Directory of Resources

Book Studies and Other Useful Helps

The purpose of this post (which will be pinned to the top of this Substack) is to help you more easily mine the depths of the resources being made available here. Below you will find an organizational map of the materials already posted as well as a projection of what is yet to come. Over the coming years this list will fill up with hyper-links to take you to discussion guides for each book listed below. My hope is that as this site grows it not only blesses those individuals who are seeking to better their own education but also that it may become a useful resource to my fellow educators (both at home and in classrooms) around the world.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Jacob Allee

Prolegomena (Preliminary Helps):

1. What is a Classical Liberal Arts Education?

2. Why Christians Should Study Classical Languages

3. Why Christians Should Study Logic

4. Why Christians Should Study Rhetoric

5. On the Marking of Books

6. Commonplace Journaling

7. Text Journaling

8. 30 Historical Memory Pegs

   1. Timeline in Relationship to the Great Books

9. Writing Exercises for Classical Education

10. Classical Christian Catechisms

Jacob Allee’s Doctoral Dissertation

On the Place of Story in Virtue Education

The Gateway to the Great Books (Free PDF)

Humane Letters (Great Books) Curriculum

7th Grade: Creation to Incarnation (From the Beginning to c. 4 B.C.) Cycle 1

History Semester 1:

1. ESV Journaling Bible: 

   1. Genesis (Online) (PDF)

   2. Exodus (Online) (PDF)

   3. Joshua

   4. Judges

   5. Ruth (Online) (PDF)

   6. 1-2 Samuel

   7. 1-2 Kings

History Semester 2:

1. Histories by Herodotus (Online)

2. ESV Journaling Bible:

   1. Ezra 

   2. Nehemiah

   3. Esther

Literature Semester 1:

1. Epic of Gilgamesh (Online) (PDF)

2. Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green (Online) (PDF)

3. The Theban Trilogy, by Sophocles translated by Robert Fagles 

   1. Antigone (Online)

   2. Oedipus the King (Online) (PDF)

   3. Oedipus at Colonus

4. Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green (Online) (PDF)

Literature Semester 2:

1. The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Robert Fagles

2. The Aeneid by Virgil, Translated by Robert Fagles

3. The Last Days of Socrates Translated by Jowett

   1. Euthyphro (Online) (PDF)

   2. Apology

4. The Young Carthaginian by G. A. Henty (Online) (PDF)

5. Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

8th Grade: Incarnation to Reformation (From c. 4 B.C. to October 31, 1517 A.D.) Cycle 1

History Semester 1:

1. ESV Journaling Bible:

   1. Luke (Online) (PDF)

   2. Acts (Online) (PDF)

2. Didache (Online) (PDF)

3. The Eruption of Vesuvius, by Pliny the Younger (Online) (PDF)

4. The Twelve Caesars, Dover Thrift

5. Eusebius’ Church History, Translated by Paul Maier (Online) (PDF)

History Semester 2:

1. On The Incarnation by Athanasius (Online) (PDF)

2. The Creeds and Early Heresies

   1. Apostle’s, Nicene, Athanasian, Chalcedon

3. Confessions by Augustine (Online)

4. The Rule of St. Benedict (Online) (PDF)

5. History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Literature Semester 1:

1. Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (Online) (PDF)

2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Tolkien (Online) (PDF)

3. Song of Roland (Online) (PDF)

4. The Dragon and the Raven by G. A. Henty (Online) (PDF)

5. Myths of the Norsemen by Roger Lancelyn Green

Literature Semester 2:

1. Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney (Online) (PDF)

2. Macbeth by Shakespeare (Online) (PDF)

3. Winning His Spurs by G. A. Henty (Online) (PDF)

4. The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

5. Inferno, by Dante (Online)

9th Grade: Reformation to Present (From October 31, 1517 A.D. to Present) Cycle 1

History Semester 1:

1. The 95 Theses, by Martin Luther (TL: 24)

2. The Bondage of the Will, by Martin Luther (TL: 24)

3. In Praise of Folly, by Erasmus (TL: 24)

4. The Westminster Confession of Faith (TL: 24)

5. Won by the Sword, by G. A. Henty (TL: 25)

History Semester 2:

1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (TL: 26)

2. A Documentary History of the United States (Ch. 1-15) (TL: 26)

3. Reflections on the Revolution in France, by Edmund Burke (TL: 27)

4. Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara (TL: 28)

5. All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque (TL: 29)

Literature Semester 1:

1. The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells (Online)

2. The Code of the Woosters, by P. G. Wodehouse

3. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

4. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

5. Dracula, by Bram Stoker (Online) (PDF)

6. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury 

Literature Semester 2:

1. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

2. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

3. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

4. The Great Divorce, by C. S. Lewis

5. Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville (Online) (PDF)

6. Whose Body?, by Dorothy Sayers

10th Grade: Creation to Incarnation (From the Beginning to c. 4 B.C.) Cycle 2

History and Literature Semester 1:

1. ESV Journaling Bible: 

   • Psalms

   • Proverbs

   • Ecclesiastes

   • Song of Solomon

2. The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

3. The Lives of Famous Men by Plutarch (Selections)

   1. Romulus (Online)

   2. Alexander

4. Histories by Polybius

History and Literature Semester 2:

1. The Iliad by Homer

2. The Oresteia by Aeschylus

3. The Clouds by Aristophanes

4. Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

Syntopical Studies Semesters 1 & 2:

Intro: A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart, by Josef Pieper

1. Prudence in The Giver, by Lois Lowry (Online) (PDF)

2. Fortitude in Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

3. Justice in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

4. Temperance in Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen

5. Faith, Hope, & Love: in The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis

11th Grade Incarnation to Reformation (From c. 4 B.C. to October 31, 1517 A.D.) Cycle 2

History and Literature Semester 1:

1. ESV Journaling Bible: 

   • The Pauline Epistles: (Online)

     • Romans

     • 1 Corinthians

     • 2 Corinthians

     • Galatians

     • Ephesians

     • Philippians

     • Colossians (Online) (PDF)

     • 1 Thessalonians

     • 2 Thessalonians

     • 1 Timothy

     • 2 Timothy

     • Titus

     • Philemon

     • Hebrews

   • General Epistles

     • James

     • 1 Peter

     • 2 Peter

     • 1-3 John

     • Jude

   • Revelation

2. Contentment, by Plutarch

3. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius

History and Literature Semester 2:

1. The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius

2. Proslogion, by Anselm of Canterbury

3. The Nibelungenlied

4. Summa Theologica (Part 1, Q.1-25), by Thomas Aquinas

5. Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer

Syntopical Studies Semester 1:

The Arts

1. Poetics, by Aristotle

2. Only the Lover Sings, by Josef Pieper

3. Art and the Bible, by Francis Schaeffer

4. The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers

Education

1. Meno, by Plato

2. The Abolition of Man, by C. S. Lewis (Online)

3. The Lost Tools of Learning, by Dorothy Sayers

Syntopical Studies Semester 2:

Society & Politics

1. The Prince, by Machiavelli

2. On Duties, by Cicero

3. The Republic, by Plato

4. Politics, by Aristotle

Economics

1. The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx

2. The Wealth of Nations (Book 1), by Adam Smith

3. Oeconomicus, by Xenophpon

12th Grade Reformation to Present (From October 31, 1517 A.D. to Present) Cycle 2

History and Literature Semester 1:

1. The Essential Tales and Poems (selections) of Edgar Allen Poe

   1. The Tell-Tale Heart

   2. The Murders in the Rue Morgue

   3. The Raven

2. Sonnets by Shakespeare

3. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

4. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

5. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

6. 1984 by George Orwell

History and Literature Semester 2:

1. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

2. The Ransom Trilogy by C. S. Lewis

   • Out of the Silent Planet

   • Perelandra

   • That Hideous Strength

3. Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas

4. Paradise Lost by John Milton

Syntopical Studies Semester 1:

Unbelief, Faith, and Reason

1. Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche

2. The Enlightenment Reader:

   1. Selections from Hume

   2. Selections from Kant 

3. Miracles, by C. S. Lewis

4. Meditations, by Rene Descartes

5. Pensees, by Blaise Pascal

6. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

7. God in the Dock, by C. S. Lewis

   1. Select Essays

8. Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton

Syntopical Studies Semester 2:

Unbelief, Faith, and Reason

1. The God Who is There by Francis Schaeffer

2. Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen

3. The book of Job

4. Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus

5. The death of Ivan Illyitch, by Leo Tolstoy 

6. The Problem of Pain, by C. S. Lewis

7. A Grief Observed, by C. S. Lewis

8. The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoevsky