Inspiration for the Christian Classical Educator

For my Oregon friends, Veritas, a Christian Classical school in Newberg, is offering a teaching conference August 2-3 on the campus of George Fox University. My sister and I attended last year and were informed, inspired, and encouraged in our teaching (and learning!) journey. From their website:

Are you a teacher or parent, whether with a classical Christian school, private Christian school, or in a homeschool setting? Then join the teachers, staff, and board of Veritas School for a two-day conference that will ground you in a mission-oriented philosophy of classical Christian education, as well as provide practical help for teaching and day-to-day school operations. The conference features fewer subjects but allows for more in-depth sessions.

We will be changing the format slightly to allow for more in-depth discussions, opportunities to ask questions, and to talk about practical applications. We will have topics in three tracks: general, grammar, logic/rhetoric.

Another addition this year will be an option to participate in discussions of the core epics--The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, and Paradise Lost, led by Veritas Humane Letters teachers. These will be opportunities to actually discuss the themes of the works, while secondarily addressing how to teach them.

I’m particularly excited as my boys and I head back to ancient history in the fall and will be reading re-tellings of Homer and Virgil. I have no experience with ancient literature. I will take all the help I can get!

If you are interested in attending, you can register online at this link. There is a reduced cost for early registrations (by June 1st). Holly and I will be attending, and we’d love to see you there!

I can tell you that I would be sorely tempted to send my boys to Veritas School if we lived less than an hour away…

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We are also beginning the season for the Classical Conversations free 3-day parent practicums held all over the country. This year’s theme is Latin, and the inspiration comes from Tracy Lee Simmons’ book Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin.

You can find dates and locations at this link.

The Albany practicum will be held June 25-27. Let me know if anyone is interested in more information.

Tucker Teague will be facilitating the practicum in Springfield/Eugene on June 18-20. I am so disappointed that I won’t be able to sit in on that one! You can read Tucker’s latest article, Climbing a Different Mountain, at Classical Conversations. As always, he has excellent thoughts on the subject of Christian Classical education!

One thing I have learned from climbing mountains is that the route is critical. The summit is a long way off when one is at the bottom of a mountain, and the journey will, no doubt, be difficult and tiring. It is best to have a clear idea of how one is to proceed, what path one will follow, and to be prepared for the dangers that will inevitably appear. What I want to propose is that Christian, classical homeschooling is not merely a different path up the same mountain that everyone else is climbing. It is, in fact, the climbing of a different mountain altogether.