The Conversation Monthly Wonderstruck by Science “Life is at its best is an adventure, a voyage of discovery. What could be more gratifying than to discover, describe and explain some basic principle that no human being has ever understood before? This is the stuff of true science.” —Peter Doherty, The...
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When my daughter Gaeligh was two and a half, she received the complete set of Beatrix Potter books as a Christmas gift, and that January her favorite book became “The Tale of Samuel Whiskers”—a story we read, discussed, quoted, and reenacted many times over the upcoming months. She had...
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When my older daughter was young, one of her favorite movies was Apollo 13. I am not completely sure what the fascination was; she was too young by most estimates to really “get” the movie. At any rate, I spent quite a bit of time watching the movie, apparently internalizing...
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Below, dear reader, you will find notes, questions, observations, and hopefully, a few reasonable answers to the question, “How does one study science classically?” Instead of simply giving you a couple of answers from my readings and contemplations, I thought I would invite you into my invention—my search for...
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I loved my college and my Latin education. However, the education classes were not as fruitful as I had expected. I really did not learn what I needed to know about teaching techniques until I was out in the trenches. All the theory in the world does not really...
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Classical Conversations is a Christian homeschool provider. If you look at our About page, you’ll discover that we focus on three primary domains: Classical, Christian, and Community. But what does that mean? What is a Christian education? And what is a Christian curriculum? And what should a Christian curriculum...
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Over the course of the 2015-2016 academic year, both the Challenge II and Challenge III programs will be incorporating an original work of Plato into each curriculum. Challenge II students will be reading the Gorgias dialogue, and Challenge III will be reading the Meno dialogue. If you rejoice to hear this, then you...
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In the early 6th century, the philosopher Boethius answered the question “What is a musician?” For Boethius, a musician’s task was to go beyond the ability to perform an instrument or compose a song. A true musician was one who was able to judge music for its appropriateness. Therefore, a musician’s...
Read the Full ArticleThe Conversation Monthly Growing Deep Roots for Speaking and Writing “Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that’s the whole art and joy of words.” —C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (Leigh...
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I admit that the first time I watched the video “Don’t Stay in School,” I felt incredibly irritated. In an edgy rap, David Brown recites facts and skills he was required to learn in school instead of useful information he thought would have more effectively prepared him for life...
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“Inquiring minds want to know!” Does anyone else remember that advertising tag line? It was the slogan for one of the lurid tabloid gossip magazines that plastered the checkout lines of my childhood. When I was very young, just learning to read really, I would try to decipher what...
Read the Full Article“If we want them to become lifelong learners, we should encourage them to begin having conversations with the author” (Leigh Bortins, The Conversation, 61). Even though my son is in high school and a full blown teenager, I still read to him every night at bedtime. Part of me loves this...
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