Modern Classical Education @ Home: Recent Episodes
Courtney Ostaff, Drew Campbell, Jenn Naughton
Curmudgeonly long-time classical, secular homeschoolers Drew Campbell (Quidnam Press), Jenn Naughton (Bookish Society), and Courtney Ostaff offer in-depth reviews of popular homeschool curricula, discuss educational philosophies, and answer common questions. Subscribe to transcripts at mceh.substack.com and see past transcripts and written articles at modernclassicaleducation.com
"Today, we are going to talk about logistics. What do you need to buy for a complete English Language Arts homeschool course? We’ll go through a bunch of grade levels and the choices you have. Today--early elementary."
"Today, we are going to talk about logistics. What do you need to buy for a complete English Language Arts homeschool course? We’ll go through a bunch of grade levels and the choices you have. Not every year has to look the same; believe me, I was the Queen of the Curriculum Swap. I want to begin by talking to Drew about Exploring the World Through Story, which I wish had been around for my kids and I love enough to teach at Bookish. There seems to be confusion over what EWS does and doesn’t check off your ELA credit list. So, let’s go to the source."
"Today, let’s discuss how memory works, why it matters, and how to commit information to long-term memory. It’s hard work. This process doesn't always make your kid happy, and it may come packaged in a form that looks excruciatingly boring to you."
Jenn: "Today, we are returning to ELA with composition. Finally! Composition is a different beast than creative writing. While your students will apply the skills they learned in composition to creative writing, you can’t count that incredible story that your kid wrote and call it composition. Our recommendations for composition are going to seem familiar as it’s the same thing we always say:
Figure out your students' levels and move forward with daily incremental steps.
Courtney has some research to tell you about, and I’ll share what worked and didn’t work in my home. You can thank me later for having five kids because I tried out a ton of curricula! :) "
Listener Questions in this episode: 1) How did you stay the course when you felt unmotivated? 2) What curricula would you recommend for a severely delayed child?
Listener Questions in this episode:
1) "How do you think homeschoolers are perceived in college admissions?"
2) "accommodations for testing, how to go about applying and receiving them"
3) "What do you think are important reasons / circumstances when a child should Not be homeschooled?"
4) "How do I get my homeschooled tween to start working hard, now that I’ve let them unschool up to now?"
Feeling like a little retail therapy? We share our favorite non-curriculum items and purchases, including vendors. As always, we get zero kickbacks or freebies. We buy everything we recommend with our own money.
Books speak directly to us as readers, inviting us to talk back, which can change our lives. Literature, as the name of an academic subject, refers to the study of stories, novels, poems, plays, and creative nonfiction like essays or memoirs. Literature study involves reading, analyzing, discussing, and (importantly!) writing about the works students have read.
Today: How did you get started in your respective homeschool-related careers (Bookish, homeschool evaluation)? Someone asks: What homeschool products do you, in hindsight, cringe at having used? What products do you wish you had used that you never got around to using or they weren’t available at the time? What do you think is the future of homeschooling 5, 10, 20 years from now? What is one thing you wish non-homeschoolers knew about homeschooling?
(This pod was recorded in October of 2023)
Today, we’re going to talk about how our own homeschooling is going this year, as well as homeschooling, in the news. We’ll swing back around to finish the ELA series later.
When new home educators contact us, it’s usually about handwriting or math. Today, we’ll try to take the mystery out of teaching writing. Print first or cursive first? Then what brand of cursive is best? And finally, should we bother teaching it at all?
Today we’re talking about teaching grammar. You wouldn't think this is a controversial subject, but many homeschooling families do not, in fact, teach English grammar. Learning about English grammar in isolation does not appear to result in better student writing. We still teach it and we think you should too. It's all about sentence fluency.
Today, we’re going to talk about spelling and vocabulary. It’s important to note that although there is overlap, they are not the same thing. Spelling is when a child hears, or thinks of, a word and is able to write, or know, the letters in the word--in their correct order. I know, I know, you say that some people are just naturally better at this. Well, some people are just naturally better at ice hockey or piano. Does that mean that no one should learn to skate or play the piano unless they’re one of those naturally gifted individuals? Of course not.
(After a month of embargo for our Patreon subscribers, we'll post them here.)
In this episode, we’re going to be talking about English language arts. English language arts is a complex area with multiple interlocking parts. We will take the whole thing apart and talk about each bit separately.
The seven major parts of English language arts are reading, spelling, handwriting, composition, vocabulary, grammar, and literature. This month, October of 2023, we’re going to discuss reading, handwriting, grammar, spelling and vocabulary.
This episode is all about reading, including grade band exemplars.
(After a month of embargo for our Patreon subscribers we'll release episodes here.)
Today’s podcast is the first in a series about English Language Arts. This is probably the most complex subject to teach in the homeschool (or anywhere, for that matter) because it’s not really a single subject at all, but rather seven interlocking parts that make up a major academic domain. In this episode, we’re going to give you a quick overview of those parts and in later episodes we’ll go into more depth about each of them.
(After a month of embargo time for our Patreon subscribers we'll release episodes here.)
Relationships are at the heart of successful homeschooling. But how do we leverage that on a practical level? How do we make sure that our kids understand our (hopefully reasonable) expectations and work to live up to them? The answer is routines. Routine sounds so…boring, doesn’t it? But we believe it’s one of the most powerful tools in your homeschooling toolbox.
(After a month of embargo time for our Patreon subscribers, we'll release episodes here.)
Pros and cons. What to be wary of, the importance of a strong support team, and some tips.
(After a month of embargo time for our Patreon subscribers, we'll release all episodes here.)
As the school year starts for many people in the USA, we are often disheartened and surprised to learn just how much our children forgot over their long summer break. We talk about identifying when our children need academic remediation, how to do that remediation, and dealing with the emotional consequences for both parents and children.
In this episode, Jenn, Courtney, and Drew draw on past experiences to come up with 20 guidelines for homeschooling. Everything from times tables to instruction types is on the table!
This one goes out to Noelani Perry, the Inclusive Academic Homeschoolers, and all the homeschoolers who've helped share their wisdom over the years. In this episode, we talk about some clues that your child may have atypical development, give an overview of how to find testing, and then review the usual steps of the testing process. Finally, we give a quick sketch of how we used that testing for College Board accommodations.
In this episode we discuss three homeschooling books we love: Minimalist Homeschooling by Zara Fagen, A Literary Education by Emily Cook, and The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. Then, we talk about why we still felt it necessary to write our own book, including experiences we wanted to share, applying the science of learning to homeschooling, and neurodiversity in the homeschool.
We review the core subjects for grades K-8, as well as some pitfalls for instruction at those ages. We begin with Academics, Arts, and Athletics, and then divide Academics into English Language Arts; Mathematics; Social Studies; Science; and World Languages. We divide English into the skills of reading, handwriting, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and composition, as well as the content of literature. We talk about what a substantive math progression looks like, as well as options for social studies and science. We share strong opinions about teaching other languages. We distinguish between skills and content for the arts. We have thoughts about athletics and health. Last but not least, we have some love for checklists.
Jenn, Courtney, and Drew review a classic in pedagogy. This 2014 book is chock full of advice about how to, well, make it stick. In the episode, we review this book from a homeschooling perspective. We also share some advantages that homeschoolers have over classroom teachers, especially specialist teachers.
We talk about where this idea came from, how we've developed it, and what it means for our philosophy of education: rigorous academics, adult-directed, inclusive, mostly secular, and evidence-based.
What it is, why you need it, when it is important, how you can help your children acquire it, how cognitive science works with it, what curriculum helps.
We go deep on Charlotte Mason style homeschooling with a short bio of Charlotte Mason, Glass's argument, the three "educational instruments", Glass's definition of the classical tradition, the idea of "synthetic knowledge", teaching virtue, the need for people to earn a living, twaddle, the love language of infodumps, homeschooling as an exercise in Historical Cosplay, neurodiversity and the CM method, "majoring in the minors", renounce homeschool policing, and last but not least, make recommendations for a wide variety of "modern" CM homeschooling sites. Get transcripts delivered to your inbox via mceh.substack.com
A short episode about homeschooling over the winter holidays, the dreaded re-entry, and the February slump. Plus a recommendation for a holiday unit study and some tips on how to beat those winter blahs.
Courtney, Andrew, and Jenn discuss questions like: What is cognitive science? And why should we care? Why should homeschoolers read this book? Then we discuss each chapter, applying it to homeschooling and curricula choices. Spiral curricula, fluency, schemas, novices vs experts, and the importance of knowledge-rich curricula are all on deck.
What it is, philosophical underpinnings, products and services, what users we contacted liked, what we didn't like, who we think this would work for, and our overall recommendation.
Jenn and AJ interview Courtney about standards: what they are (including Common Core), why homeschoolers should care about them, choosing curricula with standards in mind, how homeschoolers (or classroom teachers) can use them, the difference between content standards and learning objectives, using standards and textbooks, standards and lit-based curricula, and identifying instructional materials that do a good job of working with standards.
Andrew, Jenn, and Courtney dive deep into Memoria Press, reviewing what we like (easy to use curricula especially for students with executive functioning issues, thorough coverage, explicit phonics, special education offerings, literature sets, daily checklists) and what we don't like (workbook style curricula, grammar-translation method for Latin and Greek), as well as what we think parents should be aware of (Christian-based science, procedural emphasis in math curricula, text set diversity issues, emphasis on student perseverance, and strong conservative approach).
In this episode, Jenn, Andrew, and Courtney discuss why your educational philosophy should guide your curricula choices, run through a quick checklist for identifying a solid curriculum, review some caveats (and share some blunders of our own), and talk about annual scheduling, working with family demands and homeschooling, and how to schedule your time during the day. Then we talk about daily checklists, loop scheduling, the spiral notebook method, doing the next thing, and the file folder method. Finally, Jenn rates paper planners.
In a special double-length episode, Jenn, Courtney, and AJ tackle the academics of Brave Writer. We begin with a high level overview of how Brave Writer covers grammar, literature, and writing, dig deep into the teaching methods (with stops along the way for the curse of expertise, paragraph-level writing instruction, and the intersection of cultural capital), and take a look at curricula sequences, including analyzing rigor, parent effort, online classes, FERPA, cost, and "high tide/low tide" homeschooling seasons.
In this episode, we finish our curriculum rating game, all the way down to Z, and Zaner-Bloser handwriting.
In this episode, Jenn, AJ, and Courtney go from M (Mater Amabilis) to S (Saxon math), with a few detours here and there.
On deck in this episode, we do Yelp-style reviews of: Explode the Code, Exploring Nature with Children, Memoria Press Latin, Galore Park, Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting, Italics: Beautiful Handwriting for Children, Getting Started with Latin (etc), Guest Hollow, Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind, Hake Grammar, First Language Lessons, Hey, Andrew! Teach Me: Some Greek, Henle Latin, Pandia Press, History Odyssey, Human Odyssey, History Quest by Pandia Press, Handwriting Without Tears, iCivics, IEW, Institute for Excellence in Writing, Jump Math, Killgallon, Kumon, Life of Fred, Lingua Latina, Book of Lively Latin, Living Memory, Logic of English, Lost Tools of Writing
AJ and Courtney interview Jenn about the Bookish Society, including what parents and students can expect and how an international community of young readers has bloomed amid the latest book releases for K12 (and beyond!)
In this episode, Jenn and Courtney interview Andrew Campbell about the newly published curriculum Exploring the World through Story. We talk about what it covers, the educational philosophy behind it, and what's included.
Jenn keeps score as she, Courtney, and AJ rate curricula, Yelp style. On deck in this episode are: 100 Easy Lessons, All About Learning, Analytical Grammar, History of US, Seton, Ambleside Online, Art of Problem Solving (Beast Academy), ARTistic Pursuits, Blossom and Root, Barefoot Meandering, Beautiful Mundo, Five in a Row, Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, BookShark, Botany in 8 Lessons, Botany in a Day, Building Thinking Skills, Brave Writer, Build Your Library, Calvert, Canon Press, Logos, and Veritas, Matin Latin, Writing & Rhetoric, Latin for Children, Phonics Museum, Classical Conversations, Core Knowledge, Charlotte Mason, Ecce Romani, Evan-Moor, Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool, English from the Roots Up, and Elemental Science.
Jen, AJ, and Courtney talk about how their homeschools change with the seasons and with the years. We also take a look at Pepper & Pine's Silk Road Unit Study.
Author, homeschooler, and teacher Christy Knockleby discusses secular Bible study in the homeschool.
Teaching your child to read, the Matthew effect, and all the domains required for a good reader. Specific curricula and book recommendations, and the benefits of poetry memorization. Includes an overview of the Simple View of Reading and the Simple View of Writing, and why you should think twice before allowing your 3rd or 4th grader to read through Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.
Special guest Lu Allen of Epic Education Illawarra joins us for the second half of a wide-ranging discussion on math instruction in the homeschool. Everything from math anxiety to when to seek outside help is on the table.
Special guest Lu Allen of Epic Education Illawarra joins us for a wide-ranging discussion on math instruction in the homeschool. Everything from math anxiety to when to seek outside help is on the table.
In this episode, Courtney, Jenn, and AJ talk about literature in the homeschool. Courtney talks about literature in aiding reading comprehension, Jenn offers some practical advice (including book choices!), and AJ talks about supporting students in reading the Great Books. There's a surprise at the very end of the podcast!
In this episode, we attempt to define critical thinking, contemplate the best curricula for teaching it, and point out times when we should use it, but don't.
AJ, Courtney, and Jen, along with special guest Julie, review E.D. Hirsch, Jr.'s new book, How to Educate a Citizen. Our discussion centers on homeschooling, progressive politics, and Hirsch's Core Knowledge curriculum.
AJ, Courtney, and Jenn discuss why we made the Good Enough Homeschool podcast. Then Jen & AJ lead our discussion about secularizing religious curricula, including parent guides and setting up customized planners. Publishers discussed include: Seton, Kolbe, Memoria Press, Rod and Staff, Bookshark, Sonlight, WinterPromise, Guest Hollow, Classical Academic Press, and Beautiful Feet.
Courtney talks about testing, AJ describes traditional, language-centered classical education, and Jenn, Courtney, and AJ talk about their experiences with MCT.
Jenn and Courtney go deep on Oak Meadow while AJ gives a history lesson from Oxford to the Moral Majority and beyond.
In this episode Courtney and Jen introduce our new co-host, AJ Campbell. Then we tackle joy in the homeschool, classical education, and The Well-Trained Mind.
How to create a book list, Dr. Kripa Sundar on curriculum design and "seductive details", and Build Your Library.
We tackle "What is classical education?" Plus, another problematic curricula list. In lieu of that list, we supply alternatives. Finally, we cheerfully eviscerate Scientific Connections Through Inquiry.
Jen and Courtney discuss the best online curriculum, review different types of curricula, and then cheerfully eviscerate the Pandia Press's Ancients Level 2 curriculum with Wikipedia.
Jen and Courtney tackle the emotional toll of teaching your child something they don't want to learn, discuss another problematic curricula list, and then cheerfully eviscerate the Torchlight curriculum with cognitive science.
Jenn and Courtney are two experienced homeschoolers who practice classical, secular homeschooling. Jenn's been doing this since 2001, and Courtney has been homeschooling since 2014. Using their experience and expertise, they cheerfully eviscerate popular recommendations and curricula. Join them to hear what they consider the good, the bad, and the ugly.