Coming Soon!

Summer 2022 History and Literature Seminars will be published in February 2022. You can view last year's seminars (below) as an example of past offerings.

2021 History and Literature Seminars
MIDDLE SCHOOL - HIGH SCHOOL 

​Beloved teacher, Hugh Gardner, will share his passion for literature and historical games. Seminar-styled courses are designed for curious history and film students and will be sure to engage, teach and entertain all participants.

Hugh Gardner, a former military intelligence analyst, has been teaching history for over 20 years primarily to home-schooled and gifted students. Hugh is known for his dynamic and interactive lectures. Through his love of continual learning and discovery, extensive bibliographies, superior replica, reproduction and authentic period weapons, accoutrements, and artifacts, as well as posters, maps, music, artwork and historical games, Hugh brings history to life. 

Maximum Enrollment: 8 students
Minimum Enrollment: 5 students
Method: In person 

Course / Seminar	Dates / Times	Description	Ages	Register
History and Cinema Studies  $1600 1 History credit	June 14 - July 17 9 am - 1 pm EST	​A five-week introduction to the first 50 years of film! Tentatively, each week will feature a specific theme: American silent film, the Civil War, and Buster Keaton European Cinema of the Inter-War Years and WWII Classic American Film Series of the 1930’s and 1940’s American Cinema of the WWII Years Film Noir, dark mirror of the American psyche, 1940-1959 The seminar will include short introductory and background lessons on filmmaking and filmmakers, as well as on specific genres and styles. Discussion and analysis will follow each film. There will be a modest amount of required reading and a daily journal. The chosen films will cover a wide spectrum – the controversial, the comic and the dark, the patriotic and the propagandistic, the famous and the (unjustly) forgotten. ​Students will be able to offer input on themes and movie choices.	​14 - 17	Register
History of Classical Games ​$590 ​1/2 History credit	July 19 - July 31 9 am - 1 pm EST ​	​Explore the world of classic historical board games! This two-week seminar includes dozens of games from: Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, The Celtic, Saxon and Viking Worlds, The Middle Ages of Europe and the Middle East, and 2000 Years of Asian History. Participants will discover how games easily traveled through the centuries and transformed from culture to culture. For example, Seega (Egypt) becomes Petteia (Greece), which transforms into Latrunculi (Rome), which morphs, in part, into the Hnefatafl Family of games found in the Celtic and Viking worlds. All of these games are eventually surpassed in popularity by the Chess Family of games which flow into Europe from the Middle East and Asia. There are multiple versions of some games, since our knowledge of most of these games is imperfect, and different designers envision the games differently. In fact, one of the challenges for your students is comparing and contrasting the same game idea, both from different cultures and from different modern designers. ​ Notes: There will be some reading required before and during the workshop. The seminar begins each day with a short historical lecture before moving to the games themselves.	​13 - 17	Register
​Literature Seminar: ​​ ​J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings GK Chesterton's Father Brown Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors  ​ ​$590​ ​ Cancelled due to no enrollment	August 9 - 21 9 am - 1 pm EST​	Week 1: Journey into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, the Master of Middle Earth. Explore his fascinating childhood and adolescence, his many enduring friendships, especially his close relationship with C.S. Lewis, his horrific World War experiences, and his inspirational relationship with his wife and family. Discover Tolkien’s intense love of language and languages and the amazing panoply of literature and mythology that influenced him, his celebrated academic endeavors, and his intense faith in God. Learn how all of these are reflected in his majestic work, The Lord of the Rings. ​ Week 2:  G. K. Chesterton was one of the most prolific, profound, and paradoxical writers of the 20th Century. Chesterton’s works are always provocative and insightful, spiritual and philosophical. Last summer’s Chesterton seminar featured The Man Who Was Thursday, a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. This summer we will read, explore, and discuss short story collections of Chesterton’s most famous and enduring character, Father Brown, the seemingly innocuous priest-detective with soul-penetrating powers of observation. ​ In the second half of the week, we will enter the imaginative world of Dorothy L. Sayers, mystery novelist, lay theologian, feminist essayist and culture critic, playwright, and translator of Dante! We will meet her most famous creation, amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey in the classic tale of mystery The Nine Tailors – a brilliantly atmospheric and profound tale of detection that transcends its literary genre. ​Notes: Students are required to have obtained and read The Lord of the Rings before the first day of class.​ We will also be reading short pieces by Tolkien in Tree and Leaf. Students will be required to have read approximately two collections of Father Brown short stories prior to the beginning of class, and will be required to also obtain and have read The Nine Tailors prior to the Wednesday of the second week.  Father Brown short stories, Tree and Leaf and The Nine Tailors will be sent to students after they register.	14 - 17	Cancelled​​​

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TUITION AND FEES

• Tuition varies per seminar or workshop and is listed above. 
• Register at the link by the course.
• ​Full payment is due May 15th. 
• Please see Terms and Conditions for details.

Withdrawals and Refunds:

• If you need to withdraw from a course, please send an email to info@ideaventions.com requesting the withdrawal. We will not process withdrawals from voicemails.
• Refunds can be processed if you withdraw 3 weeks before the start of camp. The refund amount will be the amount paid minus a 5% fee to cover what we are charged for credit card payments and the cost to try to fill the spot.