The Great Ideas Program
In partnership with HannibalsElephant.com
In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.
- Mortimer Adler
Practice Monkeys partners with Hannibal's Elephant to bring a Great Books program to the Whole Family.
What are the Great Books of the Western World?
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Old & NewThe study of the Great Books of the Western World is an old idea made new. Mortimer Adler observed that the standard western education revolves around a kind of transmission of the teacher's notes to the student without the employment of the mind through the means of lecture. Hannibal's Elephant takes a different approach and in the face of current western education practices, some may call it revolutionary. We contend that education happens in an environment of exploration of both the idea at hand as well as what others think about that idea. That is, education is not merely some "expert" telling the student what courage is. Rather, education is the student wrestling with concepts of courage, for instance, while simultaneously listening to other minds and what they think about courage. Education comes in wrestling with an idea in a community of thinkers, not simply by coming to some answer in isolation. What is more, education is not merely an exercise in what to think, but it is also an exercise in how to think. At Hannibal's Elephant, we believe that robust and liberal discussion is essential and necessary to a truly liberal education - education of the free person.
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Specialists & GeneralistsThe purpose of the study of the Great Ideas is not primarily vocational. The purpose of a study of the Great Ideas is to make good men and women. We believe that if we as educators can help to produce good men and women then we will help them be good fathers, mothers, employees, and citizens. To be a good father or a good citizen depends on one's knowledge and their capacity to relate that knowledge to fellow human beings. If all one does is focus their whole life on philosophy or biology or health they begin to isolate themselves from those who are not familiar with their discipline. This is the fate of the specialist. A generalist on the other hand speaks well into many arenas. While she may not be an expert she will have substantive, meaningful, and penetrating insights across a broad spectrum of topics. That is, she need not attend Harvard Law to speak on the value and meaning of justice. She need not attend Duke Divinity School to speak on topics of religion and the soul. If all we do is teach our students how to be good engineers, athletes, or financiers then it is possible that they may know how to properly calculate a marginal physical product but they may not be moral, loving, sacrificial, and free.
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Slave & FreeThe tools and classes offered by Hannibal's Elephant are intentionally Christian in their practice and aim. God, in the person of Jesus Christ, has called the human soul out of sin and unto Himself. As such each individual human is ultimately called to freedom in Christ. Every man and woman, boy and girl are called to be free. Freedom entails freedom from the oppression of tyrants including those who demand the Christian yield his convictions or retreat from the hard questions offered throughout the history of the Great Conversation. Here at Hannibal's Elephant, we have chosen a different road to travel. We believe that all truth, which is consistent with God as Truth, is God's truth wherever it is found. Therefore we are unafraid, unashamed, to engage in the Great Conversation of the West as Christians. Indeed, many of those we read in the Great Books of the Western World did claim the name of Christ. By studying the Great Ideas, our families can contemplate: What is love? What does it mean to be human? What is justice? Why does anything exist? Did God make everything? How can an almighty good God allow bad things to happen? You have faced some of these questions. Your students do face these questions in culture already, and Hannibal's Elephant aims to help you and your family address such questions through age appropriate Great Books Readings and parent tools to aid in your family discussions. Additionally, there are also Live, moderated Socratic discussion programs available from a distinctly Christian Perspective.
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The Socratic Method
Great Books programs have seen a resurgence in recent days. You can find Great Books college programs throughout the USA in places like New St. Andrews College, Biola, and Hillsdale College. In each of these places something like the Socratic Method is use in class and the students are encouraged to respond in kind.
The term "Socratic Method" derives its name for Socrates that ancient philosopher and teacher of Plato. Socrates is famously known for claiming ignorance as part of his pedagogical approach which allowed him to assume the posture of learner rather than teacher. This approach tends to put the student as ease and even give him/her the sense that they are driving the conversation. In doing so he begins nearly all his dialogues with a question and this question moves his interlocutor or fellow conversant to consider his own position and then answer. To this answer, Socrates would often add another question and then another until his interlocutor concluded his position to be inadequate. Sometimes both Socrates and this interlocutor reach an agreement and the conversation continues from there.
The Socratic Method or Socratic Discussion is a method of teaching or learning which begins with the teacher asking questions, often penetrating and substantive in nature, which then elicit from the student a moment of thoughtful consideration often followed by a response or another question. The teacher does not lecture to or at the student and the student role is not merely one of being an inactive sponge. No, the student(s) and the teacher engage in a thoughtful conversation about weekly assigned readings from the Great Books. In so doing your student will engage in a conversation which students and teachers have done around the globe and for thousands of years.
One last thing. In the Great Ideas program through HannibalsElephant.com, our aim is not to tell the student what to think as much as it is our aim to help the student understand how to think. It seems that in many sectors of western thought and community we simply accept what we are told. If some popular YouTuber/Podcaster said it then it must be true. If the nightly news said it then it must be true. If my freshman anthropology professor said it then it must be true. We would like to challenge this disposition and encourage the student to think their own thoughts in accordance with Scripture on topics of justice, war, law, and government. This will mean that the student will need to form their own opinion, their own arguments and we believe this is best done through guided Socratic discussions where the student may formulate his/her own thoughts on the topic and then test those ideas in a safe but challenging atmosphere thereby preparing them to deal with the barrage of opinions and false truths thrust upon your student every day.
The term "Socratic Method" derives its name for Socrates that ancient philosopher and teacher of Plato. Socrates is famously known for claiming ignorance as part of his pedagogical approach which allowed him to assume the posture of learner rather than teacher. This approach tends to put the student as ease and even give him/her the sense that they are driving the conversation. In doing so he begins nearly all his dialogues with a question and this question moves his interlocutor or fellow conversant to consider his own position and then answer. To this answer, Socrates would often add another question and then another until his interlocutor concluded his position to be inadequate. Sometimes both Socrates and this interlocutor reach an agreement and the conversation continues from there.
The Socratic Method or Socratic Discussion is a method of teaching or learning which begins with the teacher asking questions, often penetrating and substantive in nature, which then elicit from the student a moment of thoughtful consideration often followed by a response or another question. The teacher does not lecture to or at the student and the student role is not merely one of being an inactive sponge. No, the student(s) and the teacher engage in a thoughtful conversation about weekly assigned readings from the Great Books. In so doing your student will engage in a conversation which students and teachers have done around the globe and for thousands of years.
One last thing. In the Great Ideas program through HannibalsElephant.com, our aim is not to tell the student what to think as much as it is our aim to help the student understand how to think. It seems that in many sectors of western thought and community we simply accept what we are told. If some popular YouTuber/Podcaster said it then it must be true. If the nightly news said it then it must be true. If my freshman anthropology professor said it then it must be true. We would like to challenge this disposition and encourage the student to think their own thoughts in accordance with Scripture on topics of justice, war, law, and government. This will mean that the student will need to form their own opinion, their own arguments and we believe this is best done through guided Socratic discussions where the student may formulate his/her own thoughts on the topic and then test those ideas in a safe but challenging atmosphere thereby preparing them to deal with the barrage of opinions and false truths thrust upon your student every day.
Want to know more about the Great Ideas Program?
Hannibal's Elephant is currently in the Beta Testing Phase of development. If you'd like to be involved in the Beta Testing program, please contact Dr. Peter Van Kleeck, Jr.
The program officially launches in the September of 2026.
The program officially launches in the September of 2026.
Give your child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information. Charlotte Mason
