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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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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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!
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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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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.
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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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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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Today’s episode is the second in our three-part series designed to help you get started 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 centers on the definition of education.
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Are you as excited about this year’s local online retreats as we are?? It’s coming up very soon, but it’s not too late to sign up to host a local retreat of your own. Just grab our digital hostess kit and start planning. Our Homeschool Essentials retreats are perfect for homeschool mom groups, even if not all your members are classical or Charlotte Mason. This year we’ll be talking all things habits and habit training. To register to be a hostess, or just to attend, head over to scholesisters.com/habit and sign up!
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Today’s episode is the first in 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 centers on the nature of man.
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Are you as excited about this year’s local online retreats as we are??? The physical delivered-in-your-mail hostess kits have sold out just like Brandy predicted, BUT this doesn’t mean you can't still sign up as a hostess. If you want to host, just grab the digital hostess kit and start planning your own local retreat. It’s the perfect thing for the homeschool mom group even if not all your members are classical or Charlotte Mason. This year we’ll be talking all things habits and habit training. To register to be a hostess, or just to attend, head over to scholesisters.com/habit and sign up!
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In today’s episode, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss the new retreat format and why we love it, what’s different compared to last year, and also take a deep dive into this year’s theme, habits, by discussing what Aristotle had to say about habit in Nichomachean Ethics. We hope you’re ready to geek out about habits with us because that’s what today is all about!
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Are you interested in hosting one of our annual online local retreats?? We are SO EXCITED about this year’s plan! Mystie has gone above and beyond to make hosting dreamy for you. The real – yes: delivered in your mail – hostess kit has exclusive swag for you and your guests, plus all the papers and supplies to make it fun and simple. It’s the perfect thing for the homeschool mom group, even if not all your members are classical or Charlotte Mason. This year at the retreat, we’ll be talking all things habits and habit training. To register to be a hostess or just to attend, head over to scholesisters.com/habit and sign up!
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Our special guest today is Danielle Cyrus. Danielle was a pre-law student when God disrupted her plans and led her to education. She has 4 children and has been married to Grant for 20 years. She began homeschooling as her oldest reached school age and has been neck deep in books ever since. Danielle is a tutor in the Classical Conversations Essentials program and has led various home-education support groups and retreats on Classical and Charlotte Mason philosophies. She is passionate about fostering supportive community for home-educating parents.
Danielle has been hosting a local Scholé Sisters retreat for years so Abby and Brandy thought it’d be great to get together with her for a bit and discuss the ins and outs of of hosting a local retreat, and get her to explain why she loves retreats so much. Danielle gives plenty of helpful tips along the way so listen up!
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Our special guest this week is Melissa Cummings. Melissa and her husband Steven are second generation Christian homeschooling parents of five. She directs a Classical Christian homeschool co-op in her rural community, and also manages to pull off the annual Paideia Northwest conference for mamas raising kids for Christ. You can find her at JoyfulDomesticity.com.
In today’s episode, Mystie and Brandy talk with Melissa about creating and nurturing community. Trust us, Melissa knows how it’s done! She built a thriving homeschool community in her own backyard! Building a homeschool community takes time and energy, which is why we don’t just ask Melissa about building community – we ask her how to know if it’s worth the sacrifice.
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This summer, Scholé Sisters will be hosting some workshops led by Melissa who plans to walk us through what it takes to build a community, whether it be large or small. These workshops will be FREE for Sistership Sophie members! Just go to scholesisters.com/sisters to sign up.
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So many people are turning to homeschooling these days, and the first question they usually ask is about curriculum – what should they use and how should they use it. In today’s episode, Mystie and Brandy discuss why it’s useful to back up and talk about why everyone needs a philosophy and how to go about building one.
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Earlier this week on Tuesday, Scholé Sisters hosted our annual Spring Training. Our coach this year was Dr. Carl Trueman, professor of biblical and religious studies from Grove City College. He gave us an amazing history lesson on Marx and Marxism and answered a lot of great questions at the end. Replays are available, and if you sign up shortly after this episode comes out, you’ll still have time to register and attend our live debriefing session with Mystie, Abby, and Brandy on May 10th. Just go to scholesisters.com/true to register.
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To prepare for today’s episode, Abby, Mystie, and Brandy read the first two chapters of Charlotte Mason’s third volume, School Education, which is all about authority. Our conversation centers on trying to grasp exactly what is unhealthy authority, what is healthy authority, and then how do we fight the anti-authority culture we live in? It was s a great discussion!
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Are you ready for this year’s Spring Training? In seeking to understand the times we are in, we have hired as this year’s coach Dr. Carl Trueman, professor of biblical and religious studies from Grove City College. Dr. Trueman is the author of the remarkable book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. Understanding the times helps us prepare our children, yes, but also prepares US to live counterculturally with confidence. Dr. Trueman is the perfect coach to help us understand how to navigate these strange cultural waters. Just go to scholesisters.com/true to register.
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Our guest today is Brett Stroud. Brett is the President of Providence Classical Academy in Bakersfield, California. He is a graduate of the Torrey Honors Institute, a great books program at Biola University, and of the Pepperdine University School of Law. The mission of Providence Classical Academy is “To provide the children entrusted to its care with a liberal education grounded in the Christian scriptures and the Western tradition, with the goal of forming godly, virtuous, self-governing men and women.”
Today’s episode is something of an intervention. It looked like Abby was going to abandon politics altogether and so, naturally, Brandy got a lawyer and came to the rescue. You will love not just that is worked … but HOW it worked!
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Are you ready for this year’s Spring Training? We are SO excited to invite you to join us LIVE for the Excellent Marxmanship Spring Training. This year’s coach is the one and only Dr. Carl Trueman, professor of biblical and religious studies from Grove City College. Dr. Trueman is the author of the remarkable book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. We need to understand the times so we can prepare our children, yes, but also so that we can be prepared to live counter-culturally with confidence. Dr. Trueman is the perfect coach to help us understand how to navigate these strange cultural waters. Just go to scholesisters.com/true to register.
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In today’s episode, Brandy, Pam, Mystie, and Abby discuss the idea that classical education “makes you more human.” Depending on what you think this means, the phrase can come off as offensive, in conflict with Charlotte Mason’s assertion that children are born persons, and more. Because of this, they’re taking a deep dive into what this really means and why they think it matters.
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Do you want to enhance your reading? We’ve still got some copies of our 5x5 challenge reading journal in the shop! The Scholé Sisters 5x5 Journal helps you read, review, understand, and assess. It is designed to help you go deeper in your reading and thinking. Stop waiting for the right time or pen or month! The time is now — start building habits of thinking and cultivate your intellectual life. Go to scholesisters.com/journal and get your copy today.
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Our special guest today is the one and only Gregory Wilbur! Greg is founder and president of New College Franklin—a Christian college that concentrates on the classics and the seven liberal arts with a discussion-based approach and spiritual formation. In addition to teaching and developing curriculum, his current academic focus is advancing the disciplines of the Quadrivium by bringing together leading voices in its renewal. An award-winning musician, Greg has released seven albums of his compositions of congregational psalms, hymns and service music as well as theatrical musicals and film scores, and his hymns can be found in more than ten hymnals. Having taught for almost thirty years, he is a frequent speaker on music, the Quadrivium, arts, liturgy, and worship and serves as Chief Musician and liturgist at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Franklin, TN. Greg, his wife, Sophia, and daughter, Eleanor, enjoy travel, reading, cooking, taking walks and life in middle Tennessee.
In today’s episode, Mystie and Brandy dig interrogate Greg about music. In The Liberal Arts Tradition, music appears twice: once as a sort of poetic mode of knowing, and later as a liberal art that looks suspiciously like math. We want to know where instruments come in.
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It’s not too late to join the Excellent Marxmanship seminar going on now in the Sistership. Excellent Marxmanship is all about Marx with an X – and how he has made his marx (pun intended!) on the world around us. To join us as we read Plutarch, the Communist Manifesto, and more, go to scholesisters.com/marx
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In today’s episode, Abby, Mystie, and Brandy dig into Josef Pieper’s lesser-known work Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power. They end up spending a lot of time on the idea of flattery which is … super uplifting. The good news is that they decide in the end that what we are already doing in classical education works for this issue, too!
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It’s not too late to join the Excellent Marxmanship seminar going on now in the Sistership. We are already learning lots and having a great time. Excellent Marxmanship is all about Marx with an X – and how he has made his marx (pun intended!) on the world around us. To join us as we read Plutarch, the Communist Manifesto, and more, go to scholesisters.com/marx
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Welcome back to Scholé Sisters. Today kicks off our 17th season of the show. This episode has been SIX YEARS in the making! It’s our one hundredth episode! In honor of 100 episodes and also over a MILLION downloads, Mystie went through and figured out our top five most-referenced books. Today we’re sharing a little bit of the personal history of the podcast, and then we jump into these top five books and tell you why you should own them, too.
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On Monday, February 7th our Excellent Marxmanship seminar started up in the Sistership. It’s not too late for you to come and join us! Excellent Marxmanship is Marx with an X – and how he has made his marx (pun intended!) on the world around us. Join us as we read Plutarch, the Communist Manifesto, and more. You’ll be glad you did!
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