As we enter 2021 and contemplate new beginnings, we sit down with homeschooling expert Leigh Bortins, founder of the curriculum company Classical Conversations, to discuss how American public education has declined in the past century, the responsibility of parents in educating their children, and how classical education can enrich the lives of America’s next generation. This is American Thought Leaders 🇺🇸, and I’m Jan Jekielek.
Guest Talk
There’s a BETTER Way to Educate Your Kids than Public School
Leigh Bortins, founder of Classical Conversations, joins the show to discuss the plethora of options available to parents who don’t want their kids involved with public schools. Ms. Bortins is a long-time educator and used her experience to create Classical Conversations, a homeschool program with nationwide support. She believes traditional education and parental mentorship are better alternatives to public schools, which are so often infected with left-wing politics these days.
What is Classical Education? – Home Schooling and Loving It!
Hello everyone and welcome back to Homeschool.com’s Homeschooling and Loving It Podcast We are on Episode 40 and today we are talking about Classical Homeschooling! For many homeschoolers, our desire to homeschool springs from a priority to give our children a different more unique educational experience. However, sometimes it can be challenging to find a clear path to accomplishing that.
Here today to help us understand the fundamentals of Classical Education is Leigh Bortins from Classical Conversations.
Leigh is joining us today from South Carolina and of course, I’m here in – not so sunny today – middle Georgia. I just love technology and how we can connect across the country through mutual interests? Leigh is a nationally acclaimed educator and founder of Classical Conversations. Leigh holds a degree in aerospace engineering as well as a D.Min.from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts. She has published several books including The Core, The Question, and The Conversation, a series that explores the classical trivium from a parent’s perspective. And Leigh is currently working on developing a math curriculum that maps the structure of learning K4-12 math from a classical, Christian perspective. Yet all of her emphasis on the enjoyment of learning and fundamentals of education stem from her experience homeschooling her four boys.
I’ve had an interest in Classical Education, but felt that it was all very complicated. Leigh skillfully broke down the basic concepts of Classical Education in such a way that I was literally blown away. I could finally see clearly the simplistic way that Classical Education mirrored natural learning. The basic 3 steps of learning anything follow:
- Grammar Stage
- Dialectic Stage
- Rhetoric Stage
Listen in to hear how simplistically Leigh explains these stages and how they can apply to all learning! I promise it will be enlightening.
How Classical Conversations Transformed Christian Home Schooling
In this episode, we explore the explosion in home schooling that has followed COVID-19 related school closures, lockdowns, and move to virtual classrooms. My guest, Leigh Bortins, is the founder of Classical Conversations, a Christian home-schooling organization that has been helping parents teach their children since 1997.
The How-To of Homeschooling: Practical Advice From an Expert
Choosing to homeschool your child is a big decision, but many Americans just had the choice made for them. Schools all over the country are closing their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic – with some states like Virginia already announcing that schools will remain closed through the end of the academic year.
Leigh Bortins is the founder of Classical Conversations, a homeschool curriculum focused on classical education. Bortins joins The Daily Signal podcast to offer practical advice and resources to parents who suddenly find themselves overseeing their child’s education.
We also discuss:
- President Trump wants to ‘reopen’ the economy by Easter despite rapid coronavirus spread.
- Vice President Pence says the White House is not considering a nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
- The International Olympic Committee and Japan have both agreed to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.