The Curriculum
The Whole Story of
Western Civilization
Four great eras. 64 topics. From Creation to the modern world — a rigorous, faith-filled journey through the ideas, people, and events that shaped everything.
4
Historical Eras
64
Topics Covered
9–12
Grade Levels
3
Trivium Stages
Our Approach
What Is Classical Christian Education?
Classical Christian education is the oldest and most proven educational tradition in Western history. For over two thousand years — from Aristotle's Athens to the one-room schoolhouses of colonial America — the liberal arts have formed men and women of wisdom, virtue, and eloquence.
At its heart, classical education is built on the Trivium — three stages of learning that mirror how the human mind naturally develops:
Grammar
The foundation — absorbing facts, dates, names, vocabulary, and the raw material of knowledge. Students learn what happened.
Logic
The analytical stage — asking why things happened, finding causal connections, identifying fallacies, and building reasoned arguments.
Rhetoric
The expressive stage — communicating truth with clarity, beauty, and persuasion. Students learn to write, speak, and lead with wisdom.
At Boise Classical Academy, the Trivium is united with a thoroughly Christian worldview. History is not a series of accidents — it is the unfolding of God's providence. Literature is not mere entertainment — it is the exploration of the human condition in light of the Gospel. Science is not opposed to faith — it is the study of God's creation.
Our curriculum takes students on a chronological journey through four great eras of Western civilization, reading primary sources, engaging in Socratic discussion, and developing the intellectual virtues that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
The Four Eras
A Journey Through Time
Each era is a complete unit of study with sixteen topics, covering the people, events, ideas, and art that defined the period.
Ancient Era
Creation – 476 AD
From the cradle of civilization through the Greek philosophers to the rise of Christianity and the fall of Rome. Students encounter the foundations of Western thought, law, and faith — reading Homer, Plato, Virgil, and Augustine.
Medieval Era
476 – 1485
The age that preserved and deepened classical civilization through monasteries, cathedrals, and universities. Students study Aquinas, Dante, the Crusades, Gothic architecture, and the Magna Carta — discovering how faith shaped an entire civilization.
Renaissance Era
1485 – 1715
The Reformation, the Renaissance masters, Shakespeare, the Scientific Revolution, and the voyages of exploration. Students engage with Luther, Calvin, Galileo, and Milton — an era when the recovery of ancient truth transformed the world.
Modern Era
1715 – Present
From the Enlightenment through the World Wars to today. Students wrestle with the ideas that built — and nearly destroyed — the modern world, guided by voices of faith like Wilberforce, Bonhoeffer, Lewis, and King.
Why BCA
Not just another LMS.
Most education platforms were built for standardized testing. Ours was built for the formation of wise, virtuous, articulate students.
Chronological & Integrated
Students study each era holistically — theology, philosophy, literature, art, science, and politics woven together as they were in life.
Primary Sources First
Students read Homer, Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Shakespeare, and Lewis — not textbook summaries about them. Real books, real ideas.
Socratic Discussion
Every topic is designed for Socratic seminars — guided discussion that develops critical thinking, intellectual humility, and the art of civil discourse.
Virtue Formation
Character is not an add-on — it is woven into every lesson. Students are recognized for prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope, and love.
Teacher-Authored Lessons
Lessons are written by BCA teachers in Google Docs and synced to the platform — authored by people who know the students, not a faceless curriculum company.
Built for BCA
This is not a generic platform repurposed for classical education. It was built from the ground up by and for Boise Classical Academy.
The sole purpose of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.
Dorothy Sayers
The Lost Tools of Learning
Complete Topic List
64 Topics Across Four Eras
Every topic includes lessons, essential questions, Socratic discussion prompts, quizzes, and recommended primary sources.
Ancient Era
16 topics
Creation & Early Civilizations
The beginning of human history and the first great civilizations.
Ancient Near East
Mesopotamia, Babylon, and the cradle of civilization.
Ancient Egypt & Exodus
The glory of Egypt and God's deliverance of His people.
Ancient Israel & Old Testament
Kings, prophets, and the covenant people of God.
Greek Mythology & Religion
The gods of Olympus and the Greek religious worldview.
Pre-Socratic Philosophy
The first philosophers and their search for the nature of reality.
Classical Athens & Democracy
The birth of democracy and the golden age of Athens.
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
The great thinkers who shaped Western philosophy forever.
Greek Literature
Homer, Sophocles, and the birth of Western literature.
Greek Art & Architecture
The Parthenon, sculpture, and the pursuit of beauty.
Alexander & Hellenism
The conquests that spread Greek culture across the known world.
The Roman Republic
Citizen virtue, the Senate, and the rise of Rome.
Roman Law & Government
The legal and governmental foundations that shaped the West.
Roman Literature & Rhetoric
Cicero, Virgil, and the art of persuasion.
The Rise of Christianity
From a carpenter's son to the faith that transformed the world.
The Fall of Rome
The decline of empire and the dawn of a new age.
Medieval Era
16 topics
Early Church Fathers
Augustine, Jerome, and the theologians who defined orthodoxy.
Rise of Monasticism
St. Benedict's Rule and the monks who preserved civilization.
Byzantine Empire
The Eastern Roman Empire and its thousand-year legacy.
Islam & Medieval World
The rise of Islam and its encounter with Christendom.
Charlemagne
The Holy Roman Emperor and the Carolingian Renaissance.
Feudalism & Society
Lords, vassals, and the structure of medieval life.
The Crusades
Holy wars, their causes, consequences, and moral complexity.
Medieval Philosophy
Aquinas, Anselm, and the marriage of faith and reason.
Gothic Architecture
Cathedrals reaching heavenward — stone sermons in light.
Medieval Literature
Dante, Chaucer, and the great stories of the Middle Ages.
Magna Carta & Law
The charter that planted the seeds of constitutional government.
Medieval Universities
The birth of the university and scholastic learning.
The Black Death
Plague, devastation, and the resilience of faith.
Religious Orders
Franciscans, Dominicans, and the renewal of the Church.
Medieval Art & Music
Illuminated manuscripts, Gregorian chant, and sacred beauty.
Seeds of the Reformation
Wycliffe, Hus, and the growing calls for reform.
Renaissance Era
16 topics
Italian Renaissance Origins
Florence, the Medici, and the rebirth of classical ideals.
Renaissance Art
Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael — beauty in service of truth.
Renaissance Humanism
Petrarch, Erasmus, and the rediscovery of ancient wisdom.
The Reformation
Luther, Calvin, Zwingli — sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia.
Counter-Reformation
The Catholic response and the Council of Trent.
Age of Exploration
New worlds, new encounters, and the spread of the Gospel.
Scientific Revolution
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler — reading God's other book.
Shakespeare
The Bard and the summit of English dramatic literature.
Renaissance Music & Architecture
Polyphony, domes, and the harmonies of creation.
Rise of Nation-States
The emergence of modern political boundaries and sovereignty.
Descartes, Pascal, Bacon
Philosophy at the crossroads of faith and reason.
English Reformation
Henry VIII, the English Bible, and Puritanism.
Colonial America
Pilgrims, Puritans, and the city on a hill.
Thirty Years' War
Religious conflict and the reshaping of Europe.
Baroque Art & Culture
Drama, grandeur, and the art of the Counter-Reformation.
Enlightenment Prelude
The ideas that set the stage for the modern world.
Modern Era
16 topics
The Enlightenment
Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau — reason enthroned.
American Revolution
Independence, the Constitution, and ordered liberty.
French Revolution
Liberty, equality, fraternity — and the terror that followed.
Industrial Revolution
Machines, cities, and the transformation of human life.
Missions & Great Awakening
Revival fires and the global spread of the Gospel.
Romanticism
The heart's rebellion against cold reason — art, poetry, music.
Civil War & Abolition
The moral crisis that tore a nation apart.
Darwin, Marx & Crisis of Faith
Ideologies that challenged the Christian worldview.
World War I
The Great War and the end of old Europe.
Russian Revolution
Communism's rise and its war against faith.
World War II & Holocaust
Total war, genocide, and the question of human evil.
The Cold War
Freedom vs. tyranny on a global stage.
Civil Rights
The struggle for justice and human dignity.
Modern Philosophy
Kierkegaard, Lewis, Chesterton — faith meeting modernity.
Digital Age & Globalization
Technology, connection, and the challenges of our age.
Christian Faith Today
The enduring call to love God and love neighbor.
Programs
Available for Schools & Families
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