Kolbecast

AMDG. Kolbe 2019 graduate Aviva Lund joins us today with insatiable curiosity and infectious enthusiasm. A current neuroscience major and philosophy minor at Notre Dame, Aviva shares stories and insights ranging from an internship at Yale Medical School to her family’s experience with the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. She describes the way sciences and humanities interlace and addresses the specifics of interviewing at Ivy League colleges. Ultimately, Aviva’s far-flung adventures come from two foundational ideas. First, a guiding tenet: when you give time to God, he’ll give time to you tenfold. Second, a question: what are you going to do with the present moment? 

Aviva’s 2019 Kolbe graduation address 

Ecuadane, Aviva’s family’s shop 

Homeschooling Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)  

https://www.ecuadane.com 

https://medicine.yale.edu/obgyn/discovery/education/internships/hs/ 

AMDG. On this special edition of the Kolbecast – released during the 12 Days of Christmas and marking our 25th episode since this school year’s relaunch – fix some popcorn (if Bonnie’s picking the snack) or some cheese and crackers (if Hope is) and settle in for a behind-the-scenes tour of the podcast. The team talks about how the idea to collaborate developed, what Jordan’s recent promotion to Director of Public and Alumni Relations entails, how episode titles come about, and more. Listen all the way through for a preview of the spring episodes and a little Christmas gift from us to you: a blooper reel.

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

AMDG. Last week we talked to Beth Gath, veteran homeschool mom of six and Kolbe parent ambassador. Today we talk to her eldest two children, Anthony (a junior at Ave Maria University) and Clare (a freshman at Wyoming Catholic College). They share their experience being homeschooled, the way they helped younger siblings, and the connections they developed through extracurriculars such as swim team and the Kolbe newsletter, of which Clare was editor-in-chief. Anthony and Clare also reflect on doing class on a cruise ship, their college application process, and the experience of moving geographically far away from home for college. Along the way, topics including the logical similarities between mathematics and the classics, the importance of encountering nature as well as academics, and building rapport with teachers and professors. 

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

AMDG. Veteran homeschool mom of six and Kolbe parent ambassador Beth Gath joins Bonnie and Hope today to discuss her experience with various seasons of homeschooling. From starting first grade with her eldest when she and her husband also had a four-year-old, a two-year-old, and newborn twins to now having multiple college students and high schoolers in the family, Beth discusses what a typical day has looked like at various points; how she’s mixed online, self-paced, and homeschool courses to meet her family’s needs; and the benefits of older children helping younger children. Beth also discusses tailoring homeschooling to fit the needs of her twins, who are dyslexic, such as the reading programs and accommodations she’s used, as well as what their preparation for college looks like. Finally, we talk about the community aspect of Kolbe and what the behind-the-scenes work of supporting and building the Schoology discussion groups looks like.  

Make sure to tune in next week when we visit with Beth’s eldest two children, Anthony and Clare! 

https://diannecraft.org/ 

https://learningally.org/ 

https://bartonreading.com/ 

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

AMDG. So far this season we’ve met instructors and parents, directors and alumni, but today we meet three current Kolbe students. Aidan, Jameson, and Peter are sophomores in high school. After surmounting the learning curve of freshman year, they’re well on their way to building habits of truth, wisdom, and virtue. In the episode, they discuss learning how to manage their own schedules, the adaptability they’re developing as they learn the styles of various online academy teachers, and the trials and triumphs of doing school at home. 

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

AMDG. Today’s episode is about life and life in abundance, from the molecular to the cross-county road trip. Science chair Elizabeth Hoxie joins Bonnie and Hope to discuss the foundational needs to live a healthy life—physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual—and how Kolbe’s science curriculum teaches students the Ignatian concept of cura personalis or care of the whole person. Topics also include why all Kolbe science classes use secular textbooks, how Kolbe course plans empower parents to have discussions with their children on topics that can be sensitive or tricky, and how Kolbe students graduate with a profound reverence for their bodies.  

Content warning: This episode includes a brief discussion of suicide in context of addressing various mental health concerns. 

Websites: 

• Daughters of St. Paul

Books  

• The Mindful Catholic 

Podcasts 

• CFR Poco a Poco 

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

AMDG. Today’s episode is a crossover between Homecoming and curriculum deep-dives as Kolbe teacher and alumna Rebecca DeVendra describes how she’s lived out the idea that, if you’re challenged by something, it’s probably worth buckling down and learning the self-discipline to pursue. From writing “I hate Latin” in her high school textbook to earning a classics degree and from learning how to properly sharpen a pencil to her work as a representational artist, Mrs. DeVendra discusses both her own experience and how she teaches current Kolbe students. Ultimately, the conversation centers on the idea to never sell students short. By inviting them into discussions of primary sources and surrounding them with artistic mastery, we develop their senses of both curiosity and dignity.  

Resources discussed: 

Art Renewal Center 

Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach 

Drawing the Head and Hands 

Options for prints of Da Vinci’s Last Supper 

Options for prints of Bouguereau paintings 

Bouguereau’s The Elder Sister 

Artists of note (alive and painting today!) trained in Atelier Schools 

Mrs. DeVendra’s studio 

Katie G. Whipple 

Gwyneth Thompson Briggs 

William Nathans 

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

AMDG. Take heart, those with fractious high schoolers! It’s okay to not be okay sometimes. Today, we talk to Fr. Paul Hedman—the Diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’s current youngest ordained priest—and his mom Sharon, who used Kolbe to educate Fr. Paul and his three siblings. They describe Fr. Hedman’s early days serving and playing Mass while homeschooled, the friction between parent and child in his high school years, the way marking events of his vocation, and his current ministry both in parish life and in providing Last Rites to those dying in the pandemic. Together with Bonnie and Hope, the Hedmans also discuss the drama of the liturgy, Advent traditions, and social media.  

Toy Mass kit 

Anointing Corps ministry article 

Past Productions by St. Paul Seminary Theater Program and Spotlight Family Theater  

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

AMDG. Alumnus Charlie Mihaliak, a current University of Dallas junior, joins us today to discuss how he relies on his Kolbe education in pursuing the pragmatic and the creative, the athletic and the artistic, the collective human experience and the unique individual self. Charlie reminisces with Jordan about the powerful experience of meeting friends in person after relationships developed through online classes without physical proximity. He and Hope discuss the strong sense of individuality that comes from balancing friend groups with varying interests rather than associating with one particular identity in high school. And he and Bonnie talk about the catharsis of encountering timeless big questions in drama and literature. Along the way, Charlie describes how the best opportunities to grow in college come when you acknowledge the fact that you have maturing to do, the importance of enhancing reality rather than escaping it, and what he would say to his tenth-grade self.  

University of Dallas Fall 2020 production of Love’s Labour’s Lost 

2018 Graduation recap 

2018 Graduation pictures 

Jordan’s graduation address 

Charlie’s graduation address 

Patricia Kolakowski’s graduation address 

The McCormick family’s graduation reflections 

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

AMDG. Homecoming season continues with alumna and classical violinist Sarah Thomas. On this episode, she visits with Bonnie and Hope about her experience of timelessness in homeschooling, her state’s requirement for homeschooled students of yearly evaluations with a state-certified teacher, and the skill of developing friendships with people of all ages. Sarah discusses how the security she felt being homeschooled was a foundation for her collegiate and post-collegiate travels, such as studying abroad in Austria and walking the Chartres pilgrimage in France. She also describes how her Kolbe education informed her experience working in underprivileged public schools. We wrap it up with some thoughts on the sacramental nature of music and the importance of “feeding your soul” time. 

Sarah’s website 

Bowdoin International Music Festival Q&A with Sarah 

Sarah’s master's degree recital performance of Brahms Sonata No. 1 in G Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 78 

Sarah’s bachelor’s degree recital performance of Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 

Sarah references Josef Pieper’s book Leisure, the Basis of Culture. 

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