The task of growing up consists not merely in the acquiring of the things that make one fit for adult life, but also in retaining the things that are most essential to the way a child views the world. Maturity is a fullness that is the blossoming of the wonder and awe that are native to childhood, not the squashing of them.

The courses offered here aim at just this most urgent part of our being: our hearts. Through close reading of powerful texts, we will ask fundamental questions about human existence and meaning, and celebrate the joys of the human imagination and our marvelous world.

For children, this means fostering the deep, meaningful engagement with self and world that are necessary if one is to develop character that is both hardy and kind, courageous and compassionate. They will learn to connect their love of reading to the academic task of reading well, closing the gap between the books they choose to read and the books they are assigned to read. At the same time, these courses will nurture, shape, and strengthen the joy in imagination that is the birthright of the young, and that is perhaps humanity's greatest treasure. These studies will help your child to adulthood without robbing them of their childhood in the process.

For adults, these courses are aimed at the same things, but must go a different way to work. For our hearts have grown old, and are weighed down by responsibility, cynicism, pragmatism, and the drudgery of everyday life. They are scarred from numerous wounds so grievous we thought we'd never recover: we have seen so much of sorrow, loss, hurt, and pain.

In C.S. Lewis' Narnia, there is a plant that grows on the sun that produces fire-berries. These berries, when eaten by the stars of that world, take away some of their age, restoring to them their youth. This is what these courses are: fire-berries for the heart, taking away some of the age of your heart without taking away the wisdom you have fought through so much to gain. You'll read books you love in new ways, and discover new favorite books; along the way, you may also find the sort of healing, encouragement, and inspiration that adulthood so desperately needs but can so rarely locate.

So take a look: whether soaring in the skies with dragons, exploring the farthest reaches of Narnia, sailing the heavens with Ransom, or unraveling the secrets of fairies, these courses will train and strengthen the hearts of your children, and your own hearts as well.