Kolbecast

AMDG. Maria and her family were among many who turned on a dime in response to the pandemic-related impact on their schooling choices. This episode details the path that led Maria and her family to Kolbe and how her daughter’s experience in the inaugural year of the online elementary program went. With candor and grace, Maria shares how she and her husband worked through sticking points, how they as a family adapted to the new school structure, and what their plans for the coming school year.  

Maria is featured in this video, among others, on the Kolbe Academy YouTube channel. For more information about the online K-5 program, check out this Facebook Friday webinar.  

Subscribe to the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery.  

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected]. Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.    

AMDG. Heather, a longtime Kolbe Academy homeschooling mom, takes Bonnie back in time to the start of Heather’s family’s homeschooling experience. Along the way, Heather shares some of the struggles and sorrows they encountered. With much humor and compassion, Heather offers her pragmatic suggestions on how to deal with the opinions of others about family educational choices, when spouses aren’t on the same page, and criticism. She underscores the importance of prayer and of asking for help, and she cautions against falling into the comparison trap. Listen in for an engaging dose of inspiration and a generous helping of laughter. 

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected]. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery. Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.    

AMDG. Kolbe Academy’s Curriculum Development Manager Deana Muth sits down with Jordan and Bonnie to underscore the accessibility – and relevance – of Kolbe’s high caliber liberal arts curriculum to everyone, the principle of subsidiarity in the service of homeschooling families, and the role of Kolbe’s dedicated, skilled advisors in helping families customize and implement curriculum choices.  

Check out Kolbe Academy Online's conceptual framework, which includes references to subsidiarity as applied to homeschooling. 

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected]. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery. Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.    

AMDG. In this episode, Jordan, Bonnie, and Brigid are fielding questions and addressing common homeschooling sticking points. From looking back in time to trace how we got to the point of thinking parents aren’t qualified to teach their own children to demystifying the day-in, day-out homeschooling experience, this conversation covers a lot of ground and delivers a hefty dose of encouragement to homeschooling families and those who are considering the homeschool life.  

Ep 11 Truth, Wisdom, and Virtue recounting Kolbe Academy history 

Ep 41 Social Media with Brigid and Lauren 

Ep 43 The Grade Examen concerning documentation, grade reports, and paperwork  

Ep 34 A Beauty-Linked Life with Professor Carol 

HSLDA – the Home School Legal Defense Association 

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected]. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery. Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

AMDG. Longtime Kolbe Academy online instructor and chair of the English and Literature Department Kim Crawford shines a light on the philosophy of Kolbe’s literature curriculum, which employs four attitudes and a four-fold test to construct a lens through which to evaluate any piece of literature, from the timeless classic to the latest beach read. Kim and Bonnie also discuss the true meaning of critical thinking, ways to both cultivate a love of reading and work through resistance or reluctance, the importance of enlisting help along the way for challenges such as dyslexia and anxiety, and the consequences of cancel culture as seen in recent removals of time-tested texts from the canon.   

Mentioned in this episode (bolded words are links): 

Episode 14 We Don’t Think Those Words Mean What You Think They Mean with Nicole O’Connor 

Great Illustrated Classics 

Episode 23 Family Is the Center with Beth Gath featuring suggestions for addressing and working with dyslexia 

Episode 24 Rise and Shine with Beth’s children, Kolbe alumni Anthony and Clare 

Kolbe Recommended Reading List 

Bethlehem Books 

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected]. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery. Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

AMDG. This episode of the Kolbecast features the speeches from Kolbe Academy’s 2021 live-streamed graduation ceremony with an opening prayer offered by Ryan Ma. Student speaker Caroline Painter, faculty speaker Wil Frey, and commencement speaker Bill Donaghy address the Kolbe Academy community with eloquence, wit, and sagacity. From the purpose of education to the importance of reflection on the true, the good, and the beautiful, our speakers honor and challenge Kolbe’s Class of 2021 to use the gift of their Kolbe formation as they step out into the deep.  

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at [email protected]. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery. Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

AMDG. Hats off to our 50th episode! Tune in today to hear the more casual side of the cast as we welcome back some of the guests we’ve had the pleasure of having on the show during our first rebooted season. We let our hair down, reminisce about the past year, and sketch out big dreams for the next. Ever heard the Socratic method applied to Star Wars combat walkers? Listen in and you will. On this episode, we also bid farewell to Hope, who’s temporarily stepping back from being on air as she starts a new day job. 

references & links 

Ep 11 with Everett Buyarski 

Ep 25 Backstage 

Kolbe careers and job openings 

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Drop us a line at [email protected]. Subscribe to the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery. 

AMDG. We are thrilled to welcome the keynote speaker of our portable homeschool convention: Joseph Pearce. With clear enthusiasm for the subjects he teaches, Joseph describes how God conveys the greatest lessons to us--theological, philosophical, moral, and historical--in terms of story and literature. He explains how humility gives us a sense of gratitude, gratitude opens the eyes in wonder, wonder leads us to contemplation, and contemplation dilates the mind and soul into the fullness of reality. And he reassures parents who may not have a classical education themselves: don’t be daunted and think you’re not worthy to educate your children. Resources and opportunities abound for parents to learn themselves, which in turn unites children and parents and brings their family closer together. Ultimately, Joseph explains how to have an education in the humanities is to become more fully human. 

Resources (Bolded text below denotes links.) 

jpearce.co 

Classical Education and the Future of Civilization 

Graduation 2018: Reflections from a Kolbe Family 

Are Homeschools Serving as Newman Guide Prep Schools? 

2018 Graduation 

Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know 

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Drop us a line at [email protected]. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app for effortless episode delivery. 

AMDG. Today Chrissy Almanzar, theology department chair and Jordan's wife, shares her experience of the richness of grace and faith as a convert to Christianity and intercultural theology scholar who is now a high school teacher. We discuss head knowledge versus heart knowledge of religion, why Kolbe’s high school theology curriculum does not use a catechetical approach, the connection between history and theology, and the idea of giving students something to love instead of something to recite. Chrissy also describes how she answers doubts from her students with enthusiasm because, as she says, if there’s a question in your mind, it’s because God wants you to know its answer. If you have high schoolers asking hard questions, this is the episode for you. 

Hope references Kolbecast Episode 8 with Colleen Carroll Campbell.  

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Drop us a line at [email protected]. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app for effortless episode delivery. 

AMDG. Gather around our metaphorical kitchen table as Kelly Powers and Chris Bates re-join Bonnie and Hope to talk about their shared love of cooking—both their own experience in the kitchen and the highs and lows of cooking with kids. We cover adapting meals to food sensitives and allergies, kids’ capabilities in the kitchen at various ages, safety habits for teaching children to work with knives and stoves, the joy of having music and dancing in the kitchen, and the idea of food as service for others. In the background of all of this is cooking’s marvelous way of fostering independence, generosity, creative thinking, sequencing, and confidence. 

Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Drop us a line at [email protected]. Subscribe to the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery.