Scholé Sisters: Camaraderie for Classical Homeschooling Mamas

Brandy is pleased to have Karen Glass back on the show today. Karen is the author of Consider This: Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition, she’s the brain behind Mind to Mind, an abridgment of Charlotte Mason’s sixth volume, and her third book, Know and Tell: The Art of Narration just debuted last month. Karen Glass is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline. She has four children, mostly grown and married, who were homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods from beginning to end. She has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years. In today’s episode, Brandy and Karen dig deeply into the connection between narration and knowledge. Unfortunately, because Karen is in Poland, the sound is below our normal quality. We guarantee, however, it is still worth listening! *** Click here to get the show notes for today's episode. *** 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. *** Don't forget to find us on Facebook! *** Did you know we have a monthly newsletter? Click here and scroll to the bottom to sign up!

In today’s episode, Mystie Winckler and Brandy Vencel discuss Werner Jaeger’s introduction to his three-volume series, what Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, Jaeger's definition of education, what culture is, why Christians are resistant to honoring the Greeks, and much more. Download to listen, subscribe and be a Sister!   ***   Click here to get the show notes for today's episode.   ***   This episode is sponsored by The Afterthinker’s Guide to Charlotte Mason’s Home Education. That's right! Brandy has a NEW Charlotte Mason study guide out for 2018! Home Education, Charlotte Mason’s seminal work on educational philosophy and character development, is a must-read for every homeschooling parent seeking to nurture her children with the rich nutrients of life and literature. The Afterthinker’s Guide to Charlotte Mason’s Home Education is your key to unlocking these nourishing educational truths in your home! Tested and refined through her own research and group leadership, Brandy Vencel has developed a pair of guides for this valuable endeavor: one for group leaders and one for group members. Don't let the different versions fool: these guides can be used for group or individual study. Click here to get your copy!   ***   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!

Welcome to SEASON FIVE of Scholé Sisters! Mystie and Brandy are kicking this season off right with the one and only Cindy Rollins. Today's discussion centers on the idea of being impervious. We discuss not allowing "things" to get to us, absorbing emotion, self-control, menopause (gulp), and more! This is a conversation you don't want to miss. *** Click here to get the show notes for today's episode. *** This episode is sponsored by Personality Pages. Want to figure out and understand your personality better? Mystie has a free one-page cheat sheet to help you understand each personality type's cognitive functions. Click here to go deeper into personality and apply it to your home and homeschool with this easy-to-understand chart! *** 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! 

Today, the Scholé Sisters get real about Christmas. Mystie says we can be classical not just in our approach to education, but also in our approach to happiness. Does the classical tradition have something to offer us at Christmas as well? We talk about depression and grief, yes, but also bad attitudes and dangerous expectations, all in an attempt to encourage all of us toward a better Christmas. Christmas is important, because the incarnation is important. Let's never forget what it's all about. *** Click here to get the show notes for today's episode. *** This episode is sponsored by Christmas Morning Time Plans. These plans are FREE from Pam Barnhill! Three weeks of Morning Time plans, loosely organized around Tchaikovsky’s magical Nutcracker music. This set has it all: poetry, fine arts, nature study, good books, and so much more, prepared for you with your choice of a grid or loop schedule to follow. Advent has already started, but if you’re behind and need some plans, these are perfect. Click here to download your free copy. *** 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!

This episode is a something of a bonus for those of you who attended our Leading Well retreat this past summer. If you DIDN’T attend the retreat, we think you’ll still enjoy the episode. But more importantly, a lot of you have asked if we offer replays of the retreat for those who missed it, or didn’t know about it at the time. Starting TODAY, the answer to that question is a resounding YES! So – enjoy this question and answer session. We are all over the place – logical consequences, book recommendations on Socrates and Hannibal, dealing with meltdowns, all of it. And then at the end we’ll tell you how to go get your own retreat replay for those of you who have been waiting. (Or if you don't want to wait till the end, just click here.) *** 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!

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