Scholé Sisters: Camaraderie for Classical Homeschooling Mamas

Our guest today is Chad Vegas. Chad is the founding pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Bakersfield, CA, where he has served since 2006. Chad received his M.A. from Talbot School of Theology. He also spent nearly two decades in public school education as both a teacher and Board Member. He has been married to Teresa since 1994 and they have 2 children. Chad is the co-author of Missions by the Book: How Theology and Missions Walk Together, available at all major booksellers. Our conversation in this episode kicks off with Pastor Chad’s interpretation of Matthew 18 – what does it really mean and how do we know if it’s being abused or misused? After that, Mystie, Chad, and Brandy dig deeply into public conversation and where we Christians can and should draw lines. You’re going to love this conversation! *** Have you registered for our fall online local retreats yet? Our physical hostess kits are sold out, but digital hostess kits are still available. Our annual Homeschool Essentials retreat always takes a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! We cannot wait to spend time with you all on Saturday, October 7th so mark your calendars! Just go to scholesisters.com/time to sign up. *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.

Today’s conversation is all about curriculum. What does it mean to say that curriculum can be a crutch? Is that a bad thing? What does a healthy relationship with curricula look like? You’re going to love this conversation! *** Have you registered for our fall online local retreats yet? Our physical hostess kits are just about sold out, but digital hostess kits are still available. Our annual Homeschool Essentials retreat always takes a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! We cannot wait to spend time with you all on Saturday, October 7th so mark your calendars! Just go to scholesisters.com/time to sign up. *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.

Our guest today is Kara Hughes. Kara is a Christian homeschooling mama to 5 children – a toddler, and then a 4th grader, 5th grader, 7th grader and 9th grader, all of whom use AmblesideOnline. She loves reading and hiking, and especially the two together when she can get them. Kara is also the librarian at a homeschool curriculum library, and is trying to reteach herself piano, convince her piece of desert to grow something, and actually finish a knitting project someday. Today is the second of our two summer episodes. In this one, Abby and Brandy get into the nitty gritty of hosting a Scholé Sisters retreat with special guest, Kara Hughes. *** Are you ready for the annual Scholé Sisters Online Local Retreat? Our annual Homeschool Essentials retreats always take a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! We cannot wait to spend time with you all on Saturday, October 7th so mark your calendars! Early bird registration is now live. Just go to scholesisters.com/time to sign up. *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.

Today is the first of our two summer episodes. In this one, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy wax philosophical about this year’s retreat topic: time. *** Are you ready for the annual Scholé Sisters Online Local Retreat? Our annual Homeschool Essentials retreats always take a deep dive into one aspect of homeschooling. This year’s topic is TIME, the most essential part of homeschooling of all! We cannot wait to spend time with you all on Saturday, October 7th so mark your calendars! Early bird registration is now live. Just go to scholesisters.com/time to sign up. *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.

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! *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.

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! *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.

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! *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.

David Hicks, famed author and educator, discusses ideal types, character development, and the importance of literature in education. The conversation explores virtues, historical punishments, and the power of narratives in ethics education. Insightful discussion on classical education and raising girls in society.

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. *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.

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. *** Click here to access today's show notes. Click here to join the Sistership.