Classical Education

About Our Guests
11-year-old Grace has loved poetry for as long as she can remember. When she's not climbing a tree, you can find her reading books or writing her own. She also loves to dance! Grace is the founder and host of the Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Poems Podcast and is a recurring guest co-host on the Kids Talk Church History podcast.

Amy and her husband John are 2nd-generation homeschoolers to five children from 8 to 18 years old, including a homeschool graduate. The Sloan family adventures together in NC where they pursue a restfully-classical education filled with books, conversation, and not-so-occasional nerdiness. Amy encourages homeschoolers through her “Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology” podcast and shares many resources at https://www.humilityanddoxology.com/

Amy believes that the best education is the one that leads to a humble view of one’s self and a glorified view of the beauty of God. She encourages homeschooling mamas that faithful consistency and wonder-filled exploration are not mutually exclusive. Her family’s homeschool prioritizes relationships over checklists, and she believes that beautiful words are more valuable to memorize than inventories of facts. Ultimately, Amy is convinced that Gospel truth alone saves us from endlessly striving and the fear, worry, and anxiety of wondering if we (and our homeschools) are enough.

Show Notes

Adrienne has Grace on to introduce her new podcast, by a kid for kids! Amy (her mom) homeschools Grace and they discuss the importance of poetry in their daily life. This is a delightful episode sure to inspire both parents and teachers to prioritize poetry in their routines.

Resources Mentioned

Now We Are Six by A. A. Milne

A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

Midsummer Night's Dream "I Know A Bank Where The Wild Thyme Blows" by William Shakespeare

Charge Of The Light Brigade Poem by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson

My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson

Be Glad Your Nose Is On Your Face Book by Jack Prelutsky

Ozymandias Poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Mr. Nobody by Walter de la Mare

Edward Lear Poems

Hopkins, Dunn, Dante

Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Poems:

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music
Podcast Addict
Google Podcasts

Amy Sloan’s free Quickstart Guide to Shakespeare (workshop + printables): https://birdsend.page/forms/1063/9kAhJE4Rck

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Whether you are a teacher or a parent, ask yourself…

What is the purpose of education?
What is the beginning of education, AND does it ever come to an end?
What type of education is best, and what type of education might I or my child pursue in the future?

Let us help you discover what a beautiful education should look like.

Where Should I Start?

Subscribe to this Podcast on your favorite podcast app!
Meet our Team, Explore our Resources and
Take advantage of our Services!

This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC.
Support this podcast: ★ Support this podcast ★****

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

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About our Guests

Dr. Dave Rose is a Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1987 from the University of Virginia. His primary areas of research interest are behavioral economics, political economy, and organization theory. He has published scholarly articles in a wide range of areas. His work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Weldon Spring Foundation, the HFL Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, and the John R. Templeton Foundation. He is currently in his second term on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. In 2008 he received the St. Louis Business Journal’s Economic Educator of the year award. His book, The Moral Foundation of Economic Behavior, was selected one of CHOICE’s outstanding titles of 2012. His newest book, Why Culture Matters Most, is also from Oxford University Press. He frequently contributes to policy debates through radio and television interviews as well as in Op-Eds on topics ranging from social security, monetary policy, fiscal policy, judicial philosophy, education reform, healthcare reform, and freedom of speech.

Dr. Lawrence W. (“Larry”) Reed became President of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 2008 after serving as chairman of its board of trustees in the 1990s and both writing and speaking for FEE since the late 1970s. He previously served for 21 years as President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan (1987-2008). He also taught economics full-time from 1977 to 1984 at Northwood University in Michigan and chaired its department of economics from 1982 to 1984.

In May 2019, he retired to the role of President Emeritus at FEE and assumed the titles of Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty.

He holds a B.A. in economics from Grove City College (1975) and an M.A. degree in history from Slippery Rock State University (1978), both in Pennsylvania. He holds two honorary doctorates, one from Central Michigan University (public administration, 1993) and Northwood University (laws, 2008).

Show Notes

Dr. Rose and Dr. Reed join Adrienne and Trae to discuss the foundation of a good education in civics and economics: cooperation and trust rooted in moral beliefs and lived out by ethical people in the family and society.

We delve into the role of stories in economics class, preserving traditional practices and restoring home economics.

For the civics and economics teachers, our guests help us see why preferring old stories to current events is best and why it's not necessarily the classroom teacher’s job to show students how to balance their checking accounts.

Some topics in this episode include:

The Relationship between Parenting, Culture, Civics, and Economics

Framing Economics as Cooperation

Self-governance in Classical Education

The Family and Home Economics

Moral Believes and Trust in the Family and Society

The Role of Stories in Moral Education

Humane Economics and Traditional Practices

Gratitude and Service to Others

Prudence and Democracy

The Value of Failure

How to Avoid “Bumper Sticker Pedagogy”

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

Why Culture Matters, David Rose

Real Heroes, Lawrence Reed

Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt

Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell

Cinderella Man, Ron Howard (Director)

The Whistle, Benjamin Franklin

Aesop’s Fables, Aesop

“The Economics of Splitting Wood By Hand,” John Cuddeback

A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell

Dr. Reed’s Website

Passion’s Within Reason, Robert H. Frank

The Memory Book, Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas

Favorite Books and Quotes

Dr. Rose’s book that he wishes he had read sooner:

A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell

Dr. Reed’s favorite quote (corrected):

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” - David Hayek

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OUR MISSION
We exist for the benefit of both parents and teachers who are seeking to understand classical education. Teaching is an art and teachers need opportunities to cultivate their craft. Parents need to feel confident that their children are receiving the best education possible. Therefore, our goals are to help parents make well-informed decisions about the education of their children, and to help teachers experience true joy in their vocation. We help bridge gaps that currently exists between many classical schools and the parents who send their students to these schools.

We guide teachers and parents on the path of a beautiful education. We help teachers delight in their sacred work. We help parents understand that a good education should fill students with wonder and delight! Join in the conversation of discovering the joy and beauty of a well-ordered education.

https://www.beautifulteaching.com/

OUR SERVICES
If you like our podcast, you will love our online sessions!
Meet our Team of Master Teachers: https://www.beautifulteaching.com/about

We offer immersion sessions so you can experience classical pedagogy. A complete listing of our courses is at https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

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This episode originally aired in Season 1, episode 4. We have many new listeners now. We think this episode is worth a republish! Enjoy the show!

Four teachers join us to talk about their joyful experiences teaching Plutarch in both classrooms and homeschools. This episode highlights different perspectives and personal experiences with the writings of Plutarch. We discuss why classical schools ought to put forth effort to incorporate Plutarch in their curriculum.

Our guests give a contagious love for Plutarch to this episode and they are all active members in our Facebook Group.

Philip Schaffer: Taught Plutarch in a number of high school courses: Rhetoric, Composition, Latin, and Ancient History. He adapted sections from the Lives into Latin for his students to translate.
Dawn Garrett: Teaches Plutarch in homeschool co-ops using Anne White’s Guides.
Lisa Mayeux: Leads both middle school and high school students in Scholé Group with Classical Academic Press.
Mrs. Peach Smith: Read and loved Plutarch as a child. She has passed her love of Plutarch to her children and her high school students.

Books Mentioned In This EpisodeWe have affiliate links. I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases through them. This helps to support the podcast and keep it free of advertising.

Plutarch Translations for Parallel Lives

John Dreyden Translation
Sir Thomas North Translation
A.H. Clough Translation

Children and Teen Versions

Our Young Folk’s Plutarch by Rosalie Kaufman
The Children’s Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks by F.J. Gould
The Children’s Plutarch: Tales of the Romans by F.J. Gould
Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls by Weston

Essays by Plutarch

Moralia by Plutarch
Plutarch on Listening to Lectures

Paintings to teach Plutarch
The Eclectic Light Company

OUR MISSION
We exist for the benefit of both parents and teachers who are seeking to understand classical education. Teaching is an art and teachers need opportunities to cultivate their craft. Parents need to feel confident that their children are receiving the best education possible. Therefore, our goals are to help parents make well-informed decisions about the education of their children, and to help teachers experience true joy in their vocation. We help bridge gaps that currently exists between many classical schools and the parents who send their students to these schools.

We guide teachers and parents on the path of a beautiful education. We help teachers delight in their sacred work. We help parents understand that a good education should fill students with wonder and delight! Join in the conversation of discovering the joy and beauty of a well-ordered education.

https://www.beautifulteaching.com/

OUR SERVICES
If you like our podcast, you will love our online sessions!
Meet our Team of Master Teachers: https://www.beautifulteaching.com/about

We offer immersion sessions so you can experience classical pedagogy. A complete listing of our courses is at https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast ★

The Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks (Yesterday's Classics)

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About our Guest
Andrew J. Zwerneman has been working in the classical education movement since 1983. In 2016 he co-founded Cana Academy where he serves as president.He blogs weekly at www.canaacademy.org and is author of History Forgotten and Remember (2020) and The Life We Have Together: A Case for Humane Studies, A Vision for Renewal (2022).Each month he hosts the Great Seminar Webinar.

Show Notes
History taught through observation and whole stories breathes life into Classical Education. Andrew Zwerneman and Adrienne Freas discuss the results and the differences between fragmented histories, and one that keeps eyes on the whole of humanity. With a vision for bringing an “abundance of the best and helping others to find their bearings," Andrew Zwerneman shares his expertise in teaching history. While acknowledging Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and crediting Ancient Greece, Rome, and Latin Christianity, we too, can grasp the breadth of logic and precision. The art of the classical way steers us away from fractured memories, to greater understanding, wisdom, and love of God.

Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode Include:

Cana Academy for Teachers
What Classical and the Liberal Arts means
Concerns about modern culture vs. intellectual freedom
Aristotle, the Father of the whole sphere of inquiry
Understanding “Augustine’s Anthropology “
Resources and examples to use for classical observational teaching

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This EpisodeWe have affiliate links. I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases through them. This helps to support the podcast and keep it free of advertising.
If you visit Cana Academy please use discount code BEAUTIFUL for a 10% discount on their products.

https://www.canaacademy.org/

Gospel of John wedding feast of Cana

The Brother's Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Albrecht Durer Signature

History Forgotten and Remembered by Andrew J. Zwerneman

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
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OUR MISSION
We exist for the benefit of both parents and teachers who are seeking to understand classical education. Teaching is an art and teachers need opportunities to cultivate their craft. Parents need to feel confident that their children are receiving the best education possible. Therefore, our goals are to help parents make well-informed decisions about the education of their children, and to help teachers experience true joy in their vocation. We help bridge gaps that currently exists between many classical schools and the parents who send their students to these schools.

We guide teachers and parents on the path of a beautiful education. We help teachers delight in their sacred work. We help parents understand that a good education should fill students with wonder and delight! Join in the conversation of discovering the joy and beauty of a well-ordered education.

https://www.beautifulteaching.com/

OUR SERVICES
If you like our podcast, you will love our online sessions!
Meet our Team of Master Teachers: https://www.beautifulteaching.com/about

We offer immersion sessions so you can experience classical pedagogy. A complete listing of our courses is at https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/

_________________________________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast ★

The Brothers Karamazov: Introduction by Malcolm Jones (Everyman's Library)

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About our GuestJonathan Pageau is a French Canadian liturgical artist, icon carver, writer, and public speaker. With a YouTube following of 191K, he has become a sought out interpreter of the deep patterns in stories. His podcast entitled The Symbolic World features, in both English and French, Jonathan's interpretations and conversations with other artists, thinkers and culture champions who are interested in restoring a collective respect for and use of these patterns as the very stuff of the cosmos.

Jonathan's current project is an eight-book series, the first of which is a retelling of the classic fairy tale, Snow White. The first book, Snow White and the Widow Queen, is now halfway through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, and it has been very well supported so far, funding at more than 900%. With this storybook publishing project, Pageau is exploring a new way of telling Fairy Tales, one which is both aware of our cultural need for virtue formation and the roots these stories have planted in our common imagination.

Jonathan's website: https://thesymbolicworld.com/

Learn about His Current Project
Snow White and the Widow Queen Kickstarter

Show Notes
On today’s show we have an artist who shares with us a passion for fairy tales. Jonathan Pageau reminds us that a fairy tale will awaken beauty in the formation of our minds and souls. Jonathan joins Adrienne to discuss the relevance of fairy tales and how they can shine a light into our souls. Fairy tales help us make sense of the world and the reality we live in. Adrienne and Jonathan discuss a few important ideas that have a positive impact on the Classical movement

Why are fairytales important?
Jonathan is working on a fairytale project and explains why this project is important to him and for all of us.
Why fairytales are for all ages, not just children?
How fairytales help us recognize truth in the Holy Scriptures
What are monsters and fairies?

Books and Resources Recommended
This page contains affiliate links. I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases through them. This helps to support the podcast and keep it free of advertising."The Fantastic Imagination" by George MacDonaldThe Audiobook Fairy Talesby George MacDonald published by Naxos (The Carasoyn is in this audiobook)The Collected Fantasy of George MacDonald (contains the Fantastic Imagination essay)Bible story of Jairus’s daughter: Mark 5:21-43

Rapunzel

Sleeping Beauty

Snow White

Cinderella

The Valiant Little Tailor

Little Thumb

Jack and The Beanstalk

God's' Dog: Monster by Jonathan Pageau and Matthieu Pageau

Goldilocks and The Three Bears by Robert Southey

The Symbolic World Logo: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peridexion_tree

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Affiliate Link to the translation that Adrienne loves and that University of Dallas uses in their classes.
Affiliate Link to the translation that Richard Rohlin loves and reads with his family and folks in DFW.

Richard Roland with Jonathan Pageau on The Symbolic World Podcast: Universal History - Anglo Saxon Myths and the Origin of Fairies

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This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC.

Support this podcast: ★ Support this podcast ★
Website: https://www.beautifulteaching.com/

OUR MISSION
We exist for the benefit of both parents and teachers who are seeking to understand classical education. Teaching is an art and teachers need opportunities to cultivate their craft. Parents need to feel confident that their children are receiving the best education possible. Therefore, our goals are to help parents make well-informed decisions about the education of their children, and to help teachers experience true joy in their vocation. We help bridge gaps that currently exists between many classical schools and the parents who send their students to these schools.

We guide teachers and parents on the path of a beautiful education. We help teachers delight in their sacred work. We help parents understand that a good education should fill students with wonder and delight! Join in the conversation of discovering the joy and beauty of a well-ordered education.

OUR SERVICES
If you like our podcast, you will love our online sessions!
Meet our Team of Master Teachers: https://www.beautifulteaching.com/about

We offer immersion sessions so you can experience classical pedagogy. A complete listing of our courses is at https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso (Everyman's Library)

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About our GuestDr. Christopher Perrin, is an author, consultant, and speaker, who specializes in classical education and is committed to the national renewal of the liberal arts tradition. He is the co-founder of Classical Academic Press (CAP) and serves full-time as the CEO/publisher. Through CAP, Christopher serves as a consultant to charter, public, private, and Christian schools across the country. He is the director of the Alcuin Fellowship of classical educators. He has published numerous books, articles, and lectures that are widely used throughout the United States and the English-speaking world. Christopher has a passion for classical education and is a lover of goodness, truth, and beauty wherever it is found.

Show Notes

In this episode, Adrienne and Dr. Perrin discuss the history of classical education and what makes an education "classical." They discuss what makes classical education the primary method for preparing children for everything in life.

Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode Include:

Defining ‘Education’
Preparing for excellence in any future career
Reaching peak potential through the Good, the True, and the Beautiful
New free online videos for parents in in their new Parent U video platform

Classical Academic Press Titles
For 15% off all CAP products use discount code CEPODCAST15 at the checkout.

Great series by Classical Academic Press
Aristotle: Education for Virtue and Leisure Dr. Gary Hartenburg
Lost Seeds of Learning by Dr. Phillip Donnelly
Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie
Parent U (Free resource for parents)
Classical U (Excellent resource for teachers, home educators, and school leadership)

Other Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

Genesis

Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton

Google definition of education

Webster's definition 1828 education

Oxford dictionary

Harvard University

Dorothy Sayers

Tim's Vermeer movie

Leisure:The Basis of Culture byJosef Pieper

Podcast Episode with Jarrid Looney
https://www.eastern.edu/academics/templeton-honors-college

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Karen Glass, Myself, and Kiernan Fiore will be speaking online at a national conference on July 14th, 2023 answering questions about Charlotte Mason and her connection to classical education. To qualify for one of two free gift certificates valued at $25 each for Beautiful Teaching Courses, register by June 30, 2023 for this virtual conference. VISIT: https://wvfue.org/hope-at-home-virtual-conference/

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast ★

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About our GuestJoshua Gibbs is a teacher, a lecturer on pedagogy and great books, and the author of several books that are listed in the show notes. For the last thirteen years, Gibbs has taught classic literature in Christian schools and earned acclaim for his writing. He has been a frequent speaker at several excellent classical conferences and published for many respectable classical education resources. His work can be explored on his website https://www.gibbsclassical.com/

We also encourage you to register for his 2023 Summer Conference sponsored by Templeton Honor's College.

Show Notes

Joshua Gibbs offers more practical advice for Classical Educators. Following the discovery of, and the reasons for Classical Education, questions come up. We’ve been inspired, now we need more information about how and what to do. The new perspective is to teach how to think, not what to think.

Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode Include:

What does Classical Pedagogy look like?
Once theory is addressed, we need to hear from experience.
Where will we discuss presentation, grading, and homework?
How to spend summer vacation for students.
Experiencing involvement with a literary character.
Practical teaching of literature.
The practical approach to learning from reading, reflecting, and discussing classical books.

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

This page contains affiliate links. I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases.
YOUR SUPPORT HELPS FUND THIS PODCAST.

Paradise Lost John Milton

Divine comedy by Dante Alighieri

Peter Leithart

Dorothy Sayers Trivum

Joshua Gibbs, "A Short Introduction to Classical Education"

Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë (This links to the book)
Jane Eyre Read by Juliet Stevenson on Audible

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Anne Frank

Freedom Writers movie

Billy Collins Poems

Frederick by Leo Lionni

Visit: GibbsClassical.com

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This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC.

Support this podcast: ★ Support this podcast ★https://www.classicaleducationpodcast.com/support

OUR MISSION
We exist for the benefit of both parents and teachers. Teaching is an art and teachers need opportunities to cultivate their craft. Parents need to feel confident that their children are receiving the best education possible. Therefore, our goals are to help parents make well-informed decisions about the education of their children, and to help teachers experience true joy in their vocation. We desire to bridge a large gap that currently exists between most classical schools and the parents who send their students to these schools.

Immersing both parents and teachers into the beauty of good teaching is paramount to our goals! Our formative sessions are designed to be LIVE so that you can experience classical education through participating and doing. This is what is expected in classical education. In order to mentor you well, we invite you to participate for a full classical experience. Our online sessions assume modeling, imitation, and meaningful conversation as the basis of experiencing good teaching.

OUR SERVICES
If you like our podcast, you will love our online sessions! We offer immersion sessions so you can experience classical pedagogy. A complete listing of our courses is at https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition

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About Our Guest

Diana Cunningham is the founding headmistress of Lindisfarne Hall, a classical Anglican school in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

Learn more about the good work going on at this school at https://www.lindisfarnehall.com.

Notes

In this episode, Diana Cunningham shares with Trae how a homeschool resource center at a church turned into a full-scale classical Christian school.

From a very young age, Diana was touched by the importance of atmosphere within places of education. Now that she serves as a school headmistress, she can intentionally nurture an atmosphere informed by classical principles, aimed at beauty, and structured by tradition and worship.

Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode Include:

Creating an Atmosphere Worthy of 10,000 Hours of a Student’s Classroom Life
How Academics Can Create Tunnel Vision
Designing a School Schedule as a Christian Oasis
Incorporating a Contemplation Period (An Unexpected Student Favorite)
How Non-Churched Students Fall in Love With Traditional English Hymns
The Faculty is the School
The Church as an Authority
Learning by Listening to Church Bells
The “Hidden Curriculum”
Charlotte Mason’s Principals of Education
“Socratic Narration”
Teaching History with Primary Sources
Avoiding Workbooks (How to “Keep the Words in their Habitat”)
Initiating Teachers into the Philosophy of Classical Education
The Limitations of the Scientific Method
The Church Calendar and the Life of the School
Sorting Students into Houses (Yes, like Harry Potter)
The Lives of the Saints

Resources Mentioned / Referenced

Read More about the Classical Approach at Lindisfarne Hall Here
Find Academic Plans and Sample Reading Lists Here
Get a Peak into the Life of the School on Facebook

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest
Karen Glass is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline. She has four children, ages 13 to 27, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods from beginning to end. Karen has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years and has written the popular books Consider This: Charlotte Mason and The Classical Tradition, Know and Tell: The Art of Narration,In Vital Harmony, and her newest book A Thinking Love: Studies from Charlotte Mason's Home Education.

Online Consulting and Courses with Karen
Karen also serves as a consultant for our podcast support team, Beautiful Teaching: Consulting in Classical Education.
She leads a book study for our listeners through our online sessions.

Click the links to register for her online Book Studies
January, 2023- Norms & Nobility
March, 2023- Know & Tell: The Art of Narration

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Show Notes
Karen has lead book studies with Norms & Nobility in the past and is well-versed in this seminal book. We discuss why this book is so important and what exactly Hicks is inferrring with his title. We discuss Adrienne's favorite passage in the book and how it impacts our teaching methods.

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This EpisodeNorms & Nobility by David Hicks
Consider Thisby Karen GlassPlato's Republic
Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
For the Children's Sake by Susan Sshaeffer-Macauley
How Then Shall We Live? by Francis Schaeffer
A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason

On-line Courses with Beautiful Teaching Consultants: https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture

For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School

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About Our Guest
"Autumn Kern is a wife, mother, and keeper of an actual commonplace book. When she was twenty-one, she sat under a tree with a man who told her the woman he married would homeschool his children. Handsome as he was, she didn’t anticipate being that woman, but here she is with three little ones in tow, and, as in all God’s providential ways, it has been the greatest gift" (TheCommonplacePodcast.com).

Autumn writes, produces, and hosts The Commonplace Podcast and Youtube channel.

Consider joining a community of Charlotte Mason mother teachers (and Trae) and supporting Autumn's work through Patreon here.

Notes
In this episode, Autumn Kern shares with Trae some of her journey from discovering classical education through an internet quiz taken on a lark to becoming someone who delights in reading Plato and Aristotle and putting into practice the educational philosophy of Charlotte Mason. While Autumn has grown in knowledge and reading abilities, she has not lost touch with the common things of life, including common people. If anything, she finds joy in being a "common mom" called to join The Great Conversation, share in fine culture, and relate rightly to all things in the pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. And better yet, she gets to shareall that with Mr. Kern and their little kernels.

Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode Include:

What if Education Was Not Utilitarian?
Charlotte Mason's Place Within the Classical Tradition
Responding to the Herbartian "Mind Bucket"
Synthetic Knowledge Before Analytical Knowledge
Charlotte Mason's Principal #4: "Authority is not a license to abuse children, or to play upon their emotions or other desires, and adults are not free to limit a child's education or use fear, love, power of suggestion, or their own influence over a child to make a child learn."
How What you Motivate With is What You Motivate Towards
Moving Backwards Into the Future
Searching for "Marks of Authenticity"
Solving Problems and Sanctification Through Marriage
Avoiding Sin in the Pursuit of Ideals
Wonder Working Mothers (Doing What's Best for Children)

Resources and Books Mentioned / Referenced

Grove City College
The CiRCE Institute's Definition of Classical Education
Norms and Nobility by David Hicks
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
Confessions by St. Augustine
Institutes of Oratory by Quintillian
On the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Jason Barney on Charlotte Mason and the Liberal Arts Tradition
Margarita Mooney Clayton on John Dewey
Sean Johnson on Technology in the Home
Joshua Gibbs on The Teacher Who Points
Karen Glass
Brandy Vincel
Heidi White

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

The Consolation of Philosophy: Ignatius Critical Editions

Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education

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About Our Guest

Margarita Mooney Suarez (Clayton)* is an Associate Professor in the Department of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. She founded The Scala Foundation in 2016 and continues to serve as Scala’s Executive Director. Scala Foundation’s vision is to restore meaning and purpose to American culture by focusing on the intersection of artists (culture creators), liberal arts education, and religion (liturgy, personal prayer, theology).

Notes

In this episode, Trae and Margarita Mooney Suarez (Clayton) take a closer look at the philosophical underpinning of modern education.

The late American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey maintains a massive influence on how contemporary schools and families think about learning and the role of the school and its teachers. Dewey’s philosophy of education, while seemingly positive on some points, is ultimately grounded in the denial of the spiritual needs of students and a rejection of tradition. As a result, Dewey's views have contributed to the rise of beliefs and practices that effectively turn teachers into little more than bureaucratic therapeutic reformers, cut off from tradition with little to no approaches to teaching outside the scientific method applied across subjects.

Today, most schools strip students of traditional beliefs and practices and expect them to build a future on no sure foundation. If we want to undo the influence of Dewey and restore a common unity between the church, the household, and the school, we will need some help. Enter Jacques Maritain and Luigi Giussani.

Margarita married David Clayton after this recording and now shares his last name.

Some topics and ideas in this episode include:

Deep Rot in Our Education System
The Influence of Philosophy on Education
Jacques Maritain and Luigi Giussani's Concerns with John Dewey
Teachers as Beuarocratic Therapeutic Reformers
Truth and The Scientific Method
All Education as Moral Education
The Freedom to Choose What’s Right
Teaching as an Art
Common Unity Between Household, Church, and School
Tradition and Authority
Deconstruction, Questioning, and Scepticism

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre
A Common Faith by John Dewey
Letters to a Young Education Reformer by Frederick M. Hess
The Crisis of Western Education by Christopher Dawson
The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han
Education at the Crossroads by Jacques Maritain
The Risk of Education: Discovering Our Ultimate Destiny by Luigi Giussani

Margarita’s Foundation and Books

SCALA Foundation
The Acton Institute 28th Anniversary Speech
The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts
The Wounds of Beauty: Seven Dialogues on Art and Education

_________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts

After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Third Edition

The Risk of Education: Discovering Our Ultimate Destiny

The Crisis of Western Education (Worlds of Christopher Dawson)

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About our Guests

Dax Stokes is the host of the award-winning podcast "The Vampire Historian," and a frequent lecturer on the topics of Dracula and vampire folklore. As an academic librarian in the North Texas area, he has organized two symposia on vampire studies featuring scholars from across the United States. His published works on Dracula can be found in IndieJudge Magazine, the Fantastika Journal, Vamped.org, and at thevampirehistorian.com.

Melissa Smith-Lauro is a corporate writer and content strategist who taught literature & composition at the university level for eight years. She’s the indefatigable mother of four sons who play baseball and attend in-person classes at the Flint Academy in Arlington, TX, and online classes with Miss Esther’s Integrated Homeschool Curriculum through the Classical Learning Resource Center. For fun, she works with local creatives to produce collaborative, beautiful, story-driven multimedia children’s content. Melissa is a proponent of Charlotte Mason principles, classical education content, and Montessori education methods. She is a gentle parenting enthusiast and an advocate for ADHD and autism awareness, accommodation, and inclusion in classical schools.

Show Notes

Trae and Adrienne invited Dax and Melissa to discuss the two most famous monsters in gothic fiction literature, Frankenstein and Dracula. The big ideas in these classics help us wrestle with what it means to be a human being through exploring the rich stories of these two monsters. What is a monster, and why should we read these books? Should students in classical schools read them? Join us as we explore these two famous monsters and their authors.

Be sure to check out The Vampire Historian podcast with Dax Stokes too!

Movies Mentioned

Dracula (1992) The Coppola Version- Portrays all forms of Dracula
Gothic: Movie with Julian Sands and Shelley
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Count Dracula: BBC 70’s version with Louis Jourdan
The Search of Dracula: documentary
Dracula Dead and Loving It (Mel Brooks and Leslie Nielson)
Nofaratu (destroyed from law suit)
Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder (a Mel Brooks film)
YouTube on Albertus Magnus, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Robot

Books mentioned

1818 version of Frankenstein
1831 version of Frankenstein
Transylvanian Superstitions by Emily Gerard
In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracual and vampires
The Icelandic Dracula , 1901 - Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula by Bram Stoker
Swedish version of Dracula - not translated into English yet
Varney the Vampire (Penny Dreadfuls)
The Vampire Book (Now the Vampire Almanac)
Dr. John Polidori’s The Vampyre(1819)

_________________________________________________________Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

Special Music: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 561; Public Domain classics sourced from the: https://archive.org/.

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Transylvanian Superstitions (Scripta Minora)

Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula

In Search Of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires

The Vampire Almanac: The Complete History (The Real Unexplained! Collection)

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About Our Guest

Ferdi McDermott studied Languages at Edinburgh University before a decade in Catholic publishing in London. In 2002 he founded Chavagnes International College, an international Catholic school for boys (www.chavagnes.org). He now combines leadership of the school with a lectureship in English literature at the Vendée Catholic university, ICES (www.ices.fr). He is pursuing a doctorate in Education through the University of Buckingham.

Notes

In this episode, Adrienne and Trae join Headmaster Ferdi Mcdermott on a journey through the French countryside and into the historic site of a Roman villa turned thirteenth-century monastery, turned junior seminary now operating as a Catholic boarding school for boys that offers a classical Christian education for students from all over the world. To support this good work, please visit their website here.

Some topics and ideas in this episode include:

Living and Teaching in a Place with a Long History
Teaching and Modeling Physical, Intellectual, and Spiritual Virtues
The Key Role of the Chapel in the Life of a School
The History of Classical Education in Europe
The Influence of Ancient Egypt on Education
Traditional Catholic Education
What Makes a Good Teacher?
Why Should Teachers Sing to Their Students?

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

Letters to Captains by Andre Charlier
Godliness and Good Learning by David Newsome
John Senior on the cultural soil being depleted
“The Twelves Virtues of a Good Teacher” by Br. Agathon
The National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools (NAPCIS)
“Lay Catholics in Schools” by The Sacred Congregation of Catholic Education
“The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium” by The Sacred Congregation of Catholic Education
“Divini Illius Magistri” by Pope Pius XI

Ferdi’s Favorite Quote (Corrected):

“To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”
- St. John Henry Newman

Don’t miss Mr. McDermott singing a hymn in honor of St. John Henry Newman at the end!

Please Support us on Patreon. _________________________________________________________Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

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About our Guest:

Dr. Matthew Post Assistant Professor of Humanities and Associate Director, Saint Ambrose Center for Catholic Liberal Education and Culture at the University of Dallas. He has spent his career teaching the Great Books of the Western tradition, having worked in Canada, Japan and Slovakia in addition to the U.S. In the Slovak Republic, he had the privilege to build a Great Books program at a school whose mission was to renew classical education after decades of communist rule had obscured the country’s history and traditions. His research explores how best to understand and promote virtue, service and leadership through education. His academic interests include the ancient Greeks, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, the Enlightenment, the American Founding and German Idealism.

Show Notes
The art of teaching encompasses freedom which allows for students to rest in a state of wonder. If we allow students to enjoy the ideas that they are learning, it captures the essence of teaching with beauty as the center of the lesson. Beauty is not just about a master teacher conducting a symphony, but about all the teachers and the spirit of the school working in community because beauty has form and unity.

As Dr. Post unpacks the transcendentals (truth, goodness, and beauty). He explains that If a soul is disordered, the “good” helps to reorder the soul in order to know beauty. Dr. Post also explores where order comes from. The activity of making sense of an idea leads us to commune with or engage with truths that are unchanging. He builds upon these ideas and how they operate through good teaching.

The episode closes discussing the importance of the poetic Homer texts, and how they point us towards what true forgiveness looks like.

Some topics in this episode include:

What is beauty? and How did the Greeks approach beauty through poetry?
What are the transcendentals?
How does formation help students to recognize beauty?
How do teachers balance The True, The Good, and The Beautiful in classroom instruction?
How does constraining or forcing, The True, The Good, and The Beautifu affect a student when they go out into the world?
The Greek importance of Kalos Agothas (kalokagathos) for the attainment of virtue through a genuine submission to truth.
Approaching education with a spirit of reverence for truth to lay a foundation in beauty.

Books & Resources In This Episode
The Ethics of Beauty by Timothy Patitsas

The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer
Platonic Texts:

The Republic
Timaeus
The Symposium

Favorite Quote & A book that is neglected: Quote: "I have kissed the hands that slew my children" - Homer

A neglected work that is worth looking at: The Captives (a play about slavery) by a Roman comedian, Plautus

Please Support us on Patreon _________________________________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

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About Our GuestDaniel Olushola is the founder and former headmaster of Reformation Wall School. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Covenant University and was trained in Business Management and Entrepreneurship by African Management Initiate (AMI), Kenya, and Global Business Foundation, Nigeria.

Daniel Olushola is reforming education in Nigeria. What started as a small gathering in a two-bedroom apartment has grown into a thriving classical Christian school in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.

In our interview, we observed that Daniel constantly uses one phrase throughout our conversation: "I'm still learning." We are delighted that Daniel and his staff have taken on the task of learning and bringing classical education to their part of the world. We hope you are encouraged by hearing the story of Reformation Wall School. Please visit the school's website here if you want to see more and support this good work.

Some topics and ideas in this episode include:

The state of education (materially and philosophically) in Nigeria
How discovering a Youtube video about a classical Christian school in the states encouraged Daniel to investigate classical education for his own country
The importance of educating virtuous human beings
The joys of reading great books like The Iliad and Plato's Republic for the first time as an adult
The universality of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Charlotte Mason and "living books"

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

The Rafiki Foundation

If you want to support the work at Reformation Wall School, please consider sponsoring a student. Read more about how to become a sponsor here.

If you would like to discuss sending books, supplies, or other means of support, please contact Reformation Wall School through their website here.

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest:

Dr. Angel Parham is Associate Professor of Sociology and senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. Her area is historical sociology, where she engages in research and writing that examine the past in order to better understand how to live well in the present and envision wisely for the future. Her research and teaching are inspired by classical philosophies of living and learning that emphasize the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. She shares this love of history and of classical learning through Nyansa Classical Community, an educational non-profit focused on K-12 students which provides lower and upper school curricula in the humanities to schools and homeschools. Parham is the author The Black Intellectual Tradition: Reading Freedom in Classical Literature, published with Classical Academic Press (2022). She is also the President of the Board of Academic Advisors for the Classic Learning Test (CLT) which takes an approach to academic testing that seeks to reconnect knowledge and virtue. Parham completed her B.A. in sociology at Yale University and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

If you would like to volunteer or write for Nyansa Classical Community, email Angel. Angel.Adams.Parham@Gmail.com or visit Nyansa Classical Community here.

Show NotesDr. Paham discusses her Christian outreach through Nyansa Classical Community (a non-profit Classical after-school program). Nyansa works alongside schools to help them give beautiful classical texts in public schools for the children who stay for after-school care. We also dive into the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois in the eduation of African-Americans. We also discuss "What is a liberal arts eduation and why does it matter?" The origins of "liberal" means that it is freeing and to truly flourish.

Some topics in this episode include:

Why Homer is important for all students and to help develop good foundations for understanding a virtue-based learning environment
What is the African-American tradition?
The education debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois
Why a liberal arts education casts a vision for the future and why it matters.
Anna Julia Cooper's impact on the tradition of African-American education
What is the true heritage of the African-American education in The United States?
The grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages according to the essay, "The Lost Tools of Learning" by Dorothy Sayers.
What is the black intellectual tradition?
The importance of learning languages from other cultures to fully explore other cultures and their literature

Books In This EpisodeThe Iliad and The Odyssey by HomerSong of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Omeros by Derek Walcott
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

Musicans in the Black Tradition
Joseph Bologne
Opera Créole

Book she wishes she had read earlier
The Republic by Plato

Please Support us on Patreon _________________________________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

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About our Guest:

Dr. Richard Ferrier was born April 18th 1948, Berkeley California, married wife Kathyrn 1972, 8 children, 9 grandchildren. He is currently a faculty member with Thomas Aquinas College (1978-present).

B.A. Liberal Arts 1971, St Johns College, Annapolis
M.A. and Ph.D History of Science 1980, Indiana University
Teacher at Key School, Annapolis 1969-74 (taught Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Greek, English and American Lit, Drama, and Music)
Founding Board Member St. Augustine Academy, Ventura California.
Chairman Ventura County Republican Party 1991-2, Vice Chairman "Yes on 209" campaign, 1996. Prop 209 banned, by Constitutional Amendment, preferential treatment by race, sex, or ethnicity in state agencies. It passed and is still state law.

Show NotesDr. Ferrier is a true sage in classical education and his wisdom shines in this discussion. Hearing from his heart as a dad and grandparent was an absolute blessing. This interview was an absolute delight. We jumped from beautiful topic to beautiful topic. Dr. Ferrier and Trae shared several personal stories and especially discuss the educaiton of boys during several various points in this episode. The bullet point summary, as well as the book list, provides a good snap shot of the depth and bredth of this conversation. He wisely said "We live in a world of riches, why should we waste our minds?"

Some topics in this episode include:

Defining classical education and making free men
Liberal Arts v. Servile Arts (useful arts)
Arithmetic & Geometry as the music and dance of the quadrivium
The importance of music for the human soul
Civics through American patriotic hymns
The importance of reading to your children
How to read well and simply delight in great books from Dr. Seuss to the best American Speeches to Homer and back to nonsense poetry!
The arts of grammar, logic/dialectics, and rhetoric
Teaching rhetoric with the best speeches
The importance of integrative instruction through the 7 Classical Liberal Arts and the useful arts
Why practitioners in the "useful arts" NEED to know how to think well and communicate well
Educating boys and giving them great books as well as hands on experience with tools and going fishing
Adventitious learning
The difficulties in homeschooling the drive a parent to online learning
He shared his personal testimonies with homeschooling his children and what struggles they had

Books & Resources In This Episode

Mother Goose
Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat)
Ogden Nash
The Declaration of Independence
The Consitution of the United States
Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
Homer's Illiad and OdysseyLincolns' Speeches and Euclid's Elements"John Brown's Body" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"By the Waters if Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron
The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge
Landmark Books
Tolkien Trilogy
Faust
Panses by Blaise Pascal
Dostoevsky
"Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
"The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse
"Beneath the Wheel" by Hermann Hesse

Calvin Coolidge's Speech on The Declaration of Independence: Lecture by Dr. Ferrier

MoviesGettysburg
John Adams
Ken Burn's Civil War seriesCasablanca

Favorite Quote
Virgil when he is looking at the destruction of his home. "sunt lacrimae rerum"--- Tears for things

Please Support us on Patreon _________________________________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest: Steve Mittwede, PhD, EdS

Dr. Mittwede is privileged to be a teacher of Earth Science at Randolph School in Huntsville (Rocket City!), Alabama, after having taught at two great classical schools in Texas for the past seven years. Heartily committed to lifelong learning, his most recent degree was an EdS in Educational Leadership from Columbia International University (CIU), following degrees in geology from The College of William and Mary (BS) and the University of South Carolina (MS and PhD), the last two while concurrently working as a full-time mineral resources geologist for the South Carolina Geological Survey. During that time in South Carolina, he married Dana, and they were blessed with four sons in close succession – all now grown, married, and raising their own broods (13 grandchildren and counting!). Steve also has an MA in intercultural studies from CIU and an MTh in theology from Union School of Theology/University of South Wales (UK). With his family, Steve lived for 23 years in Ankara, Turkey where he worked as an educator, academic researcher, consulting geologist, and scientific/technical editor. His main research “squeeze” over the last few years has been the great Peripatetic, Theophrastus, a paragon of scholarly virtues that are especially applicable in science education.

Show Notes

Adrienne interviews master teacher, Dr. Steve Mittwede on the art of teaching science. As an expert in the classroom, Steve brings practical ideas for teachers to consider for good, truth-driven instruction. He discusses in detail how to help students use good language (grammar mode of the trivium) to help them in habits of attending and defining their observations. We also discuss the truth pursuits around the unity of knowledge and how important this is to the foundation of integerated instruction. If truth is a foundation to classical education, then integrating all the "subjects" together ought to matter! His Three Realms of Knowing is a construct he developed about 20 years ago showing students that everything fits together.

Some topics in this episode include:

What is a good definition of science?
How should science text books be used?
What are best practices in the art of teaching science?
How to engender conversations for good scientic hypothese
Why nature study is critical for good science practices with students
How scientific thinking can help us integrate and make connections to all truth and reality.
The Law of Noncontradiction
Horizontal integration of science with poetry and Socratic inquiry

Books & Resources In This EpisodeAristotle's Metaphysics"Learning Scholarly Virtues from Theaphrastus" by Dr. Mittwede, published by SCL
Opus Majus by Roger Bacon

Poems for Science class
Hymn before Sun-rise, in the Vale of Chamouni By Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I Am Like a Slip of Comet by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Quotes that Dr. Mittwede uses in his science classes
"Truth, like gold, is not be obtained by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold."- Leo Tolstoy

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."- Jack London

Please Support us on Patreon _________________________________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

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About our Guests

Kevin Moore is an experienced educator of young learners as well as a respected instructional leader. Presently, Kevin's attention and energies are consumed by two ventures of which he is a Co-Founder, Long-View Micro-School and The Number Lab. Long-View Micro School is a STEM focused, highly innovative, learner-centered educational environment thoughtfully designed for upper elementary and middle-school-aged learners. Through his work at Long-View, Kevin is committed to impacting the educational landscape locally by adding to the diversity of schooling options for families in Austin Texas. In his work with The Number Lab, Kevin helps to design and facilitate professional development seminars for teachers who provide mathematics instruction to young learners. These seminars are meant to help teachers strengthen their own conceptual understandings of mathematics and inspire a culture of learning in their classrooms that engages learners as mathematicians. Kevin’s work with The Number Lab connects him with educators throughout the United States and beyond.

Kaylie White is an experienced educator at Long-View Learning, where she strives to transform mathematics education by working with both young learners and educators from across the country. Kaylie designs and leads learning experiences for young mathematicians at Long-View Micro School — a STEM-focused, highly innovative, learner-centered educational environment designed for upper elementary and middle-school-aged learners. Through Long-View’s teacher-facing work, Kaylie creates and facilitates professional development for teachers, including in-person workshops, Field Study Days at Long-View Micro School, and virtual coaching. She also leads the social media marketing for Long-View Learning. Kaylie is a bold, creative, and passionate educator who sees herself as a learner first. She eagerly works to collaborate with her team to continuously iterate and improve the learning experience for all. When she is not teaching and learning, Kaylie enjoys time with her husband and one-year-old son in Austin, Texas where they cook, hike, read, play soccer, and cheer on Austin FC.

Follow their work:
Instagram: long_view_learning

School’s instagram: long_view_atx

Website: long-view.com

Professional Development from The Number Lab **(Long-View Team)

Find Support from the team at*https://www.long-view-learning.com/*
Show Notes**

Adrienne and Trae interview two master teachers in mathematics from Long- View Micro School in Austin, Texas. While Long-View is a progressive school, they have discovered the truth of dialectis in the classroom. While they do not formally consider their methods as classical, and their terminology may be different than common terms in classical education, they truly embrace the art teaching math dialectically.

Teaching math is not about state standards or facts and formulas to memorize, but rather it is a discipline that is engaging, interesting, and helps students learn thinking and communication skills which are common to the goals of classical education.

Some topics in this episode include:

The high abilities of children to wrestle with big ideas and participate in deep and meaningful work
The importance of a healthy community of learners with teachers as facilitators who will challenge and mediate students through meaningful ideas
Children need opportunities to grapple with complex ideas so that they can learn the art of dialectics (Longview school is not classical and does not call it the art of dialectics, but that is inadvertently what is being discussed).
Real understanding emerges from the messiness of learning how to be precise with good language, with communication, and with tapping into creative ways of solving problems.
Setting a school culture where learning is a process that everyone does together.

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Books & Resources In This EpisodeA Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form by Paul Lockhart and Keith Devlin

Visilbe Learning by John Hattie

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Learner-Centered Teaching by Maryellen Weimer

Please Support us on Patreon _________________________________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest

Amy Sloan and her husband John are 2nd-generation homeschoolers to 5 children from 7 to 17 years old. The Sloan family adventures together in NC where they pursue a restfully-classical education. If you hang out with Amy for any length of time you’ll quickly learn that she loves overflowing book stacks, giant mugs of coffee, beautiful memory work, and silly memes. At any moment she could break into song and dance from Hamilton, 90s country music, or Shakespeare. Amy writes at HumilityandDoxology.com and hosts the “Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology” podcast.

Follow Amy on her website Humility & Doxology and her podcast Homeschool Conversations.

Show Notes

Adrienne interviews Amy and discusses the ins and outs of homeschooling. Amy shares her experience as a second generation homeschooler. She discusses how classical education shaped her life as a student and now as a homeschool mom. Many golden nuggets of wisdom are shared between Adrienne and Amy as they explain the common experiencs typical in the life of a homeschooler. Listen and be encouraged not to give up or to seriously consider homeschooling as a solid educational choice for your family.

Some topics in this episode include:

The hard realities in homeschooling
Prioritizing sibling frienships in a homeschool
The common stresses in most homeschools
Cultivating integrative learning: being purposeful to connect all the subjects
The Christian classical idea of teaching with a spirit of humility
Amy discusses the end goals to help answer the question, "why should I homeschool?".
How to consider outsourcing needs and options as a homeschool

Books & Resources In This Episode

Missy Andrew's memoir, My Divine ComedyThe Liberal Arts Tradition by Clark and Jain Better Together by Pam BarnhillTeaching From Rest by Sarah MacKenzie
For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Mcaulay

Podcasts from Homeschool Conversations mentioned in this episode as most helpful for getting started in homeschooling:

Dr. George Grant interview
Ann Karako Interview
Jami Marstall interview
Pam Barnill and Heather Tully interview
Karen Glass Interview
Adrienne Freas Interview
Cindy Rollins Interview

Curriculum Mentioned:
Sonlight CurriculumAmblesideOnline CurriculumSaxon MathMath-U-SeeRightStart Math The quote that Amy shared: "What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth. This has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert, himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt, the divine reason. Huxley preached a humility content to learn from nature, but the new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. Thus, we should be wrong if we had said hastily that there is no humility typical of our time. The truth is there is a real humility typical of our time, but it so happens that it is practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest protrations of the aesthetic. The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping, not a nail in his boot that prevented him from going on. For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether."- G.K. Chesteron, Orthodoxy (ch. 3)

Please Support us on Patreon _________________________________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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Guest Biographies

Dr. Laura Eidt received her BA in English Literature and Linguistics from the University of Hamburg (Germany) and her MA and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been teaching Spanish, German, Comparative Literature, and Humanities at the University of Dallas since 2006 and has published on German and Spanish poetry and on ekphrasis. For many years she taught an applied foreign language pedagogy class that sent students to local area schools to teach their language to elementary children, and she was a mentor at a bilingual school in Dallas for four years. Her courses include classes on foreign language pedagogy, teaching classical children’s literature, and great works in the modern world. She is the faculty advisor for UD's Classical Curriculum team and is currently writing a Latin curriculum for K-5rd grade.

Robin Johnston

Robin Ann Johnston is a daughter, sister, wife, mother of five, grandmother of four (so far,) and a convert to Catholicism. She graduated from Loyola University of New Orleans in 1985, cum laude, with a bachelor's degree in Cognitive Psychology and a minor in music. When her children were all old enough to go to school, she returned to the workforce as a teacher for Mount St. Michael Catholic School (MSMCS) in south Dallas. Robin taught mostly ELAR and World History during her years there, for grades ranging from 4th to 12th. As the lead middle-school teacher, she was instrumental in transitioning the school’s culture and curriculum instruction to a classical model. During those decades, Robin was given the “Work of Heart” award for excellence in teaching (twice) by the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. After retiring from teaching full time, she began writing classical ELAR and Humanities curriculum lessons and novel study guides. Robin’s passion is for igniting students’ hearts with a love for learning and helping teachers have a toolbox of ideas that are easy to use while making a real difference in the classroom. She is now working on a master's degree in Humanities and Classical Education. In her free time, she likes to craft, read, swim, and, along with her husband of 35 years, babysit the grandchildren.

Show Notes

In this episode, Adrienne, Robin, and Laura continue their conversation on teaching literature. They delve deep into the art of narration, responding to common objections, and ways to use narration as a life-giving assessment.

Some topics and ideas in this episode include:

How to Assess Narrations
Read-Aloud Recommendations
Modeling Delight and Play Through Narration
What is a “living book”?
Is Narration Just a Tool?
What About Violence in Fairy Tales?
Book Recommendations for Pre-K - Elementary, Middle School, and High School

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Institutes of Oratory: or, Education of an Oratorby Quintilian

Pre-K - 5

Eric Carle
Jan Brett
Tasha Tudor
Jerry Pickney
Astrid Lindgren (Dr. Eidt’s favorite)
George MacDonald
- The Princess and the Goblin (Librivox Recording)
- The Wise Women
- Undine
The Complete Tales of Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne
- Audio Drama with Judy Dench, Stephen Fry, et al.
Rabbit Ears Radio
Barbara Cooney
Ingrid D'Aulaires
William Steig
Beatrix Potter
Oz, The Complete Collection by Frank Baum
Bambi by Felix Salten
Marry Poppins by P.L. Travers
The Little House on the Prairie (9 volumes) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Stuart Little by E.B. White

Middle School

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 volumes) by Rick Riordan
The Ranger’s Apprentice (12 volumes) by John Flanagan
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Ransome of Red Chief and Other Short Stories for Boys by O. Henry
The Necklace and Other Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Wrinkle in Time Quintet Boxed Set (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

High School

Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

Book Robin Wishes She Read at 16: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

A Favorite Book of Dr. Eidt’s:Ronia The Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren

_________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The Ranger's Apprentice Series (Complete 12 Book Set)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Hardcover Boxed Set

Anna Karenina (Penguin Clothbound Classics)

The Wrinkle in Time Quintet Boxed Set (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time)

Oz, the Complete Paperback Collection: Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 1; Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 2; Oz, the Complete Collection, ... 4; Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 5

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Guest Biographies

Dr. Laura Eidt received her BA in English Literature and Linguistics from the University of Hamburg (Germany) and her MA and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been teaching Spanish, German, Comparative Literature, and Humanities at the University of Dallas since 2006 and has published on German and Spanish poetry and on ekphrasis. For many years she taught an applied foreign language pedagogy class that sent students to local area schools to teach their language to elementary children, and she was a mentor at a bilingual school in Dallas for four years. Her courses include classes on foreign language pedagogy, teaching classical children’s literature, and great works in the modern world. She is the faculty advisor for UD's Classical Curriculum team and is currently writing a Latin curriculum for K-5rd grade.

Robin Johnston
Robin Ann Johnston is a daughter, sister, wife, mother of five, grandmother of four (so far,) and a convert to Catholicism. She graduated from Loyola University of New Orleans in 1985, cum laude, with a bachelor's degree in Cognitive Psychology and a minor in music. When her children were all old enough to go to school, she returned to the workforce as a teacher for Mount St. Michael Catholic School (MSMCS) in south Dallas. Robin taught mostly ELAR and World History during her years there, for grades ranging from 4th to 12th. As the lead middle-school teacher, she was instrumental in transitioning the school’s culture and curriculum instruction to a classical model. During those decades, Robin was given the “Work of Heart” award for excellence in teaching (twice) by the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. After retiring from teaching full time, she began writing classical ELAR and Humanities curriculum lessons and novel study guides. Robin’s passion is for igniting students’ hearts with a love for learning and helping teachers have a toolbox of ideas that are easy to use while making a real difference in the classroom. She is now working on a master's degree in Humanities and Classical Education. In her free time, she likes to craft, read, swim, and, along with her husband of 35 years, babysit the grandchildren.

Show NotesIn part one of this two-part episode, we reconsider the foundations of good reading with the help of influential thinkers like C.S. Lewis and Mortimer Adler and think about how an overabundance of “screen time” paired with modern “reading strategies” and a focus on “college prep” pale in comparison to the potential for life transformation within the classical tradition.

Some topics and readings in this episode include:How can we become good readers?
Why is beauty harder to analyze than truth?
What role should “vocabulary words” play in our approach to teaching literature?
“College Prep” vs. Pursuit of Transcendence
Reading and the Fear of Grades
The Role of Morals and Virtues in Teaching Literature
The Origin and Place of Plot Analysis
Is it ever ok to skim when reading?
Narration and Picture Study

Readings and Resources
An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler

Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle

“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Aesop’s Fables

Little Red Ride Hood
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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art (Wheaton Literary Series)

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

Aesop's Fables (Illustrated by Arthur Rackham with an Introduction by G. K. Chesterton)

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About Our Guest

Mariah Martinez has worked in education since 2015 as a teacher, curriculum developer, and mentor teacher. Mariah was introduced to a progressive version of classical education through her high school's International Baccalaureate program. She was later immersed in a traditional classical atmosphere through her honors program in college. Mariah attended the Honors College at Houston Baptist University, where she received a B.A., double majoring in philosophy and English. She also holds an M.A. in humanities with a concentration in classical education from the University of Dallas. She is certified as a 7-12 ELAR instructor in Texas with an additional ELL (English Language Learner) supplement. Currently, she teaches at a Founders Classical charter school in Northeast Texas and works as a freelance consultant for Beautiful Teaching.

Show Notes

In this episode, Adrienne, Trae, and Mariah have a wide-ranging conversation about establishing the proper relationship between teacher, student, and text. Mariah is admittedly not the "fun teacher." Still, students enjoy her classes, make discoveries in her classroom, and learn to take up a posture of humility and understanding toward the stories and ideas she teaches.

Some topics and ideas in this episode include:

Rewards and Risks of Class Discussions
How to Respond to Ideological Comments
How to Foster a Posture of Understanding
The Role of Narrative Across Subjects
Avoiding the Infantilization of Teenagers
An Engaging Approach to Narration
Mariah's Online Course - Teaching Disputation: Well-ordered Thinking for a Disordered World

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe
Beautiful Teaching Online Courses

Mariah's Favorite Quote:

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

– Henry David Thoreau

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About Our Guest

Kiernan Fiore has worked as a teacher, administrator, teacher trainer, and curriculum developer since 2011. After receiving a Charlotte Mason classical home education, she earned a BA in English (summa cum laude) from Hillsdale College and an MA in English (Merit) from King's College, London. She is certified in 4-8th Grade ELAR and Social Studies in Texas. She began her teaching career at a private Charlotte Mason school and since then has worked in private, charter, and virtual schools to promote the benefits of classical education. Currently, she works as a freelance consultant for Beautiful Teaching and writes for the City of Ladies newsletter.

Show Notes

In this episode, Adrienne and Trae enter into a critique of neoclassical education, joined by Kiernan Fiore. Together, they consider how educators in the renewal of classical education can reflect on how the wholesale adoption and systematizing of one Dorthy Sayers essay has led to critical departures from the tradition.

In this conversation, we claim that Charlotte Mason affirmed and restored person-honoring principles and practices from the classical tradition in her time. We also point out that neoclassical education in practice tends to suffer from a pragmatism inherited from progressive philosophies of education. Finally, Kiernan paints a beautiful picture of the proper relationship between systematic lesson planning and teaching in the spirit of classical education.

Some topics and ideas in this episode include:

Classical vs. Neoclassical
Classical Education Appropriate for Our Time
State and Societal Pressures on Parents and Teachers
Teaching Classically in a Nonclassical School
The Christian baptism of classical education
Neoclassical vs. Classical Narration
Systems vs. Conversations within Relationships
Narration as Assessment or Art?
Lesson Planning in the Spirit of Classical Education

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

“The Lost Tools of Learning” by Dorthy Sayers
Jason Barney on Charlotte Mason, Modern Science, and The Classical Tradition
“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost
Beautiful Teaching Online Courses

Kiernan’s Favorite Quote:

"Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life."

Charlotte Mason’s Parents' National Educational Union motto

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About Our Guest

Jason Caros serves as the headmaster at Founders Classical Academy. He graduated from Florida State University, earning a Bachelor of Arts with concentrations in History and Religion. He also holds a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

Mr. Caros was a high school history teacher and a district-level curriculum administrator for more than fifteen years. In 2012, he was selected by Hillsdale College's Barney Charter School Initiative and Responsive Education Solutions to serve as the first headmaster of Founders Classical Academy, a K-12 grade classical charter school in Lewisville, TX. Mr. Caros attributes the growth and success of the school to the efforts of an excellent faculty and staff, supportive parents, dedicated students, and the work of its parent organization, Responsive Ed. In addition to his headmaster duties, Mr. Caros loves to teach his high school Western Civilization I class. Mr. Caros lives in Flower Mound with his wife and children; his daughter is a Founders alumna, and his son attends Founders as a rising junior.

Show NotesIn this episode, Adrienne and Trae meet with headmaster Jason Caros to discuss the American Classical Charter School model. Founded initially as a Barney Charter School Initiative in American Classical Education, Founders Classical Academy in Lewisville, Texas, is an example of a thriving charter school. They are part of the Responsive Education Solutions (RES) charter schools community with a mission to provide education options that promote a free society with moral and academic excellence.

Mr. Caros shares stories about how a love of learning and reading paired with patriotism bring his community together. Mr. Caros describes how commencements, holiday programs, and events focused on civic virtue give shape and meaning to the life of his school.

Furthermore, Mr. Caros explores the qualities of a good teacher pertaining to the classical categories of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Mr. Caros explains how the stability of his school rests on consistency in the faculty and maintaining ongoing alumni relationships.

Some questions in this episode include:

What are the qualities of a good headmaster?
How do you foster deep conversations in pursuit of the highest good in your particular context?
What is at the heart of American Classical Education?
How do you retain teachers?
How do you support your faculty?

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Paradise Lost by John Milton

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Shakespearean Plays by William Shakespeare

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

Republic by Plato

Cicero by Plutarch

The Roots of the American Order by Russell Kirk

Video: Jordan Peterson interviews Yeonmi Park

The Bill of Rights

The Constitution of the United States of America

The Restoration of Christian Culture by John Senior

Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David V. Hicks

_________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: SaraSant'' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest

Mr. Barney serves as the Principal of Coram Deo Academy in Carmel, IN. In 2012 he was awarded the Henry Salvatori Prize for Excellence in Teaching from Hillsdale College. He completed his MA in Biblical Exegesis at Wheaton College, receiving The Tenney Award in New Testament Studies. Before coming into his current position, Jason served as the Academic Dean at Clapham School, a classical Christian school in Wheaton, IL. In addition to his administrative responsibilities in vision, philosophy, and faculty training, Jason has taught courses in Latin, Humanities, and Senior Thesis from 3rd-12th grades. He regularly speaks at events and conferences, including SCL, ACCS, and the CiRCE Institute. He has published A Classical Guide to Narration with the CiRCE Institute and A Short History of Narration through Educational Renaissance, where he blogs regularly on ancient wisdom for the modern era.

Show Notes

Jason Barney places Charlotte Mason squarely within the classical tradition. In this conversation, Jason points to multiple attestations within the classical tradition and contemporary science that demonstrate that Mason was on to something right in her philosophy and practices.

In our conversation, Jason lays out some of the problems with the modern factory education model. He explains how the art of narration fosters what contemporary scientists call "durable learning" or deep and lasting knowledge retention. Jason also takes on Bloom's Taxonomy and explains how it risks enshrining the teacher in modernism when they would be better served reading The Abolition of Man.

Some topics in this episode include:

Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition

Modern Education Movements: Ruseau, Pestalozzi, John Lock, Monstasori

Lessons from Contemporary Psychology and Neuroscience

Narration, Retrieval Practice, and Durable Learning

Practicing Narration in the Classroom

Why Students Can't recall What They Just Read/Heard

Problems With the Factory Model of Education

Narration Leading to Good Conversations

Problems with Blooms Taxonomy

Making Time to Read

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

A Short History of Narration

A Classical Guide to Narration

Educational Renaissance on Charlotte Mason

Bonus Podcast

Jason and I continued our conversation and talked in-depth about one of his favorite books for teachers, Teach Like A Champion by Doug Lemov. If you want to listen to that conversation, please support us on Patreon.

_________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest
Karen Glass is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline. She has four children, ages 13 to 27, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods from beginning to end. Karen has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years and has written the popular books Consider This: Charlotte Mason and The Classical TraditionandKnow and Tell: The Art of Narration. Her newest book, In Vital Harmony, is a seminal work for anyone wanting to discover the beauty of humane education in keeping with the spirit and the tradition of classical education.

Online Consulting and Courses with Karen
Karen also serves as a consultant for our podcast support team, Beautiful Teaching: Consulting in Classical Education.
She leads a book study for our listeners through our online sessions. More is coming soon! Click here to Subscribe to our newsletter so you can receive up-to-date information about more sessions Karen will be leading in the near future.

Show Notes
How we posture ourselves as questioners or learners matters. As an example, Karen points to the serpent in the Garden with Eve and then God's response and what we can learn from these kinds of stories. We also discuss maieutic questioning and the role it plays in coaching students well. There are many problems with reading comprehension questions and how they interfere with natural connections between author and reader.

At the heart of questions, we must begin with two questions: "What is a person?" and "What is education?"

Some topics in this episode include:

Sometimes, the question is more important than the answer. What happens to an answer when the right question does not precede it?
What are Socratic questions, and what are common mistakes with Socratic questions?
How questions create a mental posture
How does the relationship between question and answer influence the relationship between student and teacher?
What is a person, and what is education?
What kind of curriculum should I buy for homeschooling?
What is a philosophy of education?
What is the relationship between caring and asking questions?

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This EpisodePlato's Dialogues
TheaetetusCharlotte Mason Exam Questions
A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason
The Bible

Favorite QuotesMedieval Philosophy: Selections from Modern Library Collection a quote from Hugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon

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About our Guests

Dr. Dave Rose is a Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1987 from the University of Virginia. His primary areas of research interest are behavioral economics, political economy, and organization theory. He has published scholarly articles in a wide range of areas. His work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Weldon Spring Foundation, the HFL Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, and the John R. Templeton Foundation. He is currently in his second term on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. In 2008 he received the St. Louis Business Journal’s Economic Educator of the year award. His book, The Moral Foundation of Economic Behavior, was selected one of CHOICE’s outstanding titles of 2012. His newest book, Why Culture Matters Most, is also from Oxford University Press. He frequently contributes to policy debates through radio and television interviews as well as in Op-Eds on topics ranging from social security, monetary policy, fiscal policy, judicial philosophy, education reform, healthcare reform, and freedom of speech.

Dr. Lawrence W. (“Larry”) Reed became President of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 2008 after serving as chairman of its board of trustees in the 1990s and both writing and speaking for FEE since the late 1970s. He previously served for 21 years as President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan (1987-2008). He also taught economics full-time from 1977 to 1984 at Northwood University in Michigan and chaired its department of economics from 1982 to 1984.

In May 2019, he retired to the role of President Emeritus at FEE and assumed the titles of Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty.

He holds a B.A. in economics from Grove City College (1975) and an M.A. degree in history from Slippery Rock State University (1978), both in Pennsylvania. He holds two honorary doctorates, one from Central Michigan University (public administration, 1993) and Northwood University (laws, 2008).

Show Notes

Dr. Rose and Dr. Reed join Adrienne and Trae to discuss the foundation of a good education in civics and economics: cooperation and trust rooted in moral beliefs and lived out by ethical people in the family and society.

We delve into the role of stories in economics class, preserving traditional practices and restoring home economics.

For the civics and economics teachers, our guests help us see why preferring old stories to current events is best and why it's not necessarily the classroom teacher’s job to show students how to balance their checking accounts.

Some topics in this episode include:

The Relationship between Parenting, Culture, Civics, and Economics

Framing Economics as Cooperation

Self-governance in Classical Education

The Family and Home Economics

Moral Believes and Trust in the Family and Society

The Role of Stories in Moral Education

Humane Economics and Traditional Practices

Gratitude and Service to Others

Prudence and Democracy

The Value of Failure

How to Avoid “Bumper Sticker Pedagogy”

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

Why Culture Matters, David Rose

Real Heroes, Lawrence Reed

Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt

Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell

Cinderella Man, Ron Howard (Director)

The Whistle, Benjamin Franklin

Aesop’s Fables, Aesop

“The Economics of Splitting Wood By Hand,” John Cuddeback

A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell

Dr. Reed’s Website

Passion’s Within Reason, Robert H. Frank

The Memory Book, Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas

Favorite Books and Quotes

Dr. Rose’s book that he wishes he had read sooner:

A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell

Dr. Reed’s favorite quote (corrected):

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” - David Hayek

_________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest
Sean Johnson holds an M.A. in English from the University of Dallas, and he teaches Great Books at Veritas School in Richmond, Virginia. Sean has reviewed movies for FilmFisher.com, and is a frequent contributor to The Circe Institute’s blog and print journal FORMA. As you notice in this interview, Sean loves family, food, and film. After the show, consider listening to Sean Johnson’s talk “The Devil Loves a Picky Eater.”

Show Notes

In this episode, Sean Johnson and Trae Bailey converse on the proper relationship between family, food, and film in the classical classroom and home. Here Sean suggests movies for the whole family, what to cook with your kids, and how to deal with picky eaters.

Some topics in this episode include:

Our cultivated culture of pickiness
How the kitchen can inform the classroom
The difficult roles of teachers and parents
Narration in the home
Reviewing Films and Praising Well
Graham Greene’s novels and screenplays
Lectio Divina
Alcohol and Drinking Culture
How to watch movies with your family
The proper place for the television in the home
Sean’s film recommendations

Books & Resources Mentioned In This Episode

FORMA Journal

The Republic, Socrates

The Supper of The Lamb: A Culinary Reflection, Farrar Capon

The Third Man, Graham Greene

Our Man in Havana, Graham, Greene

High Noon

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Charlie Chaplin Movies

WALL-E

Ratatouille

The Incredibles

Sean’s Favorite Book & Quote:

Beauty for Truth’s Sake, Stratford Caldecott

“Is he enough of a pagan to die for the world, and enough of a Christian to die to it?” - G.K.Chesterton, Orthodoxy

_______________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest
Dr. Reno Lauro received his PhD from the University of St. Andrews Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts in 2011, where he wrote on J. R. R. Tolkien’s philosophy of Mythopoeia. For the past 10 years, he has worked at the intersection of Humane and Digital learning.After completing his degrees, Theology (MDiv) and History (BA), Reno apprenticed for 18 months on the Palme d’Or winning film The Tree of Life with director Terrence Malick, which transformed his understanding of the Classics, the modern world, and how to communicate the relationship between the two.

He has taught at the graduate and undergraduate level as well as in both Lower and Upper School classrooms of Classical Schools. Most recently, Reno has served as the Assistant Headmaster at St. Peter’s Classical School in Fort Worth, TX and of a Great Hearts Archway School and also worked closely with the CEO of the globally recognized BASIS.ed charter schools to create and pilot seminar-style history courses as alternatives to AP classes.

Reno resides in Ft. Worth, Texas with his wife and 4 gloriously active young boys. He is passionate about philosophy, history, and beautiful teaching. He currently works as a Classical Pedagogy and Curriculum Specialist for Coram Deo Academies in DFW. He also is an active consultant for Beautiful Teaching: Consulting in Classical Education Philosophy & Pedagogy.

His 2 Bonus Podcast Episodes can be downloaded from our Patreon Page here.

Show Notes

We discuss Tolkien’s view of education through the lens of cosmology, anthropology, and story. Reno discusses the theological implications between language and story and how this view ties to the recovery of Christian classical education. Philology is the foundation of the humane letters and there is more to learning than the seeking and the mining of literature in an academic way. This “lifeless” and “dull” style of the university in Tolkien’s Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford, points to a larger anthropological view of education. This leads us to think of education as a living, breathing, and whole that is multi-faceted and varied.

In this world of machines, we need to recover the fullness of human life.

Key Text:

We discussed at great length from The Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford refers to J.R.R. Tolkien's retirement speech from the University of Oxford, delivered on 5 June 1959. The valedictory speech is included in J.R.R. Tolkien, Scholar and Storyteller: Essays in Memoriam. Another draft was published in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (1983).

Some topics in this episode include:

What was Tolkien's struggle with his peers at The University and how does it show us his philosophy of education?
Tolkien as a Dante for the technocratic age
Encountering education as a living, breathing, whole within the cosmos
The medieval view of education
What was Tokien’s relationship with the cosmos and trees and how does this influence his view of learning?

Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode

The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Their Friends by Humphrey Carpenter (chapters 2-3)

Secret Fire: The Spiritual Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien by Stratford Caldecott

Mythopoeia by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis

The valedictory speech is included in J.R.R. Tolkien, Scholar and Storyteller: Essays in Memoriam. Another draft was published in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (1983).

Reno's quote at end of podcast:Hail Earendel, brightest of angels,
Sent to men over middle-earth,
And true radiance of the sun,
Fine beyond stars, you always illuminate,...
Source:

Christ I poem from Anglo-Saxon advent liturgy

_________________________________

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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About our Guest

Steven J. Bourgeois, PhD has been a practicing teacher for the past 32 years. Working primarily in Oregon and Texas, he has taught high school German, string orchestra, humanities, and applied music in addition to several years as a head tennis coach. After completing a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2012, he accepted a position as Executive Director of Research, Evaluation, and Instruction at Responsive Education Solutions, one of the largest charter school organizations in Texas. After recently retiring, Dr. Bourgeois has transitioned to full-time educational consulting, focusing services on teacher attrition, distributive leadership, student motivation, and classical methods. Leveraging his skills in data analytics, survey design, and data visualization, he currently supports leaders in independent, traditional public, and charter schools. Dr. Bourgeois currently serves as an adjunct professor at UT Arlington teaching doctoral-level courses in qualitative research. Additionally, he teaches courses within the Classical Education Department of the Braniff Graduate School at the University of Dallas. Dr. Bourgeois has a record of publications in peer-reviewed educational journals and presentations at state, regional, national, and international conferences in the areas of student motivation and engagement, along with conceptual pieces on authentic engagement and intrinsic motivation.

Research by Dr. Bourgeois
Teaching as Entertainment: An Examination of Effects
High-achieving, cognitively disengaged middle level mathematics students
The indirect effects of school leadership on achievement
Praise in the elementary classroom: The teacher’s perspective
Contingent rewards in the elementary classroom: The teacher’s perspective
Intrinsic motivation and authentic engagement: A conceptual discussion
Motivation for academically gifted students in Germany and the US: A phenomenological study

Show Notes

Dr. Bourgeois, Adrienne, and Trae discuss potential solutions to cultivating motivation so students can develop true virtue. They discuss modern research and the effects of praise on student motivation. Some classical school have beautiful mission statements, but their practice does not necessarily align with the philosophical truths that encourages internal motivation. For true virtue formation, students and teachers need intrinsic motivation and this is a bit more complicated than most typical practices in schools today.

Some practical questions in this episode include:

Please define for our listeners the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. What exactly is motivation and what role might it play in the life of a school?
Is it really the job of the teacher to motivate students? And at the Highschool level (Which is where we are working) is there any hope in saving the curious nature of the learner inside of them?
How do we get away from an excessive assesment mentality?
Should we give prizes for reading?
What does Charlotte Mason say about motivation?
How can we encourage teachers today who want to transition to a more classical way of approaching student performance?

These questions help us to wrestle with the idea that all education ought to be humane and focused on helping students with internal motivation. The expectations of parents, teachers, and boards on can hamper the experience of a truly classical educaiton.

Resources and Quotes Mentioned In This Episode

Old School podcast Episode 25: On Motivation and Learning

Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason quote: “the Desire of Knowledge (Curiosity) was the chief instrument of education; that this desire might be paralysed or made powerless like an unused limb by encouraging other desires to intervene between a child and the knowledge proper for him; the desire for place,––emulation; for prizes,––avarice; for power,––ambition; for praise,––vanity, might each be a stumbling block to him.... the delightfulness of knowledge is sufficient to carry a pupil joyfully and eagerly through his school life and that prizes and places, praise, blame and punishment, are unnecessary insofar as they are used to secure ardent interest and eager work. The love of knowledge is sufficient.”

Essay by Simone Weil (correct title was not stated on the podcast):
Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies With a View to the Love of God by Simone Weil

“'Motivation' has become the bete noire of modern educators. How can the young be moved to learn? By rewards and promises of rewards? By such inducements the young will go through the motions of education, but they will remain unmoved. But how then? Why, by exposing them to the Muses, where no phenomenon is seen except under the aspect of wonder. Mistake me not: wonder is no sugary sentimentality but, rather, a mighty passion, a species of fear, an awe-full confrontation of the mystery of things. Through the Muses the fearful abyss of reality first calls out to that other abyss that is the human heart; and the wonder of its response is, as the philosophers have said, the beginning of philosophy not merely the first step; but the arche, the principle, as one is the principle of arithmetic and the fear of God the beginning of Wisdom. Thus wonder both starts education and sustains it."

Dennis Quinn

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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About our Guest
Soren Schwab, M.Ed is a passionate educator with a decade of experience in K-12 education. Born and raised in Germany, Soren moved to the US in the late 2000’s to pursue his literature and theology studies. He earned a B.A. in English from Hillsdale College and an M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction from Colorado Christian University. For many years, Soren led the English Department at The Vanguard School, a classical charter school in Colorado Springs. He joined CLT in 2018 and currently serves as the Vice President of Partnerships. Soren and his wife Paula live in Annapolis, MD where they enjoy kayaking, hiking, and rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles.

CLT Resource: https://www.cltexam.com/

Show Notes

The Ethos, Pathos and Logos in Forming a New Model of Testing

Rather than teach to test, creating “testing fatigue”, the classical movement has ideas for making the content matter. Consider a new and helpful tool for Classical renewal.

In this podcast, Soren Schwab discusses (CLT) Classical Learning Test, with Adrienne and Trae as they voice the many known questions and concerns about testing. Studies have proven that make the case for better content. There is a disconnect between evaluating a student’s achievement of test content, and a real aptitude by students who reason through a problem. Here, we explore something less exhausting than testing for days.
Some topics in this episode include:

Here is a common question: How do we deal with tests?
How can content help change the outcome?
Is it a popular need to look for learning gaps in students?
Why not test prep?
How do we address the big question about aptitude vs. achievement ?

Colleges and Universities that accept the CLT:https://www.cltexam.com/colleges/

Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode

Soren's favorite quote originally in German: "Tradition ist nicht das Halten der Asche, sondern das Weitergeben der Flamme" - ein berühmtes Zitat, geprägt von Thomas Morus (1478-1535).

The Gutav Mahler paraphrase "Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire."

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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About our Guest

Gary Hartenburg holds a BA in Bible and theology from Moody Bible Institute, an MA in philosophy of religion and ethics from Biola University, and a PhD in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. He is an associate professor or philosophy at Houston Baptist University, where he also serves as the director of the HBU Honors College, a liberal arts program for undergraduates to read, discuss, and write about great works of Western civilization. He resides with his family in the suburbs of Houston, Texas.

His most recent publication is Aristotle: Education for Virtue and Leisure published by Classical Adademic Press.

Show Notes

We invited Gary to discuss his new book. In keeping with one of our Classical Education podcast goals, "to inspire educators and parents to offer an education done well, influencing children to choose a life of virtue" Dr. Gary Hartenburg will inspire you! He explains that choices are not all equal in using time well and elaborates that to be ready and able to use time well, one must be “doing a lot of philosophy and music."

He also explains the Aristotelian concept of “Phronesis” in contrast to “Sophia”, which is described as “practical vs theoretical.” To accomplish wisdom and theological contemplation, we must design an education that enables students to use their leisure time well. Reaching the highest end is philosophy and contemplation of the best things, with attention equally on all of the virtues of character. Each of four Aristotelian virtues: courage, moderation, justice, and wisdom must be equally considered in a classical education. Students attain these virtue by "doing" and through the formation of good habits.

Some topics in this episode include:

How does leisure, as described by Aristotle, influence virtue?
What is it to be happy and spend leisure time well?
Will you explain phronesis and how it undergirds an Aristotelian Education?
What would Aristotle say if he could speak through teachers to students?
What do you think Aristotle would say about a common current approach to leisure and what would he say about the way we approach ethics in our schools?

Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode

Aristotelian Education for Virtue and Leisure by Dr. Gary Hartenburg

Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle

The Republic by Plato

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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About our Guest

John W. Heitzenrater II has nearly 17 years teaching and administrative experience in classical schools. Mr. Heitzenrater began his career teaching history and humanities at the Lady Margaret Roper School and St. Peter’s Orthodox Classical School in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2015, he joined Responsive Education Solutions and served as a founding headmaster, Director of K-12 History, Regional Director under the superintendent, and most recently as headmaster of the second largest Responsive Ed school with a student enrollment of approximately 915 students.

Mr. Heitzenrater received his A.B. magna cum laude from the College of St. Thomas More where he studied literature, philosophy, theology, classical languages, and history. In graduate school he attended the University of Dallas where he received his Master of Humanities with a concentration in history in 2016. He brings a love for student excellence, a passion for classical education, and a quest for virtue, and wisdom to students and families. He and his wife Christina have 11 children, seven girls and four boys, many of whom attend Saint John Chrysostom Academy in Pennsylvania.

Show Notes

Trae and Adrienne interview John Heitzenrater, father of 11 and classical school headmaster on raising virtuous children. In this candid discussion, John shares his experiences and stories as a parent and headmaster. From discipline in a school to helping parents in the upbringing of virtuous children, this episode is rich with anecdotes and carries a spirit of humility throughout the show. John talks about the importance of headmasters partnering with parents regarding what is best for a child. We have a moral responsibility to bring up children in virtue, and the principles in classical education dictate how we behave and treat other people.

Some topics in this episode include:

“Having children is a matter of nature; but raising them and educating them in the virtues is a matter of mind and will. “ - St John Chyrsostom
- How has this quote shaped you as a headmaster?
How are principles in classical education different from a progressive education?
Creating a home that is working within the principles of a classical education
How technology affects the hearts and minds of families

Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode

St John Chrysostom: Vainglory and the Right Way for Parents to Bring Up Their Children

Ideas Have Consequences by Richard M. Weaver

Hold On To Your Kids Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by: Gordon Neufeld

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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About our GuestFor more than 20 years, Carol was Associate Professor of Music History at the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Professor Carol Reynolds is a uniquely talented and much sought-after public speaker for arts venues and general audiences. She combines her insights on music history, arts, and culture with her passion for arts education to create programs and curricula, inspire concert audiences, and lead arts tours. Never dull or superficial, Carol brings to her audiences a unique mix of humor, substance, and skilled piano performance to make the arts more accessible and meaningful to all.

Carol has has teamed with Smithsonian Journeys for cruises to the Holy Land, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Baltic Sea, Indian Ocean, and across the Atlantic.

She now makes her home in North Carolina and maintains a second residence in Weimar, Germany — the home of Goethe, Schiller, Bach, and Liszt, and the focal point of much of Europe’s artistic heritage.
Show NotesDynamic resources will be found in this podcast. As you listen, you’ll hear about promising and natural ways to blend music into the lives of those you teach and with whom you surround yourself. The mind shift is that it is not about fitting it in, it’s about shaping affections with beauty. There are shared musical treasures that bring people together. What if your students discovered such delight, as when one little girl exclaimed, “Mommy look! All the songs are here in one place!”?

Some questions in this episode include:

What should we be thinking about in Music Education?
When we want to embrace Musical Education, can we first describe what the problem is?
What does a robust music program look like in a Classical Education?

This talk will bring your own musical stories to mind, and inspire you to preserve the beauty of the rich and timeless songs.

Books, Music, and Media Mentioned In This Episode

Resources by Carol:

The Circle of Scholars: by Professor Carol at professorcarol.com

Hymn Workshops and Webinars:by Professor Carol at professorcarol.com

Essay: "A Child’s Journey Into Sacred Music"by Carol Reynolds at Memoria Press: Memoriapress.com

Coming soon: Into the Spiritual by Carol Reynolds, a Hymn Workshop Webinar

List of Professor Carol’s Resources

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Father Bethel biography about John Senior

Shiniche Suzuki writings

In the Mood Frank Sinatra

Big Band Music

Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Peter Pan Records

Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev

The Point by Harry Nilsson

Old Recordings with great orchestras and singers like Bing Crosby, Boris Karloff, Burl Ives

German Kinder songs

My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns

Hymnals and Devotional songs

Noise Pollution Carol Reynolds Weekly Digest email blog

Plato

The Little Drummer Boy’s Bolero by Julie Giroux

Messiah by George Frederic Handel

American Folk Music and Christmas Songs

Folk Music from Ambleside Online Curriculum: Design Your Homeschool: amblesideonline.org

Hymns from Ambleside Online Curriculum: Design Your Homeschool: amblesideonline.org

Hillbilly music with Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Tubb

The Met Opera

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Old Rugged Cross by George Bennard

The Entertainer by Scott Joplin

American Marches by John Philip Sousa

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn

Essays by C.S. Lewis

The Singing Revolution Documentary film history of Baltic Song Festival

My Musical Life by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

A Thousand Points for Children (1958) Finda similar collection of prose and poetry

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Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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Guest Biographies

Dr. Laura Eidt received her BA in English Literature and Linguistics from the University of Hamburg (Germany) and her MA and PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been teaching in the Spanish, German, Comparative Literature, and Humanities Programs at the University of Dallas since 2006 and published on German and Spanish poetry, and on Ekphrasis. For many years she taught an applied foreign language pedagogy class that sent students to local area schools to teach their language to elementary children, and she was a mentor at a bilingual school in Dallas for four years. Her courses include classes on Foreign Language Pedagogy, Teaching Classical Children’s Literature, and Great Works in the Modern World. She is the faculty advisor for UD's Classical Curriculum team and is currently writing a Latin curriculum for K-5rd grade.

Dr. Patrick M. Owens was born and raised in New York City where he graduated from Fordham University. In his pursuit of the Classical languages Dr. Owens moved to Montella, Italy to study at Vivarium Novum and then to Rome, where he earned his Ph.D. at the Salesian University. He has taught Latin, Greek, and Classical literature at the middle school, high school, and university levels. When he is not teaching, Dr. Owens continues his research on Latin literature and the history of Latin pedagogy. Additionally, he works as a consultant for schools developing curricula for Latin and Classical education. He and his wife Mallory, who is also an accomplished Latinist, raised two children in a bilingual home.

Show Notes

Dr. Laura Eidt and Dr. Patrick M. Owens join Adrienne to discuss Latin. Both guests bring a wealth of information about classical education and teaching Latin.Their love for Latin is also contagious! This episode will not only give practical advice about incorporating Latin into your life, but the history of how to teach Latin is quite interesting.

Taking us back to antiquity and through the Renaissance, Dr. Eidt and Dr. Owens unfold the history of teaching Latin as a living experience. Classical education ought to be joyful and beautiful. The immersion approach for children is not common in most Latin programs on the market today. But the University of Dallas is launching a K-5 Storybook Latin approach that is great for both homeschoolers and classroom teachers who have little to no experience with Latin!

Some questions in this episode include:

What is classical education?
What can a parent do to help their child become interested in Latin (or Greek)
What is the history of Latin education?
What is the tradition of the trivium and how is it different from the neoclassical trivium?
What is the role of Latin in the trivium, and what age ought a child begin learning Latin?

Books Mentioned:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Institutes of Oratory by Quintilian

Orbis Pictus by John Comenius

Didactica Magna (The Great Didactic), by John Amos Comenius

The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Latin Resources for Adult Learning:

Hans H. Ørberg’s Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata: Familia Romana

Schola Latina

Vivarium Novum

Paideia Institute

Veterum Sapientia Institute (for Catholic Learning)

For more information on the University of Dallas’s K-5 Latin:

https://k12classical.udallas.edu/k-12-curriculum/k-5-latin-curriculum/

For consulting information from Dr. Patrick M. Owens:Dr. Patrick M. Owens offers Classical education and Latin language consulting to K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. Dr. Owens works with educators who want to develop vibrant and successful academic programming through remote consulting or on-site professional development. He has worked with groups of every size from large State Universities to small homeschool coops.
You can reach him at: PatrickM.Owens@gmail.com

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, Pars I: Familia Romana (Latin Edition)

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About our Guest

Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas. She is the author of numerous books, including The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, published in 2022 by Brazos Press. Her book, Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov, received a 2018 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in the Culture & the Arts.

Award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson explains that learning to hear the call of holiness requires cultivating a new imagination--one rooted in the act of reading. Learning to read with eyes attuned to the saints who populate great works of literature moves us toward holiness, where God opens up a way of living that extends far beyond what we can conjure for ourselves. Literature has the power to show us what a holy life looks like, and these depictions often scandalize even as they shape our imagination. As such, careful reading becomes a sort of countercultural spiritual discipline.

To hear about Jessica’s newest book, Scandal of Holiness, here is a recorded lecture at Union University.

Show Notes

This lively and often deeply contemplative conversation with guest Jessica Hooten Wilson offers not only reasons for choosing Classical Education, but also simple and easy ways to support sanctity and truth in the joy of raising families. Here is support for the choices you make and how to replace that which infringes upon those choices.

Some questions in this episode include:

What is education for?
Why is sainthood something that has captivated your imagination?
Walk us through your blog essay: Awakening from Digital Slumbers
What does it mean to remember, and how do we embrace the importance of memory?
How can the church help families?

Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangrin, Jr.
Memento Mori by Muriel Spari
The Family & The New Totalitarianism by Michael D. O'Brien, Introduction by J.H. Wilson
The Diary of a Country Priest by George Bernanos
“Summer’s Harvest” poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins
“Awakening from Digital Slumbers” (an online essay by Jessica)
Documentary: The Social Dilemma
Giving the Devil His Due: Flannery O’Connor and the Brothers Karamazov by: J.H. Wilson
The Scandal of Holiness, Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints by J.H. Wilson
Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, Co-Editor J.H. Wilson
Learning the Good Life from the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before by J.H. Wilson
“Mike Teavee” poem by Ronald Dahl
Books by Wendell Berry
“Allegory of the Cave” or “Plato’s Cave” by Plato
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (Jessica mentioned Well-Read Mom reading in May, 2022)

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Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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About our Guest

Joshua Gibbs is a teacher, a lecturer on pedagogy and great books, and the author of several books that are listed in the show notes. For the last twelve years, Gibbs has taught classic literature in Christian schools and earned acclaim for his writing. He has been a frequent speaker at several excellent classical conferences and published for many respectable classical education resources. His work can be explored on his website https://www.gibbsclassical.com/

We also encourage you to register for his 2022 Summer Conference.

Show Notes

Josh discusses how to engage students with voices from the past and how to shape their affections through delighting in common things. He asks, "How do we teach a book so that a student wants to read it again?" As a teacher, it is our duty to step out of the way and let the author speak and pass on our delight in hearing voices from the past. This is how we help students fall in love with books. We want to instill a love for the right things. We need to capture the hearts of students so that they care.

Some practical questions in this episode include:

What are the goals of a classical teacher vs. a non-classical teacher?
What types of goals ought we set and how do we go about teaching in a way that matches our goals?
How do we teach a book so that students will want to read it again?
How do we develop a taste for good things?

These questions help us to wrestle with the idea that all education ought to be first and primarily about ordering our souls with love as the primary goal. If we set education goals too lofty or create goals that are too shallow, what are we telling our children? The goal of education is to help students care. Josh ascertains how a teacher can help students care about what they are learning.

Books Mentioned In This Episode

Something They Will Not Forget by Joshua Gibbs

How to be Unlucky by Joshua Gibbs

Love What Lasts by Joshua Gibbs

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Demien by Hermann Hesse

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Iliad by Homer

Paradise Lost by Milton

The Divine Comedy by Dante

Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius

Macbeth by Shakespeare

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Great Expectations by Dickens

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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Show Notes

Something delightful is happening! Ben and Eden Lyda show the way to capture the heart of stories through Shakespeare plays. Ben, founder of Children’s Shakespeare Academy, along with his articulate teenage daughter Eden, delightfully spread a contagious love of Shakespeare and drama through this bedrock of English language. Hear how virtues win and are learned in a concrete and refreshing way.

Eden will invite you into the enchantment of joyful learning. Ben will encourage you to believe that children have a capacity for much, especially if you establish a wonder-filled atmosphere.

For understanding the over-all definition of Reader's Theatre, Ben recommends this as a non-classical, informative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1mStaaIxA0

Books Mentioned In This Episode

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit

Tales from Shakespeare by Mary and Charles Lamb

Retelling of Shakespeare stories by Bruce Covell

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott

The Odyssey by Homer

Plays by William Shakespeare Mentioned in This Episode

Julius Caesar 1599

A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1600

The Tempest 1611

The Taming of the Shrew 1594

Macbeth 1623

Much Ado About Nothing 1623

Hamlet 1603

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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What are the common arts? How do they relate to a classical education? How do we bring up the whole human being, thriving in wonders of life and right ordered relationships? Join us as we discuss the search for balance and bolster both common arts and liberal arts in education. We encourage discoveries and provide examples and ways of instruction that proceed outside the boundaries of paper assignments.

Chris Hall is the founder of Always Learning Education, an organization dedicated to teaching, learning, and propagating the common arts. Chris has a BA in philosophy and an MAT in elementary education. He has been a classroom educator and administrator for 25 years, having served in public, independent, and classical schools. Along with his professional pedigree, he is a lifelong practitioner of several of the common arts profiled in his book. He lives on a small, homesteaded farm in central Virginia with his wife and three homeschooled sons. On this episode, we will specifically be discussing his book called The Common Arts Education: Renewing the Classical Tradition of Training the Hands, Head, and Heart.
Don't miss our BONUS 30 minute podcast for Patreon Supporters this month! Chris Hall shares a few of his favorite poems and discusses poetry for science lessons! This exclusive episode will inspire you in the delightfulness of incorporating poetry and stories into science lessons.
Books Mentioned In This Episode

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
Common Arts Education: Renewing the Classical Tradition of Training the Hands, Head, and Heartby Christopher Hall
The Didascalicon of Hugh of Saint Victor: A Guide to the Arts by Hugh of Saint-Victor
The Odyssey by Homer
The Bible
A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
A New Natural Philosophy: Recovering a Natural Science and Christian Pedagogyby Ravi Scott Jain, Robbi Andreasen, Chris Hall
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
1984 by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The New Atlantis by Francis Bacon
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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Four teachers join us to talk about their joyful experiences teaching Plutarch in both classrooms and homeschools. This episode highlights different perspectives and personal experiences with the writings of Plutarch. We discuss why classical schools ought to put forth effort to incorporate Plutarch in their curriculum.

Our guests give a contagious love for Plutarch to this episode and they are all active members in our Facebook Group.

Philip Schaffer: Taught Plutarch in a number of high school courses: Rhetoric, Composition, Latin, and Ancient History. He adapted sections from the Lives into Latin for his students to translate.
Dawn Garrett: Teaches Plutarch in homeschool co-ops using Anne White’s Guides.
Lisa Mayeux: Leads both middle school and high school students in Scholé Group with Classical Academic Press.
Mrs. Peach Smith: Read and loved Plutarch as a child. She has passed her love of Plutarch to her children and her high school students.

Books Mentioned In This Episode

Plutarch Translations for Parallel Lives

John Dreyden Translation
Sir Thomas North Translation
A.H. Clough Translation

Children and Teen Versions

Our Young Folk’s Plutarch by Rosalie Kaufman
The Children’s Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks by F.J. Gould
The Children’s Plutarch: Tales of the Romans by F.J. Gould
Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls by Weston

Essays by Plutarch

Moralia by Plutarch
Plutarch on Listening to Lectures

Paintings to teach Plutarch
The Eclectic Light Company

Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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While wrestling with the great books and great ideas, this discussion enters the realm of educating with virtues. Podcast guest, Dr. Louis Markos discusses the true, the good, and beautiful, in contrast to values and man-made culture. This podcast explores the relevance of the message in The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis for today’s parents and teachers.

Essay by Dr. Markos about Charlotte Mason:
Raising a Child According to Wordsworth and Charlotte Mason by Dr. Louis Markos

Books Discussed in This Episode Include:

Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Classical Christian Education by Ravi Jain and Kevin Clark
“The Green Book” - Actual book: The Control of Language by Alec and Martin
Restoring Beauty: The Good, The Truth. and The Beautiful in the Writings of C.S. Lewis by Louis Markos
Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis by: Michael Ward
After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man by: Michael Ward
A Christian View of Philosophy and Culture by: Frances Schaeffer
Mere Christianity by: C.S. Lewis
Tao Te Ching by: Lao-Tzu
The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes by: Louis Markos
The Golden Bowl by: Henry James
An Experiment in Criticism by: C.S. Lewis
For The Children’s Sake by: Susan Schaefer Macaulay
Consider This, Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by: Karen Glass

Louis Markos is a Professor of English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University, where he teaches courses on British Romantic and Victorian Poetry, the Greek and Roman Classics, and C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. He speaks widely for classical Christian schools and conferences and has authored 22 books, including From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics, On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis, The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes, and From Plato to Christ: How Platonic Thought Shaped the Christian Faith.

Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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Meet Trae and Adrienne and hear them discuss the goals for the podcast. The focus on the Great Conversation encompasses the art of teaching and learning. They give an overview of the art of asking questions, engaging in the Great Conversation, and the importance of well-ordered teaching and learning.

Books Discussed in This Episode Include:

Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education, by David Hicks
The Great Books of The Western World
John's Senior's 1,000 Good Books List
Aesop's Fables
Beatrix Potter stories
Plutarch's Lives
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, translated by Katherine Woods
The Death of Christian Culture, by John Senior ( has 1,000 Good Books List)
The Restoration of Christian Culture, by John Senior
A Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), by Charlotte Mason
Home Education (Volume 1), by Charlotte Mason
Ourselves (Volume 4), by Charlotte Mason

Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

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