Scholé Sisters: Camaraderie for Classical Homeschooling Mamas

Have you ever tried to sort out the tension between God's grace and our pursuit of virtue? Is virtue ultimately a free gift of grace? And, if so, how can we say it is the goal of Christian education? If virtue IS our goal, how do we impart it? How do we test it? And is there a danger in homeschooling when it comes to virtue tests? And what if we fail? What if everything we've done isn't enough? Today on the show, Mystie and I are please to welcome Eric Hall. Eric is a classical scholar and teacher who is local to Brandy. That’s right! She gets to know him in real life! Eric has studied at The Master’s College, the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and Clemson University. When he's not reading Thomas Aquinas, Eric enjoys mountaineering and rock climbing. Most importantly, Eric was kind enough to help us sort these tensions out. *** This episode is sponsored by The Simplified Email Course. Email is a modern day necessity, but it is so easy for it to get out of hand. Need to get your email inbox under control? Mystie's got you covered. From now through December 2017, you can get The 5-Day Simplified Email Course (usually an exclusive for Work the Plan Premium members) for free! This course provides real-life, practical, down-to-earth help for stressed out and worn out women ready to get organized and take control of their responsibilities. Moms can’t leave the email hacks and management advice to productivity gurus. Even we need to manage our email inboxes. This 5-day email-delivered course will take you from inbox insanity to inbox incredible, step by step. Click here to join for free through December 2017. (After that, it will return to being a component of Work the Plan Premium.) *** Don't forget to find us on Facebook! And did you know we have a monthly newsletter? Click here and scroll to the bottom to sign up!

The third and final episode in our series on education as an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life, today's discussion is all about LIFE. What is meant by "education is a life?" How do we procure this life for ourselves and our children? We manage to dip into Vittorino da Feltre, Plato, Quintillian, Cicero and MORE -- don't miss it! BONUS: Scroll down to the bottom of the show notes to get a downloadable Life Audit to help you put these ideas into action in your homeschool. Don't forget to find us on Facebook! *** This episode is sponsored by A Month of Morning Time. Morning Time is a wonderful addition to your homeschool, but sometimes planning it takes way more time and energy than you have to spare. You get overwhelmed trying to choose the best books to read. You have no idea which poems and artwork are the "good ones." Truth, Goodness, and Beauty are wonderful ideals but the people in your house need clean laundry and three meals a day. Ready-made Morning Time plans can help reduce your decision fatigue, spend less time planning, and still add delight to your homeschool day. Click here to download a free sample.

"Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life." Today, in the second of our three-part series, we're discussing education as a discipline. What do we mean by discipline? How do we use it as a tool of education? The Scholé Sisters get real about this topic. BONUS: Scroll down to the bottom of the show notes to get a downloadable Atmosphere Audit to help you put these ideas into action in your homeschool. Don't forget to find us on Facebook! *** This episode is sponsored by Start Here. When Charlotte Mason was trying to distill her educational philosophy into its simplest form, she ended up with 20 core principles, the distinctives of her philosophy. Offering a variety of reading assignments on these subjects, and discussion questions meant to help you dig deeply, Start Here is a comprehensive guide to the big ideas governing Charlotte Mason’s philosophy. Just head on over to the Afterthoughts Shop and use the discount code sisters to get 15% off at checkout.

Today, we kick off a series of three episodes that were recorded live online with some of our Forum members. This series is organized around Charlotte Mason’s motto that education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life. Today’s episode is all about atmosphere. BONUS: Scroll down to the bottom of the show notes to get a downloadable Atmosphere Audit to help you put these ideas into action in your homeschool. Don't forget to find us on Facebook!

Today's episode was recorded when we had the joy of all being together in the same room (along with our friend, Dawn Garrett) for the Scholé Sisters Leadership Retreat in Portland. We had so much fun! We hope you enjoy this episde, even though there are a couple places where the sound is sub-par. (What can we say? We were all sharing one mic!) Today's topic is pre-reading. We talked about why to do it, how to let your personal goals lead the process, when to do it, and more! Want the show notes? Go here:  http://www.scholesisters.com/ss25/ Don't forget to find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scholesisterspodcast Want to join the forum? Go here: http://www.scholesisters.com/join

This summer, we shared an article from The Atlantic on memorization, and WOW did the discussion explode on Facebook! We couldn’t help chatting about it ourselves, and that conversation eventually became this podcast episode. We don’t pretend to have the last word on memory work, but we do think this is a great beginning place to start thinking about this issue. Want the show notes? Go here:  http://www.scholesisters.com/ss24/ Don't forget to find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scholesisterspodcast

Today, Mystie, Pam, and Brandy are chatting about summer. Instead of letting summer slowly slip through our fingers, we can leverage summer and set ourselves up for greater success in our upcoming homeschool years. And you don’t have to do it alone! You'll want to listen all the way to the end because Scholé Sisters is announcing something super special for summer ... we're hoping it'll encourage you to find (and bond with) your sisters! Want the show notes? Find them here: scholesisters.com/sp-1 Our summer book club studying Anne White's book Minds More Awake on the Scholé Sisters Forum has just begun! If you aren't a member already, go to http://www.scholesisters.com/join/ to sign up. There is also a login on that page if you're a member who needs to drop in and say hello. And don't forget to grab your spot for the big event: scholesisters.com/lead This is the end of Season 3, but we hope to "see" you in July! And of course we plan to be back for Season 4 in the fall.

In her book Mere Motherhood, Cindy Rollins made the passing comment that she was not as big of a fan of homeschooling high school boys as she had been in the past. This turned into a rumor: Cindy Rollins doesn't think boys should be homeschooled in high school. Um. NOT TRUE. Today, Mystie and Brandy chat with Cindy about homeschooling high school boys (as well as using AmblesideOnline for high school), the pros, the cons, and how to know if it's time to let it go. Want the show notes? Find them here: scholesisters.com/ss23 If you haven't heard, there will be a summer book club studying Anne White's Book Minds More Awake on the Scholé Sisters Forum. If you aren't a member already, go to http://www.scholesisters.com/join/ to sign up. There is also a login on that page if you're a member who needs to drop in and say hello. 

For today's episode, Pam, Mystie, and Brandy had quite the discussion surrounding the idea of interest and being interested – what does it mean, are we born interested, how do we lose interest over time, how do we gain it, what do we do when our children aren’t interested? We talked about a lot! Want the show notes? Find them here: scholesisters.com/ss21 If you haven't heard, there will be a summer book club studying Anne White's Book Minds More Awake on the Scholé Sisters Forum. If you aren't a member already, go to http://www.scholesisters.com/join/ to sign up. There is also a login on that page if you're a member who needs to drop in and say hello. 

In today’s episode, Mystie and Brandy discuss amusement and entertainment. Does our commitment to scholé mean that there’s no room in life for things that are completely frivolous and entertaining? Believe it or not, Aristotle had something to say on this subject! Want the show notes? Find them here: scholesisters.com/ss21 Come find us on Facebook! We'd love to have you join the conversation there.