Courses

HistoryOfWesternCulture

Senior Course (14 yrs and up), $185, 14 week course – Prerequisite: One Intermediate Level Course

From the first sparks of Ancient Greece’s splendour to the wonders of the Renaissance, Western culture is a perfect banquet of ideas to engage the mind. Dreams and empires rise and tumble in the centuries’ story of our civilization’s development before the modern era. Students engage with some of the greatest champions and villains the world has known by studying the history of the West, and will increase their understanding of their heritage.

Intermediate Course (12 yrs and up), $185, 14 week course – No prerequisite

Glimmerings of imagination tangle with tales of true-life heroes in the pages of historical fiction. Never was history more easy to remember and enjoy than by living through stories set in various eras. Students will immerse themselves in the events of an array of centuries and delve deeper into the meaningful lives of the characters who, while fictional, can make the context of a real time period ring true for all readers.

GreekMyths

Senior Course (14 yrs and up), $185 - Prerequisite: One other Intermediate level course

In the world’s youth, Greek bards came up with the world’s first fully-developed epic fantasy, full of unforgettable characters. Soar over the bold Odysseus’s ship as he navigates hydras, enchantresses, and the perils of a treacherous sea – will he ever come home to reclaim his rightful kingdom? Brimming with cunning warriors, clever maidens, heartbreak and heroism, the Greek mythos is not to be missed!

This course is designed to build students up in familiarity and comfort with the original stories of legendary Greek heroes, in the context of the writing that the Greeks themselves would have enjoyed. Students will discover the complex immortal world of the gods, demi-gods, and mortal heroes through narratives and Greek plays. This course builds into other WISDOM courses, such as The Gods of Mount Olympus, Foundational Great Books, Continued Great Books, and Before Tolkien, to continue the study of the strong creative roots of myth which we still enjoy in our culture today.

(Note to parents: This course's materials reflect ancient Greek understandings of the world, and this includes their understanding of human sexuality. Readings are carefully selected to be useful to a Christian education, but ultimately it is up to parents to decide what is appropriate material for their child.)

Foundational Great Bookssmall

Intermediate Course (13 yrs and up), $185, 14 week course – No Prerequisite
This course is at the heart of WISDOM’s Socratic Dialogue Program and is a prerequisite to many senior level courses.

What makes a classic? Why read ancient books?

Our current culture has done a marvelous job to simplify life. Countless inventions are doing our work for us at the push of a button, freeing our time to focus on more important things. However, do we find that society at large uses this extra time for meaningful growth? Are popular pursuits typically edifying and challenging? Ironically, although we have ready access to incredible information, our culture is beginning to forget where it has come from.

Foundational Grammar

Intermediate Course (12 yrs and up), $325, 14 week course (includes private tutorial time) – No prerequisite

This course covers basic grammatical knowledge, with the final end of helping students to write well and avoid improper sentence structure - namely, fragments, run-on sentences, and poor punctuation. Each week, students will learn about a new grammatical concept (parts of speech, mechanics, and usage), always referring back to the previous lessons so that there is a synthesis of all the material.

FablesAndTales2

Parent/Child Course (8-10 yrs), $175 – No Prerequisite

Parents and their children will explore the Socratic Method and the world of stories, fables, and fairy tales, with somewhat more advanced readings than Fables and Tales 1. Not only will these discussions examine the lessons and ideas within the stories, but the children will also start to examine what makes a fairy tale or a fable, and what about a reading makes it exciting or instructive, or both.

We recommend that parents review these stories ahead of time to ensure they are a good fit for their children. Not all courses may be well-suited for each family, particularly when children are in a younger age range. We rely on parent discretion to determine whether or not a course will serve their child well.

FablesAndTales1

Parent/Child Course (8-10 yrs), $175 - No Prerequisite

Come ready to read and discuss! This is a course parents and children take together. Experience using the Socratic method in this introductory level course while reading and studying a weekly fable or tale. The entire family is encouraged to participate in reading and asking questions about these classic short stories prior to class, so that once in class the experience is rich. Explore the deep lessons and ideas in these seemingly simple readings.

CreativeWriting

Intermediate Course (13 yrs and up), $325, 14 week course– Prerequisite: Intro to High School Writing or Mastering the Essay

This high school level writing course endeavours to give students the ability to use their imaginations in expressing themselves through story, and to cultivate their writing abilities through studying the basics of story composition. Students will learn to brainstorm ideas, create characters, develop plot, write description and dialogue, proofread and edit, and "show, not tell." To assist with this thought and process development, students will read selections from classic literature and discuss them each week. At the culmination of the course, students will have written a short story (10-15 pages), with different elements being covered in each week's assignment. This course includes a weekly private tutorial time.

Extra private 30 minute tutorials are available upon request. (Cost: $25/tutorial)
Please contact Nicole Noster to receive more information or to book additional tutorials: nicole@wisdomhomeschooling.com

All readings and course material are provided to students in an online format below.

Week 1:

Lesson: Inspiration or How to Come Up with an Idea
Reading: What Makes a Great Story

Week 2:

Lesson: Basic Story Structure
Reading: The Short Story

Week 3:

Lesson: Outlines
Reading: Conflict and Plot

Week 4:

Lesson: Character Development
Reading: Characterization

Week 5:

Lesson: How to Write Dialogue
Reading: Dialogue

Week 6:

Lesson: The Set Up: Beginning Your Story
Reading: Beginnings

Week 7:

Lesson: The Catalyst
Reading: none for this week

Week 8:

Lesson: Show, Don't Tell
Reading: Description

Week 9:

Lesson: Deeper Development
Reading: Action

Week 10:

Lesson: The Purpose
Reading: The Task of the Writer

Week 11:

Lesson: The Climax
Reading: The Gift of the Magi

Week 12:

Lesson: Resolutions
Reading: none for this week

Week 13:

Lesson: Your Story
Reading: The Nature and Aim of Fiction

Week 14: No Lesson or Reading this week

ClassicMystery

Senior Course (14 yrs and up), $185 - Prerequisite: One Intermediate Level Course

Whodunit – and why? Plunge into the whirl of profound truths that weave through these beloved masterpieces of mystery literature. Discover the foggy secrets of the first detective novel ever written, match wits with Sherlock Holmes, and test your own solution to a mystery its own author died without revealing! Both thrilling and full of timeless ideas, these stories are a true treat for mystery-lovers.

ClassicEnglishPoetry

Intermediate Course (13 yrs and up), $185, 14 week course – No prerequisite

This course is a delightful introduction to the poetry of the English language with a focus on learning to understand and take pleasure in verse. While gaining the skills and nuance of reading poetry, students will concentrate on a different theme each week and study how various poets explore and challenge that theme through their poems. This is primarily a reading course, but students do have the voluntary opportunity to write and share their own verse in imitation of the week’s poems. Students will study a poetry collection that follows the natural themes of man understanding himself, his Creator, nature, love, loss, and laughter. A wide variety of works and poets are considered, including Shakespeare, Tennyson, Dickinson, Wordsworth, Manley Hopkins, Longfellow, Yeats, Frost, and many others.

All readings are provided in an online format to registered students below.

Reading List:

Week 1: How to read and understand poetry