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Scholé Sisters: Camaraderie for Classical Homeschooling Mamas

Our goal is to cultivate the maximum number of thinking moms we can. This podcast is for classical homeschooling mamas who yearn for something more than just checking boxes and getting it all done. We discuss topics that matter to those of us who believe that educating ourselves through reading widely, thinking deeply, and applying faithfully equips us for the task of educating our children.
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Scholé Sisters: Camaraderie for Classical Homeschooling Mamas
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Now displaying: Page 1
Mar 8, 2024

Today’s episode is the third in our four part series on Charlotte Mason’s chapters from School Education that cover the training of physical, intellectual, moral, and religious habits. Today, we’re discussing the training of MORAL habits.  You’re going to love this conversation!

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Did you sign up to do the 5x5 reading challenge this year? If so, you need to join the Sistership as a Sophie membership and get the accountability you need and the support you want. With weekly check-ins and quarterly zoom-style meetups, you will be encouraged to continue in good reading habits as well as get fun advice on which book to read next. Just go to scholesisters.com/sistership and join as a Sophie.

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Feb 23, 2024

Today’s episode is on unit studies and why Charlotte Mason disapproved of them so much. You’re going to love this conversation!

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Did you sign up to do the 5x5 reading challenge this year? If so, you need to join the Sistership as a Sophie membership and get the accountability you need and the support you want. With weekly check-ins and quarterly zoom-style meetups, you will be encouraged to continue in good reading habits as well as get fun advice on which book to read next. Just go to scholesisters.com/sistership and join as a Sophie.

***

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Jan 12, 2024

It has come to our attention that while we discuss and refer to the Scholé Sisters 5x5 Reading Challenge regularly, we've never actually done an episode on it. Today, we remedy that problem! We discuss the history of the challenge as well as how it works.

Today's episode is hosted by Abby Wahl (because Brandy is in the middle of a cross-country move). Her ever-faithful cohost is, of course, Mystie Winckler.

To join the 2024 5x5 Reading Challenge, go to scholesisters.com/5x5 and sign up!

***

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Dec 15, 2023

Today’s episode is our annual Christmas episode. We begin by revisiting the theme of our very first Christmas episode, Don’t Be the White Witch. We continue with a discussion of generosity and tradition-making that you will love.

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Every year, we give our Sophie members a special Christmas gift. This year, our Sophie members are receiving a workshop on book selection that Mystie and Brandy filmed with Dr. Christopher Schlect from New Saint Andrews College. In a world of woke, how do we go about choosing books? If you want access to this Christmas gift, don’t delay! Christmas gifts always disappear after Epiphany. Just go to scholesisters.com/sistership and join as a Sophie. 

***

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Nov 24, 2023

Today’s episode is the second in our four part series on habits and training. Last time, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy talked about physical training. Today they’re discussing intellectual training, including that most controversial assertion of Charlotte Mason, that attention can be trained. You’re going to love this conversation!

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Have you heard about the ongoing Sophie Mentorship inside the Scholé Sistership? It started on October 23rd and it’s not too late to join! The mentorship is called Grow Up: Courage to Be the Adult in the Room. We’re reading from four different books and having various types of rich discussions as we flesh out how to grow up so that we can better mother our children. There is a 3-week break over Christmas to give time to catch up if you want to jump in now. Just go to scholesisters.com/sistership and join as a Sophie to be a part of this fabulous four-month study.

***

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Nov 3, 2023

Our very special guest today is Jami Marstall. Jami has been homeschooling with Charlotte Mason’s principles, primarily following AmblesideOnline, for the past 17 years. She has graduated three of her four children from the family homeschool and has one high schooler left. Jami loves to read about and discuss educational history and philosophy. She always dreamed of being a professional student and homeschooling continues to be the perfect career to fulfill that ambition.

Today’s episode is a conversation Abby and Brandy absolutely loved having with Jami. It is so common to put homeschoolers into public school for high school because mothers feel unequipped for such a big undertaking. They discussed an alternative that all three of them have used that has helped them homeschool for the long haul: outsourcing. You’re going to love this conversation!

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Have you heard about our new Sophie Mentorship? It started on October 23rd and it’s not too late to join us! The mentorship is called Grow Up: Courage to Be the Adult in the Room, and we’re spending a bunch of time immersed in ideas surrounding being an adult and becoming a strong leader. We’re reading from four different books, including the classic Art of War by Sun Tzu, and having various types of rich discussions as we flesh out how to grow up so that we can better mother our children. Go to scholesisters.com/sistership and join as a Sophie to partake in this fabulous four-month study.

***

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Oct 20, 2023

Today’s episode is the annual episode we recorded at the retreat when we were together in real life, which means we have to apologize to you for the sound. You’d think it’d be better in person, but the reality is that a single shared microphone is a questionable idea. With that said, we had so much fun discussing a portion of Edwin Friedman’s excellent on leadership, A Failure of Nerve. You’re going to love this conversation!

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Have you heard about our upcoming Sophie Mentorship? It starts very soon on October 23rd! If you like today’s podcast discussion, you will love the mentorship because we’ll be spending extended time immersed in ideas surrounding being an adult and becoming a strong leader. In fact, the mentorship is called Grow Up: Courage to Be the Adult in the Room. We’ll be reading from four different books (including the classic Art of War by Sun Tzu) and having various types of rich discussions as we flesh out how to grow up so that we can better mother our children. Just go to scholesisters.com/sistership and join as a Sophie to be a part of this fabulous four-month study.

***

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Sep 29, 2023

Today’s conversation is the first in a four-part series covering Charlotte Mason’s chapters from School Education on training children physically, intellectually, morally, and religiously. Today we cover physical training — not so much the how as the what and the why. You’re going to love this conversation!

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Have you registered for our fall online local retreats yet? If you are listening to this episode the day it comes out, the retreat is NEXT SATURDAY October 7th! Our annual Homeschool Essentials Retreat always takes a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! Discussion is an important part of our retreats. When you purchase an individual registration, you can still enjoy post-session discussions online in our Zoom rooms! They are so great! We cannot wait to spend time with you all get yourself registered ASAP by going to to scholesisters.com/time.

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Sep 15, 2023

Our guest today is Chad Vegas. Chad is the founding pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Bakersfield, CA, where he has served since 2006. Chad received his M.A. from Talbot School of Theology. He also spent nearly two decades in public school education as both a teacher and Board Member. He has been married to Teresa since 1994 and they have 2 children. Chad is the co-author of Missions by the Book: How Theology and Missions Walk Together, available at all major booksellers.

Our conversation in this episode kicks off with Pastor Chad’s interpretation of Matthew 18 – what does it really mean and how do we know if it’s being abused or misused? After that, Mystie, Chad, and Brandy dig deeply into public conversation and where we Christians can and should draw lines. You’re going to love this conversation!

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Have you registered for our fall online local retreats yet? Our physical hostess kits are sold out, but digital hostess kits are still available. Our annual Homeschool Essentials retreat always takes a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! We cannot wait to spend time with you all on Saturday, October 7th so mark your calendars! Just go to scholesisters.com/time to sign up.

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Sep 1, 2023

Today’s conversation is all about curriculum. What does it mean to say that curriculum can be a crutch? Is that a bad thing? What does a healthy relationship with curricula look like? You’re going to love this conversation!

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Have you registered for our fall online local retreats yet? Our physical hostess kits are just about sold out, but digital hostess kits are still available. Our annual Homeschool Essentials retreat always takes a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! We cannot wait to spend time with you all on Saturday, October 7th so mark your calendars! Just go to scholesisters.com/time to sign up.

***

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Aug 4, 2023

Our guest today is Kara Hughes. Kara is a Christian homeschooling mama to 5 children – a toddler, and then a 4th grader, 5th grader, 7th grader and 9th grader, all of whom use AmblesideOnline. She loves reading and hiking, and especially the two together when she can get them. Kara is also the librarian at a homeschool curriculum library, and is trying to reteach herself piano, convince her piece of desert to grow something, and actually finish a knitting project someday.

Today is the second of our two summer episodes. In this one, Abby and Brandy get into the nitty gritty of hosting a Scholé Sisters retreat with special guest, Kara Hughes.

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Are you ready for the annual Scholé Sisters Online Local Retreat? Our annual Homeschool Essentials retreats always take a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! We cannot wait to spend time with you all on Saturday, October 7th so mark your calendars! Early bird registration is now live. Just go to scholesisters.com/time to sign up.

***

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Jul 21, 2023

Today is the first of our two summer episodes. In this one, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy wax philosophical about this year’s retreat topic: time.

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Are you ready for the annual Scholé Sisters Online Local Retreat? Our annual Homeschool Essentials retreats always take a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! We cannot wait to spend time with you all on Saturday, October 7th so mark your calendars! Early bird registration is now live. Just go to scholesisters.com/time to sign up.

***

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May 19, 2023

Our guest today is Renee Shepard. Renee was one of the fortunate few to be homeschooled back when that wasn’t really a thing. When she had her own children, she wanted to provide an even better education for them. That drove her to a study of classical education, and over the last ten years she has been homeschooling her children while staying a step ahead of them as she completed her Masters in Classical Christian Studies at New Saint Andrews college. She has been teaching the progymnasmata at various homeschool co-ops for the last 5 years and next year will begin teaching part time at Logos School.

Today, we’re going to talk about this classical approach to writing — called the progymnasmata! — how it relates to the modernist five-paragraph essay, why it’s better than modernist writing curricula, and so much more.

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Renee Shepard isn’t just our guest for this episode; she’s the teacher we hired to teach summer school this year! Renee is going to unwrap a big gift for us, one that has been sitting under classical education’s tree, untouched, for a very long time, and that is CLASSICAL WRITING. Did you know that classical education has its own, highly effective way of teaching writing, that writing was taught this way for at least 1500 years, and that when we abandoned this way of teaching, that was when writing began to decline? You’re a classical homeschooler; you don’t have to use a modernist writing program. Renee will help. To register for summer school, go to https://www.scholesisters.com/writing and sign up!

***

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Apr 28, 2023

Our guest today is Brent Pinkall, author of the fabulous new book, Redeeming the Six Arts: A Christian Approach to Chinese Classical Education, which the Sisters cannot recommend enough. Brent Pinkall is a Lecturer of Rhetoric at New Saint Andrews College. Before joining the NSA faculty, Pinkall taught rhetoric at a classical Christian college in China for more than five years. He has also taught at various public universities in China, including Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, and Central China Normal University. In addition to rhetoric, Pinkall has taught college-level courses in logic, epistemology, history of classical education, classical pedagogy, astronomy, English, and English literature. He has ministered in China for more than twelve years, with a focus on promoting classical Christian education there.

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Are you ready for this year’s spring training? It’s going to be amazing!! We’re calling it Dead White Guys because the latest attack on classical education seems to be the claim that classical education should be discarded because much of the source material was written by white men. Scholé Sisters has hired Monique Duson and Krista Bontrager from The Center for Biblical Unity to fit all of us for conversing on these issues. Session 1 is all about Critical Theory and Session 2 is basically a defense of classical education against the attacks of Critical Theory proponents. Each session ends with a live Q&A! It's going to be so great! Go to https://www.scholesisters.info/crt/ to register!

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Apr 14, 2023

Today, Mystie, Brandy, and Abby attempt to straighten out one of the biggest misunderstandings in the Charlotte Mason world: masterly inactivity. The term is constantly misused, so they start off with definitions. But keep listening because they'll go into detail on how exactly this concept can be applied to real life. You’re going to love this conversation!

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Are you ready for this year’s spring training? It’s going to be amazing!! We’re calling it Dead White Guys. A common attack on classical education is the claim that classical education should be discarded because much of the source material was written by white men. Scholé Sisters is bringing in Monique Duson and Krista Bontrager from The Center for Biblical Unity to fit us for conversing on these issues. Session 1 is all about Critical Theory and Session 2 is basically a defense of classical education against the attacks of Critical Theory proponents. Each session ends with a live Q&A! It's going to be so great! For more information, go to https://www.scholesisters.info/crt/ and while you're there, go ahead and register!

***

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Mar 31, 2023

Today's very special guest is David Hicks. Does the famed author of one of the bestest books EVER, Norms and Nobility, really need any further introduction? Well, what you may not know about him is that he spent thirty years of his life in private education, serving as head of school for a number of schools across the country, and culminating as Chief Academic Officer for Meritas LLC, which owned and operated private college prep schools around the globe. David and his brother Scot did an excellent translation of Marcus Aurelius called The Emperor’s Handbook and are currently working together again on translating a series of Lives from Plutarch. David and his wife have four grown children and live off the grid on a ranch in the beautiful state of Montana.

Today’s episode is sort of a dream come true for Mystie and Brandy as they have read and discussed David’s book, Norms and Nobility, off and on since they were in their 20s. David was SUCH a joy to talk to and you going to be so blessed by this conversation.

***

Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? In January, we kicked off our annual 5x5 Reading Challenge. It is not too late to join us! All you have to do is head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan and in addition to a replay of our big kickoff webinar, you will get tons of accountability, book ideas, and support.

***

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Mar 17, 2023

Our guest today is Toby Sumpter. Toby pastors King’s Cross Church in Moscow, Idaho. He and his wife Jenny have been married over twenty years and they have 4 kids, one of whom has recently flown the coop. He is a co-host of the CrossPolitic Show and author of Blood-Bought World and No Mere Mortals. He holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies with an emphasis in church history, and he teaches high school civics at Logos School.

Today’s episode is a little different because it’s not focused on doing the homeschool project well, but on ending it well. Most importantly, how do we let our sons go when holding on feels so important?

***

Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? In January, we kicked off our annual 5x5 Reading Challenge. It is not too late to join us! All you have to do is head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan and in addition to a replay of our big kickoff webinar, you will get tons of accountability, book ideas, and support.

***

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Mar 3, 2023

Our guest today is Jason Barney from the Educational Renaissance Podcast! Jason 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, where he received The Tenney Award in New Testament Studies. 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 has published several books, including A Classical Guide to Narration with the CiRCE Institute and A Short History of Narration with Educational Renaissance. He regularly speaks at events and conferences, including SCL, ACCS and the CiRCE Institute, and has two courses on ClassicalU on Charlotte Mason and Narration. In addition, he has provided training for schools, like the Geneva School, the Covenant School of Dallas and the Ecclesial Schools Initiative. Jason blogs regularly on ancient wisdom for the modern era at www.educationalrenaissance.com.

Jason Barney has written a lot over the years about the use of rewards and their affects on children. Abby and Brandy thoroughly enjoyed discussing rewards and intrinsic motivation with him, and we think you’ll love what he had to say!

***

Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? In January, we kicked off our annual 5x5 Reading Challenge. It is not too late to join us! All you have to do is head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan and in addition to a replay of our big kickoff webinar, you will get tons of accountability, book ideas, and support.

***

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Click here to join the Sistership.

Feb 17, 2023

We’re discussing GRIT today. What is grit REALLY? And do kids need grit? DO moms need grit? And if we need it … how do we get it? You’re gonna enjoy thinking through these questions.

***

Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? In January, we kicked off our annual 5x5 Reading Challenge. It is not too late to join us! All you have to do is head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan and in addition to a replay of our big kickoff webinar, you will get tons of accountability, book ideas, and support.

***

Click here to access today's show notes.

Click here to join the Sistership.

Feb 3, 2023

Is real education necessarily religious? And if so, where does that leave modern claims to a secular education? These are the questions we raise in today's episode.

***

Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? In January, we kicked off our annual 5x5 Reading Challenge. It is not too late to join us! All you have to do is head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan and in addition to a replay of our big kickoff webinar, you will get tons of accountability, book ideas, and support.

***

Click here to access today's show notes.

Click here to join the Sistership.

Dec 16, 2022

Today, we present our annual Christmas episode! In light of inflation and the fact that, for many of us, Christmas has to be different this year compared to last, we thought we’d go over the first couple chapters of Little Women and discuss how to feast in a time of fasting.

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Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? We are really enjoying the current Sophie Seminar, TechTonic! Together, we’re reading our way around the screen time issue. The goal of this seminar is for us all to be better equipped to make just judgments in this area of life. After all, informed opinions are the only opinions worth having. It’s not too late to join the seminar! Head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan! If you join soon, you’ll also get our AMAZING Sophie Christmas gift!

***

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Dec 8, 2022

Today’s episode is a response to the popular saying that real education teaches kids “not WHAT to think, but HOW to think.” We think this is a dangerous false dichotomy. Can we make a good argument in favor of indoctrinating your kids? We’re gonna try!

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Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? We are really enjoying the current Sophie Seminar, TechTonic! Together, we’re reading our way around the screen time issue. The goal of this seminar is for us all to be better equipped to make just judgments regarding screens. After all, informed opinions are the only opinions worth having. It’s not too late to join the seminar! All you have to do is head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan!

***

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Nov 11, 2022

Our guest today is the one and only Rebekah Merkle. Rebekah has dabbled in a number of occupations ranging from running her own clothing label to designing fabrics to becoming a full-time high school humanities teacher (which is fitting, because she was a student in one of the founding classical Christian schools in the USA). Most importantly for today’s discussion, Rebekah is the author of the book Eve in Exile, which Mystie and Brandy both read and recommend.

Today's chat with Rebekah Merkle is all about educating daughters ... and launching daughters. Do you want to value homemaking while still having a well-educated daughter? If so, this conversation is most definitely for you!

***

Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? We recently began our newest Sophie Seminar, TechTonic! Together, we’re reading our way around the screen time issue. The discussions so far have been great! The goal of this seminar is for us all to be better equipped to make just judgments about this issue. After all, informed opinions are the only opinions worth having. It’s not too late to join us! All you have to do is head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan!

***

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Oct 28, 2022

Today’s episode is our annual retreat episode, meaning we recorded it when we were in Dallas. As is typical of that style of recording, the sound quality is questionable ... but the content is great (if we do say so ourselves)!! We discussed the existence of the Ideal Type using David Hicks’ authoritative book, Norms and Nobility. We think you’ll love this conversation.

***

Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? We just began our newest Sophie Seminar, TechTonic! Together, we’re reading our way around the screen time issue. We had our first Live session on Monday and it went great! The goal of this seminar is for us all to be better equipped to make just judgments about this issue. After all, informed opinions are the only opinions worth having. It’s not too late to join the seminar! All you have to do is head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan!

***

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Oct 14, 2022

Today’s episode is the final in our three-part series designed to get you started on forming an educational philosophy. Whether you have been studying philosophy for years, or you are brand new to classical homeschooling, you are going to LOVE today’s discussion, which explores what a well-educated person is like.

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Have you joined the Scholé Sistership yet? We're about to start our newest Sophie Seminar, TechTonic! Together, we’re going to read our way around the issues surrounding screen time so that we'll all be better equipped to make just judgments about this issue. After all, informed opinions are the only opinions worth having. Head on over to scholesisters.com/join and sign up for the Sophie plan to join in!

***

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