Dr. Erik Ellis is Assistant Professor of Classical Education at the University of Dallas. After graduating from the University Scholars Program at Baylor University with concentrations in Greek and Latin, Dr. Ellis received an MA in History from the same institution and served as a middle school and high school Latin teacher for five years in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Along with Latin, Dr. Ellis was privileged to teach history, logic, and French, the last of which had a decisive effect on his teaching of...
May 29, 2025•49 min•Season 5Ep. 10
About the Guest: Dr. Fred Putnam Fred Putnam retired after forty years of teaching high school, college, and graduate school; for twelve of those years he was Professor of Bible & Liberal Studies in the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University (2012-2024), where he helped to design, and taught in, the program leading to the MA in Teaching [MAT] in classical education. Beginning as a seminary professor of Biblical Hebrew and Koiné Greek, his teaching expanded to include not only the lan...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 5Ep. 9
About the Guest Jonathan Pageau is a French Canadian liturgical artist, icon carver, writer, and public speaker. With a YouTube following of 191K, he has become a sought out interpreter of the deep patterns in stories. His podcast entitled The Symbolic World features, in both English and French, Jonathan's interpretations and conversations with other artists, thinkers and culture champions who are interested in restoring a collective respect for and use of these patterns as the very stuff of the...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 8
About the Guest Kolby Atchison serves as the head of school at Clapham School, a classical Christian school in Wheaton, Illinois, that implements the educational philosophy of Charlotte Mason. He is a founding director of Educational Renaissance where he speaks, writes, and podcasts on classical Christian education, Charlotte Mason, and modern research. He lives with his wife and three children in Chicagoland. Show Notes In this episode, Kolby and Adrienne dive into the philosophy of a person an...
Feb 27, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 7
About The Guests Karen Glass is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline . She has four children, ages 13 to 27, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods from beginning to end. Karen has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years and has written the popular books Consider This: Charlotte Mason and The Classical Tradition , Know and Tell: The Art of Narration , In Vital Harmony , and her newest book A Thinking Love: Studies from ...
Feb 06, 2025•50 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Guests Dr. Louis Markos: Houston Christian University : Professor of English Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities Scholar-in-Residence Dr. Patrick Egan: Clapham Christian Classical School Academic Dean Contributor of Educational Renaissance Jason Barney: Coram Deo Academy in Carmel, IN School Principal Author of Charlotte Mason: A Liberal Education for All (published by CAP ) Contributor of Educational Renaissance Show Notes Common misunderstandings of Charlotte Mason (especially if you only read h...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Guests Dr. Matthew Post: Founder and Former Director of the Classical Education Graduate program at The University of Dallas; Served with The National Classical Education Symposium, The Institute for Classical Education, and The National Council for Classical Educators; Currently serves as Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, Honors College at The University of Tulsa Dr. Laura Eidt: University of Dallas- Affiliate Assistant Professor of Modern Languages, Humanities Program Director, Director of U...
Jan 11, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Season 5Ep. 4
About our Guest Kiernan Fiore has worked as a teacher, administrator, trainer, and curriculum developer since 2011. Kiernan was classically home educated using a Charlotte Mason methodology, and her own educational experience is the inspiration for her work. She holds a BA in English from Hillsdale College and an MA in Shakespeare Studies from King’s College London and is certified in 4-8th Grade ELAR and Social Studies in Texas. After six years of working with the Founders Classical network of ...
Dec 12, 2024•54 min•Season 5Ep. 3
About our Guest Chris earned a BA in Philosophy from Gettysburg College and an MAT in Elementary Education from Towson University. He has been a classroom educator and administrator for 29 years, having served in public, independent, and classical schools. His is an author, speaker, and consultant in classical education, as well as an online and in-person teacher, coach, and tutor. Along with his professional pedigree, he is a lifelong practitioner of several of the common arts profiled in his b...
Oct 17, 2024•34 min•Season 5Ep. 2
About our Guest Andrew J. Zwerneman serves as Cana Academy’s President and as one of their MasterTeachers. For 40 years, he has taught and consulted in secondary schools that emphasize classic humanities. For 19 years he headed schools—2 at the public charter school, Tempe Preparatory Academy in Tempe, Arizona, 17 at Trinity School at Meadow View in Falls Church, Virginia. He is the founder and owner of The Academy Project, LLC, which wrote the original curricula and trained faculties for Thomas...
Sep 06, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 1
About The Guest Anna-Marie Carter is an enthusiastic classical education convert. After years of disillusionment under the philosophy of progressive education, she had about given up teaching altogether. Her hope in education was saved by a call to teach music at Founders Classical Academy of Mesquite where she made lifelong friends and fell in love with the craft. She continues this love by sharing her joy for the fine arts with her students in and out of the classroom. Anna-Marie teaches along...
Aug 08, 2024•49 min•Season 4Ep. 20
About The Guest Mariah Martinez has worked in education since 2015 as a teacher, curriculum developer, and mentor teacher. Mariah attended the Honors College at Houston Baptist University where she received a B.A., double majoring in Philosophy and English. In 2021, she received a Master of Humanities in classical education from the University of Dallas. She is certified as a 7-12 ELAR instructor in the state of Texas. She began her teaching career at a Great Hearts school in San Antonio and now...
Jun 26, 2024•55 min•Season 4Ep. 19
About The Guest David V. Hicks retired in 2015 as Chief Academic Officer for Meritas LLC, a company based in Chicago that owned and operated K-12 college preparatory schools worldwide. The day after his retirement, Meritas was sold to Nord Anglia Education. Before joining Meritas, Hicks spent thirty years in independent education, heading St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Jackson, Mississippi; St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas; St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire; and the Darlington Sc...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 18
This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC. Our team provides immersion courses, seminar led book studies, and comprehensive support for parents & K-12 classical educators. This episode was sponsored by Classic Learning Test (CLT), Beautiful Feet Books , and Eighth Day Books ! Conference attendees have a chance to win gift certificates from these sponsors as well as our other conference sponsors! Join us for our First Conference ! Explore some of our Conference Sessions on this epis...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 4Ep. 17
About The Guest Bryan Smith has been in education for over thirty years, primarily in schools with a liberal arts or classical education philosophy. His own education at the University of Dallas was a solid classical liberal arts formation in great texts, classical Greek, and rhetorical practice. Bryan has worked in private schools for most of his career, but for a decade he worked with Great Hearts Academies, a charter school network operating in Arizona and Texas. He began his employment at Gr...
May 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 16
About The Guests ACCESS LITERACY TEAM Dorothy Kardatzke I live with my husband in Columbus, Ohio. I taught for more than 25 years in both general education classrooms and in classrooms for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Since 1997, when I was first trained in the English code, all my literacy instruction has been delivered using programs that are Orton-based. I left the classroom in 2018 to create space to write curriculum, and train/coach teachers. However, I will always be a teacher. It is who ...
Apr 18, 2024•59 min•Season 4Ep. 15
Guests Rhonda Bedee is an instructor endorsed by SWR author Wanda Sanseri for Spell to Write and Read seminars. My specialty is finding solutions for individual spelling needs via spelling coaching, Mom & Dad encouragement, accountability, and assessments. Experience comes from four decades of home education, public schools, private classical academies, homeschool co-ops, tutoring, English language ESL learners, and teaching special ability students. Credentials: B.S. Secondary Education, La...
Apr 05, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Guests Michael Fitzgerald (Principal) Michael is an experienced educator with an M.S. in Brain-Based Education. After a decade teaching in a variety of school models, he is using his knowledge of classical education to lead Northern Schoolhouse , all while pursuing his doctorate in education. A dabbler in logic, philosophy, hiking, archery, chess, music, and handiwork, he brings his deep interest in the great minds of history to our Schoolhouse culture. Katherine Fitzgerald (Instructional Coordi...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 4Ep. 13
SPONSOR Eighth Day Books is sponsoring our upcoming online conference AND this podcast episode. They are offering FREE standard shipping between March 8 and March 31, 2024 for our listeners. Coupon code: BEAUTIFUL (at the checkout, choose the "standard shipping rate." $4.95 will automatically be deducted from the total order. Click here For Adrienne's Booklist Click here for the YOUTUBE link if you want to watch this episdoe. About the Guest Rebecca was first introduced to Charlotte Mason in 201...
Mar 07, 2024•44 min•Season 4Ep. 12
About the Guest Benjamin Lyda has been head of a classical charter high school and founder of a Charlotte Mason inspired K-12 school. His more than 20 years of teaching experience is wide and varied including teaching in urban and suburban settings. In addition Benjamin regularly works with both advanced and struggling students in public, private, and homeschool settings. He founded and ran The Children’s Shakespeare Academy, directing full productions of the bard’s plays for homeschool children...
Feb 22, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 11
About the Guests Kathleen Cotter Clayton is the daughter of Dr. Joan A. Cotter, author and developer of the RightStart™ Mathematics program. Kathleen is involved with curriculum development and has written or co-authored 17 manuals. She travels, teaches online middle-school classes, and speaks across the US and Canada, sharing the mission to help children understand, apply, and enjoy mathematics. Kathleen has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and has two Masters Degrees from t...
Feb 08, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 4Ep. 10
About the Guest Junius Johnson is a writer, teacher, speaker, independent scholar, and musician. His work focuses on beauty, imagination, and wonder, and how these are at play in the Christian and Classical intellectual traditions. He is the executive director of Junius Johnson Academics, through which he offers innovative classes for both children and adults that aim to ignite student hearts with wonder and intellectual rigor. An avid devotee of story, he is especially drawn to fantasy, science...
Jan 25, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 9
About the Guest Alex Markos is part of the Humanities faculty at the Geneva School of Boerne, TX , where he currently teaches 9th grade Greek and Roman history and literature. Last year (2022-23), he created and taught a class on virtue for the freshmen and previously taught 3 rd -5 th grade Latin for six years at Geneva. He holds a B.A. in History and Classics from Hope College and an M.A. in Apologetics from Houston Baptist University (now Houston Christian University). For his Apologetics cap...
Jan 04, 2024•59 min•Season 4Ep. 8
About The Guest Dr. Phillip J. Donnelly is Professor of Literature for the Great Texts Program in the Honors College at Baylor University. His teaching and research focus on the connections between philosophy, theology, and imaginative literature, with particular attention to Renaissance literature and the reception of Classical educational traditions. He serves on the editorial board of Principia: A Journal of Classical Education . He is the Director of the Texas Chapter of the Alcuin Fellowshi...
Dec 21, 2023•59 min•Season 4Ep. 7
About The Guest Jake Weidmann is a professional artist and certified as one of nine Master Penman in the world. Certified through IAMPETH (International Association of Master Penman, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting) in July 2011, Weidmann holds the title as the youngest Master Penman by three decades and the youngest to ever attain the title. Weidmann’s peers (other Masters) are noted for working with the White House, Queen Elizabeth and the Pope. His journey into calligraphy has been the...
Nov 16, 2023•51 min•Season 4Ep. 6
About the Guest Karen Swallow Prior, Ph. D., is a reader, writer, and professor. She is the author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (Brazos, 2023); On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (Brazos 2018); Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist (Thomas Nelson, 2014); and Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (T. S. Poetry Press, 2012). She is co-editor of Cultural Engageme...
Nov 03, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 5
About the Guest Jon has worked at Coram Deo Academy since 2010. Before serving as Dallas Campus Headmaster, he served as Dean of Students at the Flower Mound campus. He has taught a variety of Logic and Rhetoric level History, Theology, Latin, and Greek courses. Jon earned an M.A. in Religion from Reformed Theological Seminary, and a Certificate in Anglican Studies from Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. He also holds a B.A. in History and Education from the University of Texas at Dallas. ...
Oct 19, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 4
About the Guest Dr. Brian A. Williams is Dean of the Templeton Honors College , Associate Professor of Ethics & Liberal Studies, and Dean of the College of Arts & Humanities. Before coming to Eastern, he was Lecturer in Theology and Christian Ethics at the University of Oxford and Director of Oxford Conversations , a collection of curated video interviews with leading Christian academics and scholars at Oxford. He holds an MPhil and DPhil in Christian Ethics from the University of Oxford...
Oct 05, 2023•44 min•Season 4Ep. 3
About the Guest John (Jack) Muir Laws is a principal leader and innovator of the worldwide nature journaling movement. Jack is a scientist, educator, and author, who helps people forge a deeper and more personal connection with nature through keeping illustrated nature journals and understanding science. His work intersects science, art, and mindfulness. Trained as a wildlife biologist and an associate of the California Academy of Sciences, he observes the world with rigorous attention. He looks...
Sep 14, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 4Ep. 2
About Our Guests 11-year-old Grace has loved poetry for as long as she can remember. When she's not climbing a tree, you can find her reading books or writing her own. She also loves to dance! Grace is the founder and host of the Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Poems Podcast and is a recurring guest co-host on the Kids Talk Church History podcast. Amy and her husband John are 2nd-generation homeschoolers to five children from 8 to 18 years old, including a homeschool graduate. The Sloan fam...
Aug 31, 2023•21 min•Season 4Ep. 1
