Great Books 4: The American Idea - TNSP

Self-Paced Courses are accessed through our learning management system. The students are guided by clear weekly schedules, instructional videos, and automated assessments. Courses are written to be completed in one academic year, but students set their own pace. No grading nor answer keys provided. A qualified parent or tutor is needed. Access is for one calendar year.

Course Description: Our great books courses are 3-in-1 classes that integrate Literature, Philosophy, and Theology into a single reading sequence. Courses are organized by historical period, with purposeful repetition:

The class format is that of a "great books" seminar--students read primary works from the great authors and authoresses of Western Civilization and then discuss them in a round-table format, thus joining what has been referred to as the "Great Conversation." The students learn to read, listen, speak, relish, and dispute the true, good, and beautiful things that "our tradition" has to offer.

As the students advance, the courses shift from aided reading of small sections of texts to freely reading from complete books. At the lower level aids to analysis are provided, while at the upper levels outlining and the identification of "big ideas" are weekly assignments.

Civics Supplement: As the students make their way through the founding documents and federalist debates, the units include a civics dedicated subset of lectures that explain key terms in American politics and Catholic teaching to inform the students about Catholic American citizenship and enrich their reading.

History & Composition: This course is part of an integrated course cluster that includes History 4: North America and Composition 4. Self-paced and Live course options are available.

Reading List: This course covers the United States from its first European settlement to the present.

• English-American Founding Documents
• Columbus' Letters
• Inter Caetera, Pope Alexander VI
• Fr. Le Clerq in Gaspesia
• Modell of Christian Charity, John Winthrop
• Rules of Civility
• Poor Richard's Almanac
• Letters of Massachusettensis
• Common Sense, Thomas Paine
• Declaration of Independence
• Strictures of the Declaration, Thomas Hutchinson
• On Conciliation with the Colonies, Edmund Burke
• Letters of an American Farmer, James Hector St. John
• Future Glory of America, Unknown
• Articles of Confederation
• Constitution
• Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville
• Federalist Papers, Various
• Antifederalist Papers, Various
• The Convert, Orestes Brownson
• The Blue Hotel, Stephen Crane
• The Occurrence at Owl Creek, Ambrose Bierce
• The Village Uncle, Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Various Stories, Flannery O'Connor
• Walden, Henry David Thoreau
• Immortale Dei, Pope Leo XIII
• The Church and the Age, Father Hecker
• The American Proposition, Fr. Murray
• Herland, Gilman
• Civil Rights Documents, Various
• Civic Project of American Christianity, Hanby
• Complete Works of Flannery O'Connor
• Death Comes for the Archbishop, Cathers
• Deerslayer, James Fenimore Cooper
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

Prerequisites: None
Recommended Grade Level: 11th
Required & Recommended Books: See The Self-Paced Course Book List
Required Tech: computer and internet connection capable of video streaming

Components: Reading, Agenda (background on the author and concepts of which to be aware), Automated Quiz, Activity Sheet (reading questions and literary concepts). There are three exams per year, several of which are usually oral.

ACCESS? Login credentials are emailed to you after purchase within 1-5 Business Days. Access is not automated nor immediate.