Angelicum Academy

Angelicum Academy is the Catholic Great Books program for homeschool high school and college students. It is one of a very small number of Catholic homeschool providers that takes the Great Books seminar method seriously — small online discussion groups reading the actual primary texts with trained tutors.

Last updated: 2026-04-20 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Catholic Great Books / Socratic seminar
Worldview	Catholic (orthodox, Thomistic)
Grades	7-12 plus college (Good Shepherd College)
Formats	Live online discussion seminars, accredited high school
Cost tier	Premium
Parent intensity	2
ESA-common	Yes
Accredited	Yes (high school WASC-accredited; Good Shepherd College accredited separately)
Established	1999
Website	angelicum.net

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	5	Real Great Books seminar format; primary texts at college-prep level
Ease of teaching	4	The academy teaches; parent role is supportive not primary
Content quality	5	Reading list and tutor quality are consistently strong
Flexibility	3	Seminar structure expects regular attendance and participation
Value for money	3	Premium pricing; smaller class size justifies some of it
Worldview scope	2	Catholic Thomistic; not broadly ecumenical
Visual/design	3	Functional online platform; content is text-heavy
Support resources	4	Tutors, community, accreditation, college pathway

Who the publisher is

Angelicum Academy was founded in 1999 by Dr. Peter Redpath, a philosopher in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition, and Catholic educators John and Alicia Van Hecke. The academy's founding premise is that the Great Books seminar method — Socratic discussion of primary texts — is the appropriate high school and college pedagogy for serious Catholic students. Angelicum was built as a distance-learning version of St. John's College's Great Books program, adapted for Catholic students who want the same pedagogy in an explicitly Catholic context.

The academy operates as a small-scale online institution. Our editorial estimate is that Angelicum enrolls several hundred high school students at any given time, with Good Shepherd College (Angelicum's collegiate affiliate) serving a smaller cohort. This is deliberately small — the pedagogy requires seminar-size classes (typically 8-12 students) with substantive discussion.

Angelicum's pedagogical lineage combines Mortimer Adler's Great Books tradition, the St. John's College Great Books curriculum, and Thomistic Catholic philosophy. Dr. Redpath's scholarship on St. Thomas Aquinas shapes the philosophical orientation.

The core pedagogy

Angelicum's pedagogy is Great Books seminar. Students read a primary text — Homer, Plato, Augustine, Dante, Shakespeare, Thomas Aquinas — and meet in a live online seminar with a trained tutor and 8-12 other students to discuss. The tutor does not lecture; the tutor moderates discussion, poses questions, and guides the group through textual analysis. Students write regularly; essays are the principal assessment.

Scope and sequence: Angelicum offers a full four-year high school curriculum built around the Great Books. Each year covers a historical period and its texts (Year 1: Greece; Year 2: Rome and Early Christianity; Year 3: Medieval; Year 4: Modern). Students read major works in each period — the Iliad and Odyssey, Plato's dialogues, Aristotle, Virgil, Augustine's Confessions and City of God, Boethius, Aquinas's Summa, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Newman. Supporting coursework includes mathematics, natural science, Latin, and languages, which Angelicum offers through separate course tracks.

Signature mechanics: (1) Live seminar discussions. The defining feature. Weekly seminars meet online with real-time video and audio. Students attend, participate, and are evaluated partly on participation quality. (2) Primary texts. Students read the actual books. Not textbook summaries, not abridgments. The Iliad in translation, yes, but the full Iliad. (3) Tutor model. Angelicum tutors are the teaching staff. Many hold graduate degrees in philosophy, theology, or literature; many have taught at St. John's, Thomas Aquinas College, or comparable institutions. (4) Accredited high school. The Angelicum Academy high school is WASC-accredited; the transcript is formal. (5) Good Shepherd College pathway. Angelicum offers a continuing undergraduate program through Good Shepherd College, which is an affiliate institution. Students who complete Angelicum's high school and wish to continue the Great Books program at the college level can do so.

A day in the life

A tenth-grader at Angelicum has two to three weekly live seminar classes of 90-120 minutes each (depending on course load), plus independent reading, writing, and mathematics done during the rest of the week. A typical student reads approximately 200-400 pages per week in primary texts (scaling with course load), writes a 3-5 page essay every one to three weeks, and works on mathematics and language through outside courses or Angelicum's auxiliary offerings. The expected home-study load outside seminars is 4-6 hours per day.

Eleventh-grade on a full Angelicum load looks similar in structure but with denser texts — Divine Comedy, Summa Theologiae selections, The Prince — and more demanding essays. Students completing a full Angelicum track through high school graduate with a formal transcript documenting serious primary-text literacy.

What they do exceptionally well

Real Great Books seminar. Angelicum is one of the very few Catholic high school options that actually runs seminar-style primary text discussion. This is qualitatively different from textbook-driven classical programs (even MODG's classical track) — students discuss the text with peers and a trained tutor, argue, defend positions, and learn to read at the level serious higher education requires. For students headed to St. John's, Thomas Aquinas College, Thomas More College, or any Great Books institution, Angelicum is the best direct preparation available.

Tutor quality. Angelicum invests in recruiting tutors who are themselves Great Books graduates or comparably credentialed. Seminar quality is largely tutor quality, and Angelicum's tutors are consistently strong.

Intellectual community. Students who complete Angelicum's full program report deep intellectual friendships with tutors and peers. The online seminar, run well, creates real community among students who share a demanding intellectual life. This is rare in any distance-learning context.

What they do poorly

Not appropriate for all students. Angelicum's pedagogy expects a student who can read primary texts, contribute to discussion, and write analytical essays at a college-preparatory level. Students not yet able to do that will struggle regardless of intellectual capacity. This is not a program where a student can hide.

Narrow academic path. Angelicum's emphasis is on Great Books humanities. Mathematics and natural sciences, while available, are peripheral to the academy's institutional focus. Students headed for STEM-intensive college programs need to supplement substantially with strong mathematics and science instruction, typically through MODG's online program, Wilson Hill Academy, Veritas Scholars Academy, or a similar provider.

Price. Full enrollment at Angelicum runs approximately $3,000-$5,000 per year for a full high school course load. This is comparable to private Catholic day school tuition in many markets and is materially more than curriculum purchases from MODG or Kolbe. The seminar class size and tutor quality explain much of the cost, but the cost is real.

Who it fits

• Students headed to Great Books colleges (Thomas Aquinas, St. John's, Thomas More College, Wyoming Catholic)
• Students who read well and write well at grade level or above
• Families who want an accredited Catholic high school diploma with a serious humanities transcript
• Students who thrive on discussion and can participate substantively in live seminar
• Families who accept premium pricing for small-class, trained-tutor instruction

Who it doesn't

• Students who do not yet read or write at grade level
• Students on STEM-intensive trajectories who need science and mathematics as the primary focus
• Families on tight budgets who cannot absorb $3,000-$5,000 per year per student
• Students who do not participate well in discussion or struggle with live online seminar format
• Families wanting a comprehensive, balanced humanities-plus-STEM curriculum from a single provider

Cost honest assessment

Full high school enrollment: approximately $3,000-$5,000 per year for a standard four- or five-course load. Individual courses purchasable at approximately $750-$1,200 per year per course. Writing courses and upper-level seminars run at the higher end of course pricing.

Good Shepherd College tuition is approximately $5,000-$8,000 per year — substantially below traditional four-year college tuition but a real cost.

Total annual cost for a high-schooler on full Angelicum load: approximately $3,500-$5,500 including books (primary texts are real paperbound editions purchased separately). This is less than Catholic day school tuition in most markets and is comparable to MODG's or Kolbe's full online enrollment.

ESA eligibility notes

Angelicum is approved on most state ESA marketplaces that handle online academic enrollment, including Arizona ClassWallet, Florida Step Up, Utah Fits All, and Arkansas LEARNS. The accreditation helps — marketplaces that require accredited providers for enrollment fee reimbursement accept Angelicum readily. Individual course purchases process cleanly.

Alternatives

• Mother of Divine Grace (MODG) Online Academy — a family would choose MODG Online over Angelicum when they want a more balanced academic program (not just Great Books) and stronger science/math offerings alongside classical humanities.
• Thomas Aquinas College summer program or dual enrollment — for students specifically headed to Thomas Aquinas, a family might choose direct dual enrollment or the TAC summer program over Angelicum for the institutional name.
• Wilson Hill Academy — a family would choose Wilson Hill over Angelicum when they want comparable classical rigor but Protestant Reformed theological framing rather than Catholic Thomistic.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed Angelicum Academy's course catalog at angelicum.net, sample syllabi and reading lists, tutor credentials, and the Good Shepherd College affiliation documentation. We cross-referenced against community discussion within Great Books-oriented Catholic families (particularly those sending students to Thomas Aquinas College and Wyoming Catholic College) and against the broader Mortimer Adler / St. John's College Great Books pedagogical literature. Pricing is as of April 2026 with the rounding caveat noted in the editorial preamble.