Category Archives: Homeschooling

The Education of the American Founders

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“Dad had enough gall to be divided into three parts,” opens one of America’s beloved tales, Cheaper by the Dozen, published in 1948. To the audience of the day, this colorful description would evoke a commonplace pun from the ubiquitously read Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars, which opens “All Gaul is divided into three parts” (or Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres as the Latin student would have had to translate).

The chances are, neither you nor your children have read Julius Caesar and his famous Gallic Wars. However, your grandparents very likely did, and nearly every educated (certainly college educated) American for hundreds of years before that. What changed, and why does it matter?

America has been robbed of true education

John Adams, the second president of the United States and one of the original Founding Fathers wrote to his teenage son, John Quincy, who would later become the 6th U.S. president:

“I wish to turn your thoughts early to such studies as will afford you the most solid Instruction and improvement for the part which may be allotted you to act on the stage of life. There is no history, perhaps, better adapted to this useful purpose than that of Thucydides, an author of whom I hope you will make yourself perfect master.”

Letter from John Adams to his son John Quincy Adams, Philadelphia, August 11, 1777

Like Julius Caesar, most Americans haven’t read, and perhaps even heard of Thucydides. If that is you, you are not alone! The books and authors that were essential and foundational to the American founders (and generations before and after them) have been stripped from our schools and curriculum over the last 100 years.

This is not a coincidence. These books and ideas, and the art of wrestling with them (once the core of American education) are essential to a free people. As Dr. Scott Postma of Kepler Education says in the mini-documentary We’ve Been Schooled (WATCH: 11 min), “to understand why the modern man has become so dependent on the State, we need look no further than our public education system.”

It would be easy to focus on today’s falling standards, the woke ideology taught in schools, or just glance back a moment at the rich education that was so common to previous generations to know that something needs to be retrieved. But these are past and present comparisons and miss the even bigger picture that is essential to understand if we are to renew true education: what is education?

It’s Time to Reclaim Real, Freeing Education

The education that we have lost has a name: Classical Education, or the Liberal Arts. The word liberal used here has nothing to do with our common use of the word in politics and culture today. Liberal comes from the Latin liber, meaning “free,” and historically described the kind of education expected of a freeman–especially one in a position of leadership, like landowners, lawmakers, innovators. It is the education that equips students with the tools of learning. It teaches how to learn, how to think, how to reason, and how to persuade. This is why nearly every US President was trained in the Liberal Arts, and so many current CEOs and leaders around the world have Liberal Arts degrees. In fact, there is one institution that still has nearly every graduate read Thucydides: West Point Military Academy. Even today, those who are training elite leaders still recognize the essential education that was once commonplace to every American.

The opposite of the Liberal Arts are the Servile Arts, those arts and skills related to “how to do a thing” and not “why to do a thing.” And historically this was the education given to servants, slaves, and the lower classes. If you examine the education students are commonly given today, especially in college, you will recognize these servile arts have taken over our education system. Why? Because those steering our education system value citizens trained to be cogs in a machine, and dependent on the state. Free men and women who know how to think, how to question, and how to write are dangerous to tyrants who want to control a people.1

The ability of the American founders to carefully draft our Constitution was not created in a vacuum. It came from generations steeped in Scripture and the great books. They read the Bible, they read Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Livy, Plutarch, Cicero, Julius Caesar, Augustine, Dante, Milton, and so many others. And it deeply informed who they were as Americans. So much so that George Washington was called the “Cincinnatus of the West” (after the 5th century B.C. Roman).

(Photo: Statue of George Washington dressed in a Roman toga resigning his commission, a reference to his imitation of Cincinnatus.)

The American education system has destroyed the Liberal Arts by watering down the curriculum in high school and often replacing great books with woke books. The career preparation we now have in schools (in place of real education) used to be done primarily through apprenticeships. This hijacking of the Liberal Arts has been so successful that we now respond to the “shell” that remains of the Liberal Arts in college with the joke, “Want fries with that?”.

How do we Revive Classical Education?

While much damage has been done, this is not the first time in history that true learning has languished and had to be reclaimed. In fact, it was the church throughout the Middle Ages that preserved many classical texts for future generations. Christians not only founded the first universities in Europe, but made a classical education (a Liberal Arts education) the cornerstone of higher education. In early America we see how Christian this education was in the founding statements of Harvard College.

Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well [that] the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him (Prov. 2:3).

Harvard College, Rules and Precepts, 1646.

I believe that a retrieval of classical education is impossible without the perspective and foundation our American founders and the founders of Harvard University shared. The renewal of Classical Education must be Christian. To try to revive classical education that is not explicitly Christian is like trying to regain a cultural appreciation for fine wine, but ignoring the art of viticulture. Christianity is the soil in which classical education grew. Even the pre-christian pagan works were cherished, preserved, and used by Christians, so much so that the 4th century pagan emperor Julian the Apostate forbade Christians from teaching the classical texts (pre-Christian epics like the Aeneid of Vergil) in their schools. The cancelling of the classics by those opposed to Christendom is nothing new!

Practical Steps

The first step is probably the hardest for many Americans. I don’t believe it is possible to give your children a truly classical Christian education if they are in government schools. You must opt-out. Whether you choose homeschooling, private education, or online classes like Kepler Education, take the step of faith, and get your children out!

Once you have made that decision, there are so many wonderful options. I am a second generation homeschooler, and homeschool my own children. When my parents homeschooled us overseas, there was very little available in terms of support or curriculum. Today, there is an almost overwhelming amount of choice for how to give your children a Christian and classical education.

Old Western Culture

I have worked with classical educators over the past ten years to develop a curriculum that I believe is a must-have for every family. It is a four-year great books curriculum called Old Western Culture, and while it is primarily a high school curriculum (history and literature), parents (and even teachers) often use it themselves. As a decade of parents who have used the curriculum can testify, this is an excellent way for a teenager or adult to acquire the core of what it means to have a true (classical) education.

But whether or not you use Old Western Culture (presented in more detail below), read the great books! Join the conversation that has been happening for centuries by all educated men and women. Through these books, you will converse with the American founders, Reformers of the 16th century, and early church fathers who all had this education in common, and from that education learned what it means to be free.

Don’t cancel the classics!

We responded to schools and universities stripping away the classics with our own “apology” for the great books.

Watch our “Apology” for the Great Books video, and hear the full letter from John Adams to his homeschooled son.

A Practical Tool for your Family: Old Western Culture

The great books of Western civilization form the core of every effort to revive classical education. Roman Roads Press has developed an award-winning curriculum for high school students and adults that makes the study of the great books enjoyable, easy, and affordable.

Old Western Culture is a lecture-based curriculum that guides students through the great books themselves. Read the books that inspired and equipped American Presidents and Statesmen, authors throughout all history, the Protestant Reformers, the Medieval Christians, and the early Church Fathers.

AQUIRE OLD WESTERN CULTURE TODAY
TRY FOR FREE
Daniel Foucachon and his family

About the Author

Daniel Foucachon grew up homeschooled in Lyon, France where his father was a Presbyterian minister. His family moved to Moscow, Idaho in 2005 where he attended New Saint Andrews college, graduating in 2010. He is the founder of Roman Roads Press, a publisher of classical Christian curriculum, and Kepler Education, a platform for independent teachers to offer online classes. He is married to Lydia, and has seven children. When he is not promoting classical education and the great books, he loves to spend time with his family attempting to small-scale farm.

The motto of my company, Roman Roads Press, is to “Inherit the Humanities.” This motto assumes a few things. First, there is something to inherit. There is a rich heritage to receive (the collection of works and ideas held in common by all those who preceded us in the West). Secondly, it is a verb: Inherit! You have to do something about it. So, inherit the Humanities today, both you, and your household.

Testimonials for Old Western Culture

This has to be the best curriculum we have found for studying the great classics! We’ve been homeschooling for about 15 years and have not found anything like this. 

Stephanie W, Homeschool Mom

It is a program my kids have loved the most this year. And I love that I am able to learn alongside then too. After many years of misunderstanding some of The Great Books, I can safely say I am closer to realizing what they mean now. I am truly amazed by this program!

Amy F, Homeschool mom

As a homeschool mom just venturing into classical education, I can tell you that Old Western Culture: The Greeks is super-easy to use. With schedules carefully laid out for you, you can easily plug and play. I like that all preparation is done for me and I need simply to enjoy listening to my children as they begin to think and talk and discuss ideology together.

Lynn, Homeschool mom

I’ve tried a lot of “great books” materials in the past. All have left me feeling inadequate and incapable. All of them. Old Western Culture though? This one is different.

Debra B, homeschool mom

But what if there was a single program that adequately covered key texts of Western literature; that was well-written, accurate, and Christ-centered; and that didn’t just mimic all the other courses? Well, there is. Old Western Culture: A Christian Approach to the Great Books is everything other Classical-style courses wish they were.

Caleb Cross, Exodus Books

God is in the process of redeeming my education as I educate my sons. Thank you for aiding us in that journey.

Jen R., Old Western Culture homeschooler

We love Old Western Culture and how it has made attaining a classical Christian education in the humanities very achievable and enjoyable! We used several other classical Christian humanities programs before realizing that they weren’t very homeschool friendly and we are so so blessed to have found Old Western Culture. 

Old Western Culture homeschool family
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Men, Carry Your Father

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As a boy I lived for a period in Florida, the capital of retirement homes. As a result, for various reasons, we visited a few of these homes. They were nice. Like little vacation villages. Yet they were also tragic. This is where the most essential members of our society spent their most important years. 

We were living in Florida because my grandfather was dying of cancer, and we lived with him during his last days. He never lived in a retirement home, and died Christmas morning in his own bed, surrounded by family. What a gift to him, but what a greater gift to us. 

In book II of Vergil’s Aeneid, we encounter one of the most moving scenes in the epic story. Aeneas carries his father Anchises from the burning ramparts of Troy, while holding his son’s hand. In one image famously depicted by artists throughout the centuries, we see Aeneas preserving both the past and the future; his father, and his son. It’s easy to understand the need for the future, but even his father argued with Aeneas, telling him to “Make haste to save the poor remaining crew / And give this useless corpse a long adieu.” (Aeneid Book II.870). His father feared he would be a burden, and unneeded. But Aeneas needed Anchises. He didn’t need his strength, or even longevity. In fact, Anchises would die on the voyage. He needed his father for his wisdom, but more importantly, he needed what every father represents to his son: identity. To abandon his father, while alive, even if it made logical sense, would have symbolized an abandonment and death of his identity. 

Even after his death, we are reminded what his father represents when Aeneas goes into the underworld in book 6, and speaks to his father. There Anchises reminds Aeneas who he is, and what he is destined for. This is what fathers are for. 

Earthly fathers give their children a name, a household, and a lineage.

Our Heavenly Father also gives us His name in baptism, a household, and a lineage.

Our spiritual fathers have gifts to give us as well. 

The theologian Hughes Oliphant Old explored the concept of fathers in the faith this way: 

“It is an old custom to call John Chrysostom ‘our father among the saints.’ John Chrysostom, however, was celibate. Not one of us can claim him as our ancestor. What makes him then our father? Augustine had one son, who died at the age of twelve…How is it that we call such men Fathers? 

The answer is this: Chrysostom, Augustine, and Jerome have again and again engendered spiritual children, in one generation after another, in one culture after another…The Fathers were the seminal thinkers of Christian theology. If it were not for this ability of theirs to speak to the most devout and fertile of minds of every age and nation, they would have been forgotten long ago.” 
(Hughes Oliphant Old, Worship Reformed According to Scripture, 168.)

We need our fathers. Our earthly fathers by blood, our spiritual by faith, and our cultural fathers by inheritance. We need to carry them on our backs if our city is sacked. They are not dead weight, they are the treasure to retrieve from the flames. 

This Father’s Day, honor your earthly father, honor your Heavenly Father, and honor your spiritual and cultural fathers. This exhortation is embedding in our motto, “Inherit the humanities.” “To inherit” assumes the heritage is already yours and that it is a blessing to receive. 

Happy Fathers Day!

Daniel Foucachon, for all of us at Roman Roads Press

http://www.romanroadspress.com

The Precious Advantage of a Tutor in Home Education | Notes from the Letters of James Adams, Part 1

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The Advantage of a Tutor

This multi-part series reflects on some of the ideas, insights into the time period, and beliefs about education and the world found in the letters John Adams.

The Education of John Quincy Adams

In this letter (full letter below), John Adams is writing to his son about his education, its importance, and the subjects that should be the focus of his attention, which were “Your exercises in Latin and Greek” which “must not be omitted a single day…”. He also encourages him to plod steadily, staying that “a regular distribution of your time is of great importance.”

The Precious Advantage of a Tutor

Adams was very personally invested in his son’s education and upbringing, and in this letter and others references his library, pointing his son to particular books or resources. But this letter makes a special reference to a tutor, who was a special ally in the home education of his son.

“The Advantage you have in Mr. Dumas’s Attention to you is a very prescious one. He is himself a Walking Library, and so great a Master of Languages ancient and modern is very rarely Seen. The Art of asking Questions is the most essential to one who wants to learn. Never be too wise to ask a Question.”

A trusted, learned tutor is a precious asset to parents and their children in home education.

Modern Christian Homeschooling and Tutors

Modern Christian parents often lean in one of two directions. One direction is to recognize the need for help in specialized subjects, and the parents therefore send their children to a traditional or online school where they have little or no say over who teaches their children, what curriculum is used, or even the pedagogy or approach (apart from choosing the institution as a whole). The other direction is for parents to not take advantage of outside instructors at all, relying solely on their own expertise. This can have mixed results based on the parents, their education, and the learning style of the children. Especially with the aid of good curriculum, this can work well for most subjects and ages. But even John Adams, thoroughly educated and trained in the classics, and heavily involved in his children’s education alongside his wife Abigail (many of his letters reference their homeschooling) called the relationship his son had with his tutor a precious advantage.

Kepler Education and Choosing Teachers over Institutions

The mission of Kepler Education is to democratize a personalized tutor-style relationship between teachers and families. Kepler is the only classical Christian platform where parents can choose teachers who are free to teach the curriculum and style they desire, thus allowing parents to directly choose the style that best fits their own family. In other words, at Kepler you don’t choose the institution. Rather, the institution (Kepler) exists to facilitate relationships between teachers and families. Choose a class (small classes capped at 12), or commission a class. But always with a “choose your teacher” first approach.

Kepler allows parents to give their children the precious advantage of a “Mr. Dumas.”

John Adams: To his Son on his Education (Full Letter)

Paris May 14. 1783

My dear Child

Mr. Hardouin has just now called upon me, and delivered me your Letter of the 6 Instant.

I find that, although, your hand Writing is distinct and legible, yet it has not engaged So much of your Attention as to be remarkably neat.1 I Should advise you to be very carefull of it: never to write in a hurry, and never to let a Slovenly Word or Letter go from you. If one begins at your Age, it is easier to learn to write well than ill, both in Characters and Style. There are not two prettier accomplishments than a handsome hand and Style, and these are only to be acquired in youth. I have Suffered much, through my whole Life, from a Negligence of these Things in my young days, and I wish you to know it. Your hand and Style, are clear enough to Shew that you may easily make them manly and beautifull, and when a habit is got, all is easy.

I See your Travells have been expensive, as I expected they would be: but I hope your Improvements have been worth the Money. Have you kept a regular Journal?2 If you have not, you will be likely to forget most of the Observations you have made. If you have omitted this Usefull Exercise, let me advise you to recommence it, immediately. Let it be your Amusement, to minute every day, whatever you may have seen or heard worth Notice. One contracts a Fondness of Writing by Use. We learn to write readily, and what is of more importance We think, and improve our Judgments, by committing our Thoughts to Paper.

Your Exercises in Latin and Greek must not be omitted a Single day, and you should turn your Mind, a little to Mathematicks. There is among my Books a Fennings Algebra. Begin it immediately and go through it, by a Small Portion every day. You will find it as entertaining as an Arabean Tale. The Vulgar Fractions with which it begins, is the best extant, and you should make yourself quite familiar with it.

A regular Distribution of your Time, is of great Importance. You must measure out your Hours, for Study, Meals, Amusements, Exercise and Sleep, and suffer nothing to divert you, at least from those devoted to study.

But above all Things, my son, take Care of your Behaviour and preserve the Character you have acquired, for Prudence and Solidity. Remember your tender Years and treat all the World with Modesty, Decency and Respect.

The Advantage you have in Mr. Dumas’s Attention to you is a very prescious one. He is himself a Walking Library, and so great a Master of Languages ancient and modern is very rarely Seen. The Art of asking Questions is the most essential to one who wants to learn. Never be too wise to ask a Question.

Be as frugal as possible, in your Expences.
Write to your Mamma Sister and Brothers, as often as you have opportunity. It will be a Grief to me to loose a Spring Passage home, but although I have my fears I dont yet despair.

Every Body gives me a very flattering Character of your Sister, and I am well pleased with what I hear of you: The principal Satisfaction I can expect in Life, in future will be in your good Behaviour and that of my other Children. My Hopes from all of you are very agreable. God grant, I may not be dissappointed.

Your affectionate Father
John Adams

Introducing Kepler Education

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I am very excited to announce the launch of Kepler Education, a new initiative of Roman Roads!

Kepler is a consortium of independent teachers unified by a shared vision and innovative Chegg answers free online platform to bring classical Christian education with to junior high and high school students.

What does this mean for you and your kids? A wide choice of instructors and teaching styles (curricula and methods), and fascinating courses options!

With course offerings ranging from Algebra 2 to Monsters as Metaphors, Kepler classes are taught by passionate instructors who have the freedom to teach to their strengths and the subjects they most love.

Does Kepler Replace Roman Roads Classroom?

Roman Roads Classroom and its teachers are now part of Kepler, and you will find many of the same courses and teachers on the new platform, along with dozens of additional instructors and over one hundred course offerings, with new instructors and classes being added every week!

Do you offer full grades?

Yes! You can choose one or two courses à la carte, or a build a Diploma Track, but in both instances, you are choosing the courses and teachers, along with learning styles, curriculum, and schedule to match the specific needs of your family. All this unified on a new platform built for the purpose of streamlining the process from registration to transcript.

Our motto at Kepler is “Empowering families by liberating teachers.” By creating an environment and platform where teachers can craft and offer their own courses, we bring all that choice directly to families.

We are excited about registration, and to celebrate our launch we are giving a $50 Amazon gift card and a Kepler T-shirt to every one of the first 50 families that register for one or more classes, and shares about it!

50-50 Giveaway Details:

  1. Register for at least one 2020-21 Kepler class
  2. Share a link to that class on Facebook and tag our page (Kepler Education) so we see your post. (Make sure your post is “Sharing to: Public”)
  3. We will contact you to get your T-shirt size and the info so we can send you your gift-card if you’re among the first 50 families to register.

Kepler Education

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Introducing Kepler

Kepler Education is a consortium of independent teachers, united by a vision for classical Christian education and on a single platform.

Learn how this unique approach to online classes offers a tailored education to your family as you go through jr. high and high school with your children.

See our current (and growing) number of class offerings and teachers at https://kepler.education

Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Aeneid

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“How does Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain echo the main theme of the Aeneid?

The Aeneid describes in an epic fashion the destiny of the Roman people to bring peace to the world through conquering the nations and bringing civilization. Geoffrey directly echoes this idea as Brutus receives a prophecy that his descendants will govern the earth. So Geoffrey depicts the British people as being the heirs of the Roman destiny.

— Defense of the Faith student workbook question, from Old Western Culture curriculum.

Fitting Words: Classical Rhetoric for the Christian Student | Illustrations

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I’m really enjoying seeing the illustrations for Fitting Words: Classical Rhetoric for the Christian Student come together. Fitting Words will be a complete Rhetoric curriculum for the 10-12th grade (and above!).

Here are some of the original illustrations going into it, from illustrator George Harrell.

Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions

Developing Memory

Developing Memory

Key_Concepts

Further Reading

Patrick Henry (1736–1799). Henry was American founding father, orator, and governor of Virginia who advocated anti-federalism. “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” —“Give Me Liberty”

Patrick Henry (1736–1799).
Henry was American founding father, orator, and governor of Virginia who advocated anti-federalism.
“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” —“Give Me Liberty”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC). Cicero was a Roman statesman and philosopher, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest orators of all time. “Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever.” —Orator ad M. Brutum XXXIV.120

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC).
Cicero was a Roman statesman and philosopher, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest orators of all time.
“Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever.”
—Orator ad M. Brutum XXXIV.120

Great Books Challenge for Parents 2016

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Welcome to the 2016 Great Books Challenge for Parents! This Challenge is for any parent, but especially for parents who plan to classically homeschool their children, or who are currently homeschooling their children.

Classical homeschoolers love Old Western Culture because they see their children coming to the dinner table full of stories, and thirsty for knowledge and wisdom. Make 2016 the year classical learning comes alive in your home, and earn free curriculum in the process!

Last year’s Great Books Challenge, centered around Virgil’s Aeneid, was a tremendous success! This year we are going to continue and build upon that challenge, adding the following unit, Romans: The Historians, to the challenge. Romans: The Historians, covers the most famous men of Rome, as well as the history of Rome, the persecution of the early Christians, and how the Roman empire influenced the West, especially the founding of the United States.

THE 2016 GREAT BOOK CHALLENGE FOR PARENTS


YouTube version

FREE CURRICULUM!

If you complete the challenge by December 31st, 2016, you will qualify for a free unit from the Old Western Culture curriculum, which includes the video set ($56 value), the workbook ($12), and the accompanying Reader ($22 value).

IN ORDER TO QUALIFY, YOU MUST:

  • Be a parent (children of any age, including expecting).
  • Watch all 12 lectures from either The Aeneid, or The Historians.
  • Complete all reading assignments from either The Aeneid, or The Historians.
  • Fill THIS FORM (form link coming soon) indicating that you completed the above before December 31st, 2016.

FIRST THREE PARENTS TO COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE:

This Great Books Challenge is not a race, however the first three parents to finish the challenge and fill the form on this page will receive a special prize!

  • First Place: $50 Amazon Gift Certificate
  • Second & Third Place: $15 Amazon Gift Certificate

20% OFF TO HELP YOU GET STARTED

To help you get started, we are offering 20% off the price of the materials associated with the Challenge. Enter code “challenge2016” during checkout for a 20% discount on all items related to the Challenge (DVD set, Workbook, and Reader).

“WHY ARE YOU GIVING AWAY FREE CURRICULUM?”

We are convinced that parents who use Old Western Culture will LOVE it. And when a parent loves a curriculum, they tell their friends. And word-of-mouth is the BEST way to let people know about this curriculum. We’re spending most of our time making this the best literature curriculum available, and we need help spreading the word. So help us by USING it, and telling your friends!

Get Started with The Aeneid Challenge
The Aeneid
Get Started with The Historians Challenge
2

COMPLETED CHALLENGE FORM

Click HERE (link coming soon) to fill out the form when you have completed the challenge. The form includes an option for choosing your free unit.

TESTIMONIALS FROM LAST YEAR

I’m including a few comments from parents who finished last year’s Great Books Challenge for Parents.

Hi, I finished the parent Aeneid challenge yesterday and I am so very happy I did it. Not only am I much more prepared to help my children learn the material in a few years when they reach high school age, but I absolutely loved reading the books! I was a science major in college and never really “got” the excitement for literature and history. Now I realize that literature and history are foundational to our western society. They have become the subjects central to our little homeschooling effort.
– Kirsten

I have now finished the Aeneid Challenge and much to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed and understood it all. I was terribly intimidated before I began but within the first lesson my apprehension evaporated and I couldn’t wait to move on to the next section! Thanks so much for issuing the challenge as I can’t wait to begin with my daughter in a few months!
– Sarah

Hi there, I took up the Aeneid challenge this year and wanted to let you know that I completed it! The Aeneid was the first “Great book” I have ever read and I am amazed at how much I have learnt.
– Cindy

Hello!
I wanted to let you know that I have completed the Great Books Challenge using the Aeneid. Actually, my husband and I did it together after we put the kids to bed (they are in elementary grades) and called it a weekly ‘date night’. 😉
Being publicly educated, we didn’t have the education that we hope to give our children and had very little exposure to most of the ‘greats’ (both books and individuals). I suggested we begin to learn these things now, though our children are younger, so we will know a bit about what we will be teaching when the time comes. Your great books challenge was just the impetus we needed to dive in- and we are so glad we did!
We were both amazed at the vast knowledge that just seeps out of Wes Callihan–it is clear he is not reading from a script but teaching through conversation…a style we both loved. And he teaches in such a way that even huge spans of history or daunting subjects can be made both understandable, fascinating and downright pleasant to discover.
We are very excited for this incredible resource for ourselves presently and for our children in the future! 
– Rebecca and Matt

Share this page or this image with your friends!
Great Books Challenge 2016

Originally appeared on Roman Roads Media Blog. Written by Daniel Foucachon.

Late to read? Why that’s not always a problem.

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I would like to tell you something about my mother and about me. Homeschooling mothers have to be self-sacrificial, hard-working, and patient. I want to share how these qualities in my mother blessed my life in a particular way. For whatever reason (some people would affix a three or four letter acronym to this), I was just not ready to read when most boys and girls normally learn to read.

New Saint Andrews Freshman with the Freshman reading list

Some classmates standing beside the Freshman reading list at New Saint Andrews College

It wasn’t that she wasn’t trying hard enough, or that she was not qualified (truth be told, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Gordon College, and taught at Winter Park High School – she is over-qualified!). For whatever reason, I simply wasn’t ready–I was just not grasping the careful and articulate lessons she taught me. She patiently continued to teach me from 6-10 years old. When I was about 10 years old everything suddenly clicked into place. I was ready to read, and took off!

Years later, I now have BA in Liberal Arts and Culture from New Saint Andrews College, a particularly vigorous program in terms of reading, requiring an estimated 20,000 pages of reading in Freshman year alone. The pile of required books every Freshman reads reach higher than the average student when stacked. And I loved it. I thrived. I am a voracious reader.

Donna Foucachon

My wonderful mother, Donna Foucachon

The amazing thing, however, is not that I was late, but that I never knew it. It was only years later that I looked back and realized that most kids learned to read earlier than I did. I had no idea. And that’s when I realized just how much love and care and patience it took my mother to continue teaching me, worrying about the delay, and yet plodding on. It turned out, nothing was “wrong with me.” I was perfectly normal, and just needed time. Had I been in public school I would have been acutely aware of my “slowness.” It wasn’t easy for my mother to homeschool all 5 of us kids in 5 different grades, while also being a pastor’s wife overseas. But it was an incredible gift to me. Thank you!

Now married to another bibliophile, we are inundated with books. We have more books than our bookshelves can hold. Piles of books on every subject: fiction, history, philosophy, literature, theology, how-to’s, The Great Books, classics, etc. And we’ve read the majority of them!

If you are a parent with a late reader, don’t assume there is a problem. Obviously sometimes there can be true issues, ranging from physical, physiological, or even just plain old laziness. But I believe many children are cast into a mold that simply doesn’t fit them. When we force them into that mold, we are hurting them, not helping them. Sometimes they just need time. I did!

Daniel Foucachon,
Founder and CEO, Roman Roads Media
January 8th, 2013.

family - squareDaniel Foucachon grew up in Lyon, France where his family was church-planting with MTW. He was homeschooled for most of his education, attending a Classical Christian School for two years in Lyon. He then moved to Moscow, Idaho in 2005 to attend New Saint Andrews College, and graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts and Culture in 2009. While finishing school and working in his father’s French restaurant, “West of Paris,” he ran a local media production company where he sub-contracted with Canon Press to create CanonWired. In 2012 he founded Roman Roads Media with the desire to bring quality Classical Christian Education to the homeschooler. He now lives in Moscow, Idaho with his wife Lydia, and four kids (Edmund, William, Margaux, and Ethan).

late to read

Homeschooling in Germany

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From The Washington Post:

Earlier this month, a German teen-ager was forcibly taken from her parents and imprisoned in a psychiatric ward. Her crime? She is being home-schooled.
On Feb. 1, 15 German police officers forced their way into the home of the Busekros family in the Bavarian town of Erlangen. They hauled off 16-year-old Melissa, the eldest of the six Busekros children, to a psychiatric ward in nearby Nuremberg. Last week, a court affirmed that Melissa has to remain in the Child Psychiatry Unit because she is suffering from “school phobia.”
Home-schooling has been illegal in Germany since Adolf Hitler outlawed it in 1938 and ordered all children to be sent to state schools. The home-schooling community in Germany is tiny. As Hitler knew, Germans tend to obey orders unquestioningly. Only some 500 children are being home-schooled in a country of 80 million. Home-schooling families are prosecuted without mercy.
Last March, a judge in Hamburg sentenced a home-schooling father of six to a week in prison and a fine of $2,000. Last September, a Paderborn mother of 12 was locked up in jail for two weeks. The family belongs to a group of seven ethnic German families who immigrated to Paderborn from the former Soviet Union. The Soviets persecuted them because they were Baptists. An initiative of the Paderborn Baptists to establish their own private school was rejected by the German authorities. A court ruled that the Baptists showed “a stubborn contempt both for the state’s educational duty as well as the right of their children to develop their personalities by attending school.”

HT: Right Mind