Exploring the Beauty of Classical Education: What’s Going on in Australia?
About our Guest
Kon Bouzikos is currently the President and cofounder of ACES (Australian Classical Education Society). The Australian Classical Education Society Inc. is an association for students, parents, educators, politicians, experts and like-minded individuals who wish to see classical education introduced within the Australian educational landscape.
The roots of education are based on the seven Liberal Arts (the Trivium and Quadrivium) and it is now time that this type of education which is not elitist is offered to students in Australia. A broad based education that is concerned with human formation, reading the great books and allowing students to see connections between the different subjects is so vital and necessary today. The renewal for classical education which began in America 40 years ago is urgently needed in Australia. The educational landscape is about to change in Australia!
He is an experienced Primary and Secondary School Teacher and has worked in Orthodox, Catholic, Government and Independent Schools. His subject areas include: the Humanities, Religious Education and Modern Greek. He values the Seven Liberal Arts and the importance of a Christian Classical education. Kon enjoys dialogue and critical thinking in order to elicit the truth during conversations. Greek philosophers such as Plato, Socrates and Aristotle continue to shape his views of education.
Kon’s educational qualifications are
Educational Qualifications
2008-2009: Graduate Certificate in Catholic Studies
Australian Catholic University Melbourne Campus – St. Patrick’s
2003-2005: Master of Education, Leadership & Management in Educational
Organizations
The University of Melbourne
1995: Graduate Diploma in Education, (SOSE, History, Modern Greek)
Monash University
1989- 1991 Bachelor of Arts, Politics and Modern Greek
Sign up for their newsletters at the ACES website: http://www.classicaleducation.org.au/
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Show Notes
This enlightening podcast conversation with Kon Bouzikos and Adrienne is all about the spreading passion for education reform across Australia. Australia Classical Education Society (ACES) was formed in 2021, and it reaches far and wide. For the love of learning, ACES has a deep interest in sharing experiences with others.
With great passion, Kon affirms that the Australians need and want Americans who are immersed in the classical education movement to teach them and help direct them. They need our help as the endeavor to awaken Australia to the beauty of a liberal arts education. Kon and Adrienne discuss topics of great importance for all educators. This episode will even inspire Americans who wish to know more about the classical education movement at large.
Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode Include:
Why reform education in Australia?
What are the responses from educators when you invite them to ACES ?
Do you have home schools and charter schools in Australia?
What resources for Classical Education are available in Australia?
Sign up for their newsletters at the ACES website: http://www.classicaleducation.org.au/
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode
The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis
Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor
How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education by Mortimer Adler
St. Basil, Address To the Youth (AKA: Young Men on the Right Use of Greek to Men)
Pastor Douglas Wilson books
The Australian book distributor for classical education resources is Sara Flynn. Email her at: contact@logosaustralis.com
Her website is: https://logosaustralis.com/
Campion College:
https://www.campion.edu.au/
On-line Courses with Beautiful Teaching Consultants: https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
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SUPPORT
This is a listener supported podcast. Considering the drama we have seen on Patreon and other social media platforms, we encourage listeners to support this podcast through donations. Part of your support goes to fund professional editing, hardware, software as well as other fees. It also frees Adrienne up to be more involved in the content creation, participation on other platforms, and public speaking. You can donate by visiting our website at https://www.classicaleducationpodcast.com/support
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic
© 2023 Beautiful Teaching LLC. All Rights Reserved
531
views
4
comments
Dr. David Rose and Dr. Lawrence Reed on Civics and Economics for Hearts and Minds
About our Guests
Dr. Dave Rose is a Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1987 from the University of Virginia. His primary areas of research interest are behavioral economics, political economy, and organization theory. He has published scholarly articles in a wide range of areas. His work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Weldon Spring Foundation, the HFL Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, and the John R. Templeton Foundation. He is currently in his second term on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. In 2008 he received the St. Louis Business Journal’s Economic Educator of the year award. His book, The Moral Foundation of Economic Behavior, was selected one of CHOICE’s outstanding titles of 2012. His newest book, Why Culture Matters Most, is also from Oxford University Press. He frequently contributes to policy debates through radio and television interviews as well as in Op-Eds on topics ranging from social security, monetary policy, fiscal policy, judicial philosophy, education reform, healthcare reform, and freedom of speech.
Dr. Lawrence W. (“Larry”) Reed became President of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 2008 after serving as chairman of its board of trustees in the 1990s and both writing and speaking for FEE since the late 1970s. He previously served for 21 years as President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan (1987-2008). He also taught economics full-time from 1977 to 1984 at Northwood University in Michigan and chaired its department of economics from 1982 to 1984.
In May 2019, he retired to the role of President Emeritus at FEE and assumed the titles of Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty.
He holds a B.A. in economics from Grove City College (1975) and an M.A. degree in history from Slippery Rock State University (1978), both in Pennsylvania. He holds two honorary doctorates, one from Central Michigan University (public administration, 1993) and Northwood University (laws, 2008).
Show Notes
Dr. Rose and Dr. Reed join Adrienne and Trae to discuss the foundation of a good education in civics and economics: cooperation and trust rooted in moral beliefs and lived out by ethical people in the family and society.
We delve into the role of stories in economics class, preserving traditional practices and restoring home economics.
For the civics and economics teachers, our guests help us see why preferring old stories to current events is best and why it's not necessarily the classroom teacher’s job to show students how to balance their checking accounts.
Some topics in this episode include:
The Relationship between Parenting, Culture, Civics, and Economics
Framing Economics as Cooperation
Self-governance in Classical Education
The Family and Home Economics
Moral Believes and Trust in the Family and Society
The Role of Stories in Moral Education
Humane Economics and Traditional Practices
Gratitude and Service to Others
Prudence and Democracy
The Value of Failure
How to Avoid “Bumper Sticker Pedagogy”
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode
Why Culture Matters, David Rose
Real Heroes, Lawrence Reed
Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt
Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell
Cinderella Man, Ron Howard (Director)
The Whistle, Benjamin Franklin
Aesop’s Fables, Aesop
“The Economics of Splitting Wood By Hand,” John Cuddeback
A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell
Dr. Reed’s Website
Passion’s Within Reason, Robert H. Frank
The Memory Book, Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas
Favorite Books and Quotes
Dr. Rose’s book that he wishes he had read sooner:
A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell
Dr. Reed’s favorite quote (corrected):
“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” - David Hayek
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
427
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Dr. Eidt and Dr. Owens: Teaching & Learning Latin (at home and in classrooms)
Guest Biographies
Dr. Laura Eidt received her BA in English Literature and Linguistics from the University of Hamburg (Germany) and her MA and PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been teaching in the Spanish, German, Comparative Literature, and Humanities Programs at the University of Dallas since 2006 and published on German and Spanish poetry, and on Ekphrasis. For many years she taught an applied foreign language pedagogy class that sent students to local area schools to teach their language to elementary children, and she was a mentor at a bilingual school in Dallas for four years. Her courses include classes on Foreign Language Pedagogy, Teaching Classical Children’s Literature, and Great Works in the Modern World. She is the faculty advisor for UD's Classical Curriculum team and is currently writing a Latin curriculum for K-5rd grade.
Dr. Patrick M. Owens was born and raised in New York City where he graduated from Fordham University. In his pursuit of the Classical languages Dr. Owens moved to Montella, Italy to study at Vivarium Novum and then to Rome, where he earned his Ph.D. at the Salesian University. He has taught Latin, Greek, and Classical literature at the middle school, high school, and university levels. When he is not teaching, Dr. Owens continues his research on Latin literature and the history of Latin pedagogy. Additionally, he works as a consultant for schools developing curricula for Latin and Classical education. He and his wife Mallory, who is also an accomplished Latinist, raised two children in a bilingual home.
Show Notes
Dr. Laura Eidt and Dr. Patrick M. Owens join Adrienne to discuss Latin. Both guests bring a wealth of information about classical education and teaching Latin.Their love for Latin is also contagious! This episode will not only give practical advice about incorporating Latin into your life, but the history of how to teach Latin is quite interesting.
Taking us back to antiquity and through the Renaissance, Dr. Eidt and Dr. Owens unfold the history of teaching Latin as a living experience. Classical education ought to be joyful and beautiful. The immersion approach for children is not common in most Latin programs on the market today. But the University of Dallas is launching a K-5 Storybook Latin approach that is great for both homeschoolers and classroom teachers who have little to no experience with Latin!
Some questions in this episode include:
What is classical education?
What can a parent do to help their child become interested in Latin (or Greek)
What is the history of Latin education?
What is the tradition of the trivium and how is it different from the neoclassical trivium?
What is the role of Latin in the trivium, and what age ought a child begin learning Latin?
Books Mentioned:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Institutes of Oratory by Quintilian
Orbis Pictus by John Comenius
Didactica Magna (The Great Didactic), by John Amos Comenius
The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Latin Resources for Adult Learning:
Hans H. Ørberg’s Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata: Familia Romana
Schola Latina
Vivarium Novum
Paideia Institute
Veterum Sapientia Institute (for Catholic Learning)
For more information on the University of Dallas’s K-5 Latin:
https://k12classical.udallas.edu/k-12-curriculum/k-5-latin-curriculum/
For consulting information from Dr. Patrick M. Owens:
Dr. Patrick M. Owens offers Classical education and Latin language consulting to K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. Dr. Owens works with educators who want to develop vibrant and successful academic programming through remote consulting or on-site professional development. He has worked with groups of every size from large State Universities to small homeschool coops.
You can reach him at: PatrickM.Owens@gmail.com
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
375
views
Restoring America’s Heritage: John Adams Academy with its Founder, Dr. Dean Forman
About our Guest:
Dr. Forman is active in his community having served on the Roseville Joint Union High School District Governing Board from 2000 to 2004. He was the chair of the Placer County Republican party from 2005-06. He served as Board Member and President for CORE Academy, a charter school in Placer County from 2006 to 2009. He currently serves as Founder, and Board Chairman of John Adams Academy, a K-12 charter of 3 schools and 4500+ scholars located in the Sacramento California area. In 2012 the Freedom Foundation recognized Dr. Forman for his efforts in founding John Adams Academy with the George Washington Honor Medal in 2012. In 2013 he was also honored with the Distinguished Service Award from the BYU Alumni Association. He mentors at the academy, is a frequent lecturer and authored many academic and timely articles on the principles of risk management, independence, finance, and freedom in America.
Education has the power to change a person, a community, and a country. His blog may be found at https://ldeanforman.blog/. His book on how to start a classical charter school may be found at Leading a Revolution in Education.
www.johnadamsacademy.org
“Children Should Be Educated in the Principles of Freedom” John Adams
Special Performance:
John Adams Academy Choir, Vertus. Performing America The Beautiful, directed by Greg Blankenbehler, Secondary Music Teacher, Director of Choir, Arts Department Chair.
Awarded in 2021-2022: First Place, Gold Rating (90th percentile), Adjudicator’s Award (95th
Percentile–scored 98 out of 100), Maestro Award (outstanding soloist) at Heritage Festival (Nashville, TN)
Click here to view the many Accolades for Vertus
Show Notes
In this episode, Adrienne interviews the founder of John Adams Academy, a public charter school in California. Dr Forman’s love for a beautiful education is evident through his passion for this country and his love of the arts. He shares the history of John Adams Academy as well as some important tips for anyone interested in starting a school.
Some topics in this episode include:
The humble beginnings of John Adams Academy to its great success and recognition today as an exceptional school
The beautiful elements of classical education and how these lead students to truth
Tips on starting a school and hiring good teachers
Creating a mission statement and school culture
Teacher formation
Books & Resources In This Episode
Leading a Revolution in Education
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution
Steven Covey on Seven Habits
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This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC.
OUR MISSION
We exist for the benefit of both parents and teachers. Teaching is an art and teachers need opportunities to cultivate their craft. Parents need to feel confident that their children are receiving the best education possible. Therefore, our goals are to help parents make well-informed decisions about the education of their children, and to help teachers experience true joy in their vocation. We desire to bridge a large gap that currently exists between most classical schools and the parents who send their students to these schools.
Immersing both parents and teachers into the beauty of good teaching is paramount to our goals! Our formative sessions are designed to be LIVE so that you can experience classical education through participating and doing. This is what is expected in classical education. In order to mentor you well, we invite you to participate for a full classical experience. Our online sessions assume modeling, imitation, and meaningful conversation as the basis of experiencing good teaching.
OUR SERVICES
If you like our podcast, you will love our online sessions! We offer immersion sessions so you can experience classical pedagogy. A complete listing of our courses is at https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
Becoming an effective educator requires participation and doing, not merely listening to the ideals of a theory being talked about. Experiencing the labor of thinking, speaking, and asking questions is non-negotiable for a real classical experience. For this reason our courses are LIVE and not recorded. Participation is paramount to a true classical education.
Teachers and Home Educators: Grow in your craft of teaching! Do you want to know how to apply what we discuss on our podcast? Check out our affordable on-line immersion courses with master teachers. https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
Parents: Do you want to understand how to support your student in a classical school? Or, do you simply want to know more about classical education? Consider our affordable book seminars. Explore why a classical education is truly a beautiful way of learning. Our book seminars and immersion sessions can you help you make an informed choice as well as help you understand how to support your children who may attend a classical school. https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
Schools: We offer professional development for schools onsite or online. Email Adrienne at BeautifulTeaching@Gmail.com for more information.
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic
© 2023 Beautiful Teaching, LLC
383
views
The Art of Teaching Science & Pursuing Truth with Dr. Steve Mittwede
About our Guest: Steve Mittwede, PhD, EdS
Dr. Mittwede is privileged to be a teacher of Earth Science at Randolph School in Huntsville (Rocket City!), Alabama, after having taught at two great classical schools in Texas for the past seven years. Heartily committed to lifelong learning, his most recent degree was an EdS in Educational Leadership from Columbia International University (CIU), following degrees in geology from The College of William and Mary (BS) and the University of South Carolina (MS and PhD), the last two while concurrently working as a full-time mineral resources geologist for the South Carolina Geological Survey. During that time in South Carolina, he married Dana, and they were blessed with four sons in close succession – all now grown, married, and raising their own broods (13 grandchildren and counting!). Steve also has an MA in intercultural studies from CIU and an MTh in theology from Union School of Theology/University of South Wales (UK). With his family, Steve lived for 23 years in Ankara, Turkey where he worked as an educator, academic researcher, consulting geologist, and scientific/technical editor. His main research “squeeze” over the last few years has been the great Peripatetic, Theophrastus, a paragon of scholarly virtues that are especially applicable in science education.
Show Notes
Adrienne interviews master teacher, Dr. Steve Mittwede on the art of teaching science. As an expert in the classroom, Steve brings practical ideas for teachers to consider for good, truth-driven instruction. He discusses in detail how to help students use good language (grammar mode of the trivium) to help them in habits of attending and defining their observations. We also discuss the truth pursuits around the unity of knowledge and how important this is to the foundation of integerated instruction. If truth is a foundation to classical education, then integrating all the "subjects" together ought to matter! His Three Realms of Knowing is a construct he developed about 20 years ago showing students that everything fits together.
Some topics in this episode include:
What is a good definition of science?
How should science text books be used?
What are best practices in the art of teaching science?
How to engender conversations for good scientic hypothese
Why nature study is critical for good science practices with students
How scientific thinking can help us integrate and make connections to all truth and reality.
The Law of Noncontradiction
Horizontal integration of science with poetry and Socratic inquiry
Books & Resources In This Episode
Aristotle's Metaphysics
"Learning Scholarly Virtues from Theaphrastus" by Dr. Mittwede, published by SCL
Opus Majus by Roger Bacon
Poems for Science class
Hymn before Sun-rise, in the Vale of Chamouni By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I Am Like a Slip of Comet by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Quotes that Dr. Mittwede uses in his science classes
"Truth, like gold, is not be obtained by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold."- Leo Tolstoy
"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."- Jack London
Please Support us on Patreon
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
217
views
Tending The Heart of Virtue: Introducing The Second Edition with Vigen Guroian
About the Author
Until his retirement in 2015, Vigen Guroian was Professor of Religious Studies in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Virginia. He is now a Permanent Senior Fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, Senior Fellow at the Center on Law and Religion at Emory University, Distinguished Fellow of the John Jay Institute, and Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum. He also is on the faculty of Memoria College online and is the author of ten books including The Orthodox Reality: Culture, Theology, and Ethics in the Modern World. Dr. Guroian is also a frequent speaker at classical education conferences.
Show Notes
Adrienne and Vigen discuss the new chapters added to the second edition of Tending the Heart of Virtue which include:
The Triumph of Beauty in The Nightingale and "The Ugly Duckling"
The Goodness of Goodness: The Grimms' "Cinderella" and John Ruskin's The King of The Golden River
Obedience and The Path to Perfection in George MacDonald's The Wise Woman: A Double Story
An expanded biographical essay
Ideas that were discussed include:
Discussions for parents and teachers, about the impact from the book Tending the Hearts of Virtue.
The depth and meanings of fairy tales such as beauty and transformation, judgment, obedience, and truth.
Ways to read, listen, and allow the stories to unfold imagination and real life lessons.
Books and Resources Mentioned
Books by Vigen Guroian
Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination (the second edition)
Inheriting Paradise: Meditation on Gardening
Rallying the Really Human Things: Moral Imagination In Politics, Literature, and Everyday Life
Other Stories
"The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen
"The Nightingale" by Hans Christian Andersen
"Cinderella" by The Brothers Grimm
"The Juniper Tree" by The Brothers Grimm
The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
The Wise Woman: A Double Story by George MacDonald
"The Fantastic Imagination" by George MacDonald
The Princess and The Goblin by George MacDonald
The Little Lame Prince byDinah Maria Mulock Craik
The Victorian Fairy Tale Book by Michael Hearn
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Other authors mentioned: Charles Dickens, Homer,C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton and Greek Myths
The Second Edition of Tending the Heart of Virtue can be purchased through all major book sellers.
Paperback : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 0195384318
ISBN-13 : 978-0195384314
The Book the Vigen wishes he had read earlier in his life: The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
Adrienne's favorite book by Dr. Guroian is The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox Key
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This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC.
OUR MISSION
We exist for the benefit of both parents and teachers. Teaching is an art and teachers need opportunities to cultivate their craft. Parents need to feel confident that their children are receiving the best education possible. Therefore, our goals are to help parents make well-informed decisions about the education of their children, and to help teachers experience true joy in their vocation. We desire to bridge a large gap that currently exists between most classical schools and the parents who send their students to these schools.
OUR SERVICES
If you like our podcast, you will love our online sessions! We offer immersion sessions so you can experience classical pedagogy. A complete listing of our courses is at https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
_________________________________________________________
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic
© 2023 Beautiful Teaching, LLC. All Rights Reserved
249
views
Jason Caros on American Classical Education
About Our Guest
Jason Caros serves as the headmaster at Founders Classical Academy. He graduated from Florida State University, earning a Bachelor of Arts with concentrations in History and Religion. He also holds a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.
Mr. Caros was a high school history teacher and a district-level curriculum administrator for more than fifteen years. In 2012, he was selected by Hillsdale College's Barney Charter School Initiative and Responsive Education Solutions to serve as the first headmaster of Founders Classical Academy, a K-12 grade classical charter school in Lewisville, TX. Mr. Caros attributes the growth and success of the school to the efforts of an excellent faculty and staff, supportive parents, dedicated students, and the work of its parent organization, Responsive Ed. In addition to his headmaster duties, Mr. Caros loves to teach his high school Western Civilization I class. Mr. Caros lives in Flower Mound with his wife and children; his daughter is a Founders alumna, and his son attends Founders as a rising junior.
Show Notes
In this episode, Adrienne and Trae meet with headmaster Jason Caros to discuss the American Classical Charter School model. Founded initially as a Barney Charter School Initiative in American Classical Education, Founders Classical Academy in Lewisville, Texas, is an example of a thriving charter school. They are part of the Responsive Education Solutions (RES) charter schools community with a mission to provide education options that promote a free society with moral and academic excellence.
Mr. Caros shares stories about how a love of learning and reading paired with patriotism bring his community together. Mr. Caros describes how commencements, holiday programs, and events focused on civic virtue give shape and meaning to the life of his school.
Furthermore, Mr. Caros explores the qualities of a good teacher pertaining to the classical categories of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Mr. Caros explains how the stability of his school rests on consistency in the faculty and maintaining ongoing alumni relationships.
Some questions in this episode include:
What are the qualities of a good headmaster?
How do you foster deep conversations in pursuit of the highest good in your particular context?
What is at the heart of American Classical Education?
How do you retain teachers?
How do you support your faculty?
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode
Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
Shakespearean Plays by William Shakespeare
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
Republic by Plato
Cicero by Plutarch
The Roots of the American Order by Russell Kirk
Video: Jordan Peterson interviews Yeonmi Park
The Bill of Rights
The Constitution of the United States of America
The Restoration of Christian Culture by John Senior
Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David V. Hicks
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: SaraSant'' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
213
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S1E2 Dr. Louis Markos: The Importance of The Abolition of Man
While wrestling with the great books and great ideas, this discussion enters the realm of educating with virtues. Podcast guest, Dr. Louis Markos discusses the true, the good, and beautiful, in contrast to values and man-made culture. This podcast explores the relevance of the message in The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis for today’s parents and teachers.
Essay by Dr. Markos about Charlotte Mason:
Raising a Child According to Wordsworth and Charlotte Mason by Dr. Louis Markos
Books Discussed in This Episode Include:
Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Classical Christian Education by Ravi Jain and Kevin Clark
“The Green Book” - Actual book: The Control of Language by Alec and Martin
Restoring Beauty: The Good, The Truth. and The Beautiful in the Writings of C.S. Lewis by Louis Markos
Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis by: Michael Ward
After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man by: Michael Ward
A Christian View of Philosophy and Culture by: Frances Schaeffer
Mere Christianity by: C.S. Lewis
Tao Te Ching by: Lao-Tzu
The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes by: Louis Markos
The Golden Bowl by: Henry James
An Experiment in Criticism by: C.S. Lewis
For The Children’s Sake by: Susan Schaefer Macaulay
Consider This, Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by: Karen Glass
Louis Markos is a Professor of English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University, where he teaches courses on British Romantic and Victorian Poetry, the Greek and Roman Classics, and C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. He speaks widely for classical Christian schools and conferences and has authored 22 books, including From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics, On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis, The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes, and From Plato to Christ: How Platonic Thought Shaped the Christian Faith.
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
Copyright © 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
184
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Narration in the Classroom: A Panel Discussion
About the Guests
Four Teachers from Coram Deo Academy (CDA): A Christian, classical, and collaborative university model network with three campuses in the DFW Metroplex.
Yvette Cavender (Principal, Grammar School): Yvette Cavender began her partnership with Coram Deo Academies (CDA) as a parent in 2004, when her children were in grammar school. Soon after, she began teaching second grade, and is now the Grammar School Principal at the Flower Mound campus. She has seen the benefits of classical education play out in the lives of her own children and considers it a privilege to collaborate with others in teaching and training students under CDA’s model. Mrs. Cavender holds Bachelor’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Political Science and Economics. She is a certified teacher in the state of Texas. Yvette and her husband live in Carrollton. Their son Chapin is a computational biophysicist at UC-San Diego and their daughter Raegan is a grammar school teacher.
Kelly Whitney (4th Grade Teacher): Kelly holds a degree in Early Childhood Education from Messiah University. After teaching in the public school system for several years, Kelly stayed home with her children and began to homeschool the oldest of their 4 boys in Kindergarten. She and her family have been at CDA for 21 years now with the youngest graduating this May. She has taught at CDA for the last 14 years in both 2nd and 4th grade.
Leah Jones (3rd Grade Teacher): Leah has been a teacher for 12 years. She started in public school and then homeschooled her daughter for a year and then began teaching in a university model school in Frisco, TX. In 2016 her family made the decision to move to CDA. She has been blessed to teach third grade for four years at CDA and absolutely loves it!
Laura Monsalve (3rd Grade Teacher): Laura has been in education for 37 years and loves learning and improving in all areas of life. She has an education degree from ORU, and is a certified teacher, who also earned her Masters of Ed at TWU. She has taught in public schools, homeschooled, and currently teaches at Coram Deo Academy. She has been at CDA off and on for 19 years, teaching in the grammar school (1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades). She homeschooled her daughter through grammar school and the end of high school. She also homeschooled her son during his Logic level years. She currently teaches 3rd grade at CDA.
Show Notes
Teachers experienced surprising results when they transitioned from Bible history through facts and information, to a full liberal arts, story-based classical approach in their school. Adrienne opens by asking how narration became a formal part of the pedagogy for Coram Deo Acadmies. The Principal and three teachers define narration and describe their own experiences in the classrooms. They discuss their initial apprehensions and then their perseverance as they noticed how much the students loved it! You’ll hear about some wonderful outcomes, and how the benefits of narration carry over into every grade level.
Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode
How do you define Narration?
How were you feeling when you first began implementing narration?
What apprehensions did you have and how did you work through these?
What type of training did you have?
What happened when your students began to practice narration?
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode
Classical Me, Classical Thee by Rebekah Merkle
Know and Tell: The Art of Narration by Karen Glass
Caught Up in a Story: Fostering a Storyformed Life of Great Books and Imagination with Your Children by Sarah Clarkson
Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney
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This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC.
OUR MISSION
We exist for the benefit of both parents and teachers. Teaching is an art and teachers need opportunities to cultivate their craft. Parents need to feel confident that their children are receiving the best education possible. Therefore, our goals are to help parents make well-informed decisions about the education of their children, and to help teachers experience true joy in their vocation. We desire to bridge a large gap that currently exists between most classical schools and the parents who send their students to these schools.
Immersing both parents and teachers into the beauty of good teaching is paramount to our goals! Our formative sessions are designed to be LIVE so that you can experience classical education through participating and doing. This is what is expected in classical education. In order to mentor you well, we invite you to participate for a full classical experience. Our online sessions assume modeling, imitation, and meaningful conversation as the basis of experiencing good teaching.
OUR SERVICES
If you like our podcast, you will love our online sessions! We offer immersion sessions so you can experience classical pedagogy. A complete listing of our courses is at https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
Becoming an effective educator requires participation and doing, not merely listening to the ideals of a theory being talked about. Experiencing the labor of thinking, speaking, and asking questions is non-negotiable for a real classical experience. For this reason our courses are LIVE and not recorded. Participation is paramount to a true classical education.
Teachers and Home Educators: Grow in your craft of teaching! Do you want to know how to apply what we discuss on our podcast? Check out our affordable on-line immersion courses with master teachers. https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
Parents: Do you want to understand how to support your student in a classical school? Or, do you simply want to know more about classical education? Consider our affordable book seminars. Explore why a classical education is truly a beautiful way of learning. Our book seminars and immersion sessions can you help you make an informed choice as well as help you understand how to support your children who may attend a classical school. https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
Schools: We offer professional development for schools onsite or online. Email Adrienne at BeautifulTeaching@Gmail.com for more information.
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic
© 2023 Beautiful Teaching LLC. All Rights Reserved
194
views
Teaching Math Like Socrates: Engaging Students as Mathematicians
About our Guests
Kevin Moore is an experienced educator of young learners as well as a respected instructional leader. Presently, Kevin's attention and energies are consumed by two ventures of which he is a Co-Founder, Long-View Micro-School and The Number Lab. Long-View Micro School is a STEM focused, highly innovative, learner-centered educational environment thoughtfully designed for upper elementary and middle-school-aged learners. Through his work at Long-View, Kevin is committed to impacting the educational landscape locally by adding to the diversity of schooling options for families in Austin Texas. In his work with The Number Lab, Kevin helps to design and facilitate professional development seminars for teachers who provide mathematics instruction to young learners. These seminars are meant to help teachers strengthen their own conceptual understandings of mathematics and inspire a culture of learning in their classrooms that engages learners as mathematicians. Kevin’s work with The Number Lab connects him with educators throughout the United States and beyond.
Kaylie White is an experienced educator at Long-View Learning, where she strives to transform mathematics education by working with both young learners and educators from across the country. Kaylie designs and leads learning experiences for young mathematicians at Long-View Micro School — a STEM-focused, highly innovative, learner-centered educational environment designed for upper elementary and middle-school-aged learners. Through Long-View’s teacher-facing work, Kaylie creates and facilitates professional development for teachers, including in-person workshops, Field Study Days at Long-View Micro School, and virtual coaching. She also leads the social media marketing for Long-View Learning. Kaylie is a bold, creative, and passionate educator who sees herself as a learner first. She eagerly works to collaborate with her team to continuously iterate and improve the learning experience for all. When she is not teaching and learning, Kaylie enjoys time with her husband and one-year-old son in Austin, Texas where they cook, hike, read, play soccer, and cheer on Austin FC.
Follow their work:
Instagram: long_view_learning
School’s instagram: long_view_atx
Website: long-view.com
Professional Development from The Number Lab (Long-View Team)
Find Support from the team at
https://www.long-view-learning.com/
Show Notes
Adrienne and Trae interview two master teachers in mathematics from Long- View Micro School in Austin, Texas. While Long-View is a progressive school, they have discovered the truth of dialectis in the classroom. While they do not formally consider their methods as classical, and their terminology may be different than common terms in classical education, they truly embrace the art teaching math dialectically.
Teaching math is not about state standards or facts and formulas to memorize, but rather it is a discipline that is engaging, interesting, and helps students learn thinking and communication skills which are common to the goals of classical education.
Some topics in this episode include:
The high abilities of children to wrestle with big ideas and participate in deep and meaningful work
The importance of a healthy community of learners with teachers as facilitators who will challenge and mediate students through meaningful ideas
Children need opportunities to grapple with complex ideas so that they can learn the art of dialectics (Longview school is not classical and does not call it the art of dialectics, but that is inadvertently what is being discussed).
Real understanding emerges from the messiness of learning how to be precise with good language, with communication, and with tapping into creative ways of solving problems.
Setting a school culture where learning is a process that everyone does together.
.
Books & Resources In This Episode
A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form by Paul Lockhart and Keith Devlin
Visilbe Learning by John Hattie
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Learner-Centered Teaching by Maryellen Weimer
Please Support us on Patreon
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
165
views
Dr. Reno Lauro on Tolkien’s View of Education & Why it is Important for Classical Education
About our Guest
Dr. Reno Lauro received his PhD from the University of St. Andrews Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts in 2011, where he wrote on J. R. R. Tolkien’s philosophy of Mythopoeia. For the past 10 years, he has worked at the intersection of Humane and Digital learning.After completing his degrees, Theology (MDiv) and History (BA), Reno apprenticed for 18 months on the Palme d’Or winning film The Tree of Life with director Terrence Malick, which transformed his understanding of the Classics, the modern world, and how to communicate the relationship between the two.
He has taught at the graduate and undergraduate level as well as in both Lower and Upper School classrooms of Classical Schools. Most recently, Reno has served as the Assistant Headmaster at St. Peter’s Classical School in Fort Worth, TX and of a Great Hearts Archway School and also worked closely with the CEO of the globally recognized BASIS.ed charter schools to create and pilot seminar-style history courses as alternatives to AP classes.
Reno resides in Ft. Worth, Texas with his wife and 4 gloriously active young boys. He is passionate about philosophy, history, and beautiful teaching. He currently works as a Classical Pedagogy and Curriculum Specialist for Coram Deo Academies in DFW. He also is an active consultant for Beautiful Teaching: Consulting in Classical Education Philosophy & Pedagogy.
His 2 Bonus Podcast Episodes can be downloaded from our Patreon Page here.
Show Notes
We discuss Tolkien’s view of education through the lens of cosmology, anthropology, and story. Reno discusses the theological implications between language and story and how this view ties to the recovery of Christian classical education. Philology is the foundation of the humane letters and there is more to learning than the seeking and the mining of literature in an academic way. This “lifeless” and “dull” style of the university in Tolkien’s Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford, points to a larger anthropological view of education. This leads us to think of education as a living, breathing, and whole that is multi-faceted and varied.
In this world of machines, we need to recover the fullness of human life.
Key Text:
We discussed at great length from The Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford refers to J.R.R. Tolkien's retirement speech from the University of Oxford, delivered on 5 June 1959. The valedictory speech is included in J.R.R. Tolkien, Scholar and Storyteller: Essays in Memoriam. Another draft was published in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (1983).
Some topics in this episode include:
What was Tolkien's struggle with his peers at The University and how does it show us his philosophy of education?
Tolkien as a Dante for the technocratic age
Encountering education as a living, breathing, whole within the cosmos
The medieval view of education
What was Tokien’s relationship with the cosmos and trees and how does this influence his view of learning?
Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode
The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Their Friends by Humphrey Carpenter (chapters 2-3)
Secret Fire: The Spiritual Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien by Stratford Caldecott
Mythopoeia by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis
The valedictory speech is included in J.R.R. Tolkien, Scholar and Storyteller: Essays in Memoriam. Another draft was published in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (1983).
Reno's quote at end of podcast:
Hail Earendel, brightest of angels,
Sent to men over middle-earth,
And true radiance of the sun,
Fine beyond stars, you always illuminate,...
Source:
Christ I poem from Anglo-Saxon advent liturgy
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
149
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Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson: Bringing Parents, Teachers, and Churches Together in Classical Education
About our Guest
Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas. She is the author of numerous books, including The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, published in 2022 by Brazos Press. Her book, Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov, received a 2018 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in the Culture & the Arts.
Award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson explains that learning to hear the call of holiness requires cultivating a new imagination--one rooted in the act of reading. Learning to read with eyes attuned to the saints who populate great works of literature moves us toward holiness, where God opens up a way of living that extends far beyond what we can conjure for ourselves. Literature has the power to show us what a holy life looks like, and these depictions often scandalize even as they shape our imagination. As such, careful reading becomes a sort of countercultural spiritual discipline.
To hear about Jessica’s newest book, Scandal of Holiness, here is a recorded lecture at Union University.
Show Notes
This lively and often deeply contemplative conversation with guest Jessica Hooten Wilson offers not only reasons for choosing Classical Education, but also simple and easy ways to support sanctity and truth in the joy of raising families. Here is support for the choices you make and how to replace that which infringes upon those choices.
Some questions in this episode include:
What is education for?
Why is sainthood something that has captivated your imagination?
Walk us through your blog essay: Awakening from Digital Slumbers
What does it mean to remember, and how do we embrace the importance of memory?
How can the church help families?
Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangrin, Jr.
Memento Mori by Muriel Spari
The Family & The New Totalitarianism by Michael D. O'Brien, Introduction by J.H. Wilson
The Diary of a Country Priest by George Bernanos
“Summer’s Harvest” poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins
“Awakening from Digital Slumbers” (an online essay by Jessica)
Documentary: The Social Dilemma
Giving the Devil His Due: Flannery O’Connor and the Brothers Karamazov by: J.H. Wilson
The Scandal of Holiness, Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints by J.H. Wilson
Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, Co-Editor J.H. Wilson
Learning the Good Life from the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before by J.H. Wilson
“Mike Teavee” poem by Ronald Dahl
Books by Wendell Berry
“Allegory of the Cave” or “Plato’s Cave” by Plato
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (Jessica mentioned Well-Read Mom reading in May, 2022)
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
Copyright © 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
159
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Neoclassical vs. Classical Education with Kiernan Fiore
About Our Guest
Kiernan Fiore has worked as a teacher, administrator, teacher trainer, and curriculum developer since 2011. After receiving a Charlotte Mason classical home education, she earned a BA in English (summa cum laude) from Hillsdale College and an MA in English (Merit) from King's College, London. She is certified in 4-8th Grade ELAR and Social Studies in Texas. She began her teaching career at a private Charlotte Mason school and since then has worked in private, charter, and virtual schools to promote the benefits of classical education. Currently, she works as a freelance consultant for Beautiful Teaching and writes for the City of Ladies newsletter.
Show Notes
In this episode, Adrienne and Trae enter into a critique of neoclassical education, joined by Kiernan Fiore. Together, they consider how educators in the renewal of classical education can reflect on how the wholesale adoption and systematizing of one Dorthy Sayers essay has led to critical departures from the tradition.
In this conversation, we claim that Charlotte Mason affirmed and restored person-honoring principles and practices from the classical tradition in her time. We also point out that neoclassical education in practice tends to suffer from a pragmatism inherited from progressive philosophies of education. Finally, Kiernan paints a beautiful picture of the proper relationship between systematic lesson planning and teaching in the spirit of classical education.
Some topics and ideas in this episode include:
Classical vs. Neoclassical
Classical Education Appropriate for Our Time
State and Societal Pressures on Parents and Teachers
Teaching Classically in a Nonclassical School
The Christian baptism of classical education
Neoclassical vs. Classical Narration
Systems vs. Conversations within Relationships
Narration as Assessment or Art?
Lesson Planning in the Spirit of Classical Education
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode
“The Lost Tools of Learning” by Dorthy Sayers
Jason Barney on Charlotte Mason, Modern Science, and The Classical Tradition
“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost
Beautiful Teaching Online Courses
Kiernan’s Favorite Quote:
"Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life."
- Charlotte Mason’s Parents' National Educational Union motto
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
150
views
Homeschooling with Amy Sloan from Humility and Doxology
About our Guest
Amy Sloan and her husband John are 2nd-generation homeschoolers to 5 children from 7 to 17 years old. The Sloan family adventures together in NC where they pursue a restfully-classical education. If you hang out with Amy for any length of time you’ll quickly learn that she loves overflowing book stacks, giant mugs of coffee, beautiful memory work, and silly memes. At any moment she could break into song and dance from Hamilton, 90s country music, or Shakespeare. Amy writes at HumilityandDoxology.com and hosts the “Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology” podcast.
Follow Amy on her website Humility & Doxology and her podcast Homeschool Conversations.
Show Notes
Adrienne interviews Amy and discusses the ins and outs of homeschooling. Amy shares her experience as a second generation homeschooler. She discusses how classical education shaped her life as a student and now as a homeschool mom. Many golden nuggets of wisdom are shared between Adrienne and Amy as they explain the common experiencs typical in the life of a homeschooler. Listen and be encouraged not to give up or to seriously consider homeschooling as a solid educational choice for your family.
Some topics in this episode include:
The hard realities in homeschooling
Prioritizing sibling frienships in a homeschool
The common stresses in most homeschools
Cultivating integrative learning: being purposeful to connect all the subjects
The Christian classical idea of teaching with a spirit of humility
Amy discusses the end goals to help answer the question, "why should I homeschool?".
How to consider outsourcing needs and options as a homeschool
Books & Resources In This Episode
Missy Andrew's memoir, My Divine Comedy
The Liberal Arts Tradition by Clark and Jain
Better Together by Pam Barnhill
Teaching From Rest by Sarah MacKenzie
For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Mcaulay
Podcasts from Homeschool Conversations mentioned in this episode as most helpful for getting started in homeschooling:
Dr. George Grant interview
Ann Karako Interview
Jami Marstall interview
Pam Barnill and Heather Tully interview
Karen Glass Interview
Adrienne Freas Interview
Cindy Rollins Interview
Curriculum Mentioned:
Sonlight Curriculum
AmblesideOnline Curriculum
Saxon Math
Math-U-See
RightStart Math
The quote that Amy shared:
"What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth. This has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert, himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt, the divine reason. Huxley preached a humility content to learn from nature, but the new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. Thus, we should be wrong if we had said hastily that there is no humility typical of our time. The truth is there is a real humility typical of our time, but it so happens that it is practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest protrations of the aesthetic. The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping, not a nail in his boot that prevented him from going on. For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether."
- G.K. Chesteron, Orthodoxy (ch. 3)
Please Support us on Patreon
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
105
views
Jason Barney on Charlotte Mason, Modern Science, and The Classical Tradition
About our Guest
Mr. Barney 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, receiving The Tenney Award in New Testament Studies. Before coming into his current position, Jason served as the Academic Dean at Clapham School, a classical Christian school in Wheaton, IL. 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 regularly speaks at events and conferences, including SCL, ACCS, and the CiRCE Institute. He has published A Classical Guide to Narration with the CiRCE Institute and A Short History of Narration through Educational Renaissance, where he blogs regularly on ancient wisdom for the modern era.
Show Notes
Jason Barney places Charlotte Mason squarely within the classical tradition. In this conversation, Jason points to multiple attestations within the classical tradition and contemporary science that demonstrate that Mason was on to something right in her philosophy and practices.
In our conversation, Jason lays out some of the problems with the modern factory education model. He explains how the art of narration fosters what contemporary scientists call "durable learning" or deep and lasting knowledge retention. Jason also takes on Bloom's Taxonomy and explains how it risks enshrining the teacher in modernism when they would be better served reading The Abolition of Man.
Some topics in this episode include:
Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition
Modern Education Movements: Ruseau, Pestalozzi, John Lock, Monstasori
Lessons from Contemporary Psychology and Neuroscience
Narration, Retrieval Practice, and Durable Learning
Practicing Narration in the Classroom
Why Students Can't recall What They Just Read/Heard
Problems With the Factory Model of Education
Narration Leading to Good Conversations
Problems with Blooms Taxonomy
Making Time to Read
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode
A Short History of Narration
A Classical Guide to Narration
Educational Renaissance on Charlotte Mason
Bonus Podcast
Jason and I continued our conversation and talked in-depth about one of his favorite books for teachers, Teach Like A Champion by Doug Lemov. If you want to listen to that conversation, please support us on Patreon.
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
108
views
Parent and Headmaster, John Heitzenrater on Raising Virtuous Children
About our Guest
John W. Heitzenrater II has nearly 17 years teaching and administrative experience in classical schools. Mr. Heitzenrater began his career teaching history and humanities at the Lady Margaret Roper School and St. Peter’s Orthodox Classical School in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2015, he joined Responsive Education Solutions and served as a founding headmaster, Director of K-12 History, Regional Director under the superintendent, and most recently as headmaster of the second largest Responsive Ed school with a student enrollment of approximately 915 students.
Mr. Heitzenrater received his A.B. magna cum laude from the College of St. Thomas More where he studied literature, philosophy, theology, classical languages, and history. In graduate school he attended the University of Dallas where he received his Master of Humanities with a concentration in history in 2016. He brings a love for student excellence, a passion for classical education, and a quest for virtue, and wisdom to students and families. He and his wife Christina have 11 children, seven girls and four boys, many of whom attend Saint John Chrysostom Academy in Pennsylvania.
Show Notes
Trae and Adrienne interview John Heitzenrater, father of 11 and classical school headmaster on raising virtuous children. In this candid discussion, John shares his experiences and stories as a parent and headmaster. From discipline in a school to helping parents in the upbringing of virtuous children, this episode is rich with anecdotes and carries a spirit of humility throughout the show. John talks about the importance of headmasters partnering with parents regarding what is best for a child. We have a moral responsibility to bring up children in virtue, and the principles in classical education dictate how we behave and treat other people.
Some topics in this episode include:
“Having children is a matter of nature; but raising them and educating them in the virtues is a matter of mind and will. “ - St John Chyrsostom
How has this quote shaped you as a headmaster?
How are principles in classical education different from a progressive education?
Creating a home that is working within the principles of a classical education
How technology affects the hearts and minds of families
Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode
St John Chrysostom: Vainglory and the Right Way for Parents to Bring Up Their Children
Ideas Have Consequences by Richard M. Weaver
Hold On To Your Kids Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by: Gordon Neufeld
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
72
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S1E1: Introduction to Classical Education Podcast- Trae and Adrienne discuss the Great Conversation
Meet Trae and Adrienne and hear them discuss the goals for the podcast. The focus on the Great Conversation encompasses the art of teaching and learning. They give an overview of the art of asking questions, engaging in the Great Conversation, and the importance of well-ordered teaching and learning.
Books Discussed in This Episode Include:
Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education, by David Hicks
The Great Books of The Western World
John's Senior's 1,000 Good Books List
Aesop's Fables
Beatrix Potter stories
Plutarch's Lives
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, translated by Katherine Woods
The Death of Christian Culture, by John Senior ( has 1,000 Good Books List)
The Restoration of Christian Culture, by John Senior
A Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), by Charlotte Mason
Home Education (Volume 1), by Charlotte Mason
Ourselves (Volume 4), by Charlotte Mason
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
124
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S1E3 Chris Hall: Common Arts Education
What are the common arts? How do they relate to a classical education? How do we bring up the whole human being, thriving in wonders of life and right ordered relationships? Join us as we discuss the search for balance and bolster both common arts and liberal arts in education. We encourage discoveries and provide examples and ways of instruction that proceed outside the boundaries of paper assignments.
Chris Hall is the founder of Always Learning Education, an organization dedicated to teaching, learning, and propagating the common arts. Chris has a BA in philosophy and an MAT in elementary education. He has been a classroom educator and administrator for 25 years, having served in public, independent, and classical schools. Along with his professional pedigree, he is a lifelong practitioner of several of the common arts profiled in his book. He lives on a small, homesteaded farm in central Virginia with his wife and three homeschooled sons. On this episode, we will specifically be discussing his book called The Common Arts Education: Renewing the Classical Tradition of Training the Hands, Head, and Heart.
Don't miss our BONUS 30 minute podcast for Patreon Supporters this month! Chris Hall shares a few of his favorite poems and discusses poetry for science lessons! This exclusive episode will inspire you in the delightfulness of incorporating poetry and stories into science lessons.
Books Mentioned In This Episode
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
Common Arts Education: Renewing the Classical Tradition of Training the Hands, Head, and Heart by Christopher Hall
The Didascalicon of Hugh of Saint Victor: A Guide to the Arts by Hugh of Saint-Victor
The Odyssey by Homer
The Bible
A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
A New Natural Philosophy: Recovering a Natural Science and Christian Pedagogy by Ravi Scott Jain, Robbi Andreasen, Chris Hall
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
1984 by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The New Atlantis by Francis Bacon
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
Copyright © 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
84
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3
comments
Soren Schwab: The Ethos, Pathos and Logos in Forming a New Model of Testing
About our Guest
Soren Schwab, M.Ed is a passionate educator with a decade of experience in K-12 education. Born and raised in Germany, Soren moved to the US in the late 2000’s to pursue his literature and theology studies. He earned a B.A. in English from Hillsdale College and an M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction from Colorado Christian University. For many years, Soren led the English Department at The Vanguard School, a classical charter school in Colorado Springs. He joined CLT in 2018 and currently serves as the Vice President of Partnerships. Soren and his wife Paula live in Annapolis, MD where they enjoy kayaking, hiking, and rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles.
CLT Resource: https://www.cltexam.com/
Show Notes
The Ethos, Pathos and Logos in Forming a New Model of Testing
Rather than teach to test, creating “testing fatigue”, the classical movement has ideas for making the content matter. Consider a new and helpful tool for Classical renewal.
In this podcast, Soren Schwab discusses (CLT) Classical Learning Test, with Adrienne and Trae as they voice the many known questions and concerns about testing. Studies have proven that make the case for better content. There is a disconnect between evaluating a student’s achievement of test content, and a real aptitude by students who reason through a problem. Here, we explore something less exhausting than testing for days.
Some topics in this episode include:
Here is a common question: How do we deal with tests?
How can content help change the outcome?
Is it a popular need to look for learning gaps in students?
Why not test prep?
How do we address the big question about aptitude vs. achievement ?
Colleges and Universities that accept the CLT:
https://www.cltexam.com/colleges/
Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode
Soren's favorite quote originally in German: "Tradition ist nicht das Halten der Asche, sondern das Weitergeben der Flamme" - ein berühmtes Zitat, geprägt von Thomas Morus (1478-1535).
The Gutav Mahler paraphrase "Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire"
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Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
46
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Karen Glass On The Art of Asking Questions
About our Guest
Karen Glass is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline. She has four children, ages 13 to 27, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods from beginning to end. Karen has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years and has written the popular books Consider This: Charlotte Mason and The Classical Tradition and Know and Tell: The Art of Narration. Her newest book, In Vital Harmony, is a seminal work for anyone wanting to discover the beauty of humane education in keeping with the spirit and the tradition of classical education.
Online Consulting and Courses with Karen
Karen also serves as a consultant for our podcast support team, Beautiful Teaching: Consulting in Classical Education.
She leads a book study for our listeners through our online sessions. More is coming soon! Click here to Subscribe to our newsletter so you can receive up-to-date information about more sessions Karen will be leading in the near future.
Show Notes
How we posture ourselves as questioners or learners matters. As an example, Karen points to the serpent in the Garden with Eve and then God's response and what we can learn from these kinds of stories. We also discuss maieutic questioning and the role it plays in coaching students well. There are many problems with reading comprehension questions and how they interfere with natural connections between author and reader.
At the heart of questions, we must begin with two questions: "What is a person?" and "What is education?"
Some topics in this episode include:
Sometimes, the question is more important than the answer. What happens to an answer when the right question does not precede it?
What are Socratic questions, and what are common mistakes with Socratic questions?
How questions create a mental posture
How does the relationship between question and answer influence the relationship between student and teacher?
What is a person, and what is education?
What kind of curriculum should I buy for homeschooling?
What is a philosophy of education?
What is the relationship between caring and asking questions?
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode
Plato's Dialogues
Theaetetus
Charlotte Mason Exam Questions
A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason
The Bible
Favorite Quotes
Medieval Philosophy: Selections from Modern Library Collection a quote from Hugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon
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Joshua Gibbs: Teaching from a Spirit of Love, Helping Students Care
About our Guest
Joshua Gibbs is a teacher, a lecturer on pedagogy and great books, and the author of several books that are listed in the show notes. For the last twelve years, Gibbs has taught classic literature in Christian schools and earned acclaim for his writing. He has been a frequent speaker at several excellent classical conferences and published for many respectable classical education resources. His work can be explored on his website https://www.gibbsclassical.com/
We also encourage you to register for his 2022 Summer Conference.
Show Notes
Josh discusses how to engage students with voices from the past and how to shape their affections through delighting in common things. He asks, "How do we teach a book so that a student wants to read it again?" As a teacher, it is our duty to step out of the way and let the author speak and pass on our delight in hearing voices from the past. This is how we help students fall in love with books. We want to instill a love for the right things. We need to capture the hearts of students so that they care.
Some practical questions in this episode include:
What are the goals of a classical teacher vs. a non-classical teacher?
What types of goals ought we set and how do we go about teaching in a way that matches our goals?
How do we teach a book so that students will want to read it again?
How do we develop a taste for good things?
These questions help us to wrestle with the idea that all education ought to be first and primarily about ordering our souls with love as the primary goal. If we set education goals too lofty or create goals that are too shallow, what are we telling our children? The goal of education is to help students care. Josh ascertains how a teacher can help students care about what they are learning.
Books Mentioned In This Episode
Something They Will Not Forget by Joshua Gibbs
How to be Unlucky by Joshua Gibbs
Love What Lasts by Joshua Gibbs
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Demien by Hermann Hesse
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Iliad by Homer
Paradise Lost by Milton
The Divine Comedy by Dante
Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Great Expectations by Dickens
_________________________________
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
Copyright © 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
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Sean Johnson on The Classical Life with Family, Food, and Film
About our Guest
Sean Johnson holds an M.A. in English from the University of Dallas, and he teaches Great Books at Veritas School in Richmond, Virginia. Sean has reviewed movies for FilmFisher.com, and is a frequent contributor to The Circe Institute’s blog and print journal FORMA. As you notice in this interview, Sean loves family, food, and film. After the show, consider listening to Sean Johnson’s talk “The Devil Loves a Picky Eater.”
Show Notes
In this episode, Sean Johnson and Trae Bailey converse on the proper relationship between family, food, and film in the classical classroom and home. Here Sean suggests movies for the whole family, what to cook with your kids, and how to deal with picky eaters.
Some topics in this episode include:
Our cultivated culture of pickiness
How the kitchen can inform the classroom
The difficult roles of teachers and parents
Narration in the home
Reviewing Films and Praising Well
Graham Greene’s novels and screenplays
Lectio Divina
Alcohol and Drinking Culture
How to watch movies with your family
The proper place for the television in the home
Sean’s film recommendations
Books & Resources Mentioned In This Episode
FORMA Journal
The Republic, Socrates
The Supper of The Lamb: A Culinary Reflection, Farrar Capon
The Third Man, Graham Greene
Our Man in Havana, Graham, Greene
High Noon
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Charlie Chaplin Movies
WALL-E
Ratatouille
The Incredibles
Sean’s Favorite Book & Quote:
Beauty for Truth’s Sake, Stratford Caldecott
“Is he enough of a pagan to die for the world, and enough of a Christian to die to it?” - G.K.Chesterton, Orthodoxy
_______________________________
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
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Dr. Gary Hartenburg on Aristotelian Education: Discussions on Virtue and Leisure
About our Guest
Gary Hartenburg holds a BA in Bible and theology from Moody Bible Institute, an MA in philosophy of religion and ethics from Biola University, and a PhD in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. He is an associate professor or philosophy at Houston Baptist University, where he also serves as the director of the HBU Honors College, a liberal arts program for undergraduates to read, discuss, and write about great works of Western civilization. He resides with his family in the suburbs of Houston, Texas.
His most recent publication is Aristotle: Education for Virtue and Leisure published by Classical Adademic Press.
Show Notes
We invited Gary to discuss his new book. In keeping with one of our Classical Education podcast goals, "to inspire educators and parents to offer an education done well, influencing children to choose a life of virtue" Dr. Gary Hartenburg will inspire you! He explains that choices are not all equal in using time well and elaborates that to be ready and able to use time well, one must be “doing a lot of philosophy and music."
He also explains the Aristotelian concept of “Phronesis” in contrast to “Sophia”, which is described as “practical vs theoretical.” To accomplish wisdom and theological contemplation, we must design an education that enables students to use their leisure time well. Reaching the highest end is philosophy and contemplation of the best things, with attention equally on all of the virtues of character. Each of four Aristotelian virtues: courage, moderation, justice, and wisdom must be equally considered in a classical education. Students attain these virtue by "doing" and through the formation of good habits.
Some topics in this episode include:
How does leisure, as described by Aristotle, influence virtue?
What is it to be happy and spend leisure time well?
Will you explain phronesis and how it undergirds an Aristotelian Education?
What would Aristotle say if he could speak through teachers to students?
What do you think Aristotle would say about a common current approach to leisure and what would he say about the way we approach ethics in our schools?
Books & Titles Mentioned In This Episode
Aristotelian Education for Virtue and Leisure by Dr. Gary Hartenburg
Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle
The Republic by Plato
_________________________________
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
© 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
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Karen Glass On The Art of Asking Questions
About our Guest
Karen Glass is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline. She has four children, ages 13 to 27, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods from beginning to end. Karen has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years and has written the popular books Consider This: Charlotte Mason and The Classical Tradition and Know and Tell: The Art of Narration. Her newest book, In Vital Harmony, is a seminal work for anyone wanting to discover the beauty of humane education in keeping with the spirit and the tradition of classical education.
Online Consulting and Courses with Karen
Karen also serves as a consultant for our podcast support team, Beautiful Teaching: Consulting in Classical Education.
She leads a book study for our listeners through our online sessions. More is coming soon! Click here to Subscribe to our newsletter so you can receive up-to-date information about more sessions Karen will be leading in the near future.
Show Notes
How we posture ourselves as questioners or learners matters. As an example, Karen points to the serpent in the Garden with Eve and then God's response and what we can learn from these kinds of stories. We also discuss maieutic questioning and the role it plays in coaching students well. There are many problems with reading comprehension questions and how they interfere with natural connections between author and reader.
At the heart of questions, we must begin with two questions: "What is a person?" and "What is education?"
Some topics in this episode include:
Sometimes, the question is more important than the answer. What happens to an answer when the right question does not precede it?
What are Socratic questions, and what are common mistakes with Socratic questions?
How questions create a mental posture
How does the relationship between question and answer influence the relationship between student and teacher?
What is a person, and what is education?
What kind of curriculum should I buy for homeschooling?
What is a philosophy of education?
What is the relationship between caring and asking questions?
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode
Plato's Dialogues
Theaetetus
Charlotte Mason Exam Questions
A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason
The Bible
Favorite Quotes
Medieval Philosophy: Selections from Modern Library Collection a quote from Hugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon
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views
Ben and Eden Lyda: Children Delighting in Shakespeare
Show Notes
Something delightful is happening! Ben and Eden Lyda show the way to capture the heart of stories through Shakespeare plays. Ben, founder of Children’s Shakespeare Academy, along with his articulate teenage daughter Eden, delightfully spread a contagious love of Shakespeare and drama through this bedrock of English language. Hear how virtues win and are learned in a concrete and refreshing way.
Eden will invite you into the enchantment of joyful learning. Ben will encourage you to believe that children have a capacity for much, especially if you establish a wonder-filled atmosphere.
Books Mentioned In This Episode
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit
Tales from Shakespeare by Mary and Charles Lamb
Retelling of Shakespeare stories by Bruce Covell
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
The Odyssey by Homer
Plays by William Shakespeare Mentioned in This Episode
Julius Caesar 1599
A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1600
The Tempest 1611
The Taming of the Shrew 1594
Macbeth 1623
Much Ado About Nothing 1623
Hamlet 1603
For understanding the over-all definition of Reader's Theatre, Ben recommends this as a non-classical, informative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1mStaaIxA0
Credits:
Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel
Logo Art: Anastasiya CF
Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo
Copyright © 2022 Beautiful Teaching. All Rights Reserved
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