• American Cycle: U.S. History & Physical Science (Grades 9-11)

• Greek Cycle: Greek History & Astronomy (Grades 10-12)

• Roman Cycle: Roman History, Economics, & Biology (Grades 10-12)

• Old World Cycle: Old World Cycle, Government, & Chemistry (Grades 10-12)

• Scholar's American Cycle: U.S. History, Government, & Physics (Grades 11-12)

• High School Diplomas

• St. Thomas Aquinas Academy Course Plans

The following lists our recommended books for each grade. You will not be buying every book or only the books listed. Students have a wide variety of abilities and aptitudes; schooling--especially homeschooling--needs to be adapted to different children in different ways. Your advisor will work with you to (a) match each child’s strengths and weaknesses to specific materials; (b) combine your students in texts and subjects; (c) choose a religion, history and science focus for the family for the year; and (d) weave materials you may already have or would prefer to use into your family’s course plan.

Books and materials are purchased by the family from various sources; provider names and addresses, order codes and prices are included in the program packet. Costs for materials per child can range from $200.00 to $500.00, depending on the grades levels of your children and resources already available to you. Many of the materials are used for two or more years and most are non-consumable.

Our Course Plans

The books and resources to obtain and how to use them are detailed for the family in each student's curriculum guide.   Materials recommended are suitable to the home school; both the student and the teaching-parent will find them easy to use. Many texts have unit quizzes, and answer keys, too. Where texts do not include their own pace and plan of study, we have added weekly course plans.

After evaluating the student's assessment your academic advisor will put together a personalized curriculum guide for the student that includes course notes, pacing suggestions, weekly lesson plans, and book ordering information for each course that is recommended for the student's skill level.

Following are the Academy's various course classifications:

• Grammar School (GS) - Courses designed for students in grades Pre-1st through 8th.
   

• General Education (GE) - Courses intended for non-academic, remedial, or concrete learners.  The General Education course type is assigned to courses that qualify as basic high school skills. These are not necessarily college-preparatory courses, but they can draw high school credits while the student is working on developing or remediating key college-prep skill areas. Non-academic courses like Physical Education are GE. All Non-STAA Courses (NSC) are assigned GE course credits.
   

• College Preparatory (CP) - Courses designed to equip the student to step into the college classroom.  The College Preparatory course type is assigned to courses that are more textbook- or workbook-based.  While strong reading and high school writing skills are required for CP courses, the work often is more focused on comprehension rather than developing reasoning skills as in the coursework in LA courses. While Science, Math, and Languages are an important part to a comprehensive Catholic, Liberal Arts education, they are typically classified as CP courses because they do not contain enough classical works to qualify as LA courses.
   

• Liberal Arts (LA) - Courses that introduce the students to the classics and focus on analytical thinking, reading, and writing.  These courses in the Liberal Arts introduce the students to the great writers, thinkers, saints, and Church Doctors that have contributed throughout the ages to making Catholic culture so rich. The students will be reading the source texts and, through oral discussion in the home and assigned writing, will offer their own responses to the authors. LA courses require strong reading and writing skills.  These courses are a step above the College Preparatory classification of courses in educational quality as they are decidedly not  textbook- or workbook-based approaches to the information and development of strong thinking and writing skills.  These courses do not require prior experience with the material on the part of the teaching-parent and are designed exclusively for the homeschool environment.

  • Our Liberal Arts courses may also be upgraded to online, instructor-supported or instructor-graded courses if the student or teaching-parent desires an enhanced course plan, online quizzing, or additional support from an instructor experienced with the material.  These upgraded courses are available from the Guided Liberal Arts Courses department of St. Thomas Aquinas Academy.  Additional information about these courses is available in the section of our website dedicated to the Guided Liberal Arts department.
     

• Non-STAA Courses (NSC) - Course plans are not provided for Non-STAA Courses. However, St. Thomas Aquinas Academy will gladly accept properly reported NSC courses as part of the student’s academic plan. As stated in the High School Diploma Requirements, over 50% of a student’s academic credits in each year of high school must be from St. Thomas Aquinas Academy courses. Dramatic departure from the STAA core plan tends to compromise the cohesiveness of the program and may leave holes in the development of certain college-preparatory skills. Please discuss any planned swapping of STAA courses for NSC courses with your academic planning advisor to verify that your plan will still keep your student on track for graduation.