the Roman Empire was slowly dying. Its rulers were increasingly weak, literature and philosophy largely exhausted, the cities and provinces impoverished, the ancient religion and civic patriotism atrophied and enfeebled. Goths, Vandals and Huns spilled over the borders. Men all around fearfully anticipated the end of things. And in a middling town…
CLASS DESCRIPTION Please Note: This course has rotating content so that students may take the class more than once. Learn History through Biography: The Greek biographer Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans is one of the cornerstones of Charlotte Mason’s educational philosophy. Join Classicist Thomas Banks in his online class dedicated to exploring this classic book, with Alexander the…
CLASS DESCRIPTION A year-long in-depth study of Medieval and Renaissance English literature. Each work will be fully placed in its historical, philosophical, literary, and theological context. CS Lewis said that it's the duty of the reader to read the Great Books like the original audience; otherwise we cannot understand what we are reading. This takes work because we come to…
CLASS DESCRIPTION The literary, intellectual and religious revolutions that took place in the 19th and 20th centuries were events whose echoes remain with us still. The purpose of this course is to guide the student through some of the best literary fiction written in that time period, placing each book within its historical context with background information on the authors’…
CLASS DESCRIPTION After the French Revolution, Europe had been changed permanently in its political, cultural, and spiritual life. The Napoleonic Wars, Industrial Revolution, Victorian Age, followed in the 20th century by the two world wars and growth of totalitarianism, represent one of the most dramatic and most violent periods of recorded history. Students who enroll in this course are encouraged…
CLASS DESCRIPTION This course is the continuation of Latin 1. In this class, students will complete Wheelock’s Latin and practice reading longer and more complex passages from ancient, medieval, and Renaissance authors. The latter half of the course will orient students towards the foundational genres of Roman literature such as epic, history, lyric poetry, epistles, and satire. The aim of Latin 2…
CLASS DESCRIPTION The language of the ancient Roman people is well worth studying for its own sake, but especially for the sheer joy of reading the Romans in their own words. Many important Western texts, such as Virgil’s Aeneid, are best enjoyed in the original language. There are other benefits to studying Latin, of course, but we should always approach…
CLASS DESCRIPTION Over the course of the 16th century, it became more and more obvious that the Medieval era had drawn to a close and given way to new developments in religion and culture. New continents were discovered, the forms and aims of the arts branched out in new directions. The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation worked enormous changes in…
CLASS DESCRIPTION In this class, we will read the whole of Dante's Comedy, with a particularly focus on how Dante used the "great books" of his own day to construct a deeply spiritual and psychological journey, from despair and loss and divisiveness to a happiness so bright and full the human mind cannot take it all in. We will see…
CLASS DESCRIPTION The understanding of the grand narrative of the Hebrew Bible is the cornerstone of the understanding of story. In this course, students will study the history of the Hebrew people through reading the principal historical narratives of the Old Testament from the Exodus to the end of the Old Testament, illustrated by the laws of Moses, the stories…
CLASS DESCRIPTION In this year-long class, we will learn the foundations of Old English grammar while being introduced to various literary forms in the language. The first term consists of grammar knowledge, poetry reading, and initial translations. The second term includes more advanced grammar and continued poetry and narrative translations. Students will be expected to do in-class readings. Throughout the…
CLASS DESCRIPTION A year-long in-depth study of the literature of the Greeks and the Romans. Each work will be placed in its own historical and philosophical setting. A main purpose of this course is to give the student a richer understanding of the pre-Christian classical world and its religious, literary and intellectual ideals. This class and the ancient history course…
CLASS DESCRIPTION The political, social, religious and intellectual experiences of the Greeks and Romans are set in the very roots of the historical development of Europe and the Americas. It is the aim of this course to introduce students to the life of Greece and Rome, their thinkers, statesmen and soldiers, alongside their philosophies, religions and wars. The period this…
CLASS DESCRIPTION This class is designed both for Adults and High School Students who are looking for a foundational year in how to read before taking my other classes. This class will provide training in the skill and art of reading. With a heavy emphasis on learning how to read metaphorically, students will also learn how stories work, the grammar…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording.") King Alfred of Wessex, the only sovereign in British history on whom the epithet "Great" has been…
CLASS DESCRIPTION NOTE: This purchase provides access to the recordings a previously live class. (Note: The login information for this class will be in your Completed Invoice under Notes. Email [email protected] with any login questions.”) “From the time of its publication down to about 1914 [The Faerie Queene] was everyone’s poem—the book in which many and many a boy first…
Dispelling the Myth of Modernity: A Recovery of the Medieval Imagination The myth of modernity is that it has no myth. But, even as we deny its existence, we are being blindly shaped, distorted and even enslaved by the myth of our age. As CS Lewis writes in The Silver Chair, “Of course, the more enchanted you get, the more…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording.") Students and teachers have been asking Angelina for years to develop a mentorship program--a way for…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording.") Few things divide us moderns from our ancient forebears as our different ways of understanding the…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording.") “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” From these words began one of…
