As you now know, there’s a new language beyond the classical wardrobe door. We recognize it well enough to know we love what’s being said but we find ourselves hardpressed to translate it to share what is meant. Never fear. I’m joined today by the wonderful Heidi White to learn more of what classical educators mean when they say, “Classical education nourishes the soul.”

It’s even better than it sounds.

Reading good stories is a no-brainer for the mom coming through the classical wardrobe. We know, in our guts, this is something we ought to do for our children. But once we actually start reading stories, we can find ourselves with a lot of questions.

What’s a good story? What about magic? Won’t my kids be confused if I give them the Bible and myths? What do I do with Disney?!

Well, today’s episode is for you. I’m joined by my friend, Emelie Thomas, to discuss all things story. Emelie is kind of famous in Common House for her wise words on story and her ability to name a picture book for any occasion. I know you’ll love listening to her.

If we want to cultivate virtue in our children (and, let’s be honest, in ourselves), we need to learn about the sacramental imagination. Some define it as "seeing the love of God in all things” but I’m partial to seeing “a halo to the edges of all earthly things”. Without this awareness of God’s Reality, how do we know the way further up and further in?

In this mini-series on virtue, I think it important to consider the miry bog we find ourselves in. We’ve inherited philosophies and practices that make cultivating virtue more difficult than one might imagine. We’re looking for the function of an organ we’ve nearly destroyed.

But, don’t worry. There’s a path out of the bog.

Mothers at the ready! Guard the city gates!

Actually, I’m not kidding. Your child’s soul is a bit like a city, and in the pursuit of virtue, Plato, Mason, and St. John Chrysostom have quite a bit to say about guarding the City of Mansoul and the imitation of goodness.

Swords at the ready?

Every so often, I like to lift the veil a bit to show what happens in Common House (formerly known as Patreon but now significantly better). I hope you enjoy today’s exclusive resource about the power of story and, well, a story.

Grab your kids and a cup of coffee and enjoy a tale of the fair Bren and the faithful Brohen.

*Note: I did not name my oldest two children Bren and Brohen. Just to clarify.

Everything has a catchphrase, including the classical world. Well, maybe we have two.

I bet you think I’m talking about some truth, goodness, and beauty, but no, not yet. I’m talking about the other one.

Deciding to homeschool is one thing but finding the right method is a whole other thing. When you first start looking at educational philosophies, it can seem like classical education is just one of many options out there. How can you tell if one is better than another? Can one be better than the other? If only there was an objective way to measure an educational option.

Might I suggest there is?

Who knew there was so much Charlotte Mason in the ideas of Plato? If we’re getting our bearings in the classical world, then we need to go all the way back to Plato and get a handle on the Greek vision of education. Actually, we need to go back even further.

I told you this was another world.

If I can give you a captain idea for this season, for all that’s to come, it would come from my dear St. Jack, or, as you might know him, C.S. Lewis. He once wrote, “For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality.”

This is classical education.

And it’s on the other side of the wardrobe. Let’s go.

You didn’t think I’d end the season without saying goodbye, did you?

From January to December, we’ve spent the entire year getting our pedagogy in place, learning our educational philosophy, and preparing to be mother-teachers. It’s been a joy to do this and I hope you feel yourself getting your bearings in the classical Mason world as we learn together.

Before I close us out this season, I have one more surprise. Today, the excellent Karen Glass joins me on the podcast to bring it all together: motherhood, philosophy, and education as one harmonizing whole. It was a dream to talk with her and I hope you enjoy our conversation!

For many of us, education is a thing outside of the sacred. We certainly know God made the world and the things in it, but school is something that’s done…over there. It’s just reading, writing, and arithmetic. If we want a Christian education, we need to add a Bible class and maybe a catechism. But what if I told you education is Christian if it’s true, harmonious, and whole? It’s time for Mason’s twentieth principle and for me to tell you why I’m always talking about truth, goodness, and beauty.

Did you think we were finally finishing Mason’s twenty principles?

Not. Just. Yet. My. Friend.

While thinking through some angles on educational philosophy and pedagogy I can’t speak to, I knew there was another important one besides the older, wiser mom (Catch Bethany in last week’s interview!): the dad.

The good news is that I do know a classical Charlotte Mason homeschooling dad. Today’s guest is Trae Bailey, a classical educator married to his high-school sweetheart and father to four young children. He kindly joined me to talk about how dads can support the homeschool and the home at-large since every home is one of education.

We've spent the whole year getting our pedagogy in place by studying Mason's 20 principles. But sometimes, we need some help bringing all that philosophy down to the practical level, down to our commonplace homes.

Thankfully, today's guest is here to help. Bethany Douglass, a wife, mother of four, and writer at Cloistered Away, joins me to offer practical homeschooling encouragement on setting rhythms, cultivating atmosphere, important practices for moms, and how to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty through it all!

Never in my reading life have I found a chapter in a book that mentions such a range of characters. In Chapter IX of Volume Six, Mason manages to pull Florence Nightingale, Euclid, Pythagoras, Satan, William Shakespeare and Karl Marx together in her exploration of the Way of Reason.

What point does she make? Reason is a yes man who will try to confirm any idea accepted by the Will.

Which is how we get Florence, Shakespeare, Marx, and your children all thinking their own thoughts right.

The world may call a defiant, difficult, and disobedient child “strong-willed”, but we know that’s not so.

A strong-willed child can command themselves to choose what’s right even if it’s not what they want. Sounds pretty magical, right? But also, maybe a little difficult.

How does a mother-teacher help a child train their will? Let’s talk about it.

It’s classic Mason to give such a tidy explanation for such a huge idea. What are the two guides in the moral and intellectual self-management of a child? Oh, just little things called ‘the way of the will’ and ‘the way of the reason’.

Those of us formally schooling are kicking off the new year right around now, so I thought it was the perfect time to share a BONUS episode as a bit of beginning of the year fun.

I’m joined today by two dear friends, Amanda Faus and Brooke Johnson, to discuss how to form a classical Charlotte Mason co-op. I asked them all of my burning questions: how to build a co-op vision, how to share the group’s philosophy with enquiring moms, what to do for mother’s education, and more!

It’s narration week! I mean, really, what’s more Mason than talking about narration?

(Actually, a lot of things. You have to talk about all the things.)

But let’s get to it! What is narration? Why does it happen after a single reading? What if you have a lot of students narrating at once? How do you narrate a piece of music? Is it the same thing as a discussion?

…what if the kid’s narration was…subpar?

We’re going to talk about all of it and more! Let’s go!