Welcome to Our Great Books with Dr. Hake: Part One Homeschool Language Arts Course

This Great Books with Dr. Hake homeschool language arts course was designed by Dr. Steven Hake, the Chair of the Department of Classical Liberal Arts and Director of the Literature major at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia. Dr. Hake supplies upper-level homeschool high school students with an advanced literature study of the first portion of The Great Books of the Western World (a fifty four volume set published by Britannica). During the semester, not every word of every volume is read, but many different authors are covered in enough depth and breadth to thoroughly acquaint homeschool high school students with their unique contributions to the great conversation that is western culture.

*Important note: access to the first three volumes of the Great Books series is required for the first lessons. These books should be obtained from a library prior to beginning the class. Additional volumes may be required to complete later assignments. If the Great Books series is not available at the local library, go to page 4 of the Introduction, Instructions, and Outline for a complete breakdown of what books are included in this series. Many are available to be read free online or may be available at the library individually.

Overview

• 17 weeks
• Includes reading assignments, discussion questions, and writing assignments
• Grades: 11–12

Supplies Needed

Corresponding lessons on SchoolhouseTeachers.com, The Great Books of the Western World or internet access (See the Important Notes on the course download page.), journal for note-taking and research (Reader’s Response Notebook), dictionary and thesaurus.

What to Do

Go to Class Lessons and download the lesson plan, Introduction, Instructions, and Outline. Follow the instructions each day on the lesson plans and mark them off when completed. Be sure to write any needed homework in your notebook.

If this Great Books with Dr. Hake homeschool language arts course is taken in full, completing all reading assignments, written assignments, and both the long and short papers, the course is worth a minimum of .5 language arts credit. If the student explores this lessons in depth and spends approximately 180 hours completing the course (two hours per day for eighteen weeks or one hour per day for thirty-six weeks), it is worth one high school credit in language arts.