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"Whenever truth comes to man by way of beauty, it necessarily transforms his character and ennobles his behavior."

David Hicks, Norms & Nobility
Pillars and Books

Explore the Foundations of Classical Education with a Dynamic Online Community

A one-year program, the CiRCE Atrium program explores the foundations of Christian classical education with online classes and discussions. The Atrium now features five courses. Participants can choose any one course or sign up for multiple courses! Courses includeShakespearewith Heidi White,Norms and Nobilitywith Tonya Rozelle,Plato’sDialogueswith Marc Hays, andThe Great Ideaswith Jonathan Councell.

Through exclusive live webinars (two each month) and an online discussion forum, the Atrium offers a forum for contemplation and collaboration: a place to linger (and take pleasure) in the depths of the Christian classical tradition alongside like-minded fellow educators. We provide the digital platform; you bring the desire for wisdom and virtue. Together we make the community.

The Atrium is now Open!

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Norms and Nobility with Tonya Rozelle

Begins September 12

在这个中庭,赛丝在线教练,CiRCE Workshop Leader, and Certified Master Teacher, Tonya Rozelle will lead us through David Hicks’ seminal work on classical education. We will engage in a close read of Norms & Nobility and discuss what it means for us as classical educators. If you have not yet read this text, you should. If you have already read this text, you can attest to the fact one read is not enough. This profound work helps us better understand why pursuing a classical education is worth the effort, both for ourselves and for our students. It helps us identify and comprehend that ache in our souls, that burning need pushing us to do the hard work.

Read About Tonya's Class

“[T]he supreme task of education [is] the cultivation of the human spirit: to teach the young to know what is good, to serve it above self, to reproduce it, and to recognize that in knowledge lies this responsibility.”(Norms, p. 13)

Norms & Nobility is considered by many to be one of the foundational texts in the classical education renewal. Educator and author David Hicks states the question shaping today’s education system is, “What can be done?” when it should instead be, “What ought to be done?” But what specifically does this mean and how can we effectively teach in light of this? Other such questions prompted by this book include: Does this impact the curriculum I use? If so, how? What “ideal type” should be our focus? Why do we even need an ideal type? This book helps us understand the difference between knowing and doing while also explaining why one cannot be taught without the other.

Our Focus – Dig into the Text

在这个中庭,赛丝在线教练,CiRCE Workshop Leader, and Certified Master Teacher, Tonya Rozelle will lead us through David Hicks’ seminal work on classical education. We will engage in a close read of Norms & Nobility and discuss what it means for us as classical educators. If you have not yet read this text, you should. If you have already read this text, you can attest to the fact one read is not enough. This profound work helps us better understand why pursuing a classical education is worth the effort, both for ourselves and for our students. It helps us identify and comprehend that ache in our souls, that burning need pushing us to do the hard work.

The Format – Understanding then Application

We will meet twice a month to discuss each chapter. The first time we meet on a specific chapter, we will focus on understanding what Hicks is saying to us. The second time will be geared toward the more practical aspects of the material, in other words, what it looks like in practice. While examining Norms, students will also further their understanding of classical pedagogy. Instructor Tonya Rozelle will lead each session modeling both mimetic and Socratic instruction in order to facilitate robust discussions on this rich material.

Intended Audience - You

Whether you are a teacher in a traditional school setting or a homeschooling parent, if you are trying to lead your students in a classical education, this course is for you. If you just love this text and are always looking for others eager to discuss its finer points, this course is for you. If you are completely new to classical education, and are not really sure what it all means, this course is for you. If you want to better understand how to develop a classical curriculum, this course is for you. If you wish to better understand the benefits of classical education for all levels of society, this course is for you.

Required Text -Norms & Nobility

To participate in this course, you will need a copy ofNorms & Nobilityby David V. Hicks. There is a preface written for the 1990 edition that is excellent and worthy of much marginalia in its own right. Since we will dedicate time to this preface, I strongly suggest you purchase a copy that includes it. Do not be put off by the price of the book. It is worth its weight in gold. Join us in the 2023-2024 Atrium year, and together we learn why, "[t]he sublime premise of a classical education asserts that right thinking will lead to right, if not righteous, acting."(Norms, Preface, p. vi)

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Read More About Tonya's Class >

Shakespeare with Heidi White

Begins September 5

In this Atrium course, teacher and podcaster Heidi White provides an engaging classical experience with Shakespeare’s rich and varied body of work. Over the course of nine months, class participants will read and discuss three representative plays and nine influential sonnets, cultivating both a broad understanding and a concentrated insight into Shakespeare’s poetry and plays. Throughout the course, Heidi provides guidance and modeling of classical pedagogy, providing a practical and accessible roadmap for teaching Shakespeare with confidence and excellence.

Read More About Heidi's Class

Universally regarded as one of the premier contributors to world literature and culture, Shakespeare was a prolific and versatile playwright, poet, actor, and entrepreneur. Over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote an astounding 38 plays and 150 sonnets, most of which are literary masterpieces. Shakespeare’s canon is vast and his influence unparalleled. Classical educators want to do Shakespeare justice in our homes and classrooms, but how? In this Atrium course, teacher and podcaster Heidi White provides an engaging classical experience with Shakespeare’s rich and varied body of work. Over the course of nine months, class participants will read and discuss three representative plays and nine influential sonnets, cultivating both a broad understanding and a concentrated insight into Shakespeare’s poetry and plays. Throughout the course, Heidi provides guidance and modeling of classical pedagogy, providing a practical and accessible roadmap for teaching Shakespeare with confidence and excellence.

This class is for:

●Homeschoolers and classroom teachers developing skills for Shakespeare classically.
●Classical education professionals and/or enthusiasts who are increasing their familiarity with Shakespeare.
●Thoughtful readers who are interested in reading and discussing Shakespeare in a community of enthusiastic learners.

Course Specifics:

This course provides an immersive classical learning experience with Shakespeare’s poetry and plays, including:

1.Direct instruction on literary, historical, and performance elements of Shakespearean poetry and plays.

2.Interactive Socratic discussion on nine sonnets and three representative plays - one comedy, one tragedy, and one history,

3.Guidance/modeling of classical pedagogy for teaching Shakespeare at home and in the classroom.

In each class, we will read and discuss an important Shakespearean sonnet. Additionally, the course is divided into three units of six classes each. Over the course of each unit, class participants learn historical, literary, and performance characteristics of Shakespearean comedy, tragedy, and history as they read, watch, study, and discuss one representative play from each genre. The instructor intentionally models and teaches classical pedagogy through Socratic discussion, mimetic teaching, and direct instruction.

Fall Block - Sept, Oct, Nov- Comedy -Midsummer Night's Dream
Winter Block - Dec, Jan, Feb- History - Henry IV
Spring Block - March, April, May- Tragedy -Romeo and Juliet

Required class materials:
(1) Norton or Riverside Shakespeare OR Folgers Midsummer, Henry IV, and Romeo and Juliet
(2) Notebook and writing utensil
(3) Internet Access

Suggested Participation:Read one play every three months, Watch at least one performance of each assigned play, Attend class live or access class recordings

About the Instructor:

Heidi White, M.A., is a teacher, editor, podcaster, and author. She teaches Humanities at St. Hild School in Colorado Springs and is the author of the forthcoming The Divided Soul: Reuniting Duty and Desire in Literature and Life. She is a contributing author, speaker, consultant, and Atrium instructor at the Circe Institute and a weekly contributor on fiction, poetry, and Shakespeare on the Close Reads Podcast Network. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Anselm Society and the Academic Advisory Board for the Classical Learning Test. She writes fiction, poetry, and essays, and she speaks about literature, education, and the Christian imagination. She lives in Black Forest, Colorado with her husband and children

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The Great Ideas with Jonathan Councell

Begins September 5

This unique atrium fittingly takes its format from the Socratic tradition and is designed with opportunities for participants to choose the texts they want to study while discussing six selected “great ideas;” courage, love, education, beauty, fortune, and justice。This course is structured to embody and invite engagement with what the classical tradition means by thetermsconversation,dialogue, andparticipationin order toclarify and enrich ourcapacityto learn liberally and to educate humanely。Join us as we enter the Great Conversation around the ideas thatundergirdscommunication and communityby means ofsome of thegreat booksand conversation.

Read More About Jonathan's Class

A Conversational Journey Through the Great Ideas of Western Civilization

"But if [concerning the idea], as we were doing just now, we examine the question based on things we agree with each other about, we ourselves will be jurors and advocates at the same time” (Republic, I.348B).

In her bookParadoxes of Education in a Republic,Eva Braun argues that an enlightened Republic is best sustained and preserved by citizens properly educated in what she calls “inquiry.” David Hicks, Mortimer J. Adler, Benjamin Franklin, and Plato’s Socrates–to name of few–all promote this claim. A lively engagement with the great norming ideas found in classic texts is the substance of what it means to be liberally educated and civilized. The love of learning is not cultivated by becoming informed with what is traditionally knownaboutbooks, authors, ideas, or historical periods; nor in becoming proficient in analytical or abstract modes of thinking; nor is it in being trained in skills that makes one useful. Rather, it is the very human co-creative act of reading the great works that have come into the present in order to joinThe Great Conversationthat gives to each and all the joy and riches that Wisdom offers. This Atrium embodies and models some of the ways in which this tradition can be extended to permeate our homes, schools, and communities.

What We Will Do – Read what you will, discuss you must

CiRCE Master Teacher Jonathan Councell will model, guide, and facilitate a seminar that, through agreement and disagreement between these great works, will enable each participant to contribute to the discussion from voluntarily chosen readings. Participants will read two books for each idea from a list of great books selected for that great idea. By giving three sessions to each idea this Atrium demonstrates a way of creating and forming a community that has advanced its understanding of that idea as it exists between free minds and between great books.

How We Will Do It

We will spend three sessions with each idea and the works associated with them. The first session introduces the idea and establishes the limits of our existing knowledge and understanding surrounding it. The next two sessions observe the great conversation between the selected works about this idea. We do this in a normative and syntopical mode of educational inquiry into the great ideas of human civilization. The goals of this Atrium are to: increase understanding of the great ideas and their norming influence upon our actions and lives, grow in knowledge about an inquiry focused education and pedagogical practices, and participate in syntopical reading and socratic/dialectical discussion.

Who Should Do It

Adults who want a liberal education.

Educators that want practical experience in dialectical discussion.

Individuals that are hungry for intellectual community and conversation.

Readers that want to try their hand at syntopical reading.

Those who wish for an educational experience more in line with the following educational programs:

  • The CiRCE Institutes Master Teacher Apprenticeship Program
  • The Aspen Conferences as Mortimer J. Adler described them inHow to Speak and How to Listen
  • St. John’s College tutorial structure
  • University of Chicago’s Great Books Seminar and Program
  • The Humane Letters Tradition
  • Plato’s Academy
  • Jesus and his disciples
  • “教师研讨会”的设想by David Hicks inNorms and Nobility

What You Will Need - A choice of works

For the purposes of this courseyou will select and read two works for each idea。列出每个想法的作品推荐below. After selecting these works you will submit your reading list to the Atrium leader and will then ensure that you have these works. As you will be reading on your own, any translation or edition or format will be acceptable.

The Idea of Courage(Only Choose Two)

  • Homer’sThe Iliad
  • Marcus Aurelius’Meditations
  • Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’sPhilosophy of Right
  • David Hick’sThe Lawgivers: The Parallel lives of Numa Pompilius and Lycurgus of Sparta
  • Virgil’sThe Aeneid
  • Shakespeare’sCoriolanus
  • Shakespeare’sHenry V
  • Tolstoy’sWar and Peace
  • Aristotle’sEthics
  • Plato’sApology
  • Plato’sLaches
  • Joshua and Judges

The Idea of Love(Only Choose Two)

  • Bernard of ClaireveuxOn the Love of God
  • Milton’sParadise Lost
  • Shakespeare’sRomeo and Juliet
  • Dante’sDivine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, or (preference) Paradiso
  • AugustineConfessions
  • Chaucer’sTroilus and Cressida
  • Virgil’sThe Aeneid
  • Chaucer’sCanterbury Tales
  • Homer’sThe Iliad
  • Plato’sPhaedrus
  • Song of Solomon and the Psalms

The Idea of Beauty(Only Choose Two)

  • St. Augustine’sConfessions
  • Edmund Burke’sA philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful
  • Milton’sParadise Lost
  • Plotinus’sThe Enneads
  • Plato’sThe Republic
  • Hegel’sPhilosophy of History
  • Kant’sJudgment
  • Chaucer’sThe Canterbury Talesspecifically “the Physician’s Tale”
  • Aristotle’sThe Parts of Animals
  • Marcus Aurelius’Meditations
  • Shakespeare’sRomeo and Juliet
  • Goethe’sFaust
  • Plato’sGreater Hippias (or Hippias Major, both names for the same dialogue)
  • The Psalms

The Idea of Fortune/Chance(Only Choose Two)

  • Shakespeare’sHamlet
  • Shakespeare’sKing Lear
  • Tolstoy’sWar and Peace
  • Beothius’Consolation of Philosophy
  • Machiavelli’sThe Prince
  • Aristotle’sPolitics
  • ThucydidesThe Peloponnesian War
  • LucretiusThe Nature of Things
  • Dostoyevsky’sBrothers Karamazov
  • Melville’sMoby Dick
  • Job and Ecclesiastes
  • Sophocles’Oedipus Rex

The Idea of Education(Only Choose Two)

  • Plato’sGorgias
  • Plato’sThe Republic
  • Shakespeare’sThe Tempest
  • Shakespeare’sThe Taming of the Shrew
  • Lucretius’TheNature of Things
  • St. AugustineOn Christian Doctrine
  • Ptolemy’sAlmagest
  • Aristotle’sRhetoric
  • Plutarch’sLives
  • Adam Smith’sThe Wealth of Nations
  • Exodus
  • First Corinthians
  • Genesis

The Idea of Justice/Temperance(Only Choose Two)

  • Plato’sThe Republic
  • Homer’sThe Odyssey
  • Homer’sThe Iliad
  • RousseauInequality
  • MarxDas Kapital
  • KantPure Reason
  • LockeCivil Government
  • ThucydidesThe Peloponnesian War
  • AristophanesClouds
  • SophoclesAntigone
  • Plato’sCharmides
  • The Proverbs of Solomon
  • Shakespeare’sMacbeth
  • Shakespeare’sJulius Caesar

Join us in the 2023-2024 Atrium year. Instead of bemoaning the decline of liberal education, we must all admit that what a culture promotes, provides, and transmits through its education is what is most in honor. We cannot honor what we do not have. This Atrium honors Great Conversation by reading in order to dialogue about the Great Ideas that serve as the basis of human community. In an age of barbarians, these are the seeds of future civilization. They take a long time to grow and must be planted today.

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Participants can expect to grow in knowledge of classical education throughout the year, be inspired and energized by peer discussion and collaboration, and understand the fundamentals of Christian classical education.

* The Atrium works in partnership with the CiRCE Apprenticeship Program and thus is especially well-suited for those who are preparing to enter the Apprenticeship. Participants who complete one year in the Atrium are eligible to receive a $250 credit toward Apprenticeship tuition.

Common Questions

The Atrium requires a $75 application fee. Tuition is $750 for the year. To see the books listed below and purchase,Bookshop.org(https://bookshop.org/shop/CiRCE)。你是欢迎珀切斯e books from your chosen book store as well.

Participants may pay via a single payment of $750 (our annual payment plan) or in ten monthly installments of $75 from the tenth of July through the tenth of April. Please note: All accounts must remain in good standing to be eligible for the Apprenticeship tuition credit. If joining the class in September, then the tuition can be divided across remaining months.

Tonya Rozelle’sclass will read David Hicks’ educational treatiseNorms and Nobility。The class will meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month, beginning on September 12, from 5:00-6:30pm Eastern time.

Marc Hays’参与者将阅读和contemplatePlato: Complete Worksedited by John M. Cooper。His class will meet on thesecond and fourth Mondays from 6-7:30 ET, beginning on August 14 (with some shifts for travel needs or holidays, TBD).

Heidi White’sclass reads a variety of Shakespeare’s plays ranging from his Comedies to his Histories and has the opportunity to attend live or watch the recording of the webinars. The class will meet on the first and third Tuesdays of every month, beginning on September 5, from 8:00-9:30pm Eastern time.

Kristen Rudd’sDante class will read and discuss Anthony Esolen’s translation of Dante’sDivine Comedy。The three individual volumes ofInferno, Purgatory,andParadiseare available in paperback and hardback. The class will meet on the first and third Tuesdays of every month, beginning on August 22, from 7:00-8:30pm Eastern time (with a break for Christmas)。There will be eighteen sessions total.

Jonathan Councell‘sparticipants will read various texts throughout his class. His class will meet on thefirst and third Tuesdays from 5-6:30 ET, beginning on August 22 (with some shifts for travel needs or holidays, TBD).

In the Atrium all activities are online, travel is not necessary, the level of participation is determined by the participant, and there is no certification associated with the Atrium. In the Apprenticeship, in addition to online interaction, apprentices travel to retreats twice each year; Apprentices are required to complete various reading, writing, and teaching assignments and are formally evaluated each semester; and Apprentices who complete the 3-year course of study and associated requirements become CiRCE Certified Classical Teachers.

New Atrium communities begin in August and September. All webinars are recorded and available to participants. After September 30th, new applicants may apply to be part of the group for the following year.

All webinars will be recorded. Atrium participants will have access to recorded webinars to view at their leisure.

The application fee is non-refundable.
Participants who decide to withdraw from the Atrium will be refunded 100% of the tuition if they withdraw prior to August 1st. After August 1st no refunds are available.

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