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

Course Outline for Our Great Books with Dr. Hake (Part One) Homeschool Language Arts Course

Eighteen in-depth Great Books with Dr. Hake homeschool literature lessons are designed for juniors or seniors, or homeschool students with a love for reading.

Week 1: Plato-Apology, Crito
Week 2: Aristophanes-Clouds, Lysistrata; Choose Syntopicon Idea
Week 3: Plato-Republic (Books I-II)
Week 4: Aristotle-Ethics (Book I)
Week 5: Aristotle-Politics (Book I)
Week 6: Plutarch-The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans; Syntopicon Progress report
Week 7: New Testament: Matthew and Acts
Week 8: St. Augustine-Confessions (Books I-VIII)
Week 9: Machiavelli-The Prince; First Short Paper
Week 10: Rabelais-Gargantua and Pantagruel
Week 11: Montaigne-Essays
Week 12: Shakespeare-Hamlet; Syntopicon Progress Report
Week 13: Locke-Concerning Civil Government (2nd essay)
Week 14: Rousseau-The Social Contract
Week 15: Gibbon-The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Ch. 15-16)
Week 16: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, The Federalist
Week 17: Smith-The Wealth of Nations (Introduction—Book I, Ch. 9)
Week 18: Marx—Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party; Second Short Paper; Syntopicon Paper

More About Our Great Books with Dr. Hake (Part One) Homeschool Language Arts Course

This is the first of two Great Books with Dr. Hake homeschool language arts courses that provide a thorough introduction to some of The Great Books of the Western World (a fifty four volume set published by Britannica). During these semesters, homeschool high school students do not read every word of every volume of these books, but teens do read many different authors in enough depth and breadth to be thoroughly acquainted with their unique contribution to the great conversation that is western culture. Dr. Hake’s goal is to launch students into a lifetime reading project that takes them through the entire set, and through special favorites several times.

The lessons include discussion questions in the form of weekly written assignments for the student to complete, along with one-page journal entries, two short papers, and, at the conclusion of the course, a longer paper (ten to twelve pages).

It is important for high school students to remember that they are studying to the glory of God and not primarily for academic credit or even to fulfill homeschool course requirements mandated by the state in which they live. Even if teens are studying out of obedience to their parents, Dr. Hake is confident that parents would join him in this hope, that a teen’s desire to love God with their mind and learn for Him will grow stronger and stronger until it is deeply internal and clearly their own. The one desire is to be the absolute best that each student can be for Christ by His grace, to fully use the gifts He has given, and to fulfill the ministry He has in mind for each person.