Our Courses
All ACT courses fit into one of two categories: live, virtual courses that meet via Zoom and are typically held during the summer and fully asynchronous courses that are available year-round through our partnership with ClassicalU. Scroll down to view information on both summer and year-round courses.
Fall 2025 Course Offerings
The courses below are available for the Fall 2025 season. Learners in these courses complete assigned readings and then meet virtually on Zoom to discuss the reading assignments in a seminar.
| Course Title | Description | Schedule | Facilitator | Registration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herodotean Inquiries: The Central Argument | In this course we will read and discuss selections from Herodotus’ Histories. While our seminars will be open conversations, my hope is that we will be able to discover something of Herodotus’ core teaching. This is, of course, on the hypothesis that his Histories is a coherent whole, despite all of its apparently accidental digressions, a hypothesis which we will not be able to test in full but which hopefully may be supported by a representative selection. One of the questions that we will inevitably ask ourselves in some way throughout our conversations will be: What is history? And a reflection on Herodotus may allow us to bring into relief much of what we take for granted when we appeal to “historical context” as a basis of authority, understand ourselves as “historical beings,” or even simply “teach history”. | 9/2, 9/16, 9/30, 10/14, and 10/28, from 3:45-5:15 PM (AZ time) | Dr. Michael Ivins | Click Here to Register! |
| Journeys in Geography | In this course, we will explore the nature and value of geography and ways to incorporate it in K-12 classical education. We will explore an eclectic selection of readings and maps, and in each session, we will discuss key geographic concepts and specific ideas for activities and projects to use in the classroom.We will start with Geographica by the Roman Strabo, who explores the scope and utility of geography and makes a case for who should be considered the “father of geography.” We will then turn to regional geography through Germania, in which the Roman Tacitus describes the culture and landscapes of his German neighbors to the north. Then we will explore cartography by looking at great maps, including maps that have changed history, and ways that maps can enhance classical learning. Finally, we will explore frontiers by following Alexis de Tocqueville on his 1831 journey in search of the frontier of American civilization. | 9/4, 9/18, 10/2, and 10/16, from 4:00-5:30 PM (AZ time) | Robert Thornett | Click Here to Register! |
| Student Behavior and Classic Literature: Story and Self-Mastery | This course invites classical educators to explore student behavior not merely as a matter of compliance or noncompliance, but as a look into the interior disposition of their soul. In the first 5 seminars, through close reading and discussion of the excellent stories The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis and The Wise Woman by George MacDonald, participants will trace the moral and emotional journeys of children who must know and master themselves through the guidance of excellent teachers (the Lion and the Woman). These books portray the teacher not as a technician but as a guide and shepherd, cultivating virtue in the lives of two children in unique ways. In the final session, participants will reflect on the teacher’s disposition and the nature of anger and frustration, and its proper (and improper) place in school disposition through a reading and discussion of a small excerpt from Seneca the Younger’s On Anger. Participants will be able to articulate the strategies employed by the characters in the book, connect those strategies to their work, and strengthen their philosophical understanding of directing and redirecting student behavior. | 9/25, 10/9, 10/23, and 11/6, from 5:30-7:30 PM (CST) | Luke Ayers | Click Here to Register! |
Year-Round Course Offerings
The courses below are available all year long through our partnership with ClassicalU. These courses are self-paced and fully asynchronous.
| Course Title | Description | Facilitator | Registration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials of Drawing | In this course, Brighton Demerest-Smith (a classically trained artist and veteran educator with Great Hearts Academies) moves from how to teach the elements of drawing up through still life and master study. Grounded in fundamentals and close observation of subjects, his methods of teaching drawing are traditional and time-tested. | Brighton Demerest-Smith | Great Hearts Employees and Affiliates – Click here to register |
| Classical Theorems and Proofs: An Introduction to Elegant Mathematics | In this course, veteran mathematics teacher and leader Jake Tawney provides a clear and engaging introduction to the beauty of Mathematics. This course does not propose a specific curriculum. It does, however, present a list of “those things from mathematics you should have learned but probably didn’t.” In the opening lessons of the course you will hear that truth is effusive. Upon its discovery truth demands to be shared, and the mathematical proof is the medium through which mathematical truth is communicated. There are certainly no results in this course that Jake Tawney claims as his own, and many of the mathematical proofs are centuries old. These proofs represent, in a small way, some of the best that has been said within the discipline of mathematics. | Jake Tawney | Great Hearts Employees and Affiliates – Click here to register |
| The Teacher’s Playbook: Practical Pedagogy for Classical Educators | As Great Hearts has grown from one school of 140 students to 32 schools with over 20,000 students by 2021, Jerilyn has had the opportunity to capture the best practices of teachers across multiple contexts and share those practices with each new campus. Teachers are truly at the center of every school and teaching is the work of practical wisdom—it is neither a pure philosophical endeavor nor a utilitarian social science. Newer classical school teachers often find it difficult to visualize what good practice looks like in one’s own particular context. Such teachers often hear talk about the Great Tradition, truth beauty goodness, and Platonic ideas but aren’t sure what means in particular for planning tomorrow’s lesson on fractions.At the same time, practical teaching handbooks that are full of techniques and strategies aren’t easily harmonized with a classical pedagogy. How can we know how and when employ techniques from these sources?Using classical rhetorical ideas and real-life anecdotes, Jerilyn seeks to bring together the great philosophies of classical education with effective, practical methods that good teachers employ every day. In these sessions, Jerilyn lays out a vision for practice—a description of what good teaching might look like, and how teachers can organize their ideas around the framework of rhetoric. Along the way, she gives some advice for your ongoing journey in learning good pedagogy, practicing, and getting feedback. Toward the end, she also gives advice to leaders who seek to help guide and develop effective classical teachers. | Jerilyn Olson | Great Hearts Employees and Affiliates – Click here to register |