Everyday Educator - The Home Stretch Should Stretch You!
00:00:00.000 | (soft music)
00:00:02.420 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:06.720 | of the Everyday Educator podcast.
00:00:09.380 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:11.280 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:14.540 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:17.900 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:20.880 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:24.220 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:26.360 | this homeschooling possibility
00:00:28.980 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:33.120 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:36.600 | But don't forget, although this online community is awesome,
00:00:41.400 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:46.400 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:50.720 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:54.340 | Well, listeners, I have a treat for you today.
00:00:58.820 | I have a dear friend with me today as a guest, Brittany Lewis.
00:01:03.820 | Brittany is a longtime challenge director,
00:01:07.600 | a longtime homeschooling mom,
00:01:09.360 | lots of experience under her belt with her own children,
00:01:13.800 | as well as mentoring students and parents and families
00:01:18.800 | through her own local community for years.
00:01:23.000 | I asked Brittany to come today because as we draw near
00:01:27.140 | to the end of the year, I know that lots of you families
00:01:32.140 | are maybe growing weary, maybe becoming anxious for,
00:01:37.400 | ooh, have we done it?
00:01:40.480 | Have we accomplished the goal?
00:01:43.320 | Are we running the race well?
00:01:45.600 | And then there's a special group of you
00:01:48.920 | who are coming around the final curve of the final year.
00:01:54.660 | Of your homeschool journey with one or more of your students
00:01:57.660 | and so I remember that and I know how tender your hearts are
00:02:01.560 | and I want us to try to cast a vision for this last year
00:02:07.560 | and especially for this last home stretch,
00:02:10.960 | kind of as a ministry to you parents who are pulling in
00:02:16.540 | to across the finish line for maybe the last time,
00:02:19.260 | but also, I want us to try to make sure
00:02:23.020 | that you know really for the parents who are close
00:02:27.760 | to the end of the journey but are wondering
00:02:30.740 | is the final lap really necessary?
00:02:33.360 | So Brittany, I've probably dug us a big hole to fill
00:02:37.480 | in 45 minutes, but I think you're the right person
00:02:40.360 | for the job and I really appreciate you coming on.
00:02:43.980 | - Oh, it's such a joy.
00:02:45.260 | This is one of my favorite things to talk about.
00:02:48.220 | - I'm so glad.
00:02:49.140 | I know you have a heart for parents and for students
00:02:53.500 | who are at the end of the journey,
00:02:56.100 | but I want people to know that you do have the credentials
00:03:00.220 | to talk about this, that it has been a tender place
00:03:04.780 | in your heart for a long time.
00:03:06.920 | Tell our listeners how long you've been a challenge director
00:03:10.260 | and why did you agree to ever become a challenge director
00:03:13.840 | in the first place?
00:03:14.840 | - I think this is my 11th year.
00:03:18.540 | This year I'm a challenge three tutor
00:03:21.100 | and it's my third time to do challenge three.
00:03:24.260 | I've tutored all the levels by God's kindness to me
00:03:29.260 | all the way from challenge eight to challenge four,
00:03:32.940 | but challenge three and four I've tutored the most.
00:03:35.140 | So I've tutored challenge three, this is my third time,
00:03:38.280 | and challenge four I've tutored four times
00:03:41.660 | and I am supposed to tutor challenge four next year.
00:03:44.700 | - Oh my word.
00:03:45.780 | - I'm super excited because it is really my favorite year,
00:03:49.100 | although three and four are full of such goodness.
00:03:52.560 | - Yes, yes.
00:03:54.320 | Well, I love that.
00:03:55.740 | So it seems like challenge four
00:03:59.620 | might really be your favorite.
00:04:03.240 | And so I wanna know what do you love
00:04:07.100 | about challenge four students,
00:04:09.240 | about the challenge four material,
00:04:11.240 | about the way y'all can approach the material?
00:04:13.560 | What is it that you love about challenge four?
00:04:16.180 | - Man, I think it is a super rare gift
00:04:20.760 | to get to have that final year with seniors.
00:04:24.960 | I think they're wrestling with lots of important questions.
00:04:28.860 | Everyone, whether they're in CC or outside of CC,
00:04:33.560 | if they meet someone at the grocery store
00:04:35.680 | or on the ball field, people are asking them,
00:04:37.960 | what are your plans next year?
00:04:39.280 | And so often students have mixed feelings
00:04:42.900 | about being asked that question all the time,
00:04:46.120 | but it's a good question to consider.
00:04:47.760 | And it's at a time when they really are listening,
00:04:51.760 | they're looking for answers.
00:04:55.760 | Many of them finally realize the education
00:05:00.840 | that they've been given and they have hearts of gratitude.
00:05:04.280 | They see how everything's integrated
00:05:07.480 | and they have learned to look for Christ
00:05:10.200 | in all of their studies.
00:05:11.400 | And it's just the sweetest year
00:05:13.600 | when we're studying some really ancient books
00:05:16.800 | that have been foundational for educated people
00:05:19.180 | for generations, books that Christians in particular
00:05:22.480 | have treasured, even though they're pagan books,
00:05:25.860 | many of them.
00:05:26.720 | So they're curious about that
00:05:30.600 | and they have the opportunity to,
00:05:33.020 | anyone could read those books alone,
00:05:35.760 | but to have a community of like-minded peers
00:05:39.860 | digging in together, persevering that last year
00:05:44.360 | and doing hard things together
00:05:45.680 | and getting to converse about big ideas
00:05:48.440 | and important questions and study theology together
00:05:53.160 | is just a rare gift, not easily replicated anywhere else.
00:05:58.160 | - I think you're right.
00:06:01.280 | And you love being,
00:06:04.360 | it sounds like you love being in a front row seat
00:06:07.220 | to watch that wrestling.
00:06:09.720 | - I do.
00:06:10.560 | I love the students.
00:06:11.600 | They are such a gift to me.
00:06:14.480 | They're a joy to pray for and serve.
00:06:16.340 | And their families often are wrestling
00:06:19.260 | through all kinds of hard circumstances
00:06:21.880 | as God always in His kindness gives us to refine us.
00:06:25.240 | And it's a joy.
00:06:27.260 | I learned so much from them.
00:06:28.800 | I don't walk in knowing all the answers,
00:06:31.720 | but I know how to search for the answers
00:06:34.880 | and they want to search for the answers.
00:06:37.880 | And so it's just a joy to spend time with young men
00:06:42.060 | and women who want to have those kinds of conversations.
00:06:47.060 | - I think it's beautiful, Brittany, that they have you.
00:06:52.980 | A person who also loves to wrestle and search
00:06:59.080 | and who delights in watching their,
00:07:03.980 | whether it's fledgling searching or experienced searching,
00:07:08.420 | that you really enjoy and appreciate
00:07:11.020 | what they have to say about subjects too.
00:07:14.240 | I think that you are a gift to them and I appreciate you.
00:07:18.100 | How many students have you mentored
00:07:22.160 | through the end of your journey?
00:07:23.980 | I mean, you've graduated your own children,
00:07:27.220 | but if you've been directing for 11 years,
00:07:30.900 | you've mentored a lot of students.
00:07:33.240 | - Yeah, and when our challenge program
00:07:35.360 | was just starting out, we had older kids join us
00:07:38.160 | in younger years, and so they graduated early.
00:07:43.160 | So if I counted all of them, and plus I have three children,
00:07:47.200 | and so my youngest will be Lord Welling
00:07:50.280 | and Challenge Four with me next year.
00:07:51.960 | And I think it's about 40-ish students.
00:07:56.960 | It may be a little bit more, a little less.
00:08:01.360 | I was trying to count, one of my classes gave me a quilt
00:08:06.320 | with their names on it, which is super sweet.
00:08:08.200 | It's in my bedroom.
00:08:09.900 | Yeah, so there've been people that we've just had
00:08:12.640 | the blessing of having with us for a year or so,
00:08:15.860 | just because their family's removed
00:08:17.560 | or they just really couldn't homeschool or something.
00:08:20.360 | But it's been a joy to watch these young men and women
00:08:24.060 | seek Christ or be encouraged to seek Christ
00:08:29.060 | if they aren't doing so already.
00:08:31.780 | - Mm-hmm.
00:08:33.020 | Well, clearly we have come to the right person for advice
00:08:36.700 | about how to encourage families who are in that last lap
00:08:41.700 | of the journey, and then also, Brittany,
00:08:45.840 | I want us to be sure that we have enough time
00:08:48.400 | to encourage families who are wondering
00:08:50.820 | if the last lap is worth it, if it's for them,
00:08:54.940 | or what could they, you know, I just really,
00:08:57.980 | my heart is a little heavy for communities
00:09:00.120 | all across our country that,
00:09:01.880 | where parents and students are saying,
00:09:05.080 | "I don't know if I wanna stay for challenge four."
00:09:07.740 | So I want us to address that.
00:09:10.120 | But let's talk for a minute,
00:09:11.940 | because about the end of the journey,
00:09:15.060 | about that final year, what is so challenging
00:09:20.060 | about the end of a journey?
00:09:23.300 | And you know, it's me and you,
00:09:24.820 | so we can talk metaphorically,
00:09:27.420 | and then we can talk specifically too.
00:09:30.320 | What is so challenging about the end of a journey?
00:09:33.380 | - I think if you're a homeschooling parent,
00:09:36.900 | you have devoted so much of your time, energy,
00:09:39.880 | and days to homeschooling, and it can be really,
00:09:44.880 | it could really pull at your heart
00:09:46.860 | to feel like you've got this last year with your kids,
00:09:51.860 | last year with your senior.
00:09:53.980 | It might feel like a season is coming to an end,
00:09:57.580 | or a journey is coming to an end.
00:09:59.020 | And so I think, rightly so,
00:10:03.020 | parents really do, because they love their kids,
00:10:05.700 | and they want what's best for them,
00:10:06.820 | and they want to serve them well.
00:10:08.620 | They think about how to spend that last year.
00:10:13.600 | Also, because you've been spending so much time
00:10:15.700 | homeschooling, you can be really weary.
00:10:18.500 | You can see so much growth that you think
00:10:21.220 | that they're really ready to launch out early.
00:10:24.580 | The world tells us, I think it's particularly hard,
00:10:28.720 | because we know that as members of CC,
00:10:34.020 | that our purpose, like Leigh reminds us so much,
00:10:37.580 | is that sound academics should glorify God.
00:10:42.460 | There's something missing if you don't have that
00:10:44.880 | in your curriculum, there's something huge missing.
00:10:47.380 | And it's not something you can just tack on,
00:10:49.060 | it's integrated throughout.
00:10:50.220 | And so our goal is to cultivate wise and virtuous
00:10:53.380 | young men and women.
00:10:54.440 | But we can forget that purpose,
00:10:57.520 | or perhaps we can be tempted by the allure
00:11:00.780 | of earning dual credits, or hurry up and grow up,
00:11:04.120 | or my child really wants to work a lot of hours,
00:11:07.280 | so I'm just gonna let them finish out,
00:11:10.180 | they've got enough credits, why keep going?
00:11:12.600 | And also just life circumstances that you can need
00:11:17.020 | fellow people like Moses needed to hold up your arms
00:11:20.820 | at the end of the journey.
00:11:22.020 | - Right, right.
00:11:23.860 | - And so I think there's a temptation to not move forward.
00:11:28.620 | Also, just the challenge for curriculum,
00:11:30.860 | if you look at it in a catalog, can feel kind of daunting,
00:11:34.860 | but I'm here to testify that it is for all of us.
00:11:38.800 | There's something about wrestling with math and physics
00:11:43.660 | that is humbling and wonderful to help us see the world
00:11:47.460 | a different way.
00:11:48.740 | There's something lovely about getting to the final year
00:11:52.740 | of Latin studies, six years, very counter-cultural to do that
00:11:57.380 | and you finally get to taste what it's like to read
00:12:01.320 | an epic poem that Christians valued for generations
00:12:06.200 | in the original language when we read and translate
00:12:08.940 | parts of the Aeneid, the parts we choose to translate
00:12:13.940 | bring up some really big questions
00:12:16.020 | about eternally significant questions.
00:12:18.740 | There's all kinds of beauty in there,
00:12:20.740 | there's books and opportunities to explore
00:12:24.140 | Jerome's Vulgate in Latin.
00:12:27.420 | It can feel like, wow, I don't know if I want to do that
00:12:32.640 | and then the senior thesis can perhaps,
00:12:35.520 | maybe you're looking at your kid and you're like,
00:12:36.920 | I don't know if my kid can do this,
00:12:38.740 | but I can tell you I've seen all kinds of students
00:12:41.460 | with all kinds of giftings and challenges
00:12:44.100 | really have a victorious experience with the senior thesis
00:12:49.100 | and so I think looking at all those things
00:12:53.220 | because it's the last year, we just need to be prayerful
00:12:57.100 | about how we spend that time with our students,
00:13:00.560 | but we also need to remember that it's really the beginning
00:13:04.420 | of a new journey for them and it's a new,
00:13:07.460 | we transition from being their homeschooling parents
00:13:10.940 | to really their coaches and their friends
00:13:13.700 | and that's the best part of the year for me,
00:13:16.900 | that's why even if my daughter and I just have a small class
00:13:21.180 | this next year, I think it's worth the time
00:13:23.560 | because I wanna read and have those conversations with her
00:13:27.260 | about things that really matter before she's gone,
00:13:31.500 | before I just give her to the world.
00:13:33.900 | And so, but also I know that watching my other two,
00:13:38.060 | one's a Marine and one's in nursing school and married,
00:13:40.940 | they're both married,
00:13:41.980 | I know that there's a new journey too that begins
00:13:45.460 | and you know that Lisa,
00:13:46.320 | because you're such a wonderful mom and grandmother.
00:13:49.540 | So it's just the beginning, but it can feel like an end.
00:13:56.060 | - It can, it can.
00:13:59.980 | It is a beautiful, it is a beautiful way to end
00:14:04.980 | tying the loose ends up together, you know?
00:14:10.340 | I did love that and like you said, it's your,
00:14:13.740 | as the parent who has loved on and mentored
00:14:17.140 | and really worked yourself out of a job
00:14:19.880 | over all these years, it is beautiful to be able
00:14:24.220 | to tie a bow with your student on how you have learned
00:14:29.420 | and grown together through the years.
00:14:32.380 | And it is also very humbling
00:14:34.780 | to kind of let that position shift.
00:14:41.840 | Like you said, you become a coach and a mentor
00:14:46.840 | instead of a straight teacher.
00:14:49.500 | And there is more almost camaraderie in the learning
00:14:54.500 | that last year and you learn from them
00:14:57.780 | and they learn from you and it really gives you
00:15:00.860 | an opportunity to help them see that they are ready
00:15:05.860 | to spring forward and that they are prepared.
00:15:10.460 | And you sort of spend that last year, you know,
00:15:13.820 | going around and visiting the things that you've spent
00:15:17.380 | so many years on and showing them that they are ready.
00:15:21.920 | And I think that that last joint visitation gives them
00:15:26.740 | a lot of confidence and maybe settles their nerves
00:15:30.700 | for going forward.
00:15:32.460 | - Yeah, I think you're exactly right.
00:15:35.400 | And I've had all kinds of students in my own family,
00:15:38.220 | I've had students that really struggled to do the work
00:15:41.820 | or didn't want to sometimes.
00:15:44.520 | I've had, I guess we all have times where we don't want to.
00:15:48.260 | I've had a really eager student who knew what she wanted
00:15:54.220 | and was going for it, couldn't wait to get to the next.
00:15:58.420 | - Yes.
00:15:59.260 | - I've had reluctant students who love to learn
00:16:02.440 | but they just kind of woke up mid year,
00:16:04.060 | even changed their senior thesis to say,
00:16:08.180 | I got to tell more people about this education
00:16:10.140 | I've been given and I've been missing it this whole time
00:16:12.300 | but I finally see it now.
00:16:14.440 | I've had a student who went on to become,
00:16:19.440 | you know, win all kinds of awards as a student scholar.
00:16:24.020 | And is pursuing seminary studies and he would say,
00:16:27.660 | don't miss that last year.
00:16:29.500 | That last year is so important and all those things
00:16:32.380 | I began to study then, I'm still studying now
00:16:35.500 | and it's so rich, I'm so grateful for those times.
00:16:39.260 | And I've had one student who was,
00:16:42.060 | he was actually, it was actually his junior year
00:16:44.300 | because of his age, he used his year to love a class
00:16:49.300 | of students who were so vastly different in their opinions.
00:16:53.580 | And as he dug in and asked his questions,
00:16:56.140 | he was wooing them toward the truth
00:16:58.700 | and blessing his neighbor.
00:17:00.120 | I mean, like, it was astonishing.
00:17:02.100 | I thought he and the other student I mentioned,
00:17:05.260 | I thought you guys are bound for ministry.
00:17:07.100 | The Lord is gonna do my things with you.
00:17:09.400 | And then another student really was struggling.
00:17:13.360 | Her family was really struggling.
00:17:15.460 | She didn't think she was smart enough for college studies
00:17:17.740 | and she dug in, her peers loved her.
00:17:20.380 | She asked hard questions.
00:17:21.660 | She wrestled with her senior thesis and felt so victorious.
00:17:25.460 | She went on to college.
00:17:27.060 | She's in some sort of scholarship program now.
00:17:29.500 | She's just thriving.
00:17:31.260 | I mean, like there's, there are testimonies.
00:17:35.100 | I've seen life changes happen that year.
00:17:37.860 | And I think that's why I'm so passionate about it.
00:17:39.820 | Why I want the students I love to go forward
00:17:43.300 | because I've seen so many different men
00:17:46.220 | and women really grow that last year.
00:17:51.460 | - I agree with you.
00:17:53.140 | I have seen both in my own home
00:17:56.180 | and in the communities that I have served,
00:17:58.700 | I have seen children, students that come into their own
00:18:02.980 | at the end of this journey and you think it's a butterfly.
00:18:07.900 | It's a butterfly, you've been growing this whole time
00:18:11.060 | and you did not believe that your wings would,
00:18:14.620 | that either that you would ever have wings
00:18:16.660 | or that they would be this beautiful.
00:18:18.860 | And as you kept pushing and wrestling
00:18:22.740 | and wiggling and persevering,
00:18:26.260 | you recognize, you come out and you are so changed
00:18:29.980 | and you are almost amazed at what God has done in you.
00:18:34.500 | And so that last year is beautiful for so many ways.
00:18:39.500 | And I appreciate you sharing the different ways
00:18:43.300 | that students respond to the end.
00:18:47.380 | So, okay, let's think about our challenge for students.
00:18:52.380 | We have talked a lot about them being challenged
00:18:57.200 | and stretched and having them grow.
00:19:00.180 | What are the things that stretch our challenge
00:19:03.780 | for students the most in that last year?
00:19:07.420 | And I mean, I want you to talk to us
00:19:09.580 | about the academics obviously,
00:19:12.280 | but I also want you to help us as parents
00:19:15.940 | and as community mentors to see how those students
00:19:19.540 | are being stretched socially and emotionally
00:19:22.980 | and maybe spiritually.
00:19:25.880 | - Yeah, I mean, there's lots of great opportunities
00:19:30.740 | for stretching that final year.
00:19:33.500 | Academics, I think students,
00:19:36.620 | because they're really growing the art of rhetoric
00:19:39.900 | and they're really stretching their study skills,
00:19:42.660 | they grow in some scholarly strengths or virtues.
00:19:47.380 | You learn to read really closely some challenging texts,
00:19:51.060 | you learn to discuss and lead conversations
00:19:53.980 | in three of those strands without notice.
00:19:56.260 | So there's some good accountability
00:19:58.060 | and opportunities to just practice
00:20:02.180 | talking about harder things,
00:20:04.140 | leading conversations on those hard things
00:20:06.700 | in a way that is gracious and loving.
00:20:09.260 | That said, there's some big questions
00:20:12.460 | that come up, we do study the Bible more
00:20:16.820 | and students often realize that they don't know it
00:20:20.540 | like they thought they did.
00:20:21.980 | They realize that they know what their churches
00:20:23.780 | have taught them or their parents have taught them,
00:20:26.140 | but they don't know where it is
00:20:27.400 | and often they've read stories from scripture,
00:20:31.180 | but they remember like parts of them
00:20:33.540 | or maybe they just got the parts
00:20:36.560 | without the dark challenging parts of scripture.
00:20:40.020 | And so wrestling with those things
00:20:41.460 | can bring some important questions
00:20:43.180 | and learning to listen to each other
00:20:45.700 | in all our different denominations
00:20:48.180 | is a really good way to practice loving rhetoric
00:20:52.860 | as we seek the truth together
00:20:55.100 | and that can be a good challenge.
00:20:59.700 | It's an investment to read these great books
00:21:03.660 | to sit at the feet of mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis,
00:21:08.700 | to sit at the feet at
00:21:10.320 | - Mm-hmm.
00:21:11.820 | - Homer and Virgil and Daniel Boorstin
00:21:14.100 | who's a world-renowned wonderful historian
00:21:16.640 | to study and wrestle with math and physics
00:21:21.620 | and really see how we finally apply algebra
00:21:25.740 | and a little bit of trig to that studies.
00:21:27.620 | It transforms the way we view the world
00:21:29.580 | and so that can be a really good study.
00:21:32.540 | Often I've heard students exclaim,
00:21:34.240 | "Oh, that's why we studied that part of math.
00:21:38.060 | I finally get it, oh my word."
00:21:40.140 | I see how it comes together.
00:21:41.800 | Those students who really love math
00:21:43.440 | and who have really had a hard relationship with math grow.
00:21:47.520 | - That's cool.
00:21:48.360 | - Socially, I think everyone's asking big questions.
00:21:54.380 | They've got friends outside of CC and perhaps NCC
00:22:00.060 | and in their churches and on their sports teams
00:22:02.560 | and who they work with who are wrestling
00:22:04.700 | with some big questions that we see our culture
00:22:08.620 | struggling with, that can be a challenge.
00:22:10.620 | Perhaps they're in new relationships
00:22:13.540 | or they're just wrestling,
00:22:18.260 | learning to love each other better
00:22:19.920 | because we come together in community to practice that
00:22:22.580 | and we fail and have to say we're sorry
00:22:24.360 | and ask for forgiveness.
00:22:26.060 | So I think learning just to be peacemaker,
00:22:28.580 | also just doing these hard things together
00:22:33.540 | for just lifelong friendships.
00:22:35.380 | I mean, I've seen the beauty of that.
00:22:37.940 | And emotionally, I think there's a lot of pressure
00:22:42.740 | on our students for perfection.
00:22:46.180 | Society tells us, students have testified to this.
00:22:49.220 | I always ask them to begin the year.
00:22:51.340 | What do you think the world is asking you to be?
00:22:54.020 | What would it look like if you were successful?
00:22:56.100 | What does that mean?
00:22:57.300 | And they're often like, well, if I look a certain way,
00:23:01.500 | if I'm physically strong, if I'm gifted in sports,
00:23:06.100 | if I'm gifted in academics, if I'm great at a vocation,
00:23:10.660 | there's all these things plus on top of that as Christians,
00:23:14.100 | we want to grow in Christ-likeness.
00:23:15.780 | I mean, it can feel if you forget the grace
00:23:19.160 | that God gives us and the perfect work of completion
00:23:23.660 | that His Son has done for us.
00:23:24.980 | It can feel like a lot to bear.
00:23:28.980 | - And also while you're wrestling with what should I do
00:23:31.940 | with my life?
00:23:32.780 | What are my callings?
00:23:34.540 | - Right.
00:23:35.720 | - And the senior thesis actually,
00:23:36.900 | I think is a great opportunity for students
00:23:39.080 | to really figure out, dig in, take a personal inventory
00:23:42.380 | and figure out what am I interested in?
00:23:45.340 | What do I want to learn about?
00:23:46.940 | What would I like to study?
00:23:50.540 | - Yeah.
00:23:51.380 | - What are my next steps in life?
00:23:52.620 | What should I do with my life?
00:23:54.340 | - Yeah, that's really good.
00:23:56.400 | And that is actually a lovely segue into one thing
00:24:00.900 | 'cause I really did want to ask you in detail
00:24:04.560 | about the senior thesis because I know
00:24:07.600 | even some long time CC families,
00:24:12.600 | maybe there was no such thing as the senior thesis
00:24:16.800 | when your student, when you and your student
00:24:19.320 | joined the classical conversations community
00:24:22.360 | and you started thinking down through the years,
00:24:25.500 | although I know when you start foundations,
00:24:28.120 | it's really hard to envision senior year
00:24:30.560 | as ever gonna come.
00:24:32.340 | But even for families who started a long time ago,
00:24:35.180 | they may not have been considering the senior thesis.
00:24:40.180 | It wasn't a thing.
00:24:41.760 | And so I know that lots of our listeners
00:24:44.520 | probably have some questions specifically
00:24:48.560 | about the senior thesis and maybe some fears
00:24:52.020 | or some anxiety about the senior thesis.
00:24:54.360 | So I really wanted to talk to you.
00:24:56.000 | So okay, okay, what is it?
00:24:57.960 | What is the senior thesis?
00:25:00.160 | - So the senior thesis is an opportunity
00:25:04.520 | which I think is really rare for most students
00:25:08.280 | who aren't gonna go on to doctrinal work
00:25:10.280 | or have to write a senior thesis in college.
00:25:14.840 | In fact, I've had lots of college professors
00:25:17.160 | that have been our judges say, wow,
00:25:19.960 | my students aren't doing this.
00:25:21.040 | My students have never done this.
00:25:22.600 | This is quality work.
00:25:24.720 | And so it's an opportunity
00:25:26.680 | to bring all of the classical skills
00:25:29.040 | that we've been honing together and practice writing
00:25:34.040 | or first researching a topic of the student's choice,
00:25:40.120 | anything they want to do that can be turned
00:25:43.040 | into a debatable thesis.
00:25:48.040 | So it needs to be something that has both sides,
00:25:51.180 | but most things are.
00:25:53.240 | I've seen a wide variety of thesis choices,
00:25:57.780 | but it's an opportunity for really most of a year
00:26:01.120 | to dig in and to research something
00:26:04.580 | of the student's choosing.
00:26:05.780 | And that's really important that it's their choice
00:26:08.280 | that they choose to decide
00:26:11.640 | to research this particular thing.
00:26:13.900 | And then they practice the canons of rhetoric on it.
00:26:16.440 | They invent, they research all that's been said
00:26:20.160 | about that thing on both sides
00:26:21.680 | and try to suspend their judgment
00:26:23.740 | of what their thesis is going to state
00:26:25.580 | in that debatable thesis.
00:26:29.200 | And then they arrange those thoughts
00:26:34.580 | and that good scholarly research into a good solid outline.
00:26:38.920 | And then they write a paper
00:26:41.040 | and it's not as long as you think.
00:26:42.940 | It's like 12 to 20 pages, I think.
00:26:48.180 | I haven't looked at it in a year,
00:26:50.100 | so I should go back and look at that,
00:26:51.680 | but it's not very long.
00:26:52.600 | It's 12 to 20 pages, I believe.
00:26:54.540 | Double spaced, one inch margins,
00:26:57.960 | like Times New Romans, like not super tiny.
00:27:01.400 | - Yes.
00:27:02.500 | - And then they've got a really good
00:27:04.300 | annotated bibliography of sources
00:27:07.160 | that they've collected and they practice.
00:27:11.800 | After they've written this thesis,
00:27:13.320 | they hand it over to some judges to read in advance.
00:27:17.840 | We give them a few weeks to do that.
00:27:19.360 | And then they show up to stand upon the thing
00:27:21.820 | that they have written and defend it.
00:27:23.960 | And the judges are often excited to do this.
00:27:28.180 | They're not there to grill the students.
00:27:30.600 | They are there to ask them good questions.
00:27:32.920 | And they often have all kinds of questions
00:27:34.740 | to ask the student, perhaps questions
00:27:36.540 | the student hasn't considered before.
00:27:40.100 | Yeah, and so it's a great opportunity
00:27:42.820 | for students to realize, wow,
00:27:44.560 | I know how to find out good things to say
00:27:47.740 | and to really evaluate and build an argument.
00:27:50.700 | I know how to persuade others to that argument.
00:27:53.200 | And I know how to defend that argument.
00:27:55.120 | So it's one more chance to bring all those skills together
00:27:59.120 | and to have just this victorious moment
00:28:02.220 | at the end of their journey all the way to the summit
00:28:06.080 | of the Challenge Leadership Program.
00:28:07.900 | And they realize, because the judges often say this,
00:28:12.280 | and I've seen judges move to tears
00:28:14.880 | and start asking the students for life advice.
00:28:17.920 | And the students are blown away by that.
00:28:19.700 | They're like, well, I'm not a father yet,
00:28:21.500 | or I'm not a expert on this,
00:28:25.020 | but if I were you, I would consider this question.
00:28:28.380 | You know, they learn that they have a voice that matters
00:28:31.360 | that adults in their community want to hear.
00:28:34.300 | And I think that's a great gift to give our students
00:28:38.860 | right before they launch.
00:28:41.180 | And that's not to say that every student
00:28:43.020 | is gonna write the perfect senior thesis
00:28:45.920 | or that it won't be super hard.
00:28:48.200 | I mean, to be honest, and my son would tell you this
00:28:51.080 | if he was on this call with me,
00:28:52.800 | I mean, I was with him 'cause he needed company
00:28:56.260 | and someone to say, you can do this, come on.
00:28:58.540 | - Right, a cheerleader. - Here's the next step.
00:29:01.120 | And we were there working 'til the very end.
00:29:02.960 | And we have a really funny story of the last,
00:29:05.600 | when we were printing it out and trying to deliver it.
00:29:08.720 | And we still laugh about that today.
00:29:10.620 | And I tell him, man, as much as we rustled together,
00:29:13.620 | I don't trade one of those hours where I really doubted
00:29:17.520 | he was gonna finish and I was the tutor.
00:29:20.360 | So he, but he did, he did.
00:29:23.120 | And he learned that, I mean, he was the one
00:29:26.360 | that dad started asking for his advice
00:29:28.760 | about how he should spend time with his son.
00:29:30.840 | Jackson was so humbled by that and said,
00:29:33.600 | well, I'm not even a dad yet,
00:29:34.980 | but here's what I think is best.
00:29:37.000 | This is what my dad's done for me.
00:29:39.580 | And I don't know, I've just seen that.
00:29:42.840 | I've seen students really grow from this opportunity.
00:29:48.140 | But it's laid out in the guide really well.
00:29:50.120 | It's planned out for weeks.
00:29:52.380 | They start early first semester thinking about those things.
00:29:55.940 | And they do it together.
00:29:57.740 | They get peer feedback, the tutor's feedback,
00:30:00.400 | parent feedback, they're encouraged to choose a mentor
00:30:03.700 | to coach them who can also be their judge.
00:30:07.080 | So there's an opportunity really for students
00:30:10.240 | to explore a love they have, or a big question they have,
00:30:13.800 | or perhaps a future calling,
00:30:16.320 | and to really grow from that experience.
00:30:19.140 | - That's, I'm just, I'm so energized by that.
00:30:25.880 | I have to say, my girls went through,
00:30:33.680 | they graduated from challenge four before the senior thesis
00:30:38.680 | was a part, before it was a part of what we did.
00:30:43.920 | And I look at it and think, wow, that, yes,
00:30:51.100 | it looks daunting and it sounds like such a drag, man.
00:30:56.280 | It sounds like a hard thing to do.
00:30:59.780 | But as a parent and as a tutor, I look at it and think,
00:31:04.780 | just what you said, what an absolute blessing
00:31:10.920 | of an opportunity to both prove to yourself
00:31:15.920 | and to a wider community that the classical tools
00:31:22.840 | of learning work, that your students believe in.
00:31:28.840 | Do know how to research and invent and weigh things
00:31:33.840 | and then slice and dice and put them in ways
00:31:39.480 | that are clear and naturally follow and are persuasive.
00:31:44.480 | They've learned all about the modes of persuasion.
00:31:50.760 | So I think that that is a beautiful thing.
00:31:54.020 | But I love what you said about the students growing
00:31:58.740 | into the confidence that they are prepared.
00:32:03.740 | I think it's gotta be beautiful for students
00:32:07.340 | who kind of took their parent's word for it,
00:32:09.700 | that this was a good education and that this is all gonna,
00:32:13.600 | we're all trusting that this is gonna come out in the end
00:32:16.840 | and you will have a good education.
00:32:18.440 | But for those students to come through and at the end,
00:32:22.360 | see that, wow, I do know how to do this.
00:32:26.660 | I can tell if something is a biased source
00:32:30.900 | or an unbiased source.
00:32:32.500 | I do know how to weigh the voices
00:32:36.900 | in the research that I'm doing.
00:32:39.660 | I do know how to assemble an argument.
00:32:42.740 | I do know how to consider all the sides.
00:32:45.940 | That has to be so empowering for students.
00:32:50.460 | - Yeah, I think it's such a gift to our students.
00:32:53.360 | And I've had a few returning students say,
00:32:56.160 | wow, I was asked to do a senior thesis now
00:33:01.520 | in this Honors College program.
00:33:03.140 | And I'm so thankful that I had that experience
00:33:05.960 | and I get to try it again, but I know what to expect.
00:33:09.460 | And I'm ready because I have these tools.
00:33:11.720 | And they're reminded one last time
00:33:14.420 | because there's not a ton of other writing
00:33:16.720 | involved in Challenge Four.
00:33:18.120 | - Right.
00:33:18.960 | - I mean, students write speeches
00:33:21.280 | but they memorize and deliver those speeches.
00:33:23.700 | So there's a lot of emphasis on memory and delivery.
00:33:26.880 | And so this last point, I mean,
00:33:28.480 | they get to take it all the way to the end.
00:33:31.160 | They may have had all that experience
00:33:32.760 | writing IEW papers and essentials
00:33:35.260 | and they might've had all that experience
00:33:36.640 | with lost tools of writing and all the other writing
00:33:39.100 | we do in the Challenge program of various kinds.
00:33:41.780 | And they get one more time to practice those tools
00:33:44.680 | and it's a really memorable practice.
00:33:47.280 | So I think it's a gift to our students
00:33:50.040 | to be able to do that.
00:33:51.860 | - Yes, and I love just what you just said now
00:33:55.520 | that they have, you know, they worked
00:33:58.640 | and have been working on all of these skills for years.
00:34:03.600 | They've been working to become better writers,
00:34:07.800 | more organized writers, clearer writers,
00:34:10.580 | writers who know which word to use when
00:34:13.560 | and what kind of persuasion they are employing
00:34:16.800 | to speak to the specific audience that they are addressing.
00:34:21.160 | We've practiced so much of that.
00:34:23.140 | I really, I like that we are offering our students
00:34:28.140 | the dessert at the end of the banquet, you know?
00:34:34.840 | And they actually get to eat it and to celebrate it.
00:34:39.640 | We've taught them how to cook the banquet
00:34:41.920 | and how to prepare, but let's have the banquet
00:34:44.680 | and let's eat the dessert.
00:34:46.800 | I wanna ask you a little bit,
00:34:48.980 | 'cause you have mentored your own children
00:34:53.240 | and you have taught a lot of different levels of Challenge.
00:34:56.880 | How do the early years begin to prepare the students
00:35:01.880 | for this last capstone event?
00:35:08.440 | Because I'll tell you the truth, Brittany,
00:35:10.880 | I think that parents who are contemplating jumping ship
00:35:15.480 | after Challenge two or three,
00:35:17.520 | I personally think that they need to take a good hard look
00:35:23.400 | at what they might be shortchanging their student over.
00:35:27.420 | So I want you to speak a little bit about
00:35:30.960 | how all the years of the classical education
00:35:35.240 | have been about preparing our students.
00:35:38.280 | It has, I mean, it's so,
00:35:41.560 | I always just marvel at the way Challenge began,
00:35:46.000 | how it was begun first and then foundations
00:35:48.860 | and essentials was created out of a need that we saw.
00:35:53.240 | And my students in Challenge four
00:35:56.680 | have often relied upon memory work
00:35:58.840 | and you don't have to have been in Challenge four.
00:36:01.400 | I have had students join us in Challenge four even mid year
00:36:04.400 | and just excel.
00:36:06.840 | But it does help if you've got some of those memory pags
00:36:09.640 | and that opportunity that you've had all those years
00:36:13.540 | to present your ideas in presentations and foundations
00:36:18.540 | and write and wrestle with ideas
00:36:21.160 | as you're writing all those essentials papers
00:36:23.040 | and growing in your knowledge of language.
00:36:25.440 | And every single piece of it is this,
00:36:30.440 | it's a part of this beautiful tapestry
00:36:34.800 | and the finishing parts where you finally see the picture
00:36:38.920 | come together are in Challenge four
00:36:42.320 | after you've wrestled through the early parts
00:36:45.380 | of the Challenge program and done things like
00:36:49.040 | probably that you wouldn't have thought
00:36:51.000 | all your kids would do, I didn't.
00:36:53.740 | Science fair, mock trial, all the debate we do,
00:36:57.560 | all the writing and experiments
00:37:00.000 | and everything that makes it so rich,
00:37:01.840 | all those presentations and writing.
00:37:04.000 | And then finally, to be really focused
00:37:07.060 | on the art of rhetoric and thinking about
00:37:10.280 | how I can lead my neighbor to the truth
00:37:12.380 | in a winsome, compelling way where I'm checking myself first
00:37:17.240 | for my argument, the holes in my argument,
00:37:19.120 | and I'm applying the logic that I've learned
00:37:21.880 | that has given me a sharp mind and I'm thinking about
00:37:25.280 | how I can choose my words carefully
00:37:27.680 | and learn to listen really well
00:37:29.360 | and respond in the way that my audience needs
00:37:32.840 | and craft something like that for my particular audience.
00:37:36.480 | It's such a gift.
00:37:38.160 | I look at our world and we're coming up in an election year
00:37:42.520 | and I hear the way that we throw words around like weapons
00:37:47.160 | and here we've been given an opportunity
00:37:50.160 | to train up our kids to use their words
00:37:53.240 | in a way that helps persuade their neighbor to truth
00:37:58.240 | and perhaps woo them to the kingdom, by the way,
00:38:02.720 | that we, and of course, the work of the Holy Spirit
00:38:06.980 | to do that, but it's a leadership program
00:38:10.400 | and so this is the final year of learning to lead well
00:38:14.960 | and looking back on the challenge for graduates that I know,
00:38:19.960 | I'm encouraged by our future,
00:38:27.920 | my grandchildren and great-grandchildren's future.
00:38:31.280 | And my kids look fondly back on this
00:38:33.960 | and that's why my daughter, Lucy, is looking forward
00:38:36.280 | and she's like, I've been waiting
00:38:38.160 | since I was eight years old to do this.
00:38:40.920 | I can't wait to do this next year.
00:38:42.660 | I think it's exactly what I need.
00:38:44.280 | I need to wrestle with these things too
00:38:46.700 | and also share that with my brother and sister,
00:38:49.040 | that legacy and inheritance
00:38:51.160 | that we're trying to pass on with them.
00:38:53.840 | But I mean, even when we study the Greek and Roman gods,
00:39:00.240 | the students are singing that song for foundations.
00:39:02.800 | - Yes, yes, yes.
00:39:04.600 | - Everything really does build to prepare them for that.
00:39:09.600 | - Yes, and I can remember watching my own girls
00:39:15.220 | go through their challenge for a year
00:39:18.440 | and get so much out of their community discussions,
00:39:23.440 | to go to class and to talk to classmates
00:39:29.640 | about what they read and sometimes to discover
00:39:33.580 | that their classmates had much different ideas
00:39:37.160 | or positions from the same reading.
00:39:41.000 | But by challenge four, it was beautiful in the way
00:39:46.000 | that they offered grace to one another.
00:39:52.560 | Oh, it wasn't, well, something must be wrong with you
00:39:56.700 | because you didn't arrive at the same conclusion
00:39:58.680 | that I did, it was more like, that is so interesting,
00:40:02.440 | will you help me to understand it?
00:40:04.900 | Will you help me see it?
00:40:05.940 | Oh, I never considered that or even, huh,
00:40:09.820 | well, what if you thought about it this way,
00:40:11.500 | would you still think the way that you originally reacted?
00:40:15.760 | It just the thoughtful give and take of questions
00:40:19.520 | and the whole idea that we could have discourse
00:40:26.260 | without dishonoring one another
00:40:31.260 | and that we can have discourse that included disagreement
00:40:36.560 | that did not sever relationships
00:40:41.160 | and did not halt a conversation or halt the learning
00:40:46.160 | is just, you alluded to it, it's not synonymous
00:40:51.160 | with what we see in the wider world today.
00:40:54.560 | - What our students do in class does not look like
00:40:57.000 | what people are mostly doing.
00:40:58.920 | - No.
00:41:01.780 | - As they discuss politics or religion
00:41:06.740 | or any other fraught with peril concern.
00:41:10.860 | - That's true, I think it's such an opportunity too.
00:41:15.420 | I mean, as in the history of classical Christian education,
00:41:19.640 | just as they're finishing right now,
00:41:23.160 | my students are studying philosophy
00:41:25.020 | and thinking about the big ideas
00:41:27.520 | and what thinkers have thought before us
00:41:29.200 | and asking big questions,
00:41:31.060 | which prepare them to apply these things
00:41:34.160 | to their study of the book of all books,
00:41:36.280 | the book of wonders, the Bible, God's very word
00:41:39.480 | and that is to prepare them to study that together
00:41:43.400 | and so to have a year of, it's just a dessert year
00:41:48.400 | where you're really studying a lot of poetic language,
00:41:50.960 | which helps you read your Bible better
00:41:52.920 | and you're really digging into scripture
00:41:55.600 | as part of the reasoning strand
00:41:57.200 | and having those conversations
00:42:00.040 | and learning to listen to each other,
00:42:02.240 | wouldn't that be a wonderful thing
00:42:04.080 | for the church at large to learn to do?
00:42:06.240 | And for families and relatives to learn to do that,
00:42:10.240 | neighbors to learn to do that, it's a gift.
00:42:13.500 | - Think how much we would learn from each other
00:42:16.800 | and I think how much happier we would be
00:42:21.920 | if we weren't afraid
00:42:24.080 | that our opinions or convictions
00:42:32.200 | were too flimsy to stand up to scrutiny.
00:42:38.600 | I think a lot of times we hold our positions
00:42:42.560 | in barbed fists because we are afraid
00:42:48.720 | that they are not well considered enough to stand up
00:42:52.720 | under quote unquote attack
00:42:55.320 | and so we just don't dialogue,
00:42:59.520 | we just monologue to people.
00:43:03.220 | People stand next to each other
00:43:05.340 | and just because they're both talking back and forth
00:43:08.280 | does not mean there's a dialogue.
00:43:10.220 | Sometimes there's completely closed mind
00:43:12.440 | on each side of that conversation
00:43:14.800 | and what I love about challenge four is
00:43:18.360 | that's not encouraged.
00:43:20.680 | We are gonna have dialogues and not parallel monologues
00:43:25.240 | and it's beautiful and sometimes hard
00:43:30.240 | and sometimes messy and oftentimes uncomfortable
00:43:35.240 | but infinitely worth it.
00:43:39.080 | - I agree.
00:43:39.920 | I also think it's an opportunity to grow in humility.
00:43:42.680 | To be able to say I don't know
00:43:47.700 | or I was wrong or I think I believe this
00:43:52.000 | but what do you think, what does the Bible say?
00:43:55.960 | Let's look together.
00:43:56.920 | Let's go home and think about this question,
00:43:59.980 | ask our pastors, dig into the Bible
00:44:02.800 | and come back and revisit it next week
00:44:04.600 | and to see the students, they often tend to gravitate
00:44:08.580 | towards one big question sometimes or a couple
00:44:11.720 | and I'm not saying your student would graduate
00:44:13.500 | from challenge four with all their questions answered
00:44:15.920 | because you ask your whole life,
00:44:18.800 | they're big important questions
00:44:20.260 | and worth pursuing those answers to
00:44:23.340 | but having that practice together in a place
00:44:28.340 | where you can trust each other and learn from each other
00:44:31.240 | and try to practice virtue as you seek wisdom
00:44:35.240 | is really worth it.
00:44:36.720 | It's a rare gift.
00:44:37.640 | - It really is.
00:44:40.640 | It really is.
00:44:41.480 | Okay, so parents that are listening to this who think,
00:44:45.240 | man, I wish I had been able to do this.
00:44:47.220 | Can I personally sign up for challenge four myself?
00:44:50.400 | How can we as parents help our students?
00:44:55.400 | What's the parent's role?
00:44:57.120 | - I think the most important thing to do is to pray
00:45:02.880 | and to remember your purpose
00:45:04.920 | and to seek God's kingdom first
00:45:07.840 | and to then encourage your students to coach them,
00:45:10.920 | especially important to listen to them
00:45:15.100 | with their big questions often,
00:45:16.820 | which are not convenient times for us.
00:45:18.820 | - Yes, oh my goodness, that's so true.
00:45:21.880 | - Just to be there and be willing to also let them disagree
00:45:26.880 | with us as parents and to seek truth together.
00:45:31.480 | I think that's important
00:45:32.660 | because they learn that their questions matter.
00:45:38.500 | So some kids are gonna need more coaching
00:45:41.900 | and more accountability.
00:45:43.820 | And you know your child best,
00:45:46.680 | like what your child needs and what you need to work on.
00:45:50.780 | One of my kids needed a lot of coaching for different,
00:45:55.640 | they all need a different coaching for different seminars.
00:45:57.840 | - They all need different kinds of things, yeah.
00:45:59.360 | - Yeah, we all have different giftings.
00:46:01.120 | We're all in different places of learning all the time.
00:46:04.560 | So encouragement and pointing them to Christ
00:46:09.560 | is the most important thing.
00:46:11.480 | And then just being there to disciple them.
00:46:14.040 | I think if you have the book, "The Conversation",
00:46:17.720 | my favorite chapter, which I try to read it every year,
00:46:22.720 | is the one called "Confident Parents".
00:46:25.580 | It's at the beginning of the "Conversation" book.
00:46:27.580 | And in there Lee reminds us that
00:46:32.100 | of what the point of this whole thing is,
00:46:36.360 | what we should be pursuing together.
00:46:39.760 | And I think going to practicum,
00:46:43.760 | meeting with like-minded people,
00:46:46.160 | talking to your tutor and seeking what's best
00:46:51.160 | for your student is really important.
00:46:56.160 | And reminding your student of the reasons,
00:47:00.920 | because we all forget, especially in February.
00:47:03.600 | - Yes, especially in hard times or when you're tired
00:47:06.320 | or when you're tired of it, yeah.
00:47:08.400 | - Yeah, yeah, talk to them.
00:47:10.200 | I mean, like I really want my students at home
00:47:12.640 | and my students in challenge to be able to articulate
00:47:15.960 | the kind of education that given and explain it
00:47:18.640 | to someone else 'cause they're asked all the time.
00:47:21.160 | - Exactly, yeah.
00:47:22.480 | - So help them, help them ask those questions
00:47:25.980 | and make time to talk to them, encourage them and coach them.
00:47:30.980 | - Well, I have to say, Brittany, you have given us
00:47:34.440 | so many good, inspiring, heartfelt reasons
00:47:39.440 | to stick it out for challenge four,
00:47:43.240 | to pursue that glorious end
00:47:47.200 | to this beautiful educational journey
00:47:49.560 | that we've been on with our children.
00:47:52.480 | I really appreciate that.
00:47:54.880 | If you had one sentence to say to a family,
00:48:01.360 | who's trying to decide, am I gonna stay?
00:48:04.360 | Are we gonna stay this course for this last year?
00:48:07.840 | Or are we gonna go pursue something else?
00:48:10.080 | What would you say?
00:48:12.080 | - I would say, please consider prayerfully persevering
00:48:17.080 | for the last leg of the climb.
00:48:18.800 | Sometimes that takes a big leap of faith
00:48:21.400 | because we don't know what it's going to offer our students,
00:48:23.880 | our particular student, or we doubt that.
00:48:27.780 | But one of my favorite chapters from Wendell Berry,
00:48:31.280 | Standing by Words, he says that,
00:48:34.240 | and he's talking about marriage,
00:48:36.360 | but I think it could apply to just sticking and staying
00:48:39.780 | and not knowing what's going to happen.
00:48:42.480 | He says, "The faith rather is that by staying
00:48:44.520 | "and only by staying, we'll learn something of the truth,
00:48:46.900 | "that the truth is good to know,
00:48:48.700 | "that it's always both different
00:48:49.920 | "and larger than we thought."
00:48:51.920 | And I've found that students don't really know sometimes,
00:48:55.140 | or they doubt why they should be there,
00:48:56.720 | or if it's for them.
00:48:58.640 | But upon staying and digging in, they reap such a harvest.
00:49:03.400 | It's a practical preparation for a pilgrim's life
00:49:06.040 | and a secular world.
00:49:07.200 | It's a final capstone year of soul fattening education
00:49:10.780 | that's focused on growing Christian leaders,
00:49:13.300 | preparing them for the world's fight
00:49:14.900 | and the soul's salvation, as David Hicks says,
00:49:17.000 | in Norm's Inability.
00:49:18.020 | And I just wanna encourage you to check it out,
00:49:22.540 | find someone in your community who has done it
00:49:25.560 | and talked to them and go for it, don't leave.
00:49:30.560 | It's been such a gift to our family,
00:49:35.380 | and so that's why I feel so passionately about it,
00:49:38.260 | and a gift to me too, and to my husband,
00:49:40.680 | as we've grown alongside our kids and in our community.
00:49:43.940 | Trees, one of my favorite images
00:49:47.900 | that I used in a graduation speech a few years ago
00:49:50.520 | for my daughter, Isabelle's class,
00:49:53.220 | because my dear friends had recently bought property
00:49:56.780 | and they had these giant pecan trees
00:49:59.220 | growing around their house, and they kind of worried
00:50:01.420 | 'cause they were so tall, like what happens in a storm?
00:50:04.660 | So they had an arborist out, and they said,
00:50:06.380 | "Well, those trees actually are stronger
00:50:09.800 | "because they've grown their roots together.
00:50:12.160 | "They stand in a storm."
00:50:13.260 | - Oh, yes!
00:50:15.600 | - So if you have the blessing of having trees
00:50:18.580 | that have grown together, it's worth staying
00:50:23.100 | and finding out the fruit that comes from that one more year.
00:50:27.660 | - Brittany, that is beautiful.
00:50:29.660 | Thank you so much for sharing.
00:50:31.900 | Families, I hope that you have been inspired.
00:50:35.780 | I hope that this has moved you to prayerfully
00:50:40.260 | and thoughtfully consider what God has for your family
00:50:45.260 | at the end of your journey.
00:50:47.460 | Brittany, thank you for sharing from your heart so very much.
00:50:51.940 | Parents, I know that we are all trying to do our very best
00:50:56.940 | for our children and for our families.
00:51:02.160 | And parents, you may be thinking,
00:51:04.920 | "I wish I knew better how to do this.
00:51:07.100 | "I wish I could be Brittany.
00:51:08.220 | "I wish I had the right questions to ask
00:51:10.920 | "or the right way to assess or the right way to help."
00:51:14.460 | I wanna tell you just as we break,
00:51:17.740 | I wanna tell you about something
00:51:19.540 | that I think might really bless your family
00:51:23.100 | and bless you as the lead learner in your home.
00:51:26.260 | It's the Classical Learning Cohort.
00:51:31.420 | You can join the Classical Learning Cohort
00:51:35.740 | and you meet online six times through a semester
00:51:39.340 | with a small group of other parents
00:51:42.380 | who are on that mission to grow their understanding
00:51:45.060 | about classical education.
00:51:46.940 | You and this small group of parents
00:51:48.740 | meet with an experienced mentor
00:51:52.540 | who can really give you some hands-on practical ideas
00:51:57.420 | of how to get better and better.
00:51:59.380 | If you want more information about this,
00:52:03.860 | go to classicalconversations.com/cohort.
00:52:08.860 | Registration has already begun,
00:52:12.260 | so don't wait and check out classicalconversations.com/cohort
00:52:17.260 | for more information on the Classical Learning Cohort.
00:52:24.020 | It will help you to become the lead learner
00:52:28.180 | that you want to be in order to help your children
00:52:31.740 | be all that God is calling them to be
00:52:34.020 | through this education that you're offering to them.
00:52:37.420 | Brittany, thank you again.
00:52:39.220 | I appreciate you, friend.
00:52:40.620 | I'm praying for you and for your band
00:52:43.300 | of Challenge 3 students as they hopefully become
00:52:47.340 | a posse of Challenge 4 students
00:52:50.060 | riding together to the end of that journey.
00:52:52.860 | - Thank you.
00:52:55.420 | - Families, I appreciate you and I'll see you next week.
00:52:59.700 | Bye-bye.
00:53:00.540 | Thank you.