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 course of the next 5-6 years (Lord willing) this list will fill up with hyper-links taking you 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):
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:
ESV Journaling Bible:
History Semester 2:
Histories by Herodotus, Translated by Rawlison (TL: 4, 8)
ESV Journaling Bible:
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther (Shortly after TL: 8)
Plutarch’s Lives
Romulus (Complete)
Alexander
Literature Semester 1:
Epic of Gilgamesh (Approx. Concurrent with TL: 2) (Complete)
Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green (TL: 1, 4) (Complete)
The Theban Trilogy, by Sophocles translated by Robert Fagles
Antigone (In Progress)
Oedipus the King (Complete)
Oedipus at Colonus
Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green (Complete)
Literature Semester 2:
The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Robert Fagles (TL: 4)
The Aeneid by Virgil, Translated by Robert Fagles (TL: 4)
The Last Days of Socrates Translated by Jowett (TL: 9)
Euthyphro (Complete)
Apology
The Young Carthaginian by G. A. Henty (TL: 10) (Complete)
Julius Caesar by Shakespeare (TL: 12)
8th Grade: Incarnation to Reformation (From c. 4 B.C. to October 31, 1517 A.D.) Cycle 1
History Semester 1:
ESV Journaling Bible: (TL: 13)
Didache (late 1st Cent. A.D.)
The Eruption of Vesuvius, by Pliny the Younger (79 A.D. shortly after TL: 14) (complete)
The Twelve Caesars, Dover Thrift (TL: 12, 13, 14)
Eusebius’ Church History, Translated by Paul Maier (TL: 13, 14, 15, 16)
History Semester 2:
On The Incarnation by Athanasius (shortly after TL: 16) (Complete)
The Creeds and Early Heresies
Apostle’s, Nicene, Athanasian, Chalcedon
Confessions by Augustine (Shortly before TL: 17) (In Progress)
The Rule of St. Benedict (TL: 18)
History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth c. 1136 A.D. (TL: 4, 12)
Literature Semester 1:
Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (events take place c. 2nd Cent. A.D.) (Complete)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Tolkien (Arthur was supposedly in c. 5th-6th cent. A.D.) (Complete)
Song of Roland (TL: 19, 20) (Complete)
The Dragon and the Raven by G. A. Henty (shortly after TL: 21 c. 870 A.D.) (Complete)
Myths of the Norsemen by Roger Lancelyn Green (TL: 1 “creation myths” but pairs well with Norse invasions in Britain during the late 800’s A.D.)
Literature Semester 2:
Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney (Composed c. 1000 A.D.) (Complete)
Macbeth by Shakespeare (11th Cent. A.D. Scotland) (Complete)
Winning His Spurs by G. A. Henty (1190 A.D.) (In Progress)
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green (12th-13th Cent. A.D.)
Inferno, by Dante (published form 1308-1321)
9th Grade: Reformation to Present (From October 31, 1517 A.D. to Present) Cycle 1
History Semester 1:
The 95 Theses, by Martin Luther (TL: 24)
The Bondage of the Will, by Martin Luther (TL: 24)
In Praise of Folly, by Erasmus (TL: 24)
The Westminster Confession of Faith (TL: 24)
Won by the Sword, by G. A. Henty (TL: 25)
History Semester 2:
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (TL: 26)
A Documentary History of the United States (Ch. 1-15) (TL: 26)
Reflections on the Revolution in France, by Edmund Burke (TL: 27)
Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara (TL: 28)
All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque (TL: 29)
Literature Semester 1:
The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells
The Code of the Woosters, by P. G. Wodehouse
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
Literature Semester 2:
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
The Great Divorce, by C. S. Lewis
Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville
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:
The Old Testament (God’s Holy Word)
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
The Lives of Famous Men by Plutarch (Selections)
Histories by Polybius
History and Literature Semester 2:
The Iliad by Homer
The Oresteia by Aeschylus
The Clouds by Aristophanes
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
Syntopical Studies Semesters 1 & 2:
Intro: A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart, by Josef Pieper
Prudence in
Fortitude in Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
Justice in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Temperance in Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
Faith in The Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan
Hope in
Love in The Giver, by Lois Lowry
11th Grade Incarnation to Reformation (From c. 4 B.C. to October 31, 1517 A.D.) Cycle 2
History and Literature Semester 1:
The New Testament (God’s Holy Word)
Romans
1 & 2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 & 2 Thessalonians
1 & 2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
1-2 Peter
1-3 John
Jude
Revelation
Contentment, by Plutarch
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
History and Literature Semester 2:
The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius
Proslogion, by Anselm of Canterbury
The Nibelungenlied
Summa Theologica (Part 1, Q.1-25), by Thomas Aquinas
Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
Syntopical Studies Semester 1:
The Arts
Poetics, by Aristotle
Only the Lover Sings, by Josef Pieper
Art and the Bible, by Francis Schaeffer
The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers
Education
Meno, by Plato
The Abolition of Man, by C. S. Lewis (In Progress)
The Lost Tools of Learning, by Dorothy Sayers
Syntopical Studies Semester 2:
Society & Politics
The Prince, by Machiavelli
On Duties, by Cicero
The Republic, by Plato
Politics, by Aristotle
Economics
The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx
The Wealth of Nations (Book 1), by Adam Smith
Oeconomicus, by Xenophpon
12th Grade Reformation to Present (From October 31, 1517 A.D. to Present) Cycle 2
History and Literature Semester 1:
The Essential Tales and Poems (selections) of Edgar Allen Poe
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Raven
Sonnets by Shakespeare
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
1984 by George Orwell
History and Literature Semester 2:
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
The Ransom Trilogy by C. S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Syntopical Studies Semester 1:
Unbelief, Faith, and Reason
Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Enlightenment Reader:
Selections from Hume
Selections from Kant
Miracles, by C. S. Lewis
Meditations, by Rene Descartes
Pensees, by Blaise Pascal
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
God in the Dock, by C. S. Lewis
Select Essays
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
Syntopical Studies Semester 2:
Unbelief, Faith, and Reason
The God Who is There by Francis Schaeffer
Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen
The book of Job
Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus
The death of Ivan Illyitch, by Leo Tolstoy
The Problem of Pain, by C. S. Lewis
A Grief Observed, by C. S. Lewis
The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoevsky
I appreciate your recommendations for grades 7-12. I am also enjoying your study guides! I’m a homeschool mom and am trying to offer my children a richer education than what I received. Do you have a post for how to use your study guides? For instance, I just looked through the Genesis 1 study guide and love the depth of the questions and the that point to virtue and the Westminster catechism. But that lesson could be a whole semester of study (or life long!). How do you recommend we parse? How do I help my students walk through these ideas without feeling overwhelmed or that we are leaving out more beautiful ideas? My older two are 13 and 15. I have five more coming up behind.
I am slowly making strides to make our lessons more joyful and to lead my children into deeper study. What I’m fighting against is my own mindset that seems to rush through information to check a box instead of playing with and resting and wrestling with one idea and allowing that to lead us. Again, I’m getting there, but I was public school educated and also have German heritage- so my utilitarian underpinning is strong. 🤦🏻♀️
Any practical help is appreciated. Perhaps you have these with paid subscription- please let me know that as well! Grateful!
Stupendous. Missing Melville, however.