Today is our annual so-called Christmas episode, and the least Christmassy one we’ve ever done. Oops. No matter! We were all together in Idaho and recorded this conversation, inspired by chapter 3 of the book The Supper of the Lamb just for you. It might not be super Christmassy, but we like to think this episode is a gift nonetheless.
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Please note: If you are not in the Sistership, you are really missing out! Our 2021 Sophie Christmas gift came out this week. It’s a Plutarch resource you will NOT want to miss. The annual gift is only available until January 6th, so go grab yours ASAP. We will also be giving away the prizes for 5x5 Challenge Finishers soon so watch for instructions on how to get that. There is also ... so much more! Why don’t you just head over to scholesisters.com/sistership and join us?
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Today’s episode is the second of the two that we are doing that cover ideas from CS Lewis’ book The Abolition of Man – more specifically from his first essay in that book, entitled "Men Without Chests." If you haven’t listened to episode 97 yet, we recommend you go back and do so before listening to this one. Today we’re discussing yet another phrase that gets thrown around in classical circles: ordo amoris, or, in English, ordering the affections.
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The end of the year is sneaking up on us and with it comes the end of our annual 5x5 Reading Challenge. There will be prizes available for finishers, of course! Do you long for some accountability to help you get your reading done? Some interesting discussion? General help finishing strong? All of that and more is available inside the Scholé Sistership. Just go to scholesisters.com/sistership and join us!
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Today’s episode is the first of two that we (Brandy, Pam, Mystie, and Abby) are doing that covers ideas from CS Lewis’ book The Abolition of Man – more specifically from his first essay in that book, entitled Men Without Chests. This book contains a lot of terminology that gets thrown around in classical circles and we’re going to tackle those definitions together!
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Announcement: We are doing reading journals again this year! (The real, physical copies that we sold out of so quickly last year.) They are going to have the same great layout you have come to love, which helps you make a reading plan, track your progress, and also improve in your ability to process and review a book. The cover will be updated so that you can tell last year’s copy from this year’s copy on your shelf. Make sure you are in the Sistership so you can be one of the first to know when it's available in the shop. Just go to scholesisters.com/sistership to join.
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Today, Mystie, Pam, Abby and Brandy toss around the question of whether or not virtue can be taught. This can be a controversial subject, but we think you’ll find it is worth talking about rather than avoiding.
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Last Saturday was our annual retreat and it went SO WELL. It was so refreshing to spend a whole day thinking about memory and remembering, why it’s essential for education, and how we can incorporate it into our educational process. If you missed you, replays are STILL available! In fact, you can even still host a group; it just won’t be live, and you’ll use the replays instead. If you want to get in on the 2021 annual retreat, head on over to scholesisters.com/memory and sign up.
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Our guest today is Dr. Christopher Schlect. Dr. Schlect has been a fellow of history at New Saint Andrews College for many years where he teaches courses in ancient and medieval civilizations, US history, the history of American Christianity, medieval education, and Classical Rhetoric, among other subjects. Dr. Schlect is the Director of New Saint Andrews College’s graduate program in Classical and Christian Studies and also serves classical and Christian Schools around the country through his consulting and teacher training activities.
Mystie and Brandy cornered Dr. Schlect and demanded an answer to that strangely confounding question: What is a liberal art? What followed was wonderful thoughts on what liberal arts are, what they are for, how to use them, and much encouragement for homeschooling moms like all of us.
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If you are listen to this episode right when it comes out, the big thing you need to know is that our annual fall retreat is coming up NEXT WEEKEND! We have been preparing something super special and we cannot wait to share it with you. We are meditating on the idea of memory and its connection to education – you might even say that this whole retreat is a response to Hugh of St Victor’s assertion that without memory there is NO education. Memory is essential, which means it pays to spend time thinking about it. We hope you join us for a rich feast of ideas and practices on Saturday October 9. Go to scholesisters.com/memory to register.
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Our guest today is Betsy Farquhar. A Southerner by birth, Betsy currently lives in the Northwest with her Renaissance man husband and their three amazing teenagers. She’s the managing editor for Redeemed Reader where she and her team read ahead FOR you and review new books for children and teens. Betsy learned to make bread with her grandmother at age 11, owns several cast iron skillets, and believes running out of butter is a bonafide emergency. She still calls her mother regularly for advice about dinner and life.
This year as the New Year rang in, Betsy and a friend gave themselves a cooking challenge: cook like it’s 1999, which basically means very little internet. Along the way, Betsy has learned about a lot more than cooking. From digital noise to treating the art of educating a bit like a recipe, we think you will LOVE her thoughts.
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Remember: our fall retreat is all about MEMORY. Will we cover ideas about memory WORK? Yes. Will we cover the topic far beyond those narrow bounds? Also yes. Head on over to scholesisters.com/memory register and prepare to think about memory like never before.
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Our guest today is Karen Harris. Karen Harris is married to Wes and is the homeschooling mother to 10 children. She and her family love to read, travel, and have adventures together. The author of "A Happy Mother of Children: Disciplines of Happiness," Karen continues to write and learn from her home in Maryland.
Karen and a friend have been on a mission to give themselves the classical education they never received using Susan Wise Bauer’s plan from her book The Well-Educated Mind. Abby and Brandy were SO inspired by Karen’s story of burnout and revival that they couldn't wait to share with you!
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Memory is an essential ingredient in our homeschools. We homeschool moms worry if we're doing it right, if we're doing it enough, if it's going to work at all. Want to sort out your ideas about memory in education? Come to the Scholé Sisters retreat — Homeschool Essentials: Memory — and rest assured that no matter how imperfect our efforts, they are all worthwhile. After the retreat day — which is basically a homeschool mom in-service — you will reenter your homeschool with renewed vigor and vitality and vision. Go to scholesisters.com/memory to register!
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Today, Brandy, Mystie, Pam, and Abby are tackling the big issue of censorship. They attempt to juxtapose some thoughts from Plato and John Milton and pursue questions like what is censorship, why would we do it, and when we should avoid it.
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If you want to dig into this topic with more depth and practical advice, you'll love our Spring Training event taught by Rosaria Butterfield: Intellectual Hospitality. We only have so much time with our kids at home. Whether or not we censor particular books, we still have to choose where our time and energy will go, which books we will buy and read, and what to prioritize during our school hours. Rosaria's sessions are down-to-earth, relatable, and practical. Intellectual Hospitality is your next step to dig into today's topic. Find it at scholesisters.com/hospitality
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This special summer season is one episode long and all about our annual retreat. We are in the process of making some major changes to it, all of which we think you’re going to love. The purpose of the retreat has always been to foster, first and foremost, real life community. We’ve taken steps to make that time of homeschool fellowship even better than before.
Want to know more about it? Listen up! Pam, Mystie, Abby and Brandy are discussing all the many changes they’ve come up with so far and explaining the how and why behind them. You’re going to be as excited as they are about it!
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Don’t leave without registering for this year’s retreat! As you just heard, the new topic is Homeschool Essentials and this year’s theme is Memory. This retreat is going to be so much fun. Registration is open TODAY and you know you hostesses want to get your hands on that awesome hostess pack so go to scholesisters.com/memory to get yours. Early bird pricing ends August 6th, so don’t delay!
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In today’s episode, Pam, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss portions of Saint Augustine’s book On Christian Doctrine that deal with the need for background knowledge in order to read with understanding, especially understanding metaphors. This was a very fun reading assignment!
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Don’t forget to become a Sophie level member of the Sistership! You will get our Spring Training sessions with Rosaria Butterfield this month, along with access to all the other wonderful things going on, AND our annual summer gear! Click here to sign up.
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Renee Shepherd is back with us again today. Renee and her husband, who were both homeschooled, are now homeschooling their six children. She is currently finishing her graduate degree in Classical Christian Studies at New Saint Andrews College, where her favorite things to study are theology, Latin, and literature.
Renee brought a lesser known article by Dorothy Sayers to our attention, and that’s what Mystie and Brandy are discussing with her today. We think you will be interested in how it rounds out what Sayers said in her well known Lost Tools of Learning.
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Spring Training is coming up later this month!
Registration is open for our annual Spring Training. Our coach is the one and only Rosaria Butterfield, author of a number of wonderful books, including The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and The Gospel Comes with a House Key. We asked Rosaria to coach us on what we like to call Intellectual Hospitality. How do we read classics with discernment, handle disagreements with grace, or confront inconsistency & error with love? Rosaria is going to help us with all that and more. Just click here to register.
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In today’s episode, Pam, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy break down the transition to independent work from preschool all the way to high school and beyond. This conversation gives us a lot to think about!
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Spring Training is coming up next month!
Registration is now open for our annual Spring Training Our coach this year is the one and only Rosaria Butterfield, author of a number of wonderful books, including The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and The Gospel Comes with a House Key. We have asked Rosaria to coach us on what we like to call Intellectual Hospitality. How do we read classics with discernment, handle disagreements with grace, or confront inconsistency & error with love? Rosaria is going to help us with all that and more. Just click here to register.
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In today’s episode, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss their way through the entire Thinking Person’s Checklist at the back of Alan Jacob’s book, How to Think. This was a fun and interesting conversation to have and they think you’re really going to enjoy it!
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Spring Training is coming up next month!
Next month — the month of MAY — is our annual Spring Training, as you well know. We are pleased to announce that our coach this year is the one and only Rosaria Butterfield, author of a number of wonderful books, including The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and The Gospel Comes with a House Key. While registration is not yet open, now is the PERFECT time to go ahead and sign up for your Sophie membership. You’ll get all the normal fabulous benefits of being a Sophie, and as usual the Spring Training sessions are included in your membership at no extra charge. Click here to sign up.
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Today’s guests are Karen Elliott and Erica Robertson from Rafiki Schools. Karen has served with Rafiki since 1990, including twelve years on the mission field, most of that time in Jos, Nigeria. Upon returning to the U.S., she became the Director of Africa Operations for the Rafiki Home Office and was responsible for managing the ChildCare and Education Programs for all ten Rafiki Villages as well as curriculum development. She served at the Home Office for ten years before being named Rafiki's Executive Director in January of 2012. Erica has worked with the Rafiki Foundation since 2010. She was the headmaster of the Rafiki School in Rwanda for three years, and held the same position in Nigeria for five years. She currently serves as the Director for Africa Operations at the Rafiki Home Office in Florida.
Today’s episode is our way of remembering that Christian classical education isn’t just about America or the West – it’s an attempt to raise up well-educated and faithful Christians around the whole globe. What does it look like to pursue this Christian heritage in Africa? Today you’ll get a very exciting glimpse!
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Are you thinking about summer reading for your kids or maybe even pulling together your book lists for next year?
How do you know what books will be best for you and your family? How do you know which book lists to pay attention to and which to ignore? Can you defend your choices when people cast doubts on them? On March 27, at 9:30 am Pacific, Steven Rummelsburg will be teaching a workshop on How to Choose Good Books followed by a 45 minute Q&A session. By the end of the class, we will understand what makes a classic a true classic and why we should seek out and study the classics. Come get your bookish priorities reinforced and reinvigorated at Steven's How to Choose Good Books workshop. Click here to register.
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Today’s episode is our attempt to answer the question of what is scholé? And how do I know if I’m doing it right? Is scholé just restful learning? Or is there more to it than that? These are interesting questions to tackle!
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So what is scholé anyway? What gives with using such a weird Greek word? Scholé Sisters has a short, free guide to understanding what scholé is and how to get some in your life and homeschool. We want to make scholé approachable and practical. Scholé is more than reading and more than restful learning. It's an approach and an attitude. Our Beginner’s Guide to Scholé will help you jumpstart your own schole practices. Click here to find it right on the front page of our website - for free.
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Click here to access today's show notes.
Our guest today is Amber Johnston. Amber lives in Georgia nestled among pine trees, hammocks and ziplines with her husband and their four children. Her happy place is the back porch on a rainy day, preferably with a giant mug of hot tea and a good book. When they have the chance, her family enjoys extended worldschooling trips to immerse themselves in other cultures. Amber blogs about adding mirrors and windows to a traditional Charlotte Mason education at HeritageMom.com and you can also find her on Instagram as @heritagemomblog.
Today’s episode is all about tackling a foreign language. Amber is not just wonderful about telling you HOW to go about foreign language; she also gives you a big WHY. Let’s face it: foreign language can be intimidating and so we put it off until the kids are older. If we are going to get brave start ‘em young, we need a really big WHY.
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Ready for the Commonplace Workshop?
Are you intimidated by commonplacing? Not sure if you're doing it right? Uncertain how to get started? You're not the only one. So, on February 20th at 9:30 am Pacific, join us for a LIVE Commonplace Workshop where we will break down the process of getting started and keeping up with commonplacing. It doesn't need to be complicated and you don't need to make it a keepsake. At the Commonplace Workshop we'll each share our own commonplace practices and real life examples, helping you see how doable and unfancy - and how beneficial! - commonplacing can be. Click here to register.
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Click here to access today's show notes.
Do you keep a commonplace book (or wish you did)?
Today’s episode is serves as a first half for our upcoming Commonplace Workshop. Pam, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss what a commonplace book even is and why anyone would want to keep one. It’s a great discussion you don't want to miss and will get you ready for the Workshop, which is happening this month!
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Ready for the Commonplace Workshop?
Are you intimidated by commonplacing? Not sure if you're doing it right? Uncertain how to get started? You're not the only one. So, on February 20th at 9:30 am Pacific, join us for a LIVE Commonplace Workshop where we will break down the process of getting started and keeping up with commonplacing. It doesn't need to be complicated and you don't need to make it a keepsake. At the Commonplace Workshop we'll each share our own commonplace practices and real life examples, helping you see how doable and unfancy - and how beneficial! - commonplacing can be. Click here to register.
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Click here to access today's show notes.