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.
***
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!
***
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.
***
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!
***
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!
***
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!
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.
***