BaseCamp Live

After years of encouraging families through counseling, conferences, and conversations on BaseCamp Live, Keith McCurdy's long-awaited book, Raising Sturdy Kids , has finally arrived. In this episode, Davies and Keith celebrate the book's release while exploring the foundational principles behind it. Rather than focusing on quick parenting fixes, Keith explains why healthy struggle, responsibility,...

What exactly is Classical Christian Education? Ask ten people, and you might get ten different answers. Is it about Latin? The Great Books? The Trivium? Character formation? Academic excellence? In this foundational episode of our series, What is Classical Christian Education? , Davies Owens sits down with one of the pioneers of the modern classical movement, Dr. Robert Littlejohn, to answer that...

Parents often spend so much time navigating the needs of today that it's easy to lose sight of where we're ultimately headed. But what if raising children begins with keeping the end in mind? In this episode, Davies Owens welcomes Dr. Jennifer Freeman of the Rooted Families Initiative to discuss a framework for family discipleship that helps parents understand the unique opportunities and challeng...

What happens after we realize that education is about far more than information transfer? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens sits down with David Goodwin, president of the Association of Classical Christian Schools and co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Battle for the American Mind . David's newest book, Forging the American Mind , serves as a practical guide for parents...

How do we faithfully raise children in a culture that constantly fragments their attention? In this episode of Base Camp Live, Davies Owens welcomes Suzanne Phillips of Beacon Parent for a thoughtful and deeply encouraging conversation about parenting in an age of distraction, anxiety, and cultural confusion. Rather than offering another parenting checklist, Suzanne shares a biblical framework for...

Friendship does not happen automatically anymore. In a world filled with distraction, busyness, and surface-level interaction, many adults and students are struggling to form meaningful relationships. In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens sits down with Dirk Bellamy to discuss the growing loneliness crisis and why friendship is becoming one of the greatest challenges of modern life. Drawi...

What does classical Christian education actually mean? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, host Davies Owens continues the ongoing series on classical Christian education with guest Lindsey Ralls, Upper School Head at Summit Christian Academy. Together, they explore a practical framework for understanding the heart behind classical Christian education, not simply as a method or curriculum model, but...

How do we move students from simply talking about truth, goodness, and beauty to actually living those ideals out in everyday life? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens is joined by Sharon Carlson for a thoughtful conversation about what it means to develop an “operational theology” , a faith that shapes not just beliefs, but daily decisions, relationships, failures, and future plans. Sh...

Anxiety is everywhere today, but what if it doesn’t always tell us the truth? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens welcomes back Keith McCurdy for another conversation in the Live Sturdy series. Together, they unpack why anxiety has become so common in students and parents, how overcommitment and fear-based decision making fuel the problem, and what schools and families can do to cultiva...

Gen Z is more connected than any generation in history, yet also more isolated, anxious, and uncertain about their identity and purpose. In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens sits down with Dr. Stephanie Shackelford, senior fellow at the Barna Group and author of You on Purpose, to explore the findings from Barna’s latest research on Gen Z mental health. While anxiety and depression are o...

In a world where attention is constantly pulled in a thousand directions, how do we help students focus on what truly matters? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens sits down with Tami Peterson, founder of Life Architects Coaching, to explore the growing challenge of distraction and its impact on formation. From shrinking attention spans to the overwhelming number of inputs competing for...

What happens when schools and homes truly align? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens sits down with Sadie Elliott, Director of the Herzog Foundation Institute, to talk about one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of Christian education: the partnership between parents and schools. Sadie shares what she is seeing from her unique vantage point serving thousands of Christia...

What is education actually for? Is it mainly about helping students get into college and launch a career, or is it about forming the kind of person who can flourish in faith, wisdom, and vocation? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens is joined by Ali Ghaffari, Executive Director of the St. John Henry Newman Institute and founder of Divine Mercy Academy, for a rich conversation about lead...

Many parents today feel that education has been reduced to information transfer and job preparation. But what if education is meant to be much more than that? In this episode, Davies Owens is joined by Dr. Patrick Egan to explore the enduring insights of Charlotte Mason, a visionary educator who emphasized the formation of the whole person. Her approach focuses not only on knowledge, but on shapin...

Modern education often promises clarity, efficiency, and measurable results. But what if those very strengths are quietly reshaping what we believe education is for? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens sits down with Joshua Pauling to explore the subtle but powerful influence of what he calls the “tyranny of technique.” When systems, metrics, and methods take center stage, students can...

Where do classical Christian schools find their teachers, and how are they trained? In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens sits down with Dr. Rob Jackson to explore one of the biggest challenges facing classical education today, building a strong pipeline of teachers. As more schools launch and grow, many are realizing that traditional certification programs do not prepare teachers for the...

In this next episode in the BaseCamp Live series exploring classical Christian education, Davies Owens welcomes Dr. Michael Adkins for a thoughtful conversation about what classical Christian education really is and why that question matters so much for families, schools, and the future of society. Dr. Adkins brings both historical depth and practical insight as he explains that classical Christia...

In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens continues the alumni series with Neeya Toleman , a graduate of Coram Deo Academy in Texas who now works as an engineer helping develop major power transmission lines across the United States. Neeya shares how her classical Christian education shaped her ability to think deeply, communicate clearly, and tackle complex problems. From memorizing Scriptur...

In this episode of BaseCamp Live, host Davies Owens sits down with Paul Laywell, founder of Eureka Science Education, to tackle a lingering stereotype - classical Christian schools love great books, but struggle to do science with the same depth and rigor. Paul shares his journey from public school teaching to becoming a “one man science department” in a classical Christian school, and why he beca...

Good conversations with our children do not just happen. They require intentionality, attention, and the courage to ask questions that may take more than a few seconds to answer. In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens welcomes back Mandi Gerth to explore how the questions we ask shape not only daily conversation, but the long-term relationship we hope to have with our children as adults. D...

Students today need to be deeply formed to love what is true and beautiful, and they also need practical skills and confidence that comes from real life experiences they can carry into college, career, and beyond. In this episode of BaseCamp Live, Davies Owens sits down with Mitchell Slater, founder and CEO of Slater Strategies, to talk about entrepreneurship, risk, and why many students are not b...

“What is classical Christian education?” sounds like an easy question, until you try to answer it. In this episode, Davies Owens is joined by Dr. David Diener, professor of education at Hillsdale College and executive director of the Alcuin Fellowship, to offer a clear, grounded explanation of what classical Christian education is and what it is not. They explore why this approach begins with the...

Healthy habits are one of the greatest gifts we can give our children because habits quietly shape what they love and who they become. In this episode, Davies Owens is joined by Jeff Hendricks, headmaster at Providence Christian School of Texas, for a practical conversation about how formation happens through repeated, everyday actions. Jeff defines a habit as a repeated action that becomes instin...

Augustine argued that many of our biggest problems come not from loving bad things, but from loving good things in the wrong order. In this episode, Davies Owens sits down with counselor and Live Sturdy president Keith McCurdy to talk about the “ordering of loves” and why it impacts everything from marriage health to family culture to kids who flourish. Keith walks through a common modern pattern:...

Many listeners have been asking for more alumni interviews, and this episode delivers. Davies Owens sits down with Ashton Lawrence, an Ambrose School graduate who joined the classical Christian world in fifth grade and stayed through graduation. Ashton reflects on the early challenges of adjusting to a more rigorous environment, the slow-burning value of logic and Latin, and the way great teachers...