BaseCamp Live

Do you have an abundance of Amazon boxes lately? Laurie Detweiler, the Executive Vice President of Veritas Press, offers some creative ideas for you and the special kids in your life. With just a little bit of time and some imagination, parents and grandparents can reinforce skills and history lessons at home. Invite kids to connect anytime via Zoom! Read online together in a different way! Every...

The Pandemic has challenged our idea that we have only two choices: homeschool or brick and mortar. The blurring of the lines means more choices. But what is the parent’s responsibility and what is the school’s, especially when every family is different with varying needs? Marlin Detweiler, Executive Director of Veritas Press, encourages parents to figure out where they are on the new continuum......

How do we build virtue? Our guests today, Dr. Timothy Dernlan and two special students, share practical applications for teaching virtue that sticks and works. They discuss the methods they’ve used to foster virtue and guard against vice. Dernlan’s new book is Classical Christian Virtues: Contemplating the Good Life. Stay tuned for more enlightening discussions on classical Christian education, an...

Someone once said, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” But Keith McCurdy believes it’s the marriage, not mama, that we need to be concerned about. In fact, McCurdy shows how a family’s greatest tool to navigate the Pandemic is marriage. But what if your relationship isn’t as strong as it could be? And this shutdown has added extra burdens? McCurdy’s positive and practical steps can help. Th...

High school seniors’ graduation plans have been highjacked and many college kids are back home due to the Pandemic. So how do we maximize this gift of being together 24/7 while respecting each other’s significant differences? Counselor Keith McCurdy addresses these specific age groups in Part 3 of our Going the Distance Series. Learn how parents can help these little birdies who want to fly the ne...

Teachers are having to turn their teaching methods upside down by going online during this Covid-19 Pandemic. But how do teachers save the day for students without losing their own minds? Many are frustrated with the new platform, feeling self-doubt and missing their students. And what is appropriate and inappropriate when connecting online? Speaking directly to classical Christian teachers, couns...

Are you losing your mind or loving these extended days at home? Either way, you don’t want to miss this episode! Our four part series, Going the Distance, begins today. In light of the quarantine we are currently experiencing due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, our resident counselor Keith McCurdy offers practical advice to parents of grammar school-aged kids. Learn how to better avoid chaos, partner wi...

Good news during a pandemic…everyone gets a front room seat in a recorded session of digital school! We might as well look on the bright side and make the best of these changing educational platforms during the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic. Today, Joelle Hodge, who is the Director of the Scholé Academy and an online distance educational expert, helps parents and teachers see how distance learning can be...

As schools lock their doors and families stay home together, parents are asking urgent questions: How do we survive in this world turned upside down due to Covid-19? How do we make the most of it? And how do we help our children not fear what is going on? Counselor Keith McCurdy shares his top five tips for thriving - not just just surviving - during our new reality of being together 24/7. Redeem...

Politicians and advocates appeal to hearts and minds, but are their ideas and ethics worth following? Students in Classical Christian Schools learn that Rhetoric is more than a tool to get your way…and that speech must emanate from the heart. In this episode, Chris Maiocca shares practical tips to teach students this worthy “life skill". As the Instructor of Scripture, Classical Rhetoric, and...

Parents, have you ever bemoaned, “I should…”, “I would...” or “I could have...”? Did you fall for trendy parenting advice that was proven invalid? Ever lost your temper? Mix in the high standards of the classical Christian model and we can set ourselves up for disappointment. Most parents - and teachers, too - wish they could could go back in time and change some of their decisions. But don't beat...

You have to see it - and hear it - to believe it! David Goodwin, our special guest and President of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, shares the newly published results of the highly regarded Cardus Educational study. Cardus, a top research firm commissioned by the ACCS, measured the influence of Classical Christian Schools on graduates up to twenty-five years later. Cardus worked wi...

In today's episode, two adult siblings, Erin Meyers and Brett Jones, reflect on their experience with classical Christian education and its impact on their lives today. While Erin attended public school and Brett attended Faith Christian School in Roanoke,Va. they both see the value that CCE has for real world living. They discuss everything from diversity and freedom of thought to how to read sta...

NYC is not an easy place to run a school. With 900+ private K-12 schools in a city of 8.6 million, the competition is fierce. Yet for the last 24 years, The Geneva School of Manhattan has been serving in the heart of the city as a classical Christian school. Rim Hinckley shares how her vision became a reality and how God provided. She also looks to the future and shares why adding a high school at...

Can you list the top barriers that current or prospective parents have when considering CCE? One Head of School found out by hiring a marketing firm and letting a focus group identify their concerns. Peter Baur, Head of School at Faith Christian School in VA, shares the results and how to respond. Their concerns are valid, but they don’t always know the whole story…listen in today! Stay tuned for...

How do kings, knights and warlords fit with today’s egalitarian values and prepare students for the modern world? Do order and hierarchy have any place? According to David Goodwin, Medieval history teaches children that the world is endowed with a God-given order. Even C.S. Lewis knew this and filled his books with Medieval meaning. Listen in to hear how studying this astounding time period can ca...

One of the fastest growing segments in Classical Christian Education is homeschooling. Robert Bortins, the Chief Officer of Classical Conversations, shares how the company his mother founded in 1997 is meeting the needs of 120,000 worldwide and 50,000 families…allowing families to educate children in ways that glorify God and best meet their children’s needs. An excellent reminder about how a clas...

How do images affect teens? John Murray is the author of the recent book, In Whose Image? Image-bearers of God vs. The Image-makers of Our Time. In this fascinating interview, Murray shares classroom research, his interview with Charlton Heston, and four ways that images affect us. Learn practical ways to talk about image and identity in the classroom and around the table. It's no surprise that th...

If Classical Christian educators promoted a Hall of Fame, Mortimer Adler would surely make the list. Dr. Robert Woods, author of the newly released Mortimer Adler's The Paideia Way of Classical Education, introduces us to the man often called the “Father of Classical education.” Find out what Adler's Great Books approach means practically for teachers, students and learners today, both in the clas...

Rome, Florence, Paris and London…have you considered that travel should be a significant part of your child’s classical christian education? In fact, many schools send their seniors to Europe as the capstone of their secondary education. Some schools travel to Washington, DC or other historical sites in the U.S. According to Bill Miller and Tom Velasco, Instructors of Humanities at the Ambrose Sch...

The not so good news...Barna reports that only 10% of young adults ages 18-29 report keeping their faith in the face of a resistant culture. The good news…their “resilient faith" is very strong. So how do young adults from Christian homes or who attended church as teens maintain their faith - if at all? Brooke Hempell, Barna’s Senior Vice President, shares how this new study measures faith an...

Classical Christian education offers some of the highest ROI, or return on investment, for the amount of tuition, time and effort parents spend. Jean Kim of The Cambridge School tells story after story of how the classical Christian school model uniquely adds value to your child’s educational experience. And the value is priceless. Why so high? She explains how on this inspiring podcast. Stay tune...

According to Harlan Gilliam, the Science and Nature Center coordinator at Regents School in Austin, natural curiosity in our children makes education possible. In fact, it's up to the child, and not the teacher, to learn. And real learning happens in the heart, not just the mind. So how do parents and teachers build on a child's natural curiosity? Get some practical tips, as well enjoy hearing how...

Why would we want our classical Christian students to read books filled with pagan myths, fantasy worlds with darkness, and stories that might be R rated if they were made into a movie? Why not just read Christian books? Louis Markos points out that the pagan writers actually had great wisdom and asked life’s questions better than most. In fact, even our Founding Fathers, who were either Christian...

If you are like the average person, you easily forget what you’ve just read. But not if you “commonplace". Commonplacing is a practice of antiquity that was particularly popular in the Renaissance and the nineteenth century. And many classical schools are reviving the practice and reaping the benefits. Chris Browne, Humanities Instructor at the Ambrose School, explains how to record and categ...