for students entering grades 6 - 8
Academics
For younger students, the Great Books Summer
Program is often a time of intellectual awakening
and fascination, as their own personal powers of
critical thinking and perception blossom. Through
stimulating questions and expertly led discussions,
young minds learn how to make the connections
between the themes and scenes of great literature and
their own lives and aspirations. We help our students
gain confidence and find their own voice to share
their ideas. In addition to practicing and developing
their language skills, self-expression and reasoning,
students develop their ability to listen carefully and
consider the views of others. The end result is a
more thoughtful young person who is better able to
articulate opinions based on textual references and
with the confidence to be heard.
Curriculum
Students in the Intermediate Program will read
such texts as Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, LeGuin’s The Ones
Who Walk Away, Dante’s Inferno, Jorge Luis Borges’
The Aleph, Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron and
more. All reading materials are provided to students
upon arrival at camp. No advance reading is required;
we prefer that students do the reading together
on campus. While we are a reading and literature
program, we take care to choose selections and
excerpts that can be digested during the reading
period in the day to provide rich
Multi-week Programs
Students who take part in multi-week programs
get to experience two or three times the academics
and fun at Great Books. Each week has a unique,
thematic curriculum to engage and challenge the
students to begin answering enduing philosophical
questions like, “What is the good life? What do
I owe my neighbors? What must we do in the
face of injustice?” In addition to the enhanced
educational and social opportunities afforded by a
longer program, students in multi-week programs
take part in off-campus excursions on the weekend.
Some past excursions have included The Winchester
Mystery House, Boston By Foot, The Exploratorium
and Fisherman’s Wharf, MASS MoCA and a
Fun and Social Interaction
At Great Books, we are committed to providing
a fun and engaging environment. There is
plenty of opportunity each day for students
to interact with each other outside their
classes where they can play field games, take
a supervised trip to explore the campus
and nearby shops, swim in the pool or go
fountain hopping. We understand that even
the most intellectually curious child needs
time to play and make friends so we make
certain that there is time each evening
for social events. Some activities that our
students take part in are theater games,
pod trivia night, a dance and the final day
art elective performances. While some
students come with a friend, the vast
majority come alone so we make sure
to help them make connections with
other students that lead to great camp
friendships.
Community
Students in the Intermediate Program are housed
by age and gender within our dormitories. They
are assigned to pods which are comprised of 6 – 8
students along with one college-aged Program
Assistant. These counselors live on the hall with
the students and are involved in every aspect of the
student’s day. They escort them to classes, meals
and activities. They facilitate the reading and initial
comprehension of the texts for lecture, and they
provide an adult presence to help the students
transition to their time on campus. In addition, there
is a group of Junior Program Assistants who live in
the dorm to provide additional supervision in the
building and during transition time.
A Typical Day
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:15 a.m. Lecture: The Odyssey
10:00 a.m. Snack Break
10:15 a.m. Lecture:
Harrison Bergeron
11:15 a.m. Discussion
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Free Time/Pool Time
2:30 p.m. Literature Elective
(Utopia, Plato, Short
stories, etc.)
3:30 p.m. Creative Elective
(art, music, theatre and
creative writing)
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Reading Time
7:00 p.m. Ice Cream Social
7:30 p.m. Trivia Night
9:30 p.m. Pod Reading