BaseCamp Live

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...

Today we tackle a challenging topic - one not easy but one that has reached an epidemic level among all communities around the world, and even more so since Covid. Greg Love, founder of Ministry Safe, an organization that has partnered with many of our schools and churches already, joins us today. He walks us through the sobering reality of child sexual abuse. And just when we may be thinking: I d...

Is it godly to be anti-tech? Recent studies indicate the average American teen is spending 7-9 hours a day in front of a screen. Even if our students are not consumed by media 7-9 hours a day, technology for us as adults and our children is an inevitable part of life. Too often our way of mitigating this influence is simply to implement an ever-increasing number and kind of filters and controls. W...

Classical Christian folks celebrate high-level thinking, and rightly so, but as humans, we are ultimately driven by our hearts and imaginations. Reading great literature isn’t just for mental push-ups, it is to engage living stories with powerful influential narratives that shape how we see ourselves and the world around us. If we are ever going to compete with the world of screens, it is through...

There is no doubt that a Classical Christian Education is transformative in the life of a young person. But what makes this form of education really work? Yes, it comes from reading Great Books containing some of the most significant thought leaders in western civilization, and yes, following the Trivium is important. Most certainly, having students in a daily environment where moral and virtue fo...

Today's news headlines are more troublesome than ever. Stress levels are higher, people are more contentious than ever, yet our hope and confidence in Christ gives us the grace to love ourselves and our neighbors well. Russ Gregg has served faithfully for two decades at Hope Academy in the heart of the inner city of Minneapolis. He believes our classical Christian schools have a unique opportunity...

Too many people today assume the primary goal of education is to get enough knowledge and training to get to a good college and get a job. Yet classical Christian educators and parents know those goals are too low; college and careers are a given. We are aiming for far more. But what exactly is our ultimate goal? Plato said knowledge without virtue is useless. So yes to wisdom and virtue, but can...

Four years ago I launched this podcast out of what began several years before as a Tuesday night parent education night at our school. And now this is episode 200! What have we learned through the 8,000-plus minutes of discussions?  Stay tuned as Keith McCurdy and I take a look back to celebrate God’s faithfulness through our many topics, discoveries, and amazing conversations. We will recap highl...

We live in a therapeutic age where feelings and emotions dominate reason and confidence in truth.  Almost anywhere you turn these days, researchers are telling us how folks are more anxious and consumed in fear than at any other point in recent history. Fears inhibit our students’ ability to learn and impact their physical, social, and spiritual health. And parents and teachers, well all of us, ar...

For centuries young parents raised their children in the same community as their extended family. Best practices for raising and disciplining children were both modeled and supported by the entire community.  But today, the vast majority of young parents don’t live near their family and even when they do, they may not care to discipline their children the way they were disciplined growing up. Cons...

Looking for a way out of the frazzle and rush of life? Whether you are an administrator, teacher, or parent, the practical wisdom from my guest today is just for you. Justin Whitmel Earley endured his own season of crisis and discovered the power of habits in a transformational way that fundamentally changed his family life by finding meaning and order in what can feel like the daily chaos of rais...

“The days are long and the years are short,” as the saying goes. On any given day, the long scramble from the morning routine of getting our children off to school (finding uniforms, breakfasts, and sprints to the carpool line to a full afternoon of after-school activities, extensive homework) can leave one wondering is the effort worth it? Where is the fruit, especially during seasons of struggle...

Is classical Christian education really for all children, of all abilities? In an age where the number of children with diagnosed needs seems to be spiking, how can schools effectively meet the needs of all children, especially when so many schools work with limited resources? We welcome back Leslie Collins whose last interview a few years ago stirred up a lot of conversation around what is possib...

Parents play a vital role in the success of their children in school. Increasingly, classical Christian schools (CCE) go against the grain of many schools who actively encourage parents to disengage and let them outsource their children's education to the institution or even the government. But despite a growing culture expecting parents to drop and go, CCE schools stand in direct partnership with...

As parents and teachers, we want the next generation to love God and love the good. But for many young people who sit in K-12 classrooms, they wander into the land of the prodigal and question if what they have heard is little more than empty moralisms.  But our job is to remain faithful.  Are there ways to better guide and mentor the next generation? My guest today Josh Gibbs is a prodigal and ha...

There is nothing new under the sun.  That is good news..because the deepest questions of life and faith (who am I, why am I here, where am I going) have been asked throughout history, and in many cases asked better and in more articulate and winsome ways by those who came far before us -- those classic thinkers and writers we read and discuss in classical Christian schools.  But in our modern, dis...

What does the world need now? Discernment! It is far more than just gaining wisdom and doing the right thing. It is the key to living the abundant life Christ promises in a world that buries us each day in disparaging headlines and worrisome news. It is understandable many feel they should just bury their head in the sand, hiding hoping it will all just go away. But what we and the next generation...