Everyday Educator

As classical, Christian educators, we are interested in finding the truth and communicating that truth well!  An ancient tool can help us achieve that goal; join Lisa Bailey, Brittany Lewis, and Jennifer Courtney as they begin to explore the 5 Canons of Rhetoric in this podcast on the canon of Invention.  You'll be encouraged as these veteran homeschoolers share how Invention can help your student...

We hope you enjoy the final episode of a three-part series on the topic of "Advent." We hope you enjoy Part 3 as we discuss a variety of topics surrounding advent and anticipation. 

We hope you enjoy episode 2 of part of a three-part series on the topic of "Advent." We hope you enjoy Part 2 as we discuss a variety of topics surrounding advent and memory. 

This is the first part of a three-part series on the topic of "Assessment." We hope you enjoy Part 1 "Advent Assessment" as we discuss a variety of topics surrounding assessment during the current season.   

In this final episode of the series "The Five Common Topics", Lisa Bailey, Leslie Hubbard, and Stephanie Meter share how a consideration of Testimony helps seekers pursue Truth.  They show that Testimony (including authorities, testimonials, statistics, maxims, laws, and precepts!) helps us wrestle with ideas, stimulate conversations, and gain wisdom.  Join these friends and discover how to wield...

Are you looking for a tool to help you dig a little deeper in literature, history, or science?  Maybe you want to guide your student to understand others more compassionately, or perhaps you are trying to encourage your students to keep thinking  when they believe they're done!  The Common Topic of Circumstance can help you with that! Join Lisa Bailey,  Leslie Hubbard and Stephanie Meter as they c...

This episode of The Everyday Educator Podcast examines the topic of Relationship, and proves just how exciting the Five Common Topics can be! Join guests Leslie Hubbard and Stephanie Meter as they explore how this topic can be used from Foundations through Challenge, in math, Latin, timeline, history, science, and Bible study.  Host Lisa Bailey guides the discussion on how valuable it is to make c...

On this episode of the Everyday Educator Podcast, host Lisa Bailey asks guests Leslie Hubbard and Stephanie Meter to consider the topic of Comparison.  Listen as they reveal Comparison as an "all-purpose tool", one useful for integrating new ideas with familiar information, for starting absorbing conversations, and even for getting acquainted with new people!  You'll discover how natural this clas...

Join host Lisa Bailey and guests Leslie Hubbard and Stephanie Meter for this Everyday Educator podcast exploring the tool of Definition. Discover just how "common" a topic definition truly IS, and how it can lead to deeper, richer explorations and conversations with your family.  These ladies give great examples of how defining a term begins the learning process, and how the student actively parti...

Join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Kelli Wilt as they finish the series on the Five Core Habits by waxing eloquent on the Habit of Storytelling! Listen as they discuss the ways to encourage beginning storytelling, and how to coax reluctant story tellers to join the fun.  These experienced moms will even help you see how storytelling sharpens skills your older kids will need to thrive and gro...

Join host Lisa Bailey and guests Jennifer Courtney and Kelli Wilt as they consider the habit of Expressing.  You'll be encouraged to see expressing as worship, to celebrate expressing as communication of joy in learning, and to be brave in expressing your own thoughts about what you are learning.  The testimony of these experienced moms will hearten you as you ponder all the ways children express...

In the latest installment in "The Tools" series, join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Kelli Wilt as they discuss the habit of Memorizing. Everyday Educators will be encouraged to practice this tool with our littles  without  stressing out!  The beauty of this habit is found in enjoying the time spent memorizing alongside our children, building a shared body of knowledge that we can take out an...

In this final episode of our series, Marc Hays, Lisa Bailey, and Jennifer Courtney discuss the last parts of Chapter 8 and the Epilogue. They discuss how a classical, Christian education depends upon divine assistance for understanding and how it leads us to the person of Truth with a capital T. Together, they celebrate a deeper understanding of students as image-bearers and the truth that all of...

Join Jennifer Courtney, Kelli Wilt, and Lisa Bailey as they continue to discuss the value of Core Habits for our families.  Today they will delve into the beauty of the habit of Attending! Learn how to cultivate this natural habit with your children of all ages, attending with joy to the world God has created and celebrating both God's goodness and our relationships.

In this episode, join Lisa Bailey, Kelli Wilt and Jennifer Courtney as they discuss the core habit of naming. They will define naming and discuss how naming is a tool of learning for everyone from preschoolers to parents. Learn how naming allows us to communicate more and more complex ideas and truths to others so that we can truly be a community of learners. Get practical tips for how to foster t...

Join Lisa Bailey and Marc Hays as they discuss analogies, curriculum development, frog dissection, and epic sonnets. Marc is the author of the new resource,  Analogies For All of Us , which is being used in the Reasoning Strand of Challenge A this semester.

 Join thinkers and readers Jennifer Courtney....as they continue to discuss David Hick's Norms and Nobility , Chapter 8 Part 3.  In section IV, they wrestle with the modern outcome of "values free education", one that Hicks declares to be both false and dangerous.   Follow our lively bunch as they ponder the beauty and necessity of teaching responsibility along with information.

Have you ever pondered the benefits of Foundations and Essentials, both the obvious and the not-so-obvious?  Join Foundations parent Marc Hays, parent and Director Jaime Hays, and former student/current Challenge Director Stephanie Meter as they discuss what makes these programs winners in the short AND long run!!

Are classical education and Christian education opposed to one another? Join Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, Marc Hays, and Daniel Shirley as they explore how Christianity actually fulfills the classical quest to unite knowledge and responsibility. They visit the age-old question "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" Listen in as they compare Greek tragedy and sin. Learn how Christianity allowed...

In Chapter 8, David Hicks looks at "The Promise of Christian Paideia." In this chapter, his discussion of classical education shifts from the ancient Greeks to the era of Christian education. In this episode, our panelists consider sections 1 and 2 in which Hicks outlines the problems of classical pagan education and looks at how Christ provides the answer to those problems.

Why does anyone in a democracy need a classical education anyway? In this episode, Marc Hays, Lisa Bailey, and Jennifer Courtney finish up their discussion of Chapter 7. They consider four objectives of a classical education in a democracy and apply those ideas to our efforts to reclaim classical, Christian home education.

In this episode, our panelists ask some really important questions about classical education. Is classical education elitist or is it for everyone? Is classical education a good form of education for a modern, technologically advanced society? Is classical education a good form of education for democracy? Listen in as they explore these questions and be inspired to give your children a royal educa...

In this episode, Jennifer Courtney, Marc Hays, and Daniel Shirley finish their discussion of Chapter 6. Join them as they think about how to educate both the heart and head of our children. Listen in as they consider how to resist modern notions of education. Be inspired to think about education as preparation for life instead of a strictly practical, utilitarian endeavor to prepare young adults f...

In this episode, we move away from the aims of classical education to the method of classical education. Panelists Lisa Bailey, Jennifer Courtney, and Marc Hays explore questions like "What is dialectic?" "What is the relationship between dialectic and conscience?" and "What can we learn from Socratic dialogue?"

This podcast covers chapter 5, section 5 to the end of the chapter. In this episode, Lisa, Jennifer, and Marc ask and attempt to answer the questions: "Why did modern educators walk away from the classical education tradition?" and "What were the consequences of that decision?" They conclude by thinking about how we can teach science in a classical, normative way.