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Summer Books Lists

Summer book list will be added at the end of April.

Further Reading About Classical Education

Articles/Essays:

  • Cheryl Lowe - How Latin Develops the Mind
  • “The Lost Tools of Learning”, Dorothy Sayers
  • An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents, Christopher Perrin

Books:

  • The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, E.D. Hirsch Jr.
  • Why Knowledge Matters, E.D. Hirsch Jr.
  • The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What it Means to be an Education Human Being
  • Climbing Parnassus
  • Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
  • Aristotle for Everybody, Mortimer J. Adler
  • Climbing Parnassus

Recommended Classics

  • Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
  • The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
  • Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle

Recommended Podcasts

Created by Dr. Christopher Perrin for Classicalu.com Subscribers:

Introductory Books

  • An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents (C. Perrin)
  • Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning (Douglas Wilson)
  • The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Susan W. Bauer & Jessie Wise)
  • The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain)
  • Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education (David Hicks)
  • Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning (Charles Evans & Robert Littlejohn)
  • For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay)
  • Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America (Andrew Kern & Gene Veith)

History of Classical Education

  • The Republic (Plato)
  • Politics (Aristotle)
  • Institutes of Oratory (or The Education of an Orator) (Quintillian)
  • Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (W. Jaeger)
  • A History of Education in Antiquity (H.I. Marrou)
  • Education in Ancient Rome (Stanley R. Bonner)
  • The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture (Jean Leclercq)
  • How the Irish Saved Civilization (Thomas Cahill)
  • The Rise of the Universities (Charles Homer Haskins)
  • A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century (Oliver DeMille)
  • The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being (Richard Gamble, editor)

Modern Education

  • The Abolition of Man: How Education Shapes Man’s Sense of Morality (C.S. Lewis)
  • Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform (Diane Ravitch)
  • The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education, 1876-1957 (Lawrence A. Cremin)
  • The Schools We Need: And Why We Don’t Have Them (E.D. Hirsch Jr.)
  • Reforming Education: The Opening of the American Mind (Mortimer J. Adler)
  • American Education: A History (Wayne J. Urban & Jennings L. Wagoner, Jr.)
  • The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need–and What We Can Do about It (Tony Wagner)

Philosophy of Education

  • The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain)
  • The Abolition of Man: How Education Shapes Man’s Sense of Morality (C.S. Lewis)
  • De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine or On Christian Teaching) (Augustine)
  • Great Ideas from the Great Books (Mortimer Adler)
  • Awakening Wonder: A Classical Guide to Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (Stephen Turley)
  • Plato: The Great Philosopher-Educator (David Diener)
  • The Idea of a University (John Henry Newman)
  • Ideas Have Consequences (Richard M. Weaver)

Mathematics and Science

  • A Mathematician’s Lament (Paul Lockhart)
  • Measurement (Paul Lockhart)
  • Innumeracy (John Allen Paulos)
  • The Divine Challenge: On Matter, Mind, Math, and Meaning (John Byl)
  • Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education (Stratford Caldecott)
  • The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy (Nancy Pearcey & Charles Thaxton)

Virtue and Embodiment

  • The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods (A.G. Sertillanges)
  • Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life at a Christian College (James W. Sire)
  • Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (James K.A. Smith)
  • You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (James K.A. Smith)
  • Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classical Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination (Vigen Guroian)
  • John Milton: Classical Learning and the Progress of Virtue (Grant Horner)

Scholé and Contemplation

  • Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation (Josef Pieper)
  • Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Josef Pieper)
  • Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace (Sarah Mackenzie)
  • Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series: Home Education (vol. 1) (Charlotte Mason)

Pedagogy, Art of Teaching

  • De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine or On Christian Teaching) (Augustine)
  • The Art of Teaching (Gilbert Highet)
  • Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning (Jacques Barzun)
  • The Seven Laws of Teaching (John Milton Gregory)
  • Why Students Don’t Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions about How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom (Daniel T. Willingham)
  • Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education (James Taylor)
  • Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School (Matt Copeland)
  • Teach Like a Champion: Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College (Doug Lemov)

Dr. Perrin’s Top 10 List: 101 Version

  • An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents (C. Perrin)
  • The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain)
  • The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being (Richard Gamble, editor)
  • How the Irish Saved Civilization (Thomas Cahill)
  • A Mathematician’s Lament (Paul Lockhart)
  • The Abolition of Man: How Education Shapes Man’s Sense of Morality (C.S. Lewis)
  • The Schools We Need: And Why We Don’t Have Them (E.D. Hirsch Jr.)
  • Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (James K. A. Smith)
  • Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation (Josef Pieper)
  • The Seven Laws of Teaching (John Milton Gregory)

Dr. Perrin’s Top 10 List: 102 Version

  • The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain)
  • Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education (David Hicks)
  • The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being (Richard Gamble, editor)
  • De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine or On Christian Teaching) (Augustine)
  • A Mathematician’s Lament (Paul Lockhart)
  • The Abolition of Man: How Education Shapes Man’s Sense of Morality (C.S. Lewis)
  • Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform (Diane Ravitch)
  • Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (James K. A. Smith)
  • Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Josef Pieper)
  • The Seven Laws of Teaching (John Milton Gregory)