Introduction to the Waypoints Way
premises
Waypoints is a teaching system grounded in primary sources and centered on the key ideas of liberty.
These ideas and the way of life that flows from them are the premises that guide our work—including how we view the world, what we regard as important, and our understanding of what education should be.
We invite you to explore the premises outlined below. If they align with your own principles and purposes—whether you teach in a classroom or homeschool setting, or you’re simply a lifelong student of great books and serious minds—Waypoints may be a valuable educational resource for you.
The key ideas of liberty
Waypoints emphasizes thirty Key Ideas of Liberty, tagged to relevant documents within the Waypoints Library and reinforced through Teacher Tutorials:
Waypoints prepares students to understand and apply these ideas and principles, which together form the foundation for a just, self-governing regime. We share the goal of any excellent school: to help students become virtuous citizens and happy human beings.
Coming Soon
Home Plan
This is the best plan for an individual who wants to explore Waypoints and continue learning, or a homeschooling family looking to enrich their curricula. You can purchase the Home Plan online right now.
Includes up to 2 Educator accounts and 4 Student accounts:
- Educators can access the Library of primary source documents and Teacher Tutorials.
- Student access is limited to the Library of primary source documents.
For Individual Learners: Graduate-level tutorials that bring primary sources alive and offer subject-matter expertise.
For Homeschooling Students: Direct engagement with pivotal historical documents—exploring influential thinkers in their own words.
For Homeschooling Families: An affordable flexible resource that elevates both instruction and learning.
Additional Educator and Student seats can be added after purchase of the Home Plan through the Dashboard.
Coming Soon
Academy Plan
The Academy Plan is for a school, district, or educational organization. Pricing is based on student enrollment (or members in an organization). Please contact us so we can discuss the needs of your school or organization.
For all Academy Plans, there are two types of Waypoints users: Educators and Students.
- Educators can access the Library of primary source documents and Teacher Tutorials.
- Student access is limited to the Library of primary source documents.
For Teachers: Professional graduate-level tutorials rooted in the Great Books, pivotal documents of American history, and the key ideas of liberty.
For Students: A deeper interactive learning experience that goes beyond textbooks, engaging directly with historic documents and the influential minds who wrote them.
For Schools: A scalable budget-friendly enrichment add-on adaptable to any educational setting and easily integrated within existing curricula.
Note on Esotericism
Waypoints encourages careful study and learning that “sticks” by focusing on primary source materials, which includes the writings and speeches of original thinkers, insightful philosophers, and history-altering statesmen.
Premises of Truth
Going back to the roots of the Western philosophic tradition, the attempt to study the world, to learn, to become educated, is inseparable from the concept of truth.
Primary v Secondary Sources
Teaching in the Age of Relativism
The idea of truth—the very possibility of truth—is now dismissed by millions of Americans as mere prejudice, opinion, or perspective.
Thinking v Feeling
Ours is the Age of Feelings. Knowing little about the Constitution, or economics, or history, or human nature, or timeless, immutable principles, does not stop millions of Americans from having, sharing, and acting upon strong “feelings,” including voting.
