Academics(in this section)

Classical, Catholic High School Program: The Rhetoric Stage

The Rhetoric Stage is the stage at which self-motivated learners are able to express themselves with ever increasing depth, clarity and originality. The student is able to engage not only in analysis of complex information, but is able to synthesize such analysis with other data and information and clearly express in both written and oral form the implications of their understanding. The student engages in in-depth reasoning as he looks at facts and data now accumulated over a twelve year career with us.

Critical evaluation and graceful self-expression is the fruit of this final stage. Advanced mathematical, scientific, and language skills are complimented by a rich appreciation of literature and poetry. In possession of “the tools of learning” and broadly cognizant of the human experience as reflected in the various disciplines of the liberal arts, the student is able to take responsibility of his own learning as he continues to advance through his college career, and beyond.

The high school combines literature and history into a humanities block which is largely taught in seminar format. High school theology is also largely seminar format and built on solid Catholic doctrine and spiritual classics. Continuous, intense Socratic dialogue with peers and experts to a degree not found in other schools or other schooling options.

Senior Thesis

Seniors complete an in-depth Senior Thesis which they publicly and formally present and defend before the community prior to graduation. There’s a lot that goes into every thesis. Here’s a quick overview of the program. To turn on subtitles, click the CC button in the bottom right corner of the player.

Community & Culture Night – Rhetoric Stage

The best way to prepare students to encounter Christ and pursue excellence requires a shared vision among students, teachers and parents. Our Community & Culture Night series answers this need by showing our community the culture we instill at Donahue Academy. Each stage of the students’ education has a separate night devoted especially to it.

Rhetoric Stage Curriculum

Developing Wisdom – Asking “Why”

Lists of texts below are illustrative and not exhaustive.

9th and 10th Grade Cognitive Taxonomy: Synthesis

Description: Creating something new by putting parts of different ideas together to make a whole.

Skills: Blend, build, change, combine, compile, compose, conceive, create, design, formulate, generate, hypothesize, plan, predict, produce, reorder, revise, tell, and write.

9th Grade

Period: Ancient (5000 BC- 400 AD)

Assessments: PSAT

History

  • Humanities 1: World History (1 credit)
    • The Greeks: An Illustrated History (National Geographic)
    • Ancient Rome (Zoch)
    • Course Reader of Shorter Historical Documents

10th Grade

Period: Ancient/Medieval (400 AD-1600)

Assessments: PSAT

History

  • Humanities II: Western Civilization (1 credit)
    • The Book of the Middle Ages (Mills)
    • Chronicles (Froissart)
    • Course Reader of Shorter Historical Documents

Literature

  • Humanities 1: English Honors I (1 credit)
    • Ten Plays (Euripides)
    • Aeneid (Virgil)
    • The Odyssey (Homer)
    • Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)
    • Oedipus Rex/Antigone (Sophocles)
    • Course Reader of Shorter Literary, Poetic and Philosophical Works
    • Summer Reading: The Eagle of the 9th (Sutcliffe)

Literature

  • Humanities II: English Honors II (1 credit)
    • Beowulf
    • The Song of Roland
    • The Inferno (Dante)
    • Treatise on Law (St. Thomas Aquinas)
    • Macbeth (Shakespeare)
    • Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare)
    • Joan of Arc (Twain)
    • Course Reader of Shorter Literary, Poetic and Philosophical Works
    • Summer Reading: A Morbid Taste for Bones (Peters)

Classical Studies

  • Logic (.3 credit)
    • Logic I (Cothran)
  • Rhetoric (.2 credit)
    • Classical Rhetoric (Cothran)

Classical Studies

  • N/A

Theology

  • The Creed (1 credit)
    • Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version)
    • Catechism of the Catholic Church
    • Dei Verbum (Vatican II)
    • Redemptor Hominis (Pope John Paul II)
    • Theology for Beginners (Sheed)
    • Novo Millenio Inuente (Pope John Paul II)
    • Dominus Iesus (Pope John Paul II)
    • The Creed (Hahn)

Theology

  • Christology/Ecclesiology/Sacraments (1 credit)
    • Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version)
    • Catechism of the Catholic Church
    • Redemptor Hominis (Pope John Paul II)
    • Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Vatican II)
    • The Great Divorce (Lewis)
    • The Spirit of the Liturgy (Pope Benedict XVI)

Mathematics

  • Geometry (1 credit)
    • Geometry (Larson et al.)

Mathematics

  • Algebra II (1 credit)
    • Algebra II (Larson)
  • Pre-Calculus (1 credit)
    • Algebra II (Larson)
    • Pre-Calculus (Demana, Waites, et al.)

Science

  • Biology (1 credit)
    • Biology (Glencoe)

Science

  • Chemistry (1 credit)
    • Chemistry: Matter & Change (Glencoe)

Language

  • Latin (1 credit)
    • Wheelock’s Latin (LaFleur)

Language

  • Latin (1 credit)
    • Wheelock’s Latin (LaFleur)

Art/Physical Education/Elective

  • PE (0.5 credit)

Art/Physical Education/Elective

  • Art Appreciation (0.3 credit)
    • History of Art (Hanson)
    • The Visual Experience (Hobbs)
  • Music Appreciation (0.2 credit)
    • Concise History of Western Music (Hanning)
  • PE (0.5 credit)

11th and 12th Grade Cognitive Taxonomy: Evaluation

Description: Judging the value of material or methods as they might be applied in a particular situation; judging with the use of definite criteria.

Skills: Accept, appraise, arbitrate, argue, articulate, assess, award, choose, conclude, criticize, defend, evaluate, grade, judge, prioritize, recommend, referee, reject, select, support.

11th Grade

Period: Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850)

Assessments: PSAT/SAT

History

  • Humanities III: European History (.5 crd)
    • The Reformation (Chadwick)
    • The Renaissance (Johnson)
    • A Short History of the French Revolution (Doyle)
    • Course Reader of Shorter Historical Documents
  • Humanities III: Amer. Gov. Honors (.5 crd)
    • Treatise on Government (Locke)
    • The Origins of the American Constitution (Kammen)

12th Grade

Period: Modern (1850-Present)

Assessments: SAT/ACT/AP

History

  • Humanities IV: American History (1 credit)
    • Course Reader of Shorter Historical Documents

Literature

  • Humanities III: English Honors III (1 credit)
    • Hamlet (Shakespeare)
    • The Betrothed (Manzoni)
    • Frankenstein (Shelley)
    • A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
    • Meditations (Descartes)
    • The Social Contract (Rousseau)
    • Course Reader of Shorter Literary Poetic and Philosophical Works
    • Summer Reading: Three Musketeers (Dumas)

Literature

  • Humanities IV: English Honors IV (1 credit)
    • Great American Short Stories (various)
    • A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare)
    • The Tempest (Shakespeare)
    • The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoyevsky)
    • All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque)
    • Huckleberry Finn (Twain)
    • Course Reader of Shorter Literary, Poetic and Philosophical Works
    • Summer Reading: A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller)

Classical Studies

  • Civics (.5 credit)
    • Civics in Practice (Massing)

Classical Studies

  • Economics (.5 credit)
    • Principles of Economics (Bernanke)

Theology

  • Moral Theology (1 credit)
    • Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version)
    • Catechism of the Catholic Church
    • Purgatory (Dante)
    • Morality the Catholic View (Pinckaers)
    • Veritatis Splendor, Spe Salvi, (John Paul II)
    • Humanae Vitae (Paul VI)
    • Dignitatis Humanae (Paul VI)
    • The Screwtape Letters (Lewis)

Theology

  • Spiritual Theology and Apologetics (1 credit)
    • Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version)
    • Catechism of the Catholic Church
    • Catholic Apologetics (Alexander)
    • The Confessions (St. Augustine)
    • Libertas (Leo XIII)
    • Fulfillment of all Desire (Martin)
    • Collected works (St. John of the Cross)
    • Various lives of the saints and selected spiritual classics

Mathematics

  • Analysis of Functions (1 credit)
    • A Mathematical Tour of Functions (Calvo)
  • Calculus I Honors (1 credit)
    • Calculus: Early Transcendentals (Anton et al.)

Mathematics

  • Calculus I (1 credit)
    • Calculus: Early Transcendentals (Anton et al.)
  • Statistics (1 credit)
    • The Practice of Statistics (Starnes et al.)
  • Statistics Honors (1 credit)
    • The Practice of Statistics (Starnes et al.)

Science

  • Advanced Scientific Topics (.5 credit)
    • Faith, Science & Reason (Baglow)
    • Galileo, Science, and the Church (Langford)
    • New Proofs for the Existence of God (Spitzer)
  • Anatomy & Physiology (.5 credit)
    • Anatomy & Physiology (Scanlon et al.)

Science

  • Physics (1 credit)
    • Physics: Principles & Problems (Glencoe)
  • Physics Honors (1 credit)
    • Physics: Principles & Problems (Glencoe)

Language

  • Modern or Classical Language (1 credit)
    • Spanish I, Puntos De Partida
    • Latin Texts

Language

  • Modern or Classical Language (1 credit)
    • Spanish II, Puntos De Partida
    • Latin Texts

Art/Physical Education/Elective

  • Shakespeare Literary Course (.2 credit)
  • Shakespeare in Performance (.2 credit)
  • Studio Art I (.2 credit)
  • Studio Art II (.2 credit)
  • Choir I (.2 credit)
  • Choir II (.2 credit)

Art/Physical Education/Elective

  • Shakespeare Literary Course (.2 credit)
  • Shakespeare in Performance (.2 credit)
  • Studio Art I (.2 credit)
  • Studio Art II (.2 credit)
  • Choir I (.2 credit)
  • Choir II (.2 credit)