A Poem for Advent

With the Christmas season now in full swing, there tends to be a strong focus on the joys of being young. This is notably displayed in the excitement our culture generates around shopping and gift-giving, particularly for children. Movies like Home Alone, Elf, and A Christmas Story feature the idea of youthfulness prominently in their plots, and in some way or another, cast an adult or elderly person as the antagonist. The wonder and joy of Christmas, it would seem, is reserved for a particular age. As Christians, we need to resist this inclination. One way we can preserve the

Continue reading

Charlotte Mason on Thanksgiving

The tradition of a Thanksgiving holiday has a rich history in Christianity that predates the holiday as it has developed in America. In fact, numerous countries across the world celebrate some form of thanksgiving as a national holiday. The idea of thanksgiving or gratitude stems from a prominent biblical theme, one which calls the Christian to a daily practice of continual thanksgiving. For instance, Paul writes to the Colossians, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances” (Col. 2:6). So while we participate in the community celebration of Thanksgiving for all the God has provided, this article explores

Continue reading

College-bound Superstars: How Classical School Students Can Cultivate Interesting Lives

Student at classical Christian schools are already on their life journey. The temptation is to think that life only begins once the student goes off to college or enters their career. A student in sixth grade feels like college is so far off that it’s not even worth talking about college. While it is true to say that a student is on the college journey, in reality this sells short what is truly going on for all of our students. Really they are on a life’s journey. The college journey is actually just a small component of the life’s journey.

Continue reading

Are You Ready to Become a Phone-free School?

The latest catchphrase sweeping the nation is “phone-free school.” In an age where smartphones have become ubiquitous, more and more schools are adopting policies to remove phones from the hands of students. In this article, we will look at the reasons behind this move to create distraction-free environments. Even though many classical schools are already low-tech, it is well worth considering how to approach the role of phones in the lives of students. We will also consider the thesis of Jonathan Haidt in his new book The Anxious Generation to learn more about what we can do to enable our

Continue reading

The Search for Great Teaching: A Comparison of Teach Like a Champion 3.0 and Christopher Perrin’s Pedogogical Principles

One interesting addition to Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion series in his third edition (Teach Like a Champion 3.0) is his notion of a mental model. He introduces the idea like this: “In a typical lesson you decide, often quickly. Then you decide, decide, and decide again. You are a batter facing a hundred pitches in a row…What do you need to decide quickly, reliably, and well, while thinking about other things under a bit of pressure in the form, of, say, twenty-nine restless students, twenty-five minutes’ worth of work left to get done, and a ticking clock to

Continue reading

The Narration-based Science Lesson

The method of narration articulated by Charlotte Mason is a powerful tool that involves children retelling what they have learned in their own words. Students tell back the content of what they have read, seen or heard. This actively engages their minds in the process of assimilating knowledge, making connections and cultivating language skills. Narration is dynamic and grows in complexity as students grow, meaning that as students enter higher grade levels and encounter subjects that have dense prose, we need to understand how to modulate our use of narration to fit the needs of the texts they read. When

Continue reading

The Great Cause of Teaching

In Aristotle’s writings, the philosopher famously articulates four causes, or explanations, for why a thing exists: Together these causes serve as the foundation for whatever knowledge we can know about anything that exists. In this article, I will explore the final cause, or purpose, of teaching. It practically goes without saying that there is great confusion in the world today about what the purpose of education is, broadly speaking, and teaching in particular. What precisely is the teaching act and what is its end goal? Let us take a modern primer on teaching as an example. Doug Lemov’s Teach Like

Continue reading

The Role of Imagination in Education

Imagination. The word brings so much to mind for us today. If there’s one thing that everybody can agree on for children, it’s the need to help them develop a vivid imagination through school, play, and well… everything they do. Or perhaps, ‘develop a vivid imagination’ is the wrong way of putting it. “Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination,” said Walt Disney. “But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it.” So maybe it’s not children who need to develop

Continue reading

Wisdom from the Heights of the Mountain Top: Inspiration from Thomas Aquinas

Onlookers viewing the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris might experience something similar to what onlookers in the 1200s had when the original construction of Notre Dame was still underway. Having begun in 1163, it was not completed until 1345. The site of its construction rests upon an island in the middle of the Seine. Crossing the Seine, one can make their way to the Latin Quarter, where one finds the medieval University of Paris. The Rue Saint-Jacques cuts through the Latin Quarter, aiming at Notre Dame on Seine. It was the street Thomas Aquinas daily walked

Continue reading

Three Key Skills to Develop during High School

For high school students, college looms large in the mind. Frequently, the focus is on grades and graduation requirements. But the most effective way to become optimally prepared for college is to delve into concepts surrounding human learning. In particular, students who gain a sense of themselves as learners who can manage their own learning gain a master skill that will put them in the driver’s seat of their college career. In this article we will dive into a few areas where students can optimize their understanding of themselves as learners through practical tactics. Each of these skills is backed

Continue reading