Kolbecast

AMDG. Most people listen to podcasts like ours on their cell phones or other portable electronics, but how many of us actually know and appreciate how the devices in our pockets work?  Today, Kolbe dad and ham radio operator Chris Ranck joins Bonnie and Steven to talk about the geography, cross-generational communication, math, science, abstract concepts, and practical applications involved in the...

AMDG.  Pope Saint John Paul II was simultaneously a visionary and a devoutly orthodox leader (among many other saintly attributes), and a university bearing his name has a lot to draw inspiration from in his example.  Today students at John Paul the Great Catholic University join us to share their experience of their education and formation.  Students Bailey and Alan (a Kolbe alum) discuss the uni...

AMDG.  Kolbe students form connections and community through online interactions. While many of these interactions happen through online classes, extracurricular activities are rich in opportunity for friendship and formation as well.  Today, student leaders from two online groups—the Spiritual Life Club and the Kolbe News Show—and some of their instructors and mentors join the Kolbecast to descri...

AMDG.  Voice of experience and wisdom Danielle Bean joins the Kolbecast today to share insights from her path.  From being a self-described reluctant homeschool to describing homeschooling as the biggest, best, and hardest thing she’s ever done, Danielle describes the changing seasons of life that come with parenthood.  She, Bonnie, and Steven reflect on building a family culture, teaching by exam...

AMDG.  Author, mother, and gracious example of hospitality Emily Stimpson Chapman joins us today. Emily has written on topics from encyclicals and Theology of the Body to good food and good socializing, and our conversation covers a little of everything: living in a way that deeply reverences the dignity of the human person, opening our homes to welcome people in, how it's in saying no to things t...

AMDG. In this replay of a conversation from April 2021, Bonnie and her sister Hope visit with Dr. Don Prudlo to discuss the specifics of college visits and college transition. We talk about how to look under a college’s hood, so to speak, beyond what admissions counselors pitch, as well as a few things to consider when discerning what size and type of school is best for individual students. Dr. Pr...

AMDG.  Join us on a virtual college visit today to The Collegium , a unique Catholic college in Hagerstown, Maryland, with Dean of Students William Stover.  He shares how the Collegium and its innovative model provide a small, newly-opened liberal arts program grounded in the Catholic tradition and providing both education and formation. He also discusses the integration of spiritual, academic, an...

AMDG.  It's never too early to think about what life after Kolbe looks like.  Today, Kimberly Farley—director of homeschool partnerships for the Classic Learning Test —joins Bonnie and Steven with her background in homeschooling and her expertise in college preparation.  They discuss easing stress levels when approaching college prep, constructive understandings of standardized testing, and how to...

AMDG.  Teaching students responsible ways to use the internet is more important now than ever.   Today Kolbe’s chief academic officer Megan Lengyel and her husband Craig, a cybersecurity specialist for some of the world’s largest tech companies, visit with the Kolbecast team about computer safety.  Craig describes how prevention and education are key, emphasizes the importance of ongoing conversat...

AMDG.  Kolbe academic advisors and homeschooling mothers Krysten Pizzurro, Karen Allgood, and Erica Treat are back in this episode to continue the conversation started last week on their insights about the day-to-day of homeschooling reality.  In this episode, they answer listener questions about the challenges and joys of having frequent family togetherness.  They touch on how to keep school days...

AMDG. Kolbe academic advisors and homeschooling mothers Krysten Pizzurro, Karen Allgood, and Erica Treat had so much wisdom to share that we turned our conversation into a two-parter of episodes.  In the first half, they talk about how Kolbe’s academic advising department is here for the duration to accompany families and what that looks like on a day-to-day basis.  The ladies share their experien...

AMDG.  Today Msgr. James Shea, President of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, joins Bonnie and Steven to discuss the transition to adulthood and the beginning of life’s adventures that transition brings.  Msgr. Shea talks about the ambient culture, the modern mind’s romance with utopias, and the good news that this is an age where Kolbe families can shine.  He also describes the ap...

AMDG.  The Church recognizes a turning point for young ones around the age of seven as children begin to reason.  In our school structure, age seven roughly corresponds to second grade—a watershed year in its own right and a bridge to new worlds of comprehension and formation. Today, Nicole O’Connor, Colleen Goodwin, and Marissa Piñón visit with Bonnie and Steven about the mixture of enthusiasm an...

AMDG. Voice of experience and mother of eight children ages 12 to 26, Michele Resuta, joins the Kolbecast today to share some of the wisdom she’s developed through 21 years of homeschooling with Kolbe.  The conversation covers everything from practicalities like bulk cooking and daily Mass to big questions of building strong foundations and the value of responsible stewardship.  Michele talks abou...

AMDG. In this replay of a conversation from April 2021, Jordan and Bonnie visit with Jeremy Tate, president of the Classic Learning Test . He explains how high-stakes tests drive and dictate academic focus in America, how he decided to go up against the behemoth that is the College Board in designing a different kind of college admission test, and how he’s challenged the societal status quo that e...

AMDG. While the universality of the Church is beautiful, its immediacy is just as profound. Today Tom and Noëlle Crowe of the American Catholic History podcast join us to share how we don’t need to cross an ocean to find people who did amazing things for Christ. They describe the breadth and depth of amazing Catholic individuals in this country, highlight contributions of Catholics to American his...

AMDG.  Everett Buyarski and Chrissy Almanzar are familiar voices to anyone who’s called Kolbe or listened to the podcast.  Today they share a more personal side of themselves, though: their stories of conversion and being led toward grace and the Catholic Church.  With candidness and wisdom, Everett, Chrissy, Steven, and Bonnie discuss how their experiences of faith have led them to progress from...

AMDG. Science facilitates wholeness and the abundant life God wants for us, but it also prompts a lot of questions—everything from how to teach complex concepts in homeschooling to how to approach ongoing national discussions on the beginning and end of life.  We delve into these dynamics today with Dr. Andrew Mullally, a second-generation physician, first-generation homeschool alumnus, current ho...

AMDG.  Jordan Almanzar is familiar to podcast listeners as a voice of experience related to podcast hosting, teaching, and public relations, but today we get to hear a different side of him: Jordan as scholar.  He discusses some of his recent and not-so-recent writings with Bonnie and Steven, including reflections inspired by marginalia in his Latin books and the contrast between classical brutali...

AMDG.  Kolbe offers an array of options for types of learning: fully homeschool, fully online, and two in-the-middle offerings called self-paced and self-paced plus.  We focus on those middle options today with Chrissy Almanzar and Everett Buyarski.  What is a self-paced online course?  What’s the “plus” in self-paced plus?  How do both options help take a load off parents, increase engagement for...

AMDG.  Kolbe’s Executive Director Mary Rowles visits with Bonnie and Steven today about Kolbe's origins, evolution, and outlook.  As she describes how Kolbe has grown from a family business and apostolate and its response to rise in demand during the pandemic, Mary’s openness to service is clear—as is her innate leadership, with a tone that brings out the best in people and an emphasis on putting...

AMDG.  Homeschool conventions offer the opportunity for curriculum providers to take their shows on the road, but this week we’ve brought the show to you.  Listen to this year’s convention finale for insights, updates, and wisdom from Megan Lengyel, Everett Buyarski, Nicole O’Connor, Chrissy Almanzar, Tony Guzzaldo, and Maggie Hayden.  The discussion includes the various enrollment options Kolbe o...

AMDG.  The great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself begins from a place of loving yourself well.  Today Everett Buyarski, Elizabeth Hoxie, and Therese Prudlo introduce the Ignatian education tenet of “cura personalis” or “care of the whole person”—a pragmatic yet profound discipline that forms students into the men and women they are designed to be.  The group discusses how repetition,...

AMDG.  If we made a list of FAQs about the Kolbe curriculum, the top question would likely be why Kolbe begins high school with Greek history, literature, and philosophy.  Today’s episode explores that question through a roundtable discussion with some of our resident experts: Kolbe history chair Therese Prudlo, philosophy professor Dr. Don Prudlo, former college philosophy professor and current K...

AMDG.  The universal call to holiness is a call to excellence in every person’s given state of life, but it can be daunting to take this abstract commission and live it out in a practical and fun way.  Catholic mindset coaches Matt and Erin Ingold visit with us today about exactly that.  The Ingolds speak from a background in a variety of sacred and secular wisdom—from St. Thomas Aquinas to cognit...