BaseCamp Live

There is no doubt classical Christian students are “real world ready” - academically and generally prepared to make wise decisions in a wobbly world. But even the best educated classic Christian students are teenagers who are still discovering how God has uniquely called, equipped and gifted them in their lives. Their big decision moving forward is how to make good choices about college, their maj...

Imagine classical Christian classrooms with students who are engaged in a deep and lively discussion with fellow students who are located all over the world? Imagine being a small school with a renowned master teacher who instructs a class but who isn’t located in your school building. Long before Covid made online education a reality for many, Bob and Nancy Donaldson launched Wilson Hill Academy...

Those of us in the good old USA know CCE schools are on the rise, but the amazing story of what God is doing around the world is equally inspirational.  Faithful school leaders and teachers are planting schools all across the globe. And students, regardless of their surrounding culture, are experiencing transformed minds, hearts and souls impacting the next generations of students and their extend...

When we think of the influential Oxford professor, CS Lewis, writer of such classical literature as the Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity, we think of the mature and articulate scholar. But what would he have been like as a boy and as a teenager trying to find himself? Who influenced him? What educational experiences shaped his thinking? Or even - what did he like to eat?  My guest Dr Hal...

CCE schools are the best educational environment for raising boys to men. It isn’t uncommon to hear a parent, maybe even an educator, asserting that classical Christian education is ideal for those grammar school days, but really boys are not so cut out for our seemingly sedate classrooms. Keith McCurdy is back to help us understand the unique way God has wired boys and how we can optimize their n...

Each year thousands of students graduate from classical Christian schools and head off into college and the work world. How well do they do academically, socially, and spiritually?  What cultural challenges are facing them that are new and different?  Hearing their perspectives and experiences as they take their K-12 education through the challenges of higher education and careers, family and life...

We hear the word “science” a lot these days. We are told to “trust the science,” as the modern world increasingly elevates science to an almost religious status. Yet for so many students, science class is anything but fascinating, often reduced to the base level of memorized periodic tables and static experiments. Classical Christian schools have a unique opportunity to help rightly order science...

There are a number of key ingredients that make classical Christian education work, most importantly, the role parents play in their child’s education during the hours at home. One of the growing forms of classical Christian schools is the hybrid or collaborative schools model, a form of schooling that instructs children at school a few days of the week and partners with parents to continue the pr...

K-12 education isn’t the end of most students’ educational journey. College, or 13th grade as I like to call, it looms in the distance. Most of our CCE graduates head off to a wide range of college experiences from distinctly classical Christian colleges to state run universities and everything in between. My guest today looked around at the current range of options and was determined to do someth...

Who doesn’t like a good success story? Classical Christian Education is on the rise and the impact is far reaching across the USA and around the world. The growth of start-up schools, 5 day a week brick and mortar schools, hybrid/collaborative and homeschools, not to mention schools in almost every setting from rural countryside to inner city. My guest today is part of a team serving under-resourc...

Classical Christian education is growing around the world and the influx of new students comes with a range of distinct learning styles and even learning abilities.  Dyslexia, it turns out, impacts more than 20% of students and more than 30 million adults. Yet this different way of processing words and sounds impacts students’ experiences throughout our schools, especially in the liberal arts. The...

In the world of classical Chrisitian education, if there is one enemy that has the ability to undermine our work in shaping habits and affections, it is the one-eyed cyclop - the digital screen. We live in a tech world and are blessed in many ways because of it, but the all-pervasive screen voices flood into the eyes and minds of so many of our students, and us, for hours a day.  Short of all head...

What is a healthy school? There are many ways to answer this question because schools are complex organizations. Healthy schools have the right curriculum and well-trained teachers but also have to be guided by capable leaders and boards. If you were to have in front of you, a dashboard monitoring all the key indicators of a healthy school and what should be attended to, what gauges would you want...

Classical Christian educators aren’t just interested in the old stuff for nostalgia sake or to hide from the crazy modern world (although it may be tempting at times), we hold on the great writers and thinkers going all the way back to the greeks and romans because generations because they have stood the test of time as they point to what is true, lasting, permanent. Not to mention great thinkers...

I have in a computer file a recording of a television advertisement from the 1940s eagerly pitching Lucky Strike cigarettes. The most curious part is that the promotion is being made by a doctor in a white coat actively smoking while touting the benefits of smoking! Seems laughable, if not totally outrageous, by today’s standards. On this episode, I interview recent high school graduate Mary Blake...

For the past 40+ years the Barna Group has been leading the way in researching the latest trends impacting our churches, schools, and homes. In this unique episode, you’ll get to hear from David Kinnaman, CEO of the Barna group, directly. During the short interview, we cover topics ranging from the latest research on Gen Z (essentially, our K-12 aged students) to the state of the church today and...

Our schools obviously exist in the midst of the surrounding culture. The daily bombardment of media techno intrusion can ravage the affections and loves of our students. So it is imperative as parents and educators that we wisely  understand the context in which we run our schools and families. The good news is that at the same time and in the same moment, we have at our disposal, one of the most...

There are no shortages of antidotal stories that demonstrate the impact CCE is having in the lives of students in K-12 and beyond. A few years ago a highly publicized study, Good Soil: A Comparative View, showcased impressive results. We discussed this study at length two years ago on BCL episode 145.  But just this summer,  Brad Doplloff, as part of a PhD program with the support of the folks at...

Classical Christian schools believe the Greeks understood something critical about human nature and how to raise up a fully formed human being.  They missed out on the Christian answers but got the questions right. Their view of the ultimate end, or telos of an education, still rings true today.  Ask a modern parent on the street corner what they want out of their child’s education and you are lik...

Counselor, Keith McCurdy, is back on this episode. He joined me onstage at this summer’s SCL conference, and we decided we should share that interview, where we discuss the truth of the mental health crisis, with all of you on the podcast. Keith’s wisdom on how to interpret what we are hearing, in terms of the statistics and reports that so often fill our news feeds, is invaluable. He puts it all...

His book review says it all – “In a world of 280-character social media posts, we desperately need to cultivate again our holy imaginations through good reading, especially with our children.” In The Sanctus Chronicles: The Plague of Tradium , author Dustin Leimgruber writes a new inspirational work of fiction in the tradition of Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia . Dustin joins me in this episode for a...

One of the reasons we love classical Christian education is because it fully restores the way just about everyone in the west was educated up until 100 years ago. At the turn of the century, significant changes took place that led to where we are today, not only in education but even further downstream in our culture. ACCS president David Goodwin joins us to share from his new book: Battle for the...

Classical Christian education is a powerful antidote to the all-pervasive and alluring secular culture that daily pulls and shapes what our children love. The effectiveness of our schools is not only the content of our  Great Books curriculum and training the mind with skills of logic and rhetoric, but our ability to form habits, loves, and what our children value and pursue. But we also have to r...

On this episode of BaseCamp Live, we hear a first-hand perspective from the high school classroom. The capstone project for every CCE student is their senior thesis. Senior Christina Burkhalter joins me to share the thesis she wrote, presented, and defended, titled: The Art of Classical Education as an Effort to Restore the Joy of Learning . She presents some of her thoughtful research and reflect...

I’ve said before that students in K-12 Classical Christian schools are often the most neglected population in our schools. What do I mean by that? School leaders put a lot of energy into educating parents, grandparents, donors, even alumni, but our own students often miss out on the vision casting and opportunities for buy-in to the model and the amazing education they are receiving every day. And...