Stage III: School of Rhetoric (9-12)
Rhetoric is the art of communicating well. Once a student has obtained knowledge of the facts (grammar) and developed the skills necessary to arrange those facts into organized arguments (logic), the student develops the skill of effectively communicating those arguments to others (rhetoric). Classical education in the rhetoric stage teaches students to think and articulate concepts to others. Each subject has its own rhetoric, and writing papers, researching, and orating are skills required in all subjects.
Eagle Ridge Academy – School of Rhetoric (9-12)
Eagle Ridge Academy has a 7 class period day. Students complete 26 credits, including:
- 4 years of English and History Humane Letters Seminars
- 4 years of Math
- 4 years of Science
- 4 years of Foreign Language, including at least 2 years of Latin
- 1 year of Art History
- 1 year of Fine Arts Courses in Logic, Rhetoric, Eastern Thought, Economics, and Healthy Living Humane Letters Seminars
The most unique component of the Eagle Ridge Academy high school program is the Humane Letters Seminars. In these seminars, which are based on the Great Books Program, students conduct in-depth studies on some of the greatest, unabridged works of Western Civilization. In those courses, primary source documents are used in place of textbooks. The seminars combine a classical framework and the use of Socratic Seminars to draw out each student’s inner curiosity and passion. Following seminars, students read and analyze texts individually, then speak and write about the citing evidence for their positions. The Humane Letters Seminars are deep, thought-provoking courses of study. Students earn an English credit and a History credit for successful completion of each year-long seminar.
Humane Letters Sequence
- 9th grade: Ancient World
- 10th grade: Medieval World
- 11th grade: Renaissance/Enlightenment
- 12th grade: Modern World
A selection of texts studied in the four Humane Letters Seminars includes:
- Homer, Iliad
- Homer, Odyssey
- Thucydides, Peloponnesian Wars
- Plutarch, Greek Lives
- Virgil, Aeneid
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- Augustine, City of God
- Beowulf
- Aquinas, Summa Theologica
- Dante, The Divine Comedy
- Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
- More, Utopia
- Marlowe, Dr. Faustus
- Shakespeare, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth
- Cervantes, Don Quixote
- Descartes, Meditations
- Milton, Paradise Lost
- Constitution of the United States
- Publius, Federalist
- Poetry and Literature from Blake and Austen
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- Goethe, Faust
- Whitman, Song of Myself
- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address and Presidential Inaugural Speeches
- Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
- Eliot, The Wasteland
- Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
- Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
- Camus, The Stranger
- Huxley, Brave New World and/or Orwell, 1984
- Sources of the Civil Rights Movement: Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail
- Morrison, Song of Solomon
Schedule a Tour
Please visit this page to connect with Eagle Ridge Academy! We are excited to offer tours throughout the school year. You are also invited to join us at one of our annual Enrollment Extravaganzas. During the Fall and Winter Enrollment Extravaganzas, families will have the opportunity to meet Eagle Ridge Academy educators, see the classrooms, and tour the facility.
Open House Dates for 2024-25
- Fall Enrollment Extravaganza: Saturday, November 16, 9:00-11:00 a.m.
- Winter Enrollment Extravaganza: Thursday, January 9, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Registration for Eagle Ridge Academy’s Enrollment Extravaganzas will open after October 1.
Enrollment Application
Enrollment is open to all Minnesota students. The open enrollment application period for the 2024-2025 school year will begin October 1, 2024, and run through January 15, 2025. The online application will allow you to select which school year (2024-2025 or 2025-2026) you are interested in applying for. The enrollment application for 2024-2025 is still open here. There are currently openings for this school year in grades 8-12. Students in grades K-7 applying for this school year will be added to the waitlist.
The enrollment lottery will take place on January 22, 2025, at 1:15 p.m.
- Sibling preference is given if you have a sibling currently attending Eagle Ridge Academy. *Families with multiple children: sibling preference will be given once one sibling is enrolled.
- Lottery results for 2025-2026 will be communicated in February 2025 via email.
- After the lottery, applications will be processed and placed onto the appropriate grade level wait list in the order that they are received.
- View more information about the 2025-26 enrollment lottery here.
- View the District Parent Letter: Ethnic and Racial Demographic Designation here.
Janice Gerheart, Admissions Specialist – enrollment@eagleridgeacademy.org
