REVIEWS OF THE ANGELICUM ACADEMY

A Review of The Angelicum Academy
by Cathy Duffy:

The Angelicum Academy Homeschool Program

Angelicum Academy offers complete, classical, Catholic education programs for nursery through high school. Relying primarily on recommendations from Mortimer Adler and John Senior, this is "Great Books"-based education, that expands using other resources for covering the full range of academics. This is an advanced, very-challenging program. For example math is advanced a full year from the very beginning--second graders are using either Saxon Math 3 or Developmental Math levels 5 and 6. The program is broad as well as being advanced; it includes art, map skills, geography, history, language arts, literature (Good and Great Books), math, philosophy, logic, music, science, religion, foreign language, and Socratic discussion groups (beginning with third grade). However, parents may enroll their children in complete programs or any parts they might select.

They use an interesting mix of resources such as Sing, Spell, Read, and Write; A Beka handwriting books; Shurley Grammar; Greenleaf Guides for history; Christ and the Americas; the Baltimore Catechism; National Geographic CD's; Latin's Not So Tough!; Power-glide; and Harcourt Brace science texts. These resources are in addition to 12-15 "good books". Books selected for the younger grade levels (k-6) include such titles as Winnie the Pooh, The Red Fairy Book, Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden, Huckleberry Finn, Otto of the Silver Hand, The Last of the Mohicans, For the Temple, and Tanglewood Tales.

Enrollment fees (per student) are $25 for nursery and preschool, $45 for kindergarten, and $295 for grades 1-12. This does not include books. Enrollment entitles the student/parent to daily lesson plans... educational consultation, quarterly tests in each course, test grading service, semester report cards, comprehensive testing about every 2 years, transcript... Great Books for younger levels (called "Good Books") run $99 per year for grades N-4, $145 for grade 5, and $195 for grade 6. You can select materials from different grade levels when appropriate. Some resources are used for a number of levels (e.g., National Geographic CD's)... You can also order all items individually. Cost will vary depending upon your choices, but, for illustration, the whole grade kits for K and grade 6 (with Saxon Math) are $411.30 and $569.35 respectively. These prices do not include foreign language and a few other items that are used for more than one grade level.

This is an ambitious program, but it does seem to offer plenty of parent support and flexibility.

The Angelicum Academy homeschool program is a Catholic off-shoot of The Great Books Academy. The education provided is based on the liberal arts, the classical great books of Western civilization, and Socratic discussion seminars. It includes "an intellectual assent to the teachings of the Catholic Church." Please write for more information. The Angelicum Academy, P.O. Box 20090, Oklahoma City, OK 73120 You may call 1-800-664-6209. Their website is: www.angelicum.net

The Angelicum Academy,
Founded: 2000
Lesson Plans: Daily
Services offered:

Socratic discussion group participation for grades 3 - 12 (via live audio on the Internet - live video is in the plans for the future, but not yet available), educational consultation (letter, e-mail, fax or phone), quarterly tests for each course, test grading, semester report cards, periodic comprehensive testing (usually every two years), transcript, high school diploma. Access to take the Great Books University College Tests to receive a B.A. in Liberal Arts at the end of high school.

Texts used include: (these may be adjusted by the parents) Saxon Math (other alternatives also available), Sing Spell Read and Write, English from the Roots Up, Our Holy Faith Religion Series (grade school) and Our Quest for Happiness (high school), Shurley Grammar, Baltimore Catechism, Greenleaf Guides (and supplemental history materials), Christ and the Americas, The Puritan's Progress, Christ the King, Lord of History and a wide selection of foreign language courses which are encouraged from grade one.

There is a heavy emphasis on good literature such as: A Child's Garden of Verses, Aesop's Fables, Tales from Shakespeare, the Little House Books, Heidi, Swiss Family Robinson, Little Women, Around the World in 80 Days, Hans Brinker, Tanglewood Tales, Uncle Tom's Cabin and many others (approximately 15 books are used in their Literature curriculum for each of the grade school years). In high school the literature segment of the curriculum becomes much more extensive and includes selections which are not "good" but will be used as opportunities for learning (such as the Communist Manifesto). Their literature course will resemble the four year Seminar Course at Thomas Aquinas College <http://www.thomasaquinas.edu>. High School students (and adults who are also welcome to take the course) read selections such as: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Herodotus, The Histories, Plato's Republic, Virgil's Aeneid, selections from Plutarch's Lives, Dante's Divine Comedy, St. Augustine's Confessions, the Canterbury Tales, Don Quixote, selected Shakespeare plays and sonnets, Paradise Lost, Gulliver's Travels, selections from Rousseau and Kant, Tolstoy's War and Peace, Huckleberry Finn, The Communist Manifesto, Darwin's Origin of Species, selections from Nietzsche, the Brother's Karamazov, selections from Freud and Jung, Cardinal Newman's Development of Christian Doctrine and a number of papal encyclicals.

a review by Lesley Payne
of the National Association of Catholic Home Educators (NACHE)

I have been saying for many years that Catholic homeschooling needs its own version of the high-class (though virulently anti-Catholic) Protestant curriculum from B.J.U. - something with professionally printed books and directors who teach at universities.  My wish may have come true with the new Catholic homeschool curriculum provider, Angelicum Academy.

I discovered Angelicum at a recent Southern California Catholic home schooling conference, where they had a display table.  I was skeptical.  My first question, were they connected with Angelus Press, publishing arm of the Society of Plus X?  The man behind the table assured me they were not.  I leafed through their brochure. Still I withheld my enthusiasm.  How could a homeschooling enterprise afford glossy, full-color promotional materials?  Who were the university professors on their board and writing in their quarterly magazine, Classical Homeschooling?  Why was famed philosopher Mortimer Adler (a recent convert to Catholicism) writing for their magazine? How could they hire teachers to conduct Internet live audio seminars for grades three through twelve?

I finally got excited when a friend told me that the founders of the new program are a group with ties to the late Dr. John Senior's Integrated Humanities Program. The group formed a nonprofit foundation to promote Great Books education (such as is taught at Thomas Aquinas College) for homeschoolers.

Then I worried that such first-rate services would be priced way out of the means of large Catholic homeschooling families.  But it turns out that, depending on which options you choose, Angelicum Academy can cost anywhere from slightly less than most full-service home education curricula up to around the cost of private school tuition. The yearly cost of enrollment (which does not include books, but does include the Internet seminars, consultation, quarterly testing, grading of work, report cards, etc.) is $45 for kindergarten, $195 for grades 1 and 2, $295 for grades 3 through 8 and  $395 for grades 9 through 12.  There is a 10% discount for each additional child (that is, 10% off the second, 20% off the third, and so on). A thrifty family could make use of library books second-hand books and spend little more than the enrollment fees.  Those of greater means could purchase the entire Great Books set ($695), which would be used throughout all grade levels.

The Internet seminars are a novel idea.  The audio format allows younger children to participate.  According to an Angelicum director, the purpose of the seminars for younger kids is to help the children develop the important skills of listening and speaking. High school seminars will more closely resemble the debates used in classes at TAC, where students learn how to formulate and defend a logical premise. The seminars are optional at the lower grades, but integral to the curriculum in high school. 

For more information about Angelicum Academy, call (800) 664-6209, visit www.angelicum.net or email them at AngelicumAcademy@aol.com. 

For more information please contact:

The Angelicum Academy
P.O. Box 20090
Oklahoma City, OK 73120
1-800-664-6209

Website: <http://www.angelicum.net>

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