Scholé Sisters: Camaraderie for Classical Homeschooling Mamas

Today, we kick off a series of three episodes that were recorded live online with some of our Forum members. This series is organized around Charlotte Mason's motto that education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life. Today's episode is all about atmosphere. BONUS: Scroll down to the bottom of the show notes to get a downloadable Atmosphere Audit to help you put these ideas into action in yo...

Today's episode was recorded when we had the joy of all being together in the same room (along with our friend, Dawn Garrett) for the Scholé Sisters Leadership Retreat in Portland. We had so much fun! We hope you enjoy this episde, even though there are a couple places where the sound is sub-par. (What can we say? We were all sharing one mic!) Today's topic is pre-reading. We talked about why to d...

This summer, we shared an article from The Atlantic on memorization, and WOW did the discussion explode on Facebook! We couldn't help chatting about it ourselves, and that conversation eventually became this podcast episode. We don't pretend to have the last word on memory work, but we do think this is a great beginning place to start thinking about this issue. Want the show notes? Go here:  http:...

Today, Mystie, Pam, and Brandy are chatting about summer. Instead of letting summer slowly slip through our fingers, we can leverage summer and set ourselves up for greater success in our upcoming homeschool years. And you don't have to do it alone! You'll want to listen all the way to the end because Scholé Sisters is announcing something super special for summer ... we're hoping it'll encourage...

In her book Mere Motherhood , Cindy Rollins made the passing comment that she was not as big of a fan of homeschooling high school boys as she had been in the past. This turned into a rumor:  Cindy Rollins doesn't think boys should be homeschooled in high school. Um. NOT TRUE. Today, Mystie and Brandy chat with Cindy about homeschooling high school boys (as well as using  AmblesideOnline  for high...

For today's episode, Pam, Mystie, and Brandy had quite the discussion surrounding the idea of interest and being interested – what does it mean, are we born interested, how do we lose interest over time, how do we gain it, what do we do when our children aren't interested? We talked about a lot! Want the show notes? Find them here: scholesisters.com/ss21 If you haven't heard, there will be a summe...

In today's episode, Mystie and Brandy discuss amusement and entertainment. Does our commitment to scholé mean that there's no room in life for things that are completely frivolous and entertaining? Believe it or not, Aristotle had something to say on this subject! Want the show notes? Find them here: scholesisters.com/ss21 Come find us on Facebook! We'd love to have you join the conversation there...

We are thrilled to have our friend Karen Glass on the show today. Karen is the author of Consider This: Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition , and also the brain behind Mind to Mind , an abridgment of Charlotte Mason's sixth volume. Karen Glass is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline . She has four children, ages 12 to 26, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason's methods from b...

Our guest on today's show is none other than Dr. Christopher Perrin from Classical Academic Press ! Dr. Perrin is an author, consultant and speaker, who specializes in classical education. He is committed to the national renewal of the liberal arts tradition. Dr. Perrin serves as a consultant to charter, public, private, and Christian schools across the country and he has published numerous articl...

In today's episode, Brandy, Mystie, and Pam have a conversation that gives you the low-down on narration. It's not so much about the how as it is about the why . With that said, we ask for your patience with the sound. We had some trouble with Mystie's microphone, and we couldn't get rid of all the static in the editing process. We hope the fun and good ideas in this episode will help you forgive...

We're back!!!! That's right! Today we're kicking off Season 3. Make sure you go to the show notes at scholesisters.com/ss17 and download the 1-page reference on MBTI cognitive functions -- because cognitive functions are exactly what we're talking about today. Print it out and use it to follow along as we go. What if knowing your child's cognitive functions could help you foster an atmosphere that...

In spite of empty platitudes and trite sayings, we get -- philosophically speaking -- to the bottom of Christmas, after all. How does all the work of making Christmas happen correspond to our search of scholé? Can we simplify Christmas? Should we? And what has that to do with our faith? We talk about all this and more in today's episode. This is the LAST EPISODE of Season 2! We thank you and send...

Today's show is all about thankfulness and Brandy is extremely thankful for Mystie. You see, we had recorded a different episode, but the recording had technical difficulties, and we weren't able to use it. Mystie was willing to do a special recording, and we are all THANKFUL for her and that she was willing to do this so last minute! In this episode, Mystie and Brandy first discuss the philosophy...

Brandy's guest today is the one and only Wes Callihan and she is  thrilled ! If you can believe it, she got through the entire interview without acting like a total fan girl. Wes and Brandy discuss why some children (the hypothetical Boy A and Girl B) are resistant to pagan literature and what to do about it. Two types of resistant prove we need two types of responses! We also get to find out what...

On today's show, Pam and Brandy discuss learning styles and the fact that there is no scientific evidence whatsoever to back them up. (Obviously, Pam is trying to get us into trouble.) But REALLY, it was a great discussion, even if somewhat controversial. Also, if you've ever wondered how learning styles intersect -- or not -- with the classical tradition, we manage to Go There. In our Nitty Gritt...

Our guest today is Kathy Wickward, former homeschool mom (she's graduated, folks!), one of the founders of CM West, and one of the masterminds behind AmblesideOnline's living science curriculum. On today's show, Kathy and Brandy discuss leading our children through encounters with viewpoints with which we don't agree. Is there ever an age not to do this? And how DO we do this? Kathy shares with us...

On today's show, Mystie and Brandy discuss the ancient Latin motto multum non multa – meaning, much not many . Applied to education, and somehow mis applied to education, we chat about who used the motto in reference to education, what they meant, and what this has to do with Charlotte Mason and The Latin-Centered Curriculum. We also bring up one of the great unmentionables: the dangers of taking...

Today's show is our version of the which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. In this case, though, it's which comes first – the principles or the practices. And how do we practice when we know that we don't know all we NEED to know? We go around and around in circles, drawing on folks like James K.A. Smith, Cindy Rollins, Karen, Glass, and MORE. In the end, we made our peace with the issue,...

Welcome back! We are so excited to have you with us today for our first episode of Season 2! In this episode, Mystie and Brandy explore the relationship between personality types and scholé. Mystie draws a distinction Brandy had never thought about before -- that some types of scholé are restorative, while others bring about more of a stretching and growing -- and different types serve these purpo...

In today's episode, Mystie and Brandy use Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics to discuss the connection between habits and virtue, and then proceed to convince ourselves to work on shoring up good habits over the summer to pave the way for a better school year. We also discuss a question on assessment sent to us by Amanda Venema – and a big shout out to Amanda for being the first to leave us a recorde...

In today's episode, Brandy discusses virtual Scholé Sisters groups and technology tools with Amber Vanderpol. What happens when you live in an isolated place? Are you doomed to loneliness? Or are virtual groups a possibility? And, if so, how are they best organized? What technology exists to support them? And how hard is it to learn to use these unfamiliar tools? We talk about all this and more on...

In today's episode, Pam and Brandy have a great conversation with Ravi Jain, co-author of The Liberal Arts Tradition, on the subject of balancing work with wonder. How do both of those fit together? What happens when our students seem to have lost the wonder? What if we seem to have lost the wonder? Ravi had some great thoughts on this. We also discussed piety in our Nitty Gritty Homeschool questi...

Today, Mystie and Brandy are daring you to be brave and read a classic, even if you don't feel like you're qualified. We tackle questions like why we feel intimidated by reading classic books, strategies for helping ourselves read them, and a whole lot more. In addition, our nitty gritty homeschool question is all about starting Latin, so you won't want to miss it. As a reminder, all the show note...

Pam is not only Brandy's co-host, she's also the guest this time around. That's because Brandy really wanted to hear more about her classical co-op and all the changes they have made over the years and how those have come about. Since Brandy doesn't have a co-op herself, what she really wanted to do was listen and learn -- and Pam was full of great lessons, that's for sure! Get ready to be inspire...

Today's episode is a conversation about the connection between love and learning. Is it important that our students love their subjects? Is it important that WE love the subjects we're teaching? What do we do if we're without love? We tackle all these questions and more – and in the process, we mention a lot of resources, so please remember you can find all of the necessary details in the show not...