Four Year Great Books Program for High School Credit

Our 4-Year Great Books Program, 12 credits each year, satisfies the Social Studies and English Language Arts requirements for 12th grade, as it is both the core of our educational approach, and “the backbone of a classical education.”

• Students in the Great Books Program study 120 Great Books of Western civilization over four years (8 semesters). These Great Books are interdisciplinary and include works of literature, history, philosophy, theology, poetry, political science, social science and psychology.
• In more detail: the Great Books courses include much Ancient History, World History, US History, US State Papers/Civics, Western civilization, World Literature, English Literature, American Literature, Poetry, Shakespeare, Ancient Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Vocabulary.
• Consequently, students in the program receive the substantial equivalent of four years of English language arts courses, and three years of social studies, inter alia. The courses include much more as well, but students who take this program do not need to take additional English language arts courses (assuming they completed 8th grade grammar and composition) or social science courses to fulfill our graduation requirements. They are of course free to do so – and we do offer such courses, including our Master Writing Cycle – but for them it is not required.
• The High School workload includes weekly readings, two 1,000 word essays per semester, and two oral exams.
• Students taking the Great Books program can either enroll in our live weekly online courses or the asynchronous (pre-recorded) courses—the tuition is the same for both.

In addition to the Great Books Program, high school track students will have several options (see next section below) to complete the following math and science requirements necessary for an Angelicum Academy certification:

• 3 Years of Math (Algebra I & II and Geometry; note: the ACT also tests Trigonometry; the SAT tests data analysis, statistics, and probability, but we do not require these)
• 3 Years of Science (normally consisting of: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, but sometimes Astronomy or other science course may substitute.)

• • Note: Some states also require, two or more years of Foreign Language (Ancient Greek or Latin are recommended, but any foreign language qualifies) and one year of Art or Music (Art History—e.g. Art in Focus or instrumental or vocal Music lessons are also recommended); however these are not required by the Angelicum Academy nor for its certification. Students should plan accordingly based on the admission requirements for colleges they may wish to attend.

Theology Requirements

In addition to the Great Books Program, high school track students will have several options to complete the following Theology requirements necessary for an Angelicum Academy certification:

• 4 Courses of Religion or Theology
  • Students can complete their theology requirements by:
    • Enrolling in the Angelicum traditional Homeschool Religion classes. For information on the classes click HERE. To purchase books and lesson plans for these courses click HERE.
    • Enrolling in the Angelicum Live Online Religion classes HERE
    • Enrolling in the aysnchronous My Catholic Faith online Didache Series HERE
    • Juniors and Seniors may enroll in one or more of the four Theology Online courses with Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. for college credit, HERE