In today’s episode, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy explain exactly why they chose this topic for the 2025 Spring Training Sessions and why they think it’s important for us to prepare our kids for the world we’re launching them into. You’re going to love this conversation! *** The annual Scholé Sisters Spring Training just happened, and replays are now available! Dr. Glenn Sunshine did a great job teaching us about the disenchantment and renchantment of the world around us. Coming up on Tuesday, June 4...
May 23, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 26Ep. 158
In today’s episode, Brandy, Mystie, and Abby revisit the topic of rewards and prize systems – specifically what to do when one is implemented at church. This was a chance to try and apply our principles to a real life situation where we don’t want to be perfectionists and we DO want to be peacemakers. You’re going to love this conversation! *** If you’ve considered upgrading your Sistership membership from FREE to Sophie level, now is the time! Our annual spring training is coming up in just a c...
May 09, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 26Ep. 157
Our guest today is JoAnn Hallum! JoAnn is a first-generation homeschooler from the Central Valley of California who has been teaching her four boys for about 10 years. She loves to read and to tell people at parties they should read Charles Dickens. With a fine art degree in Printmaking, she discovered she loved writing when she became a stay-at-home mom. She now writes on Substack and Instagram, and sometimes Commonplace Quarterly. Her extracurricular activities include serving on the board for...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Season 26Ep. 156
Today’s episode is a discussion about conversation. Or maybe it’s a conversation about discussion?? No matter, the point is that Isaac Watts has some helpful advice for us if we want to have fruitful interactions with others. You’re going to love this conversation! *** If you’ve considered upgrading your Sistership membership from FREE to Sophie level, now is the time to do that! Next week, we’re hosting a live workshop with Elsie Iudicello on a white board tool called Closing Board that is as s...
Apr 11, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 26Ep. 155
Our guest today is Brandy's son, Everett Vencel. Everett recently graduated from New College Franklin and now works as an audiovisual engineer at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church and as a personal assistant to the owner of a water heater company. In his spare time, he reads anything he can get his hands on and is studying Information technology. He and his wife, Emily, are expecting their first baby in June. Today’s conversation is all about DISCUSSION. What place (if any) should it have in a cla...
Mar 28, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 26Ep. 154
Today’s conversation is a discussion about the vice of vainglory. The sisters have been reading a book by Rebecca DeYoung called Vainglory: The Forgotten Vice and it’s so good! You’re going to love this conversation! *** If you’ve considered upgrading your Sistership membership from FREE to Sophie level, now is the time to do that! The live replay of the workshop Abby did with Jami Marstall on teaching literature co-op classes for teenagers was absolutely FANTASTIC. To get the replay and so much...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 26Ep. 153
Our guest today is Lauren Scott! Lauren and her husband Nathaniel, a second generation homeschool dad, have enjoyed home educating their two sons from babyhood to the teen years. Lauren holds a degree in history, is a leader in her local homeschool community, and often finds herself vacillating between “brown thumb” and “crazy plant lady” when caring for her large flower and vegetable garden. You can find her writing at keptandkeeping.com , where she encourages Christian women to Rest in Grace a...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 43 min•Season 26Ep. 152
Welcome to Season 26 of Scholé Sisters! At the risk of sound like grumpy old ladies, we are kicking off this season with a conversation about homeschool history and how you can tap in to some of homeschool culture’s strengths. You’re going to love this conversation! *** If you’ve considered upgrading your Sistership membership from FREE to Sophie level, now is the time to do that! Our 2025 book clubs are underway and they are fantastic! Modern Times, Norms and Nobility, Bleak House, and more! Th...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 26Ep. 151
Today’s episode is our annual Christmas episode! Mystie, Abby, and Brandy are discussing one of their favorite Christmas books, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston. You’re going to love this conversation! *** It’s time for the Sophie Christmas gift! Every year, we give a little something to our Sophie members to say thank you and offer them a bit of encouragement. This year, we’re having we’re having Heather Lloyd from Concordis Education give her excellent talk "Culturing O...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 25Ep. 150
Today’s episode is our annual retreat recording! We love recording when we are all together (even though the sound quality suffers). This episode is basically a follow-up in which we give Mystie a soap box and encourage her to talk more about de-institutionalizing classical education. You’re going to love this conversation! *** The Stable and Steadfast mentorship inside Sistership is taking next week off for American Thanksgiving. It’s 10 weeks long with break weeks for Christmas as well, which ...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 25Ep. 149
Our special guest today is Heather Olsson! Heather is wife to Dr. Phil Olsson, mother to seven, and Mimi to 14 grandchildren. She educated her children at home for 20 plus years. The Olsson family moved in 2020 from Green Bay, WI to Moscow, Idaho, where Heather has taught and been a Dean at The Jubilee School. She just began her second year as Head of School at Jubilee and also trains teachers through Concordis Education Partners. In today’s episode, Heather teaches Mystie and Brandy about Pruss...
Nov 08, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 25Ep. 148
Our special guest today is Adelaide Garner. Adelaide is wife to Ben, and mother to four little treasures. They are Reformed Evangelical Christians. She was a pastor’s wife for many years, but their family has moved into Ben owning a small business. Adelaide and Ben are second generation homeschoolers and use Charlotte Mason’s principles. They live in a 120-year-old farmhouse on several acres outside of Houston, Texas. Six years ago, Adelaide, after many years of struggling with her own health. d...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 25Ep. 147
Today’s episode is the fourth and final in our series exploring Charlotte Mason‘s chapters on habits from her book School Education and so Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss one of the most off-limits topics: religion. You’re going to love this conversation! *** The live kickoff for our newest Scholé Sisters Mentorship will take place on Friday, October 18th at 1:30 PM Pacific. Our mentorships are for Sophie level Sistership members. However, our kickoff is for everyone , even those of you on our ...
Oct 11, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 25Ep. 146
Today’s guest is Latin teacher extraordinaire, Angela Reed! Angela has been a student of lingua Latina and classical civilization for over twenty-five years. She started on this path in high school when she took her first Latin class and, for extra credit, joined the Latin club. Angela has been enthusiastically carrying a classical torch ever since. When she first encountered the educational philosophy of Charlotte Mason, it was not long before she began to study how Latin fit within it. This re...
Sep 27, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 25Ep. 145
In today’s episode Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss the idea of natural consequences with a perspective shift that can really de-stress your motherhood. You’re going to love this conversation! *** Are you ready for our annual Homeschool Essentials retreat?? This year’s topic is attention, because without attention, we cannot learn. Join us LIVE on October 5, 2024 for a full day of refreshment as we look deeply into this topic. We cannot wait to spend time with you all! Go to scholesisters.com/at...
Sep 13, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 25Ep. 144
In today's episode, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy dig into the history of the Scholé Sisters annual retreat, giving you a behind-the-scenes glance at our decision making that we've never shared before. *** Are you ready for our annual Homeschool Essentials retreat?? This year’s topic is ATTENTION, because without attention, you cannot LEARN. Join us LIVE on October 5, 2024 for a full day of refreshment as we look deeply into this topic. We cannot wait to spend time with you! You can grab a hostess ki...
Aug 02, 2024•59 min•Season 24Ep. 143
In today’s episode Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss ATTENTION, because it’s the topic of the 2024 Scholé Sisters retreat. They do this using a chapter on solitude from AG Sertillanges’ book The Intellectual Life . You’re going to love this conversation! *** Are you ready for our annual Homeschool Essentials retreat?? This year’s topic is ATTENTION, because without attention, you cannot learn. Join us LIVE on October 5, 2024 for a full day of refreshment as we look deeply into this topic. We cann...
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 24Ep. 142
In today’s episode Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss what it means when we say we want to raise kids who love to learn. What are the implication of this goal? Does it affect how we teach? You’re going to love this conversation! *** It’s not too late to catch the replays of our annual Spring Training Sessions! The second session was just on MONDAY! Our coach this year was Andrew Zwerneman from Cana Academy. Andrew taught two sessions on history. The first session gave us a classical view of histor...
May 17, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 23Ep. 141
In today’s episode Mystie, Abby, and Brandy discuss rewards and how to connect them to intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation. *** Don’t forget to register for our annual Spring Training Sessions! This is happening SOON! Our coach this year is Andrew Zwerneman from Cana Academy. Andrew is going to teach two sessions on history. The first session will help us get away from Marxism and adopt a classical view of history. The second session will propose a method for teaching history. It’s going ...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Season 23Ep. 140
Our guest today is Andy Patton. Andy Patton has held various roles in healthcare technology and venture capital. As an entrepreneur in the healthcare space, he built and successfully exited his first company. He has also started and currently owns a company in the construction industry. Before going into business, Mr. Patton spent his early career as a high school teacher of Latin, Greek, music, and math. He joined New College Franklin as President of the College in 2023. Prior to that, he serve...
Apr 19, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 23Ep. 139
Our guest today is Andrew Zwerneman. Andrew J. Zwerneman serves as President and Master Teacher at Cana Academy. 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. Andrew has degrees from both Notre Dame AND St. John’s University, and he has authored two books: History Forgotten ...
Apr 05, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 23Ep. 138
Today’s guest is Vigen Guroian. Until his retirement in 2015, Dr. Guroian was Professor of Religious Studies in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Virginia. He is now a Permanent Senior Fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, Senior Fellow at the Center on Law and Religion at Emory University, Distinguished Fellow of the John Jay Institute, and Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum. He also is on the faculty of Memoria College online. Most importantly for our purposes, he is...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 23Ep. 137
Today’s episode is the third in our four part series on Charlotte Mason’s chapters from School Education that cover the training of physical, intellectual, moral, and religious habits. Today, we’re discussing the training of MORAL habits. You’re going to love this conversation! *** Did you sign up to do the 5x5 reading challenge this year? If so, you need to join the Sistership as a Sophie membership and get the accountability you need and the support you want. With weekly check-ins and quarterl...
Mar 08, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 23Ep. 136
Today’s episode is on unit studies and why Charlotte Mason disapproved of them so much. You’re going to love this conversation! *** Did you sign up to do the 5x5 reading challenge this year? If so, you need to join the Sistership as a Sophie membership and get the accountability you need and the support you want. With weekly check-ins and quarterly zoom-style meetups, you will be encouraged to continue in good reading habits as well as get fun advice on which book to read next. Just go to schole...
Feb 23, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 23Ep. 135
It has come to our attention that while we discuss and refer to the Scholé Sisters 5x5 Reading Challenge regularly, we've never actually done an episode on it. Today, we remedy that problem! We discuss the history of the challenge as well as how it works. Today's episode is hosted by Abby Wahl (because Brandy is in the middle of a cross-country move). Her ever-faithful cohost is, of course, Mystie Winckler. To join the 2024 5x5 Reading Challenge, go to scholesisters.com/5x5 and sign up! *** Clic...
Jan 12, 2024•21 min•Season 21Ep. 134
Today’s episode is our annual Christmas episode. We begin by revisiting the theme of our very first Christmas episode, Don’t Be the White Witch . We continue with a discussion of generosity and tradition-making that you will love. *** Every year, we give our Sophie members a special Christmas gift. This year, our Sophie members are receiving a workshop on book selection that Mystie and Brandy filmed with Dr. Christopher Schlect from New Saint Andrews College. In a world of woke, how do we go abo...
Dec 15, 2023•55 min•Season 22Ep. 133
Today’s episode is the second in our four part series on habits and training. Last time, Mystie, Abby, and Brandy talked about physical training. Today they’re discussing intellectual training, including that most controversial assertion of Charlotte Mason, that attention can be trained. You’re going to love this conversation! *** Have you heard about the ongoing Sophie Mentorship inside the Scholé Sistership? It started on October 23rd and it’s not too late to join! The mentorship is called Gro...
Nov 24, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 22Ep. 132
Our very special guest today is Jami Marstall. Jami has been homeschooling with Charlotte Mason’s principles, primarily following AmblesideOnline, for the past 17 years. She has graduated three of her four children from the family homeschool and has one high schooler left. Jami loves to read about and discuss educational history and philosophy. She always dreamed of being a professional student and homeschooling continues to be the perfect career to fulfill that ambition. Today’s episode is a co...
Nov 03, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 22Ep. 131
Today’s episode is the annual episode we recorded at the retreat when we were together in real life, which means we have to apologize to you for the sound. You’d think it’d be better in person, but the reality is that a single shared microphone is a questionable idea. With that said, we had so much fun discussing a portion of Edwin Friedman’s excellent on leadership, A Failure of Nerve. You’re going to love this conversation! *** Have you heard about our upcoming Sophie Mentorship? It starts ver...
Oct 20, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 22Ep. 130
Today’s conversation is the first in a four-part series covering Charlotte Mason’s chapters from School Education on training children physically, intellectually, morally, and religiously. Today we cover physical training — not so much the how as the what and the why. You’re going to love this conversation! *** Have you registered for our fall online local retreats yet? If you are listening to this episode the day it comes out, the retreat is NEXT SATURDAY October 7th! Our annual Homeschool Esse...
Sep 29, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Season 22Ep. 129
