I co-founded a Catholic classical school! And love talking about it 😂 Call anytime. While the school was already in motion when this piece by Dan Burns came out, I must say it strongly reinforced my own commitment to the effort and helped me see it as part of a larger, desperately needed social reform. I remember emailing it to other Board members. https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2021/02/74225/
Hi! Two things I’m doing as a homeschooling mother other than building community with like-minded families—
1) cultivating relationships w neighbors. I was stunned when we bought our first house that people didn’t really meet or know each other. I found it really sad and I set out to change it. Among other things, I started a neighborhood book club. In our current area (we moved after kids), we’ve tried to set the tone of kids freely playing and parents communicating and welcoming them as they do so. People were rigid at first but it’s slowly becoming more of the vibrant neighborhood we want to see!
2) I’m going to begin running workshops for girls teaching them about their bodies — that they are wise and abundant and incredible and thus deserving of the utmost respect. I spent the weekend getting trained with three other women and I feel sparks of a revolution in consciousness around womanhood!
About ten years ago I started a Classical Homeschool Program simply by sending out a message on a listserv and inviting some friends. This grew by word of mouth and ended in a group of almost 60 students ranging from grade 2 to high school. I set out clear rules in a guideline document, including tech use (as in no phones even for parents), which helped to create clear expectations and resulted in a committed group of parents and students.
The most interesting aspect was that the homeschool program was open to participants from all denominations (we had a rich mix of protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox families), with the understanding that the program was based on “a classical education model, rooted in traditional, historic Christianity, designed to train the student’s mind to absorb information, think analytically, and express ideas clearly”. Non-Christians were welcome to join. In my experience over the years, this was the most inter-denominational setting I have ever come across, and it worked wonders in connecting people and building understanding.
As the parents had to stay on the premises for insurance reasons and tech was off limits (and I hired teachers to lead the classes), we spent lots of time talking, encouraging, and asking each other questions. The protestants could ask the Catholics "why do you worship the saints - is that not idolatry?", the Orthodox would in turn talk about how their liturgy involved all the senses etc. These exchanges were more powerful for these parents than any apologetics book could have been. And importantly, because they all actually liked each other, they were highly motivated to connect in spite of their differences.
Finally, we were one of those "weird" families with children playing freely as well. Feel encouraged, as you are spreading seeds of the type of play that will benefit your children tremendously and grow their creativity, self-confidence, and physical abilities in ways that organized activities snuff out.
I co-founded a Catholic classical school! And love talking about it 😂 Call anytime. While the school was already in motion when this piece by Dan Burns came out, I must say it strongly reinforced my own commitment to the effort and helped me see it as part of a larger, desperately needed social reform. I remember emailing it to other Board members. https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2021/02/74225/
Hi! Two things I’m doing as a homeschooling mother other than building community with like-minded families—
1) cultivating relationships w neighbors. I was stunned when we bought our first house that people didn’t really meet or know each other. I found it really sad and I set out to change it. Among other things, I started a neighborhood book club. In our current area (we moved after kids), we’ve tried to set the tone of kids freely playing and parents communicating and welcoming them as they do so. People were rigid at first but it’s slowly becoming more of the vibrant neighborhood we want to see!
2) I’m going to begin running workshops for girls teaching them about their bodies — that they are wise and abundant and incredible and thus deserving of the utmost respect. I spent the weekend getting trained with three other women and I feel sparks of a revolution in consciousness around womanhood!
Feel free to reach out!✨
About ten years ago I started a Classical Homeschool Program simply by sending out a message on a listserv and inviting some friends. This grew by word of mouth and ended in a group of almost 60 students ranging from grade 2 to high school. I set out clear rules in a guideline document, including tech use (as in no phones even for parents), which helped to create clear expectations and resulted in a committed group of parents and students.
The most interesting aspect was that the homeschool program was open to participants from all denominations (we had a rich mix of protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox families), with the understanding that the program was based on “a classical education model, rooted in traditional, historic Christianity, designed to train the student’s mind to absorb information, think analytically, and express ideas clearly”. Non-Christians were welcome to join. In my experience over the years, this was the most inter-denominational setting I have ever come across, and it worked wonders in connecting people and building understanding.
As the parents had to stay on the premises for insurance reasons and tech was off limits (and I hired teachers to lead the classes), we spent lots of time talking, encouraging, and asking each other questions. The protestants could ask the Catholics "why do you worship the saints - is that not idolatry?", the Orthodox would in turn talk about how their liturgy involved all the senses etc. These exchanges were more powerful for these parents than any apologetics book could have been. And importantly, because they all actually liked each other, they were highly motivated to connect in spite of their differences.
Finally, we were one of those "weird" families with children playing freely as well. Feel encouraged, as you are spreading seeds of the type of play that will benefit your children tremendously and grow their creativity, self-confidence, and physical abilities in ways that organized activities snuff out.