Everyday Educator

Have you ever wondered why "community" is emphasized by classical, Christian educators? At CC, we believe we were created for community--to support one another, teach one another, encourage one another--to do life together! Listen in as Michele Earles and Eva Zaldumbide share what learning in community has taught their families, and discover how "community" goes beyond in-person in the COVID-19 era. You might be surprised!

How does what you believe impact what you do? At Classical Conversations, we understand that what we believe drives what we do, educationally! Join us for this first episode of a new series, "We Believe…So We…", and think with us about the purpose of education. Listen in as homeschooling parents Kristi Dye and Tim Knotts share how their beliefs about the purposes of education directs both their choices of what and how to teach at home and their motivations to be lifelong learners. What do classical educators DO because of their beliefs?

Looking for some more "organic" ways to seize the teachable moments with your children? In this second episode on "as-you-go-discipleship", guest Jill Philbrick shares some key principles and some practical examples for parents seeking winsome ways to talk about spiritual matters with our kids. Be sure you stick around for the blessing at the end! And, don't miss the "As You Go-Discipleship for Families" devotional offerings on CC Connected later this summer.

Wondering why your efforts at family devotion time fall flat? Maybe you need a new perspective! In Part 1 of this series, veteran homeschool mom Jill Philbrick shares her struggles with "devotions" and how she has discovered a more winsome way to share Biblical truth with her children.

Practicum-at-home: cause for mourning or reason to celebrate? The answer might surprise you! While we all miss our community and the exhilaration of being together, Cultivating the Conversation: The Art of Exposition is surprisingly adaptable to our "new normal". Listen in as four Practicum Speakers share how the content of this year's Practicum (teaching reading!) meets the needs of all families, while the On Demand format means more folks than ever can be part of the conversation! Discover conversational tools to excavate truth and find inviting ways to engage with others about hope and life!

You've come to the last stop on the educational journey, senior year of high school! Is Challenge IV right for your family? Listen in as Brittany Lewis and Lisa Bailey, veteran homeschoolers and CC directors, describe this crown jewel of the Challenge program. They'll discuss the skills sharpened and the subjects used in the sharpening! You will find discover how Challenge IV prepares students for life not just academics, developing the moral imagination needed to identify virtue and live it out. You'll hear about leadership education and how the pace of this last year of high school is designed as a "gift of contemplation" for students, encouraging them to become deeper thinkers, truer friends, and better citizens. Parents will find their role as mentors and cheerleaders as the homeschool journey draws to a satisfying end.

As your student moves into the latter years of high school, you might have some questions about the Challenge program. Listen in as Karin Carpenter and Lisa Bailey reveal the gems to be mined in the Challenge III year! You will hear how the study of Latin, algebra, American history and Shakespeare are winsomely pursued, and how community day provides chances for each student to help and be helped as they stretch the learning muscles. You'll discover how community day conversations give students the chance to love their neighbors more naturally, as they practice sharing ideas together.

What have you heard about Challenge II? If you want the real scoop, listen in as Tonya Rozelle and Lisa Bailey describe this transformational year of high school. You'll hear how the theme of choices is realized in each strand of study, and how this intentional focus helps you raise deep thinkers who revel in changing their world. Parents, find out how to balance your involvement with your student's independence, and be encouraged by what your student will gain through this year of discussion.

In this episode, Daniel Shirley, homeschool graduate and Challenge IV tutor, talks with long time homeschooling moms and CC leaders: Amanda Butler, Academic Director, and Heather Shirley, Academic Officer, about new training opportunities for licensed directors and tutors. If you liked what you heard about how CC trains homeschooling parents, consider becoming a CC tutor. Visit classicalconversations.com and click on "contact a local leader" to learn more about starting a CC homeschool community in your area.

Wondering what's so great about Challenge I as your child enters the high school years? Listen in as Lisa Bailey and Julie Dickens reveal the blessings of this program for students and families. Get the answers to key questions such as "Is Challenge enough to prepare my student?" and "How involved should parents expect to be?" You'll be excited to hear what students learn, and how that changes them!

Those of you looking toward Challenge B for the fall will want to listen in as Stephanie Meter and Lisa Bailey discuss the details of this program. You will hear how the "Ownership" theme of Challenge A naturally leads to the "Discipline" of Challenge B. You will get a practical sense of how students continue to hone the skills of learning they've been cultivating. And, you'll discover the biggest surpriseof Challenge B! Listen in and discover the richness…

Wondering what to expect as you and your student move into the Challenge years? Join Lisa Bailey and Angela Oxford as they discuss the beauties and benefits of Challenge A. You'll gain some great insights on this "year of firsts" and hear from experienced parents how to navigate this new part of your journey, both academically and relationally.

Marc Hays and Timothy Knotts discuss homeschooling from a dad's perspective about why is music important, how they incorporate music in their homes, and how the unified diversity of music itself provides for the differences between family practices and children's gifts and desires. Timothy currently serves as the president of The Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers in Connecticut and as an area representative for Classical Conversations.

Marc Hays and Timothy Knotts discuss homeschooling from a dad's perspective and continue the conversation about activities we enjoy with our children where no books are involved whether inside, outside, near our homes or far away. Timothy currently serves as the president of The Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers in Connecticut and as an area representative for Classical Conversations.

Marc Hays and Timothy Knotts discuss homeschooling from a dad's perspective and begin the conversation about books we are reading aloud, have read aloud, and want to read aloud with our children. Timothy currently serves as the president of The Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers in Connecticut and as an area representative for Classical Conversations.

Good news ALERT! A welcome addition to the Copper Lodge Series is hot off the press, ready to delight readers everywhere. Join host Lisa Bailey as she interviews Jennifer Courtney, compiler of our newest story collection, New World Echoes! Discover why these tales stand the test of time and why they resonate with us today as much as they did with the settlers of the "New World."

In this episode of the "Moving On Up" series, join Lisa Bailey, Holly Morales, and Sarah Pederson as they talk about the Essentials program. Discover how this English grammar, writing, and math practice program provides encouragement, support, and fun for students AND parents within community each week. Covered ideas: parents as learners, scalability of material, and foundations for future language learning.

Looking into the Foundations Program for your children 12 years old and younger? Join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Holly Morales as they discuss the beauty of the Foundations Program as a fun way to build a foundation for knowledge, as a community for parents eager to reclaim their own educations, and as a delightful way for children to have some hands-on fun while learning to better love their neighbors! This is a community-based program that truly resonates with the way your children love to learn; find out how to get started today!

Catch this new series, "Moving On Up!", designed to highlight Classical Conversations' offerings for the whole family. In this first episode, join host Lisa Bailey and guests Holly Morales and Jennifer Courtney as they uncover the gems in the Scribblers At-Home Collection, designed for your little treasures ages 3-8. Listen in as these homeschooling veterans discuss the gentle ways to begin learning as a family.

In this final episode Marc Hays and Daniel Shirley reflect on C.S. Lewis's total argument and explore whether or not our future is a hopeful one.

Join Marc Hays and Daniel Shirley as they review the second essay and begin the third essay of The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis.

Marc Hays and Daniel Shirley continue their conversation about The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis. Covering the first half of the second essay "The Way", Marc and Daniel discuss Lewis's "Innovators" and the "Tao".

In this first episode of a four-part series, Marc Hays and Daniel Shirley delve into the first Essay of C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man discussing ideas like the head, heart, and appetites and what it means to inculcate proper sentiment in students.

Join Daniel Shirley and Heather Shirley as they discuss the Parent Resources on pages 68-69 of the 2020 Classical Conversations Catalog. Learn how each of these well-chosen books can inform and enrich parents' homeschool journey across each Classical Conversations program from Scribblers through Challenge IV and beyond.

Just how important is the canon of Delivery? What are the elements that will help us move an audience? How can we help our students overcome a possible reluctance to present? If you've wondered about these questions, or even if you just want to finish out the Five Canons podcast, join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Brittany Lewis as they talk about sharpening the skills of Delivery with all our children.

Is the Canon of Memory more than just memorizing a speech? Join podcasters Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Brittany Lewis as they probe this canon more deeply! You'll discover that Memory blesses as it allow students to focus on their audience, distill their message, and revive their confidence. Find out how the canon of Memory can be practiced by students of every age, and enjoyed by families as they read together, share stories, learn hymns, and memorize scripture.

If you are ready to explore ways to be memorable and moving with your communication, join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Brittany Lewis as they think about the canon of Elocution. Discover how the style of our communication should be governed by both the subject material and our audience, and get some practical ideas for incorporating elocution into all your lessons with all your students.

In the second of our podcasts on the Five Canons of Rhetoric, our team discusses "Arrangement" and how this canon leads us to organize our thoughts, to love our neighbor, and to become clearer thinkers. With insights gleaned from years of leading students and children, Jennifer Courtney, Brittany Lewis, and Lisa Bailey examine how to use Arrangement across all subject strands to grow our understanding. Listen, and learn how Arrangement helps us communicate effectively and think deeply.

As classical, Christian educators, we are interested in finding the truth and communicating that truth well! An ancient tool can help us achieve that goal; join Lisa Bailey, Brittany Lewis, and Jennifer Courtney as they begin to explore the 5 Canons of Rhetoric in this podcast on the canon of Invention. You'll be encouraged as these veteran homeschoolers share how Invention can help your student overcome the "tyranny of the blank page" when thinking and writing about a new idea, and how Invention can help us all become more gracious communicators.

We hope you enjoy the final episode of a three-part series on the topic of "Advent." We hope you enjoy Part 3 as we discuss a variety of topics surrounding advent and anticipation.

We hope you enjoy episode 2 of part of a three-part series on the topic of "Advent." We hope you enjoy Part 2 as we discuss a variety of topics surrounding advent and memory.

This is the first part of a three-part series on the topic of "Assessment." We hope you enjoy Part 1 "Advent Assessment" as we discuss a variety of topics surrounding assessment during the current season.

In this final episode of the series "The Five Common Topics", Lisa Bailey, Leslie Hubbard, and Stephanie Meter share how a consideration of Testimony helps seekers pursue Truth. They show that Testimony (including authorities, testimonials, statistics, maxims, laws, and precepts!) helps us wrestle with ideas, stimulate conversations, and gain wisdom. Join these friends and discover how to wield this tool well with your own learners!

Are you looking for a tool to help you dig a little deeper in literature, history, or science? Maybe you want to guide your student to understand others more compassionately, or perhaps you are trying to encourage your students to keep thinking when they believe they're done! The Common Topic of Circumstance can help you with that! Join Lisa Bailey, Leslie Hubbard and Stephanie Meter as they continue to think about the Five Common Topics, and how these ancient tools help us pursue understanding with our students today. Find out how to use simple questions to "connect the dots" and learn to think more deeply.

This episode of The Everyday Educator Podcast examines the topic of Relationship, and proves just how exciting the Five Common Topics can be! Join guests Leslie Hubbard and Stephanie Meter as they explore how this topic can be used from Foundations through Challenge, in math, Latin, timeline, history, science, and Bible study. Host Lisa Bailey guides the discussion on how valuable it is to make connections, build relationships, and wrestle with big ideas, and helps us see how connecting actions and consequences through a consideration of relationship blesses our children for life.

On this episode of the Everyday Educator Podcast, host Lisa Bailey asks guests Leslie Hubbard and Stephanie Meter to consider the topic of Comparison. Listen as they reveal Comparison as an "all-purpose tool", one useful for integrating new ideas with familiar information, for starting absorbing conversations, and even for getting acquainted with new people! You'll discover how natural this classical tool is, and how it easy it is to use with all ages, and in practically all situations. As Leslie says, "When in doubt, compare!"

Join host Lisa Bailey and guests Leslie Hubbard and Stephanie Meter for this Everyday Educator podcast exploring the tool of Definition. Discover just how "common" a topic definition truly IS, and how it can lead to deeper, richer explorations and conversations with your family. These ladies give great examples of how defining a term begins the learning process, and how the student actively participates in the learning when the right questions are posed. This first in a series on the Five Common Topics gives Everyday Educators encouragement and ideas on how to use the tool of Definition. Definitely DO try this at home!

Join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Kelli Wilt as they finish the series on the Five Core Habits by waxing eloquent on the Habit of Storytelling! Listen as they discuss the ways to encourage beginning storytelling, and how to coax reluctant story tellers to join the fun. These experienced moms will even help you see how storytelling sharpens skills your older kids will need to thrive and grow. You'll gain some great insights, and pick up some tips you can use to make storytelling a more everyday part of your homeschool.

Join host Lisa Bailey and guests Jennifer Courtney and Kelli Wilt as they consider the habit of Expressing. You'll be encouraged to see expressing as worship, to celebrate expressing as communication of joy in learning, and to be brave in expressing your own thoughts about what you are learning. The testimony of these experienced moms will hearten you as you ponder all the ways children express their learning in their own time.

In the latest installment in "The Tools" series, join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Kelli Wilt as they discuss the habit of Memorizing. Everyday Educators will be encouraged to practice this tool with our littles without stressing out! The beauty of this habit is found in enjoying the time spent memorizing alongside our children, building a shared body of knowledge that we can take out and discuss at will in our families—and in our communities! In fact, one of the best things about memorizing is that it can draw us together. Your podcast buddies will think about laying a foundation for later thinking, allowing children to choose their mode of memorizing, and creating a "library of the mind" as they share a conversation about the habit of memorizing.

In this final episode of our series, Marc Hays, Lisa Bailey, and Jennifer Courtney discuss the last parts of Chapter 8 and the Epilogue. They discuss how a classical, Christian education depends upon divine assistance for understanding and how it leads us to the person of Truth with a capital T. Together, they celebrate a deeper understanding of students as image-bearers and the truth that all of us will be changed through classical, Christian paideia—students and parents!

Join Jennifer Courtney, Kelli Wilt, and Lisa Bailey as they continue to discuss the value of Core Habits for our families. Today they will delve into the beauty of the habit of Attending! Learn how to cultivate this natural habit with your children of all ages, attending with joy to the world God has created and celebrating both God's goodness and our relationships.

In this episode, join Lisa Bailey, Kelli Wilt and Jennifer Courtney as they discuss the core habit of naming. They will define naming and discuss how naming is a tool of learning for everyone from preschoolers to parents. Learn how naming allows us to communicate more and more complex ideas and truths to others so that we can truly be a community of learners. Get practical tips for how to foster this core habit at home. Learn how naming encourages conversations that allow us to wrestle with big ideas.

Join Lisa Bailey and Marc Hays as they discuss analogies, curriculum development, frog dissection, and epic sonnets. Marc is the author of the new resource, Analogies For All of Us, which is being used in the Reasoning Strand of Challenge A this semester.

Join thinkers and readers Jennifer Courtney....as they continue to discuss David Hick's Norms and Nobility, Chapter 8 Part 3. In section IV, they wrestle with the modern outcome of "values free education", one that Hicks declares to be both false and dangerous. Follow our lively bunch as they ponder the beauty and necessity of teaching responsibility along with information.

Have you ever pondered the benefits of Foundations and Essentials, both the obvious and the not-so-obvious? Join Foundations parent Marc Hays, parent and Director Jaime Hays, and former student/current Challenge Director Stephanie Meter as they discuss what makes these programs winners in the short AND long run!!

Are classical education and Christian education opposed to one another? Join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, Marc Hays, and Daniel Shirley as they explore how Christianity actually fulfills the classical quest to unite knowledge and responsibility. They visit the age-old question "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" Listen in as they compare Greek tragedy and sin. Learn how Christianity allowed optimism about education.

In Chapter 8, David Hicks looks at "The Promise of Christian Paideia." In this chapter, his discussion of classical education shifts from the ancient Greeks to the era of Christian education. In this episode, our panelists consider sections 1 and 2 in which Hicks outlines the problems of classical pagan education and looks at how Christ provides the answer to those problems.

Why does anyone in a democracy need a classical education anyway? In this episode, Marc Hays, Lisa Bailey, and Jennifer Courtney finish up their discussion of Chapter 7. They consider four objectives of a classical education in a democracy and apply those ideas to our efforts to reclaim classical, Christian home education.

In this episode, our panelists ask some really important questions about classical education. Is classical education elitist or is it for everyone? Is classical education a good form of education for a modern, technologically advanced society? Is classical education a good form of education for democracy? Listen in as they explore these questions and be inspired to give your children a royal education with plenty of truth, goodness, and beauty as they seek to become more like Christ.