The Pericles Group

LAPIS Online

This page is for our fully managed, online-only, offering of Operation LAPIS. LAPIS Online is designed with the homeschooler, unschooler, or lifelong learner in mind.

Registration for the next cohort is now closed. If you are interested in being notified when the next cohort is opened for registration, please fill out this form.

Before you register yourself or another learner for Operation LAPIS, there are some things about the program that aren’t immediately apparent that we need you to know: we’re incredibly excited to offer Operation LAPIS in an online-only format suitable for homeschoolers and lifelong-learners, and we want to make sure you know a little of what to expect before you pay for anything. This document is meant to serve as an index to a few key points about LAPIS, and will complement the fuller information to be found in the start-up communiques and the “Field Guide for LAPIS Operatives,” which will be made available to you once you sign up.

For the answers to some frequently-asked questions, see the online LAPIS FAQ.


Key Facts at a Glance:

Like any good game, LAPIS’ rules are designed with a complexity that will keep the interest of the player.

LAPIS is appropriate for ages 12 and up, as long as the operative is committed to the material.

You have never had a learning experience like this. Plan to give yourself and any learners you’re registering time to figure it out. When you register, you will be led through a recruitment process that will introduce you to the operation. Please pay very careful attention to the details shared with you in that process!

LAPIS is a game-based program, which means that it is radically learner-centered. Learners must be prepared to take responsibility for their own operational activities, like attunement-exercises ((workbooks)), collection ((morphology-practice)), and participation in team role-playing collaboration. We suggest spending an hour online on Mondays and Thursdays, but the Demiurge expects that students will perform operational activities because they want to save civilization, not because someone is telling them to get online and do their homework.

LAPIS operatives need no prior experience in Latin, though we’ve found that operatives who have had some Latin before find the operation engaging enough that they’re not bored even at the start.

A lot of the start-up process of LAPIS is designed to make sure the Demiurge can be confident that he or she can reach you to help you learn–which in Operation LAPIS is the same thing as helping you play. Among other things, you will have to make a Google Account and an account on Edmodo and commit to checking the mail there regularly (you may of course forward your Gmail to another account). If you can’t commit to responding to the Demiurge’s emails and other communications, and to your team-mates’ contributions, within 48 hours, LAPIS isn’t for you. Circumstances will of course arise that make this responsiveness impossible from time to time; we simply ask that you communicate about these circumstances when they arise

Once the operation starts, students’ collaboration with other students is the most important vehicle for their learning. If a student is unwilling or unable to make regular contributions in the operation forums, both his or her and his or her team-mates’ learning will suffer

We don’t know how you feel about Wikipedia, but we are convinced that where the ancient world is concerned, it offers the best easily available informational resource in the world. It also presents an important opportunity for LAPIS operatives to learn about the difference between primary and secondary sources, and the importance of knowing where information comes from. A link to Wikipedia is always the beginning of a journey; never the end.

For the 1 Nov 2014 cohort, we offer Operation LAPIS-online at $40 for the first student and $35 for each additional student in your household for as long as you remain active in the operation. Prior to any payment, your learner(s) will be guided through a startup process to ensure that the type of activities and interactivity is a good match.

The anticipated time to complete the entire Operation LAPIS program is two years. The material covered in that time is equivalent to two years of an introductory honors program or three years at a regular pacing. It is also our hope that by the time your student(s) has/have completed LAPIS, we will be able to offer a continuation into a similar advanced Latin program.

You are free to unsubscribe at any time. However, please note that any requests for a refund made after the 6th day of the current billed month will be charged a $25 USD fee per learner enrolled. No refund will be granted after the 15th day of the current billed month.

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