Everyday Educator

Ever notice how your own love of learning shows up after you start homeschooling? In this episode of the Everyday Educator podcast, host Amy Jones talks with Classical Conversations mentor Aimee Smith about the 15-year journey that took her from a nervous first-year Foundations tutor — who once got caught not knowing where to find things on the map — to a Classical Learning Cohort mentor helping other homeschool moms teach with confidence. Somewhere along the way, she picked up something she never expected: a real, honest love of learning.
Aimee opens up about the Classical Learning Cohort's five semesters (Classical Way, Invitation, Form, Assessment, and Catechesis) and how "hospitable assessment" reshaped the way she sees herself, not just her students. She also shares the moment she — an adult who'd never read the classics — cracked open the Iliad and Odyssey for the first time to tutor Challenge IV, and how that leap turned into teaching Online Learning Seminars on Homer's epics today.
Whatever stage of the homeschool journey you're in, Aimee's advice is simple: take one step, learn one thing alongside your child. You don't have to check every box — you just have to keep going. Tune in for an honest, encouraging conversation about growing up right alongside your kids.
Learn more about the Classical Learning Cohort, Online Learning Seminars, and Aimee's master's program: https://ccalumni.network/programs/
 
🎙️ Love this episode? You'll enjoy our other podcast too! Check out Refining Rhetoric: https://refiningrhetoric.com/
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This episode of Everyday Educator is sponsored by Samaritan's Purse - Operation Christmas Child
The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to children in need around the world. Your homeschool community can be part of this global mission by packing gift-filled shoeboxes full of quality toys, school supplies, and personal care items that are sent to children in over 100 countries. Through this project, Samaritan's Purse partners with the local church worldwide to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and make disciples of the nations. Make Operation Christmas Child part of your school year leading up to National Collection Week November 16-23.
Learn More at https://samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

Ever catch your kids — or yourself — speed-reading through a book just to check it off the list? In this episode of the Everyday Educator podcast, host Lisa Bailey talks with Tim Knotts, Director of Challenge Development for Classical Conversations, about the lost art of close reading: slowing down enough to actually understand a text, whether it's Scripture, a history document, or a confusing Russian novel. Tim introduces Classical Conversations' newest resource, Reasoning Together Words in the Word, built around the same 15 skills and three arts your family has been practicing since Foundations.
Tim walks Lisa through the four tools he built into the book to help students dig deeper: parsing, highlighting, annotating, and writing note cards. Each one gets paired with a single skill so kids aren't paralyzed by too many choices — but Tim's quick to point out these aren't new tricks, just old, trustworthy tools most of us learned somewhere along the way and quietly stopped using. He shares why parsing helps with everything from understanding Paul's letters to getting the joke in a good pun, and why note cards are secretly one of the best assessment tools a parent has — flip through your student's cards and you'll know instantly how closely they really read.
You don't need a Challenge IV student to benefit from this one. Whether your kids are Scribblers or you're the one who wants to read more deeply yourself, this conversation is a gentle nudge to slow down, read fewer things well, and let your soul get a little fatter for it. Tune in for a rich, encouraging look at what it means to build a family culture of real, careful reading.
 
This episode of Everyday Educator is sponsored by:  
Classical Conversations Plus Online Learning Seminars
OLS provides a unique opportunity for adult learners to engage with rich, meaningful content through 4- to 6-week online seminars rooted in classical, Christian education. Each seminar is facilitated by experienced Classical Conversations graduate parents who have walked the homeschooling journey and bring real-world wisdom to their teaching.
To learn more about the CC Plus Online Learning Seminars or to begin your journey of pursuing your next season of learning, go to https://ccalumni.network/programs/ and scroll down to find OLS.

Cate-whaaat? If you've ever heard the word "catechesis" and wondered what it means for your homeschool, this one's for you. In this episode of the Everyday Educator podcast, host Delise welcomes back Rachel Thompson and Amy Jones to unpack the Classical Conversations catechesis wheel — the diagram that puts God at the center and shows how every strand of learning connects back to His character — and to talk about what it really looks like to keep Christ at the center of home education, not as one more subject, but as the source everything else flows from.
Rachel and Amy open by sharing their testimonies — one who came to a personal faith as a young child, one who found it in college — a reminder that the Lord meets each of us right where we are. From there the conversation moves to the scriptures that compel us to disciple our children (Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6, and the "new creation" of 2 Corinthians 5:17), how to marry rearing and schooling into one integrated lifestyle rather than separating "school time" from "God time," and how classical skills — resilience, perseverance, wrestling with hard truths — actually equip children to think higher thoughts about God. The three also speak tenderly to parents carrying shame or the false weight of believing their child's salvation rests on their shoulders, returning again and again to the gospel: there is no condemnation for those in Christ, and our calling is to be faithful, not perfect.
You don't have to have it all figured out. Keep pointing to Christ, keep learning alongside your children, and remember the mission at the center of it all: to know God and make Him known.
This episode of Everyday Educator is sponsored by: Classical Conversations Plus Classical Fellowship. The Classical Fellowship extends classical Christian formation into the years after Challenge, providing Christ-centered worldview formation, classical thinking skills, and Christ-centered community while graduates pursue their calling — whether college, trade, missions, or vocation. To learn more about the CC Plus Classical Fellowship or extend the classical conversation into your next chapter, go to https://ccnetwork.app/ClassicalFellowship

How do you plan a whole homeschool year without letting the plan crowd out the reason you started? In this episode of the Everyday Educator podcast, host Delise Germond sits down with Kelli Wilt to talk about preparing for the new homeschool year while keeping God at the center — the mindset shifts, routines, and practical organization tips that make the difference before the first day of school ever arrives.
Whether you're heading into your very first Foundations year or you're a veteran mom sending a student into the Challenge program, this conversation is full of ideas you can put to work this summer.
You don't have to have the perfect plan. Start by lifting your eyes off the checklist and back to your child, remembering the real aim of the year: to know God and make Him known.
This episode of Everyday Educator is sponsored by: Classical Conversations Plus Online Learning Seminars OLS provides a unique opportunity for adult learners to engage with rich, meaningful content through 4- to 6-week online seminars rooted in classical, Christian education. Each seminar is facilitated by experienced Classical Conversations graduate parents who have walked the homeschooling journey and bring real-world wisdom to their teaching. [To learn more about the CC Plus Online Learning Seminars or to begin your journey of pursuing your next season of learning, go to https://ccalumni.network/programs/ and scroll down to find OLS.](https://ccalumni.network/programs/)

America is turning 250 — and there's never been a better time to bring US history to life in your homeschool. In this episode of the Everyday Educator podcast, host Lisa Bailey sits down with Kelli Wilt and Amy Jones to explore practical, joyful ways homeschool families can celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence — from living history activities and patriotic family discussions to CC's Cycle 3 memory work and a sneak peek at the upcoming Foundations Curriculum 6th Edition.
Whether your children are preschoolers who just love a birthday party or older students ready to wrestle with what freedom really means, this conversation is full of ideas you can use this summer and all year long. Kelli shares how Cycle 3's American history memory work is perfectly timed for this milestone year, Amy offers hands-on activity ideas for the littlest learners, and the group unpacks a student essay contest open to all Essentials students for the 2026–27 school year — limited to exactly 776 words, naturally.
You don't have to have the perfect plan. Start with a flag, a story, and a question around the dinner table: What does freedom mean to your family?
 
This episode of Everyday Educator is sponsored by:  
Classical Conversations Plus Online Learning Seminars
OLS provides a unique opportunity for adult learners to engage with rich, meaningful content through 4- to 6-week online seminars rooted in classical, Christian education. Each seminar is facilitated by experienced Classical Conversations graduate parents who have walked the homeschooling journey and bring real-world wisdom to their teaching.
To learn more about the CC Plus Online Learning Seminars or to begin your journey of pursuing your next season of learning, go to https://ccalumni.network/programs/ and scroll down to find OLS.