Kolbecast

AMDG.  To flourish as a human being is to think well, love well, discern well, work well with others, and so much more.  Today, Magdalen College president Dr. Ryan Messmore joins Bonnie and Steven to discuss how Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, New Hampshire, provides an atmosphere where every day is designed to shape young people to do just that.  Dr. Messmore describes the blend of new and old, fresh and classic, that guides students as they wrestle with the biggest ideas in the world.  The group also discusses the role of trust in education, the idea that community life is the most powerful mode of transforming education, and the telos of the human being.  As a bonus, listen in to find out which Kolbe teacher recently built a homemade Zamboni.

Links mentioned and helpful:

• Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

Other Life after Kolbe episodes:

• Episodes 39 Reclaiming the Territory and 40 Windshield Time with Dr. Don Prudlo

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG. Our Life after Kolbe series continues as Steven and Bonnie hear from Mark Knox, campus minister at St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, Texas; Monica Conrow, a Kolbe homeschooling mom and youth minister in Oregon; and Elise Athman, another Kolbe mom and former FOCUS missionary, about the vibrant Catholic student ministries on a growing number of state and secular campuses. In the spirit of Cardinal John Henry Newman, whom we encountered in last week’s episode, these campus ministries are reaching out to students, giving them places to call home away from home in more ways than one, and accompanying them on their walk into adulthood. The group also addresses concerns families may have about state or secular colleges and the potential detrimental effects on the faith life of the students attending; speaks to the fear factor that is a common experience of many families at this juncture; and offers suggestions for ways to identify dynamic Newman Centers as part of the college search.

Links mentioned and helpful:

• 50 Best College Newman Centers (Best College Reviews)

Other Life after Kolbe episodes:

• Episode 59 The Secret Whiteboard with Everett Buyarski and Erica Treat

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG.  The fundamental question of defining education is one of our favorite and most frequent topics.  Today, president and founder of the Cardinal Newman Society, Patrick Reilly, joins Bonnie, Steven, and Jordan to discuss education beyond the K-12 years.  Patrick proposes the idea of education as a window into God’s mind and explains how this perspective—along with a healthy dose of frustration—led him to look deeply at the state of Catholic education at the college level.  He also elucidates some the difference between Newman Guide schools and schools with Newman Centers (stay tuned for an upcoming episode on the latter).

Links mentioned and helpful:

• Cardinal Newman Society, publisher of The Newman Guide

related Kolbecast episodes

• Episode 59 The Secret Whiteboard with Everett Buyarski and Erica Treat

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG.  The words “standardized testing” may induce anxiety in parents and students alike, but today’s episode is all about a calm and competent approach. Jon & Chris Bates join Bonnie, Steven, and Steven’s wife Maggie to speak with experience as both homeschool parents and academic advisors. The group discusses why and what to test, paper and online options, and the information that testing can and cannot highlight. They also touch on environmental considerations for testing, how to navigate and mitigate student panic over tests, and how to approach test scores as a healthy assessment tool while keeping your unique students in mind.

Links mentioned and helpful:

• Kolbe Academy’s testing services

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG. Last week’s elementary school tour continues today with meeting two of Kolbe’s lower elementary teachers, Eileen Duryea and Sarah Lee.  These ladies share their expertise and enthusiasm for teaching Kindergarten through second grade students in Kolbe’s unique hybrid platform. They explain how limited online time and plentiful movement keep students physically and mentally engaged, how they foster fine motor development and a love of reading, and how parent involvement is a crucial component for success.

Links mentioned and related:

• Kolbecast Episode 81: The When and the How of Online Elementary with 3 teachers from Kolbe’s upper elementary online program

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG.  Tour the metaphorical halls of Kolbe’s elementary program today with teachers Sarah Foulkes, Anna Havens, and Emily Thibodeaux.  These ladies discuss with Bonnie and Steven the practicalities of the parent-teacher partnership that helps young students thrive.  From the hybrid combination of homeschooling and online education to the highlights of what the Kolbe elementary program is and is not, the discussion is a microcosm of Kolbe’s ancient and cutting-edge approach.

Links mentioned and related:

• Classical Education in the Elementary Years, a presentation by Mrs. Foulkes during Catholic Schools Week 2021

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG.  What causes a learning disability or difficulty and how can we help a student exercise that part of their mind?  Margaret Walsh of Secret Garden Educational Pathways joins Bonnie and Steven today to discuss the Ignatian idea of cura personalis, or care of the whole person, in the context of special education.  Margaret shares how she draws on both her liberal arts degree from Thomas Aquinas College and her advanced specialized training in special ed to provide accessible support through remediation and education therapy.   Topics touched on today include strengthening students’ capabilities, the 13 categories of learning needs, how to distinguish diagnosable struggles from emotional immaturity or stubbornness, and the hesitance and stigma surrounding diagnoses.

Links referenced:

• Secret Garden Educational Pathways, Margaret’s company

• How to Get a Free or Low-Cost Evaluation for Your Child

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG.  A familiar voice rejoins Bonnie, Steven, and Jordan today: Bonnie’s sister Hope, originally one of the relaunched Kolbecast’s co-hosts and now a frequent behind-the-scenes collaborator.  As the quartet gathers in the space between the old year and the new, we hear about Jordan’s newly published book and Hope’s introduction to Kolbe, as well as the long slow road of conversion and the significance of routines.

Referenced in this episode:

• Jordan’s book When the Earth Was Flat

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG.  Four of Kolbe’s wisest guys—Jordan, Steven, Everett, and Don—gather for a virtual men’s night on this week’s episode.  Their discussion is one for the ages, spanning stories of childhood role models and adult cross-country moves before settling into a reflection on what strength is and isn’t.  With sacrificial love and the golden mean as their foundation, the gentlemen talk about virtues to encourage in young men, how the idea that “boys will be boys” works against healthy masculinity, the commonalities between Marcus Aurelius and Marvel, the revolution of Christian leadership, Augustine’s idea that those who give orders are the servants of those whom they appear to command, and so much more.

• The impetus for the Buyarskis’ move to Tulsa: Ep 50 Backstage (Cast Party)

Articles mentioned:

• How to Be on the Right Side of History by James Hankins in First Things

Dr. Don Prudlo can be heard on these other Kolbecast episodes:

• Ep 39 Reclaiming the Territory

Kolbe Academy’s Academic Services Director Everett Buyarski is featured on these other Kolbecast episodes:

• Ep 11 Truth, Wisdom, Virtue

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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

AMDG.  Today Celeste Cuellar rejoins the Kolbecast to discuss non-college paths—trades, military service, religious life discernment, and more.  Celeste, Bonnie, and Steven muse on how God doesn’t require saints to have college degrees, how many of the activities and interests we’re drawn to indicate our paths, and how the preparation for life is indirect.  Along with these profound and accessible topics, they touch on personality and skill assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, what gap years are and aren’t, and reckoning parents’ experience within themselves as their children grow to the age of adventuring beyond the nest.

Celeste can be heard on these other Kolbecast episodes

• Ep 12 Phone a Friend

Also referenced:

• Ep 59 The Secret Whiteboard with Everett Buyarski & Erica Treat

Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and subscribe for effortless episode delivery.

Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected].

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