Charis Classical Academy: Recent Episodes
Charis Classical Academy
Admin & Teachers at Charis Classical Academy share tips and discuss topics of interest to the Classical Christian educational community.
We've brought the podcast back from oblivion! (A Mr. Decker has been teaching Latin this year with a more immersive class, and we get to pick his brain about his experience learning Latin this summer. It was a fun conversation!
- Notes and Links from the episode:
- Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata (currently the most popular introductory text amongst those looking for spoken Latin proficiency).
- Stephen Krashen: Language Acquisition and Comprehensible Input
- Justin Armstrong's spreadsheet of comprehensible input readings (many of which are freely available)
- Some YouTube channels full of comprehensible input in Latin: HERE and HERE
- Examples from Mr. Decker's class: Worksheet & Class Fable
Today we continue our reading of 'Classical Me, Classical Thee' by Rebekah Merkel, going through chapter 5: Behind The Drill: Literature. Tune in to this episode to hear Monte, Kim, and Katie discuss the importance of Literature in Classical Education (and in life!)
Today we continue our reading of 'Classical Me, Classical Thee' by Rebekah Merkel, going through chapter 4: Latin! Why Latin? Tune in to this episode to hear Monte, Kim, and Katie discuss the importance of Latin in Classical Education.
We reference articles by Dorothy Sayers: The Lost Tools of Learning and The Greatest Single Defect Of My Own Latin Education.
Join Kim and Katie as the go through the book, "Classical Me, Classical Thee" by Rebekah Merkle. We are discussing chapters 1-3 this week. Join us!
We're back! After a long hiatus, the Charis podcast is back up and running, and Kim & Katie (broadly!) go over the vision for Christian, Classical Education. The series will continue in upcoming episodes as we go through the book "Classical Me, Classical Thee", so grab it if you'd like to follow along! Another recommendation is Dr. Timothy Dernlan's "100 Common Questions about Classical Christian Education".
The Ancient Greeks hailed "a sound mind and a sound body." So how do we approach PE in a classical model?
"To learn to think, we must therefore exercise our limbs, our senses, and our bodily organs, which are the tools of our intellect; and to get the best use out of these tools, the body which supplies them must be strong and healthy." - Rousseau
Aaron Decker discusses the history of PE in schools and focuses on Jiu Jitsu, which he calls "physical chess." Katie takes some crazy rabbit trails (we talk about punching sharks at one point), but Aaron gets us back on track (true discipline!) and we learn more about classical PE and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Links:
La Sierra PE Program
Pankration (ancient martial art, mixing wrestling & boxing)
The Riot And The Dance (the documentary name Katie couldn't think of during the podcast - there are two in the series so far, and both are great!)
Capoeira (Dancelike martial art of Brazil)
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Aaron Decker & Katie Tuck discuss the results of The Good Soil Study, a ground-breaking study showing the life outcomes of a classical, Christian education.
The Good Soil Study is, in short, a comparative study of 24-42 year-old alumni from public, secular private, Catholic, evangelical Christian, religious homeschool, and ACCS (classical Christian) schools, on topics of life-choices, preparation, attitudes, values, opinions, and practices.
Head to ClassicalDifference.com for further detail and analysis of the study. We were encouraged by the findings here, and hope you are as well!
Join us for a special episode where we talk with our first graduating class!
A few notes from this episode:
Susu!
That's Life - Michael Tucci
Work Hard, Play Hard, Rest Well.
How do we help our kids deal head on with the difficulty and challenges they will inevitably face in their lives? How can we help them become resilient, vivacious, problem-solving souls? Monte, Kim, & Katie discuss this today.
We reference Keith McCurdy from livesturdy.com frequently!
The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
The Wise Woman by George MacDonald
Lilias Trotter
The Thorn by Martha Snell Nicholson
Good Soil Report
Jen Pohl is not only a beloved teacher at Charis, but her love of good books is infectious and she is a treasure trove of information on what Charlotte Mason called "Living Books." (She is also a self-proclaimed book sale addict!)
“Education should aim at giving knowledge touched with emotions.” -Charlotte Mason
“Living books have literary power; they have ‘soul.’ The writers have put their hearts into these books.” - Elaine Cooper
Wondering about what living books are? Jen and Katie use this anagram to walk through a quick survey of living books:
Literary Power
Ideas
Virtuous
Inspiring
Narrative
Generational
Referenced in the podcast:
Book Lists: Memoria Press, Ambleside Online, The Classical Reader, Cindy Rollins (Cindy has many other book lists if you search for them, you can even follow her on Goodreads!), Charis Reading List (see Classreach!)
Authors to look for:
Jean Craighead George, Lois Lenski, Kate Seredy, Jean Fritz, Sterling North
Podcasts to learn more: Stories are Soul Food, The Literary Life (they have another website, The House of Humane Letters where they offer webinars, mini-classes and full courses), A Delectable Education
Emily Cox teaches Math, Science, STEM, & Latin with us in our upper grades, and is a co-teacher to her three kids. With her years of experience as a teacher (and co-teacher), Emily has several helpful tips for our satellite classrooms!
Join us as we talk with Austin Hoffman & Max Pointner on how to use The Commonplace Book to read and study. (It was a Zoom interview, so pardon the sound quality!)
Why Commonplace? There are many reasons! Keeping quotations, reflecting on your reading, improving memory, recording books you've read, and more. (Visit the Charis Classical Academy social media pages and you may find some pictures of Austin, Max, & Katie's commonplace books!)
"Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours." - John Locke
Helpful tools in The Commonplace Book:
The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
Handmade Humanity: podcast by Austin & Max
Incarnational Memory and The Commonplace Book, an article by Austin Hoffman. This is a great overview of the commonplace book including methods and ideas for starting a commonplace!
Lined, ruled, page numbered journal
Recommendations from Mr. Hoffman: The Ransom Trilogy by C.S. Lewis Recommendation from Mr. Pointner: Te Deum laudamus by Anton Bruckner
Episode TEN of our podcast! Mr. Hoffman brings us into his humanities classroom and we learn about the Greek Tragedy, Oedipus Rex. Oedipus Rex, also known by its Greek title, Oedipus Tyrannus, or Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC.
Thanks for joining us for this week's podcast! We talk with Mrs. Hobert about her experiences and what she has learned in her roles as co-teacher, classroom teacher, and administrator.
Join Jen & Katie as they talk about Morning Time: what is it, why is it important, and what does it have to do with the satellite classroom?
Podcast listens to learn more:
- Pam Barnhill ("Your Morning Basket") and Cindy Rollins (then doing "The Mason Jar" and now co-hosting "The Literary Life Podcast) did a two-part crossover series this is a great overview - here is the first of the two podcasts (Your Morning Basket #43) and here is the second (The Mason Jar #50).
- Why stories and varied reading matter here on the first episode of "Stories are Soul Food"
- Why folktales matter here on "The Literary Life" with Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins
- Two great poetry podcasts - "The Well Read Poem" here (this is the one we are currently enjoying and learning from) as well as "The Daily Poem" here.
Websites for FREE resources that are tremendous!
- Ambleside online - as I shared, this website is mostly used a full curriculum for homeschool families following the Charlotte Mason philosophy so there is much to be discovered and used here. But, for the "riches" in morning time, the resources are free, superb and easy to access. Their general website is here; and info for art study, composer study, nature study, Shakespeare, Folksongs, etc can be easily found under the "By Subject" header on the top green banner. The feast is laid - ready and available here!