Kolbecast

42 Let Them Tinker

AMDG. Today, voice of experience and mother of four Kolbe graduates Louise Deal visits with Bonnie and Hope about homeschooling with space for life to happen. She shares how she and her husband, who both have engineering backgrounds, chose Kolbe for their children and where those children are now, including one who is a Ph.D. student in robotics and another who is a Ph.D. student in philosophy. Mrs. Deal describes how her family organized their homeschooling days, how the days differed when her children were different ages, and how she found Kolbe both rigorous and adaptable. The group also discusses why classical education is particularly important for students planning to go into STEM fields, the importance of focus on basic concepts and abstract thought, and the anchors of both family traditions and seeking support from others. 
During the conversation, Mrs. Deal discusses the merits of AP coursework. She sent along this note of clarification after recording: “Learning the content of an honors or AP Chemistry, Physics and/or Calculus course is great preparation for college STEM, but taking an AP exam and trying to get college credit for it is not. If [parents] want to get a jump on college credits with a high-achieving student, it would be better to just take an online or in-person local course from an actual, accredited college that would transfer to the college [the student] plan[s] to attend.  That would need to be verified ahead of time, so if [parents] don't know where [their] child will be going to college there would be some risk of the course not being accepted.” 
Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Drop us a line at podcast@kolbe.org. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app for effortless episode delivery or find the Kolbecast on YouTube. 

41 Backstage (Social Media)

AMDG. The Kolbe employees who make the social media magic happen join us today to discuss outreach and evangelization in the digital realm. Brigid Tebaldi and Lauren Hoang share their insights and experiences about reaching families and fostering community through various platforms, developing healthy interactions with social media, and using the internet to share the good, the true, and the beautiful.  
Links mentioned: 
Lauren’s Vocations Week talk
Kolbe Academy on Facebook
Kolbe Academy on Instagram
Kolbe Academy Alumni Facebook Group
Kolbe Academy Homeschooling Families(unofficial) 
Cal Newport’s book Digital Minimalism
Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Drop us a line at podcast@kolbe.org. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app for effortless episode delivery or find the Kolbecast on YouTube. 

40: Windshield Time

AMDG. After an enlightening conversation on higher education generally last week, Dr. Don Prudlo joins us again to discuss the specifics of college visits and college transition. We talk about how to look under a college’s hood, so to speak, beyond what admissions counselors pitch, as well as a few things to consider when discerning what size and type of school is best for individual students. Dr. Prudlo emphasizes Kolbe’s college preparatory curriculum and also reminds students not to be so rigorous that they forget to be human. 
 
 
The Newman Guide by the Cardinal Newman Society 
Choosing the Right College (eBook) by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute 
 
Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Drop us a line at podcast@kolbe.org. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app for effortless episode delivery or find the KolbeCast on YouTube. 
 

39: Reclaiming the Territory

AMDG. Dr. Don Prudlo, Warren Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa and way cool Gen X’er, joins the cast today to discuss higher education and human formation. We start with Dr. Prudlo and Jordan comparing their Ph.D. experiences through discussion of small Catholic schools and large research universities. From there, the group discusses how students can make a good impression on their professors, finding community at large schools, the richness of studying world religions, the need to defend reason in the classroom when much of current discussion focuses on power relations, and what college classes are like with Gen-Z students. Dr. Prudlo also shares a bit about his current research on integrating virtue and leadership through case studies of saints.  
 
University of Tulsa article about Dr. Prudlo 
Christendom College article about Dr. Prudlo 
Dr. Prudlo’s presentation to the Alcuin Institute: “St. Thomas and the Incarnation” 

38: Substance Matters

AMDG. While standardized testing often elicits groans from students and anxiety from parents, what if it didn’t have to? Today 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. 
 
https://www.cltexam.com/home 
Anchored podcast 
Interview with CLT rep Brittany Higdon on Kolbe blog 
Student Spotlight: Interview with Kolbe Academy Student Meghan Rohatgi 
 
Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Write to us: podcast@kolbe.org. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery.  

37: Take a Moment

AMDG. Last week, we visited with Therese Prudlo about structuring school weeks to reflect care of the whole person. Today, Therese rejoins us to go deeper on the need for refreshment and reflection. What does it mean that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath? What is the practice of “going to your desert” in the middle of busy family life? How do the movies Elf and Babette’s Feast both relate to the rhythm of our days? It all comes back to the idea of living our days as the gifts that they are, with a healthy dose of reality that it’s often harder to receive gifts than to give them. 
Jennifer Fulwiler – The Courage to Rest Screwtape Letter 15 (Narrated by John Cleese) Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org. Subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery. 

36: Embrace the Fifth Day

AMDG. Ever wonder why Kolbe elementary and middle grade course plans are set up with four days, not five? Struggling to figure out how to divide up high school weekly course plans? Therese Prudlo rejoins the crew today to talk about how, yes, it’s important to get your work done, but it’s even more important to protect the margins of the day. Reflecting the Ignatian tenet of care of the whole person, the group discusses the importance of leisure and unstructured time, the idea of “schedule busting,” and the need to take a moment. Not only is it okay—it's important. 

35 - An Atmosphere of Opportunity

AMDG. Today Bonnie and Hope visit with Carola, a current Kolbe mom from Spain whose family started homeschooling during the pandemic. While sharing insights from her own Princeton University education, Carola discusses how she’s found in homeschooling an opportunity to teach both her children and herself. She also talks about balancing time with toddlers in the house, navigating working from home while simultaneously schooling from home, adapting expectations throughout the year, and how sometimes, students would just like to show what they’ve learned and get a nice cheer. 
 
Have a question or suggestion for the Kolbecast? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org. Subscribe to the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast player for effortless episode delivery.