Kolbecast

AMDG.  Teaching students responsible ways to use the internet is more important now than ever.   Today Kolbe’s chief academic officer Megan Lengyel and her husband Craig, a cybersecurity specialist for some of the world’s largest tech companies, visit with the Kolbecast team about computer safety.  Craig describes how prevention and education are key, emphasizes the importance of ongoing conversations with children about what’s appropriate and what’s not online, and shares some practical tips.  Megan describes Kolbe’s proactive digital management, from monitoring live online classes to fostering safe searching when students are assigned research projects

Links mentioned and helpful:

• Using the Schoology Directory to connect with other Kolbe families

Kolbecast episodes mentioned in this conversation:

• 58 Mystery Machines

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG.  Kolbe academic advisors and homeschooling mothers Krysten Pizzurro, Karen Allgood, and Erica Treat are back in this episode to continue the conversation started last week on their insights about the day-to-day of homeschooling reality.  In this episode, they answer listener questions about the challenges and joys of having frequent family togetherness.  They touch on how to keep school days running smoothly, how to help siblings love each other well, and how to go about special needs advocacy.  The wisdom and encouragement these ladies share has something for everyone, new and experienced homeschooling parents alike.

Check out episode 124 in This Together for more about Krysten, Karen, and Erica.

Academic Dean Erica Treat can be heard on these other Kolbecast episodes:

• 43 The Grade Examen

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG. Kolbe academic advisors and homeschooling mothers Krysten Pizzurro, Karen Allgood, and Erica Treat had so much wisdom to share that we turned our conversation into a two-parter of episodes.  In the first half, they talk about how Kolbe’s academic advising department is here for the duration to accompany families and what that looks like on a day-to-day basis.  The ladies share their experience of taking work phone calls while toddlers live their best lives in the background, respond to the frequently-heard concern of parents that they aren’t patient enough to homeschool their own children, and encourage communication early and often.  They also bring words of affirmation: give yourself permission to do what’s best for your family.

Listen in next week for the second episode in the series, where Krysten, Karen, and Erica answer listener questions and continue the conversation on how to find the balance of comfort zone and growth in homeschoooling.

Krysten refers to Jon and Chris Bates, who are featured on episode 31 Veteran Homeschoolers and 83 This Is Only a Test. Chris also appears on episode 47 Among the Pots and Pans.

Other relevant Kolbecast episodes

• 36 Embrace the Fifth Day

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG.  Today Msgr. James Shea, President of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, joins Bonnie and Steven to discuss the transition to adulthood and the beginning of life’s adventures that transition brings.  Msgr. Shea talks about the ambient culture, the modern mind’s romance with utopias, and the good news that this is an age where Kolbe families can shine.  He also describes the apostolic moment in which we live, the words of encouragement he has to parents who feel shame or fear about their children leaving the Church, and some of the features of UMary that provide an accessible Catholic education with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Resources mentioned and related

• Prime Matters

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG.  The Church recognizes a turning point for young ones around the age of seven as children begin to reason.  In our school structure, age seven roughly corresponds to second grade—a watershed year in its own right and a bridge to new worlds of comprehension and formation. Today, Nicole O’Connor, Colleen Goodwin, and Marissa Piñón visit with Bonnie and Steven about the mixture of enthusiasm and docility second graders have, the importance of memory work, and the process of preparing for First Reconciliation and First Communion while balancing homeschool and parish expectations.

Related Kolbecast episodes:

• 81 The When and the How of Online Elementary and 82 Move and Groove

Here is a playlist of the virtue videos that are sent to the entire Kolbe community on a monthly basis.

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG. Voice of experience and mother of eight children ages 12 to 26, Michele Resuta, joins the Kolbecast today to share some of the wisdom she’s developed through 21 years of homeschooling with Kolbe.  The conversation covers everything from practicalities like bulk cooking and daily Mass to big questions of building strong foundations and the value of responsible stewardship.  Michele talks about catering to students’ strengths and weaknesses, describes some of her tried-and-true methods for finding extra oomph to be patient on hard days, and tells of edifying moments with adult children.  Those in the thick of it, take heart—this episode is a pep talk and motherly advice rolled into one.

Michele references the Militia of the Immaculata, the association founded by our patron St. Maximilian Kolbe. 

Kolbecast episodes mentioned in this conversation:

• 84 The Essence of Catholic Education with Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society

Some of our other episodes with Kolbe parents (use the filters on our website to find more):

• 23 Family Is the Center

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG. In this replay of a conversation from April 2021, Jordan and Bonnie visit with Jeremy Tate, president of the Classic Learning Test. He explains how high-stakes tests drive and dictate academic focus in America, how he decided to go up against the behemoth that is the College Board in designing a different kind of college admission test, and how he’s challenged the societal status quo that excludes great thinkers like C.S. Lewis and John Paul the Great from the literature that test takers must examine. The group also discusses the immense time spent in test prep and what messages are sent by the materials studied in that time. Jeremy describes how the goal of classical education isn’t to make people better employees—it's to make them better humans—but how the best humans often end up being the best employees, too. He reminds listeners that tests give a snapshot into key academic areas at a given point in time but say nothing about the kind of person that a student is. And he distills his goals into a succinct call to action: read good books, read them a lot, and enjoy them.

Kolbe families always receive 50% off CLT exams by using the code KOLBE50. Additionally, CLT partners with colleges to sponsor CLT10 tests. For more information, check out this page on the Kolbe website.

Relevant links:

• Classic Learning Test (CLT) website

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG. While the universality of the Church is beautiful, its immediacy is just as profound. Today Tom and Noëlle Crowe of the American Catholic History podcast join us to share how we don’t need to cross an ocean to find people who did amazing things for Christ. They describe the breadth and depth of amazing Catholic individuals in this country, highlight contributions of Catholics to American history in every aspect of society from milking cows to landing on the moon, and emphasize the importance of “getting to know your own saints” as a key part of developing a strong foundation and identity.

Links to check out:

• Pilgrimages led by Tom & Noëlle Crowe

Kolbecast episodes mentioned and relevant

• 94 A Boy, A Book, and a Library Mouse about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

A sampling of the American Catholic History episodes and offerings referenced in this episode

• Ark and Dove

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG.  Everett Buyarski and Chrissy Almanzar are familiar voices to anyone who’s called Kolbe or listened to the podcast.  Today they share a more personal side of themselves, though: their stories of conversion and being led toward grace and the Catholic Church.  With candidness and wisdom, Everett, Chrissy, Steven, and Bonnie discuss how their experiences of faith have led them to progress from confusion to peace, to seek understanding through surrender, and ultimately to love because we are loved first.

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.

AMDG. Science facilitates wholeness and the abundant life God wants for us, but it also prompts a lot of questions—everything from how to teach complex concepts in homeschooling to how to approach ongoing national discussions on the beginning and end of life.  We delve into these dynamics today with Dr. Andrew Mullally, a second-generation physician, first-generation homeschool alumnus, current homeschool father, and host of the award-winning Catholic Medical Association podcast Doctor, Doctor.  The conversation touches on how to teach science on micro and macro levels, how homeschooled students defy stereotypes with their confident communication skills, and how nothing is insurmountable if it’s what God calls you to pursue.

Relevant Kolbecast episodes and those mentioned in this conversation:

• 88 Built for Battle with The Catholic Woodworker Jonathan Conrad

Check out the Doctor, Doctor podcast here or in your favorite podcast app.

Kolbecast episodes cover a range of topics relating to school at home, the life of faith, and Catholic education. Using the new filters on our website, you can sort the episodes to find just what you're looking for. You can also find the Kolbecast in most podcast players, so subscribe in your favorite app to never miss an episode! If you have a moment, please leave a rating and review, which will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.

What questions do you have about homeschooling, the life of faith, or the intersection of the two? Send your questions to [email protected] and stay tuned for answers. You may hear them answered in an upcoming Kolbecast episode!

Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.