A Year-Long Humanities Formation Program

The Center for Western Studies offers a year-long Humanities Formation Program designed for upper-level high school students and gap-year students who are ready for serious intellectual and moral engagement with the Western tradition.

This program is designed as a collection of connected courses meeting Mondays, Fridays, and optional Thursdays. It is a coherent year of formation that treats literature, culture, art, and ideas as inseparable expressions of what a civilization loves, honors, and pursues. At its heart is the ancient insight that education is not merely about acquiring information, but about forming judgment and ordering the loves (ordo amoris).

The Homeschool Program at a Glance.

Full Academic Year (Fall & Spring) - Monday & Friday (with optional discussion on Thursday) 

Tuition: $2,000 (includes MHEA membership at no additional charge) 

The full program integrates three seminar strands into a single, unified experience:

• Literature Seminar (English credit–eligible)

• Western Culture & Ideas Seminar (Humanities / History / Culture)

• Art & Music: Aesthetic Formation

Together, these form a comprehensive humanities year centered on close reading, discussion, historical context, and aesthetic attention.

Students engage major texts and works from the Ancient Greeks through the early church, into the Middle Ages, and landing in our modern times. Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Dante, Shakespeare, the Enlightenment, and the modern voices are all helping us understand this: What has the West loved, and what happens when those loves are rightly—or wrongly—ordered?

Educational Vision

We believe education forms students whether it intends to or not. The question is not whether students are being shaped, but how. The Center for Western Studies is built on the conviction that a humane education must train students to recognize what is worthy of love, admiration, and loyalty. Through sustained engagement with the great texts, artworks, and ideas of Western civilization, students learn to distinguish preference from judgment, impulse from conviction, and power from truth.

Classes are seminar-based, discussion-driven, and text-centered. Students are expected to read carefully, speak thoughtfully, listen attentively, and wrestle honestly with ideas that have shaped centuries of human thought.

Modular Enrollment 

While the program is designed as a unified year of formation, modular enrollment is available when space allows for families who prefer not to commit to the full program. Families choosing this option should understand that individual courses are offered as parts of a larger whole and may not provide the same formative coherence as full-program participation.

Individual Course Options (includes MHEA membership at no additional charge)

• Literature Seminar: Mondays 2-4pm

$600 per semester - Literature specific assignments

• Bible Seminar (Cultural Analysis): Monday's 2-4pm

$600 per semester - Bible specific assignments

• Art & Music (Aesthetic Formation): Fridays 2-4pm

$240 per semester

(Additional culture content is integrated into the literature seminar rather than offered as a standalone course. If parents are interested in combining credits in this one-year long course, please reach out to us for options.)

Transcript & Credit Considerations

The Center for Western Studies provides course descriptions, reading lists, and workload expectations. Parents retain responsibility for assigning transcript credits (e.g., Literature, Humanities, Bible, or Fine Arts) according to their homeschool requirements and state guidelines.

Students seeking credit in specific categories may need to complete additional reading, writing, or assignments outside of class, coordinated by parents. Our program structure is designed to support this flexibility while maintaining academic integrity.

Optional European Study Trip

Optional Add-On: European Study Trip

Estimated Cost: $6,000

As a natural extension of the year’s work, students may choose to participate in a guided study trip to Europe led by Center Director John Hodges. This 2.5 week trip is designed to place students in direct contact with the art, architecture, cities, and landscapes they have studied throughout the year in London, Oxford, Paris, and Chartres.

Participation in the trip is optional and not required for program completion.