# Brent Odell
> Christian, Husband, Father of 7, Classical Christian Educator, Homesteader. Formerly a Software Engineer at TaxJar & Stripe.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).
## Pages
### About this site
URL: https://brentodell.com/about/
Last updated: 2026-05-31T23:19:59.000Z
Brent Odell is an independent publication launched in May 2026 by Brent Odell. If you subscribe today, you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters about new content when it's available. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows Brent Odell to continue to exist. Thank you!

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### About
URL: https://brentodell.com/about-2/
Last updated: 2025-10-26T18:45:15.000Z
Hello there! I’m Brent and I wear many hats. Most importantly, I’m husband to Rebekah and father of our 5 daughters & 2 sons.

I was a Software Engineer from 2014-2024\. After graduating with a B.S. in Computer Science, I spent over 4 years at [Igniter Media](https://www.ignitermedia.com/?ref=brentodell.com) building an online marketplace for videos and graphics that serve churches.

After our third daughter was born in 2019, we decided to move closer to family, which led me to search for a remote role. That same year I was honored to join [TaxJar](https://www.taxjar.com/?ref=brentodell.com), a company that had been fully remote since the start. In 2021, TaxJar was acquired [Stripe](https://www.stripe.com/?ref=brentodell.com), where I spent 3.5 years before being laid off in January 2025.

While working at Igniter & TaxJar, my primary focus was in [Ruby on Rails](https://rubyonrails.org/?ref=brentodell.com), working with various flavors of SQL, with Sidekiq for background jobs, and with some limited exposure to React & Vue.

After joining Stripe, I worked mostly Ruby (with typing via [Sorbet](https://sorbet.org/?ref=brentodell.com)) and MongoDB.

In our free time, my family & I enjoy hiking in nature, traveling, and have recently started raising some of our own food, and hope to some day turn this into a business. We tend to a host of [Meishan pigs](http://meishanbreeders.com/?ref=brentodell.com), ducks, turkeys, geese, and more chickens than I can count. The Meishan are a rare heritage breed that, until 2024, [were classified as critically endangered](https://livestockconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CPL-Article-from-Newsletter-2024-High-Res.pdf?ref=brentodell.com) by the livestock conservancy. They also produce what many consider to be one of the highest quality porks available. We're exploring ways to help repopulate this rare breed while also building it into a family business, and providing food for our table.

In July 2025 I began working as a teacher at Magnolia Classical Academy. I've been interested in classical Christian education since 2018\. I've spent most of my time studying theory of CCE, as well as curriculum, while my wife has been focused on teaching at home and as part of a Classical Conversations community. I'm excited to have the opportunity to put what I'm learning into practice.

*Thanks for stopping by! God bless!*
### Contact
URL: https://brentodell.com/contact/
Last updated: 2024-12-01T00:37:15.000Z
_No content available._
### Bookshelf
URL: https://brentodell.com/bookshelf/
Last updated: 2025-01-20T16:58:32.000Z
Below is my reading list. Eventually I'll include links to notes that I've taken.

## Currently Reading

- *You Are What You Love* by James K. A. Smith ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-What-Love-Spiritual/dp/158743380X?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Haunted Cosmos* by Brian Sauvé & Ben Garrett ([Buy](https://www.newchristendompress.com/cosmos?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Eat That Frog* by Brian Tracy ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Eat-That-Frog-Great-Procrastinating/dp/162656941X?ref=brentodell.com))

## Backlog

- *The Common Rule* by Justin Whitmel Earley ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Common-Rule-Habits-Purpose-Distraction/dp/1514006928?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age* by Alan Noble ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Disruptive-Witness-Speaking-Truth-Distracted/dp/083084483X?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Amusing Ourselves to Death* by Neil Postman ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X?ref=brentodell.com))
- *The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire* by Edward Gibbon ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Decline-Empire-Volumes-Everymans-Library/dp/0307700763?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Brave New World* by Aldous Huxley ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0062696122?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Brave New World Revisited* by Aldous Huxley ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Brave-World-Revisited-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060898526?ref=brentodell.com))
- *1984* by George Orwell ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/1984-George-Orwell/dp/1328869334?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Fahrenheit 451* by Ray Bradbury ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451-Ray-Bradbury/dp/1451673264?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Animal Farm* by George Orwell ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Farm/dp/0241453860?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Lord of the Flies* by William Golding ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Flies-Penguin-Drop-Caps/dp/0143124293?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Juvenal and Persius* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Juvenal-Persius-Loeb-Classical-Library/dp/0674996127?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling* by Andy Crouch ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Making-Recovering-Creative-Calling/dp/151400576X?ref=brentodell.com))
- *The Death of Christian Culture* by John Senior ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Death-Christian-Culture-John-Senior/dp/1932528156?ref=brentodell.com))
- *The Restoration of Christian Culture* by John Senior ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Restoration-Christian-Culture-John-Senior/dp/1932528164?ref=brentodell.com))
- *John Senior and the Restoration of Realism* by Francis Bethel ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Senior-Restoration-Realism-Father-Francis/dp/0997314001?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: Confessions, Volume I: Books 1–8* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Books-Loeb-Classical-Library/dp/0674996852?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: Confessions, Volume II: Books 9–13* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-II-Books-Classical-Library/dp/0674996933?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: City of God, Volume I, Books 1-3* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Augustine-City-Books-Classical-Library/dp/0674994523?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: City of God, Volume II, Books 4-7* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Augustine-City-Books-Classical-Library/dp/0674994531?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: City of God, Volume III, Books 8-11* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Augustine-City-Books-Classical-Library/dp/0674994558?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: City of God, Volume IV, Books 12-15* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Augustine-Books-12-15-Classical-Library/dp/0674994566?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: City of God, Volume V, Books 16-18.35* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Augustine-Books-16-18-35-Classical-Library/dp/0674994574?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: City of God, Volume VI, Books 18.36-20* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Augustine-Books-18-36-20-Classical-Library/dp/0674994582?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Augustine: City of God, Volume VII, Books 21-22* by Loeb Classical Library ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Against-Pagans-Books-Classical-Library/dp/0674994590?ref=brentodell.com))
- *Institutes of the Christian Religion* by John Calvin ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Institutes-Christian-Religion-John-Calvin/dp/1598561685?ref=brentodell.com))
## Posts
### Extended Scripture Memory Plan Generator
URL: https://brentodell.com/extended-scripture-memory-generator/
Last updated: 2026-07-27T21:29:15.000Z
> Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  
> —Colossians 3:16 

This tool generates a plan to help you memorize whole chapters, or entire books of the Bible. It is inspired by “[How to Memorize Scripture for Life](https://www.amazon.com/How-Memorize-Scripture-Life-Entire/dp/1433591030?ref=brentodell.com)” by Andrew M. Davis.
### A Job Application
URL: https://brentodell.com/a-job-application/
Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:39:21.000Z
I started a post nearly a year ago called "My Philosophy of Education." That post is still unpublished. It turns out that articulating something as big as a philosophy of education is really hardto do. And it's dynamic. As I learn, and grow, it grows with me. Recently however, I was forced to articulate something *like* a philosophy of education.

While filling out an application to teach at a new school, I was asked a series of questions that forced me to write down somewhat concretely, my understanding of the purpose & practices of education. Ideas around this have been forming abstractly in my mind over the last year (or 8), but I've struggled to put them down succinctly. They all revolve around paideia, and it turns out that paideia is all-encompassing.

Also, I say this forced me to write it down "somewhat" concretely because, as you will see, some of my answers are meant to show you, rather than tell you what I think. In Classical Christian Education, we believe in the [power of story](https://brentodell.com/the-power-of-story/). My answers are meant to help you experience my understanding poetically. Think about the quotes. Think about the song lyrics. Chew on them. Ponder them a while. Then, let's talk.

## The Application

###   
Tell us about your family

I’ve been married to Rebekah since 2012, and we have 7 children, ages 9 months to 11 years.

I grew up with one younger brother & three older half brothers. My wife grew up with three siblings. I don't know that either of us had considered family size when we got married, and probably assumed we'd have the average 2.5 children. At some point, we actually took Psalm 127:3-5 to heart and now see children as a heritage, from the Lord, and have decided to let Him determine our family size. It has been a tremendous blessing.

Our family tries to take Deuteronomy 6 & Deuteronomy 11 to heart by discipling our kids as we lie down, rise up, and go about our day.

### **List any interests, hobbies, or clubs of which you are a part**

My family's favorite activity is to visit the mountains and go camping & hiking. We have visited Rocky Mountain National Park 2-3 times, and the Smoky Mountains once as a family.

While we spent four and a half years in the DFW metroplex, where our first three children were born, we currently live on 9.5 acres and are raising our own chickens & pigs. I wanted our children to understand hard work, as well as where food comes from, and to not take it for granted. I also wanted them to see the gospel picture of a life being lost so that their own life can be sustained.

### **For a teaching audition involving one or two subjects, which cohort level and subject(s) would you select to teach and why?**

8-10 year olds, Humanities & Science.

My only experience so far is teaching 3rd & 4th grade in a self-contained classroom, and in that role I found myself most comfortable with the Humanities (Literature & Bible specifically).

Growing up, my passion was for Science, but I have a healthy caution towards it today because of our culture's plunge into scientism (as warned about by Lewis years ago). I am very interested in learning to teach Science classically, as Natural Philosophy.

### **Share about your past training, education, and experience that prepares you for this position, including any courses of study, certifications or degrees earned.**

I have no teaching degree or certification. I have attended the ACCS conference in 2025 & 2026 and took two Atrium courses through CiRCE those same years: Norms & Nobility with Tonya Rozelle and Becoming a Classical Teacher with Matthew Bianco. I have also watched many courses on Classical U.

For the 2025-2026 school year, I taught in a 3rd & 4th grade classroom, and was in charge of our school's teacher training.

I would have to say that the vast majority of my training was informal, through books & podcasts. I cannot always articulate the ways each has shaped me, but I will list influences that come to mind so you can have an idea of the composite. These are ordered first by type (podcast/conference talks/video courses, then books) and second, roughly in the order I discovered them in:

- [The Consortium Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-consortium-podcast/id1547754152?ref=brentodell.com) (first 30 episodes or so with Scott Postma & Joffre Swait from Kepler Education)
- [Everlasting Education](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-everlasting-education/id1597154507?ref=brentodell.com) podcast, also by Scott Postma & Joffre Swait
- Andrew Kern (via Conference Talks by Andrew and employees of CiRCE & via [Classical U](https://classicalu.com/?ref=brentodell.com) videos)
- Christopher Perrin (via [Classical U](https://classicalu.com/?ref=brentodell.com) videos)
- David Goodwin (via [Classical U](https://classicalu.com/?ref=brentodell.com) videos, [The Four](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Olk9hrqgL8&list=PLWT431Iptf2TScpcnfWNsm9W%5F8%5FuAk0di&ref=brentodell.com) podcast, [Forging the American Mind](https://www.amazon.com/Forging-American-Mind-Year-Year/dp/0063329034/?ref=brentodell.com), [The Miseducation of America](https://classicaldifference.org/miseducation-of-america/?ref=brentodell.com))
- Devin O'Donnell (via Conference talks, [The Four](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Olk9hrqgL8&list=PLWT431Iptf2TScpcnfWNsm9W%5F8%5FuAk0di&ref=brentodell.com) podcast)
- Davies Owens (via Conference talks, [Basecamp Live](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/basecamp-live/id1220919921?ref=brentodell.com) podcast)
- Heather Lloyd (via [The Four](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Olk9hrqgL8&list=PLWT431Iptf2TScpcnfWNsm9W%5F8%5FuAk0di&ref=brentodell.com) podcast)
- Jeff Adams (via [Concordis Bootcamp](https://concordispartners.com/teacher-training?ref=brentodell.com))
- Bill Stutzman (via [Concordis Bootcamp](https://concordispartners.com/teacher-training?ref=brentodell.com))
- [The Vanishing American Adult](https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-American-Adult-Coming-Crisis/dp/1250114403/?ref=brentodell.com) by Ben Sasse
  - It has been several years since I've read this. I know it was influential in my journey, but don't remember it well enough to know whether I would recommend it today. From memory I would summarize it as:
    - We allow adults to behave like children (living in parent's basement playing video games), but also adulterize kids (exposing them to content that they shouldn't be exposed to on the TV, internet, etc).
    - We've lost a shared canon in society, and need to work to rebuild one. The Havard Classics are mentioned, but Sasse also builds his own "five foot shelf" of books that contain knowledge that he wants to pass to the next generation, and he suggests parents do the same.
- [The Core](https://www.amazon.com/CORE-Leigh-Bortins/dp/023010035X/?ref=brentodell.com) by Leigh Bortins
    - It has been several years since I've read this. I know it was influential in my journey, but don't remember it well enough to know whether I would recommend it today. I am a big proponent of homeschool, but from what I remember of the book (and from my children's experience in Classical Conversations, which Leigh is the founder of), there is too much emphasis on the idea of the Trivium as "ages & stages," which came from an insightful observation of the developmental stages of children by Dorothy Sayers, as interpreted by Douglas Wilson, but to my understanding is not a historic application of the Trivium.
- [You Are What You Love](https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-What-Love-Spiritual/dp/158743380X/?ref=brentodell.com) & [Desiring the Kingdom](https://www.amazon.com/Desiring-Kingdom-Worldview-Formation-Liturgies/dp/0801035775/?ref=brentodell.com) by James K.A. Smith
  - It has been several years since I've read You Are What You Love. It awakened me to the power of cultural liturgies, and the idea that if you're not intentionally shaping your children's loves (and you're own), they will be shaped passively by the culture they live in. I'm currently reading Desiring the Kingdom, which is the more academic version that came first.
- [Abolition of Man](https://www.amazon.com/Abolition-Man-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652942/?ref=brentodell.com) by C.S. Lewis
- [Norms & Nobility](https://www.amazon.com/Norms-Nobility-Education-David-Hicks/dp/1538195356/?ref=brentodell.com) by David Hicks

I'm also influenced by the following, but have not finished them yet:

- [The Liberal Arts Tradition](https://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Arts-Tradition-Philosophy-Christian/dp/1600512259/?ref=brentodell.com) by Kevin Clark & Ravi Scott Jain
- [Poetic Knowledge](https://www.amazon.com/Poetic-Knowledge-Education-James-Taylor/dp/0791435865/?ref=brentodell.com) by James Taylor

[This article](https://comment.org/let-them-be-born-in-wonder/?ref=brentodell.com) about the Integrated Humanities Program (IHP) at the University of Kansas has also influenced my passion for classical Christian education.

### **Provide a brief sketch of your Christian testimony, including how you came to profess Christ as Lord and Savior.**

In kindergarten, after telling a Bible story (or giving a gospel presentation), my teacher asked who all was a Christian. I believe I was the only student who didn't raise his hand, and my teacher was shocked (because I was a model student). She asked if I wanted to become a Christian, and I said yes. She took me to another room, and had me pray the "prayer of salvation."

After school, I told my mom that I had become a Christian, and she seemed to question it. My parents had me meet with the children's pastor, but I don't remember anything coming of it after that, other than me doubting whether I had actually become a Christian.

In middle school, I understood enough to know that I didn't want to go to hell when I died, so I went down at the alter call, and again prayed a prayer, and was baptized. My motivation at the time was all wrong though.

Throughout high school and early college, as I grew in my understanding, I constantly doubted my salvation. In college I worked as an assistant to a youth pastor, and I confessed to him one year at camp that I was there as a camp counselor, but didn't know if I was a Christian myself. He encouraged me by telling me all the ways he saw fruit of the Spirit in my life.

I can't point to a specific moment of salvation. For me, it was a process (and still is, viewing salvation as not solely justification, but also sanctification and, at death or Christ's return, glorification). I believe that there was some point between high school and college where my focus stopped being on salvation *from* the fires of hell, and instead salvation *into* Christ, and getting to serve him out of an abundance of love & thankfulness.

In college, after talking to the youth pastor I worked with, I was baptized a second time, after a genuine confession of faith and my need for a savior.

### **What do you believe constitutes a Biblical marriage?**

One male and one female in covenant for life.

### **What is your position on same-sex marriage?**

It is not really marriage, because marriage is an institution created by God, which he gets to define. It is completely unbiblical.

### **Do you affirm that life begins at conception and therefore elective abortion is killing a baby? Explain your position.**

Yes, absolutely. All humans are created in the imago Dei, and creation happens at the moment of conception (fertilization).

### **Would you counsel Christian parents to provide a Christian education for their children (whether that is homeschool, private school, or co-op)?**

Absolutely. My view is that getting education as close to the parents as possible is the ideal (Deuteronomy 6 & 11). Based on that (and understanding that different families have different needs), I see the following as the ideal ordering of choices:

1. Homeschool (and co-op) in the classical Christian tradition
2. Collaborative model classical Christian school
3. Non-collaborative model classical Christian school
4. Private (non-classical) Christian school

Under no circumstances would I suggest public school, and I might go so far as considering it sin to send children to public school, which in my view, is antithetical to raising children in the paideia of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). That being said, I would show grace to whomever I'm talking to, and try to understand their situation, and see if I could help them in any way.

### **What is your understanding of Classical Christian Education?**

There are so many trails we could follow here. The primary focus is the shaping of a child's paideia, a Greek word for which we have no English equivalent. Enculturation is close. Of first importance is raising children in a paideia of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). We're also grateful for the "Great Conversation" that has been happening in the western world for the last 2,000 years, and that should be incorporated as well.

We could also discuss methods (narration, nature study, dialectical discussion, integration across "subjects", etc), and while I do believe those are important, we risk slipping into progressive education's conveyer belt mentality if methods becomes our primary focus. We need to know the telos of education, and then choose the best methods to reach that end.

For the first several years, my understanding of CCE was "ages and stages," as observed by Dorothy Sayers and popularized, in part, by Doug Wilson (Logos School), and Classical Conversations. In the past year or two, I feel I've been going "further up, and further in," in my understanding of CCE. As I read "A Short History of Classical Christian Education's Recovery" by David Goodwin in the front of “The Liberal Arts Tradition”, I saw that the movement's progression in understanding that he described largely mapped on to my own:

1. Trivium-focused;
2. New focus on Great Books, Greek & Latin, scholé, and aesthetics;
3. Focus on a Kuyperian (all encompassing) paideia, cultivating arete/virtue and rightly ordered affections (ordo amoris) with an increased focus on the power of story in shaping the soul;
4. No longer adopting the fragmented framework of subjects common to progressive schools, but instead focused on a "holistic \[study\], grounded in revealed truth in the Word and the world, beginning in wonder and leading to wisdom—all governed by the 'Mistress-science', theology."

### **What is the purpose of education?**

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The chief end of education is the formation & ordering of the affections (Augustine, James K.A. Smith) to that end.

Also...

> The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.  
> ([Webster, 1828](https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/education?ref=brentodell.com))

and

> Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. Whatever the soul is like, it will have to be passed on somehow, consciously or unconsciously, and that transition may be called education...What we need is to have a culture before we hand it down. In other words, it is a truth, however sad and strange, that we cannot give what we have not got, and cannot teach to other people what we do not know ourselves.  
>  
> Everything comes back, therefore, to the question of what is our tradition, our religion, our philosophy...  
> (Chesterton, 1924)

Also, to coin a verb, it is the paideiaing of a child and paideia is all-encompassing.

### **What most excites you about teaching?**

I used to say that motherhood is under-appreciated, because mother's have the unique privilege of bringing more of God's image (not to mention immortal souls) into the world. What has more eternal impact than that?!

While I still believe that to be true, I think the greater privilege & responsibility is the raising of those immortal souls in the paideia of the Lord. It excites me to be able to take part in that.

### **What is a Christian world and life view, and how would you communicate to a student the idea of "all of Christ for all of life"?**

There is a worship song by Psallos called "The Lord is a Mighty King." It begins:

> The Lord is a mighty king.  
> The king of all nations.  
> The maker of everything.  
> Let his handiwork say:  
> I am his, I am his.   
> Creator owns creation.  
> See what power there is in the sovereign who reigns.

Also, see "All People That on Earth Do Dwell" (“Old Hundredth,” based on Psalm 100):

> All people that on Earth do dwell,  
> Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;  
> Him serve with fear, his praise forthtell;  
> Come ye before him and rejoice.  
>  
> The Lord, ye know, is God indeed;  
> Without our aid he did us make;  
> We are his folk, he doth us feed,  
> And for his sheep he doth us take.  
>  
> O enter then his gates with praise,  
> Approach with joy his courts unto;  
> Praise, laud, and bless his name always,  
> For it is seemly so to do.  
>  
> For why? The Lord our God is good;  
> His mercy is forever sure;  
> His truth at all times firmly stood,  
> And shall from age to age endure.

> Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  
> (Philippians 2:9-11)

> There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human life of which Christ, Who is Sovereign of all, does not cry: "Mine!"  
> (Abraham Kuyper, 1880)

> Our aim is to open the Bible, study it with the fear of God and serious effort, believe everything we find there, and then aim to see every area of our lives conformed to it by grace and through faith. \[We want\] to know how to obey all that Christ commands in his Word. ...the Scriptures \[apply\] to every part of what it means to be human—\[our\] emotional, mental, spiritual, social, political, relational, and physical self.  
> (Paraphrase from a Statement of Faith at a classical Christian school. I'm omitting the reference because the leadership of the church associated with it seems to have gone off the rails. The statement itself is wonderful though.)

When communicating "all of Christ, for all of life" to students, start young and start poetically (memorizing the songs & verse above are a good start) to hide the truths in their heart.

As students get older, we can talk about both how God (as creator) has a full claim to our lives, but also about Christ's humiliation: humbling himself & becoming part of his own creation, living a perfect life, and giving himself over to death for our sins; paying the price that we could not pay by dying the death that we deserved. It should be our joy to serve him out of an abundance of thankfulness.

### **Who was your most influential teacher and why?**

That's is a tough question. I can think of 7-8 influential teachers between elementary & high school, and they fall into roughly two categories:

1. Those who encouraged me in my abilities.
2. Those who had a passion & excitement for their subjects.

### **What is the last book you read? What is one of your favorite books, and why?**

I am currently working through Forging the American Mind by David Goodwin. One of my favorite books has been You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith, but it's been several years since I've read it. It opened my eyes to the power of liturgies, even those that are unintentional.

Also, Narnia. There is always more to mine from the depths of Lewis.
### The Power of Story
URL: https://brentodell.com/the-power-of-story/
Last updated: 2026-10-15T19:32:53.000Z
In Classical Christian Education, we believe in the power of story to form a person. We're all living in a story. We have the Biblical story, which is the ultimate story; the story of the cosmos, which God is still authoring (from a human perspective). That story starts in a garden and ends in a garden city with a whole lot of serpents, fall, repentance, redemption, repeat in between.

Each of us live in our own little stories as well. Our stories are driven by our vision of the good life. The things we think, say, and do are in pursuit of that vision, and stories are what shape that vision.

Stories don't always come in the shape of a book though. Music contains some of the most powerful stories. Lyrics and rhythm seep deep into our bones, and surface again and again. Have you ever heard a song that you haven't heard in years, and it transports you back to a specific place and time? That's the power of music on full display. Many young people are pursuing stories taught to them by Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, or Lady Gaga, with much brokenness in their lives to show for it.

Books & music aren't the only stories that shape us. A single sentence can plant the seed of a story that others may someday water & fertilize. For example, a child may ask her mother, "Mommy, what's it like to walk on the moon?" If the mother replies "I don't know honey, but there are rich men building rockets who hope to eventually build a base there. *If you're rich someday*, maybe you can go see for yourself." she may have just planted a seed in the child's heart that says "I want to go to the moon. That requires being rich. Therefore, part of the good life is to be rich." If the mother replies, "I don't know honey, but let's find a book and read about it together." she is more likely to have planted a seed for the love of books, and learning, and community.

I heard a story once (and have unfortunately forgotten the source) about a classical Christian educator at an inner city school. She had students from pretty rough neighborhoods, and fights would often break out. She read her kindergarten students the story of [Mercury & the Woodsman](https://www.read.gov/aesop/102.html?ref=brentodell.com), not giving the moral at the end as many of our modern translations do, but simply letting the children sit with it and ponder it.

A few weeks later there was a fight on the playground. As they were confronted, one of the boys involved sobbed to his teacher "I'm so, so sorry. I'm trying to be good, like the woodsman."

A few years later, the teacher passed the same student in the hall, and he was wearing a bowtie, and had a giant smile on his face. At this school, only the student of the week was allowed to wear a bowtie.

That's the power of story.
### Classical Christian Education Lingo Lexicon
URL: https://brentodell.com/classical-christian-education-lingo-lexicon/
Last updated: 2026-08-02T22:01:20.000Z
This will be a post that I update periodically as I come across new terms, or people that others might like to know about.

---

## Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS)

The Association of Classical Christian Schools was the first and is the largest member organization for classical Christian schools, formed in the early 1990’s.

## Battle for the American Mind

A [book by David Goodwin and Pete Hegseth](https://www.amazon.com/Battle-American-Mind-Uprooting-Miseducation/dp/0063215047/?ref=brentodell.com) detailing the downfall of American Education, and a vision for its future. Personally, I found the Fox Nation documentary with David & Pete, [The Miseducation of America](https://nation.foxnews.com/the-miseducation-of-america/season-1/?ref=brentodell.com), more interesting, but that requires a Fox Nation subscription, or at least a trial.

## Cair Paravel Latin School

One of the first 3 known schools in the Classical Christian renewal movement.

## Classical Christian Education (CCE)

Classical Christian Education is the type of [education](https://brentodell.com/the-meaning-of-education/) that was used for most of history in the West. It was started by the Greeks (before the birth of Christ), and adopted by the Romans. It was later baptized and redeemed by the Christians of the Medieval period. It was the education of America's founding fathers. It was also the education of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. It lasted until the education reforms of the late 1800s to early 1900s.

CCE was lost to time until around 1980 when three schools, separate from each other, began recovery efforts. For a wonderful history of the renewal movement, read [David Goodwin's](https://davidgoodwin.substack.com/) *A Short History of Classical Christian Education's Recovery* in the front of [The Liberal Arts Tradition](https://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Arts-Tradition-Philosophy-Christian/dp/1600512259/?ref=brentodell.com).

## C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis (1898–1963) may have been part of the last generation to have received a Classical Christian education. He was a keen observer of issues in the modern educational system, some of which he addressed in The Abolition of Man. Abolition of Man can be a difficult, but worthy, read. Lewis also wrote That Hideous Strength (which carries the same argument, in the form of a novel) as the final book in his Ransom Trilogy.

## Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason was a British reformer at the turn of the 20th century. She believed that "children are born persons" and that "education is the science of relations." She promoted a humanistic and highly integrative model for education with a strong emphasis on cultivating a love of learning in children as well as spiritual and moral formation. While not always grouped under the "Classical Christian" umbrella, her philosophy pairs well with it. Many would say that the best Classical Christian schools are those which meld the rich heritage of the Christian West, with the philosophy of Charlotte Mason.

## Dorothy Sayers

Outside the CCE world, Dorothy Says is best known as a British crime novelist. Inside the CCE world, she is known for being the author of The Lost Tools of Learning, which inspired some of the earliest fathers of the Classical Christian renewal. It is from this essay that we get the idea that the Trivium maps to ages & stages of child development. While not an official member, Sayers was a friend of the Inklings (the most well known being C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien).

## Doug Wilson

One of the founding fathers of the Classical Christian renewal. [Wilson](https://dougwils.com/?ref=brentodell.com) is a pastor, the founder of Logos School in Moscow, ID, and author of many books, including [Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning](https://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Tools-Learning-Douglas-Wilson/dp/1954887108/?ref=brentodell.com), and [The Paideia of God](https://www.amazon.com/Paideia-God-Douglas-Wilson/dp/1885767595/?ref=brentodell.com).

## Education

You may find yourself asking, "Does this word need really need to be defined?!" Have a look my previous article on [The Meaning of Education](https://brentodell.com/the-meaning-of-education/), and you may find that this word carries more meaning that you previously thought.

## Epistemology

The study of knowledge. What is it? How is it acquired? What do we know? And how do we know what we know.

## The Four Causes of Aristotle

- **Material Cause:** The substance from which something is made. What is it made of? *e.g. What is a tree made of?*
- **Formal Cause:** The structure or design of something. What is the essence of it? *e.g. What is the treeness of a tree?*
- **Efficient Cause:** What brought the thing about? *e.g. Who made the tree?*
- **Final Cause (see also, telos):** Why was something made. What is its purpose? *e.g. What is the purpose of a tree?*

## John Senior

One of the three founding professors (along with Frank Nelick and Dennis Quinn) of the Integrated Humanities Program (IHP) at University of Kansas, which ran from 1970-1979\. For a good description of John Senior, and the Integrated Humanities Program (IHP) at University of Kansas, read [Let Them Be Born In Wonder](https://comment.org/let-them-be-born-in-wonder/?ref=brentodell.com) by Fr. Francis Bethel.

## Liberal Arts

The seven liberal (or liberating) arts are the arts essential for a free people. They are made up of the Trivium and Quadrivium.

### Trivium

Latin for the three ways, or three roads. The trivium made up of the arts of language. All learning must begin with learning the grammar of a subject, learning to reason about it, and learning to the point that you can share with others about it.

- **Grammar**
- **Logic**
- **Rhetoric**

### Quadrivium

Latin for the four ways, or four roads. The quadrivium is made up of the arts of number.

- Arithmetic: The study of numbers.
- Music: The study of numbers in time.
- Geometry: The study of numbers in space.
- Astronomy: The study of numbers in time and space.

## The Liberal Arts Tradition

The [premier book](https://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Arts-Tradition-Philosophy-Christian/dp/1600512259/?ref=brentodell.com) on the theory of Classical Christian Education by Kevin Clark & Ravi Scott Jain. As of 2021, it is in its third edition.

## Living Books

A term that I believe was coined by Charlotte Mason. She said that while at school, we should give children

> *the sort of books they can live upon; books alive with thought and feeling, and delight in knowledge, instead of the miserable cram-books on which they are starved?*

What are cram-books you may ask? Books crammed with information that we expect students to memorize. The kind of books that cause a boy to know facts about a horse, without having any experience (poetic knowledge) with a real horse (see Chapter 1 of Hard Times by Charles Dickens or Chapter 1 of Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor). In other words, textbooks.

> "NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them."  
>  
> – Hard Times by Charles Dickens

## The Lost Tools of Learning

An essay/talk given by Dorothy Sayers in 1947\. In it, she critiques the modern education of the day, and suggestions going back to a trivium based approach. She maps stages she sees of child development onto the three parts of the trivium.

- **Grammar:** Poll-Parrot stage (kids repeat everything)
- **Logic/Dialectic:** Pert stage (kids like to argue)
- **Rhetoric:** Poetic stage (kids care what others think about them, and want to express themselves well)

This was a novel insight. While it can be a valuable observation, it has led some to put too much emphasis on "ages and stages." These do not define a Classical Christian education.

## Metaphysics

Metaphysics is the study of existence and reality. It is notoriously hard to define, so I'll borrow from [Webster's 1828 Dictionary](https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/metaphysics?ref=brentodell.com).

> The science of the principles and causes of all things existing; hence, the science of mind or intelligence. This science comprehends ontology, or the science which treats of the nature, essence, and qualities or attributes of being; cosmology, the science of the world, which treats of the nature and laws of matter and of motion; anthroposophy, which treats of the power of man, and the motions by which life is produced; psychology, which treats of the intellectual soul; pneumatology, or the science of spirits or angels, etc. Metaphysical theology, called by Leibnitz and others theodicy, treats of the existence of God, his essence and attributes. These divisions of the science of *metaphysics* which prevailed in the ancient schools, are now not much regarded. The natural division of things that exist is into body and mind, things material and immaterial. The former belong to physics, and the latter to the science of *metaphysics*  
>  
> – Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828

## Norms & Nobility

One of the earliest books in the Classical Christian Education renewal movement. Written by David Hicks, it is fairly short but dense book, and considered by many a must read.

## Ontology

> That part of the science of metaphysics which investigates and explains the nature and essence of all beings, their qualities and attributes.  
>  
> – Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828

## Paideia

A Greek word (παιδεία) with no direct English equivalent. It encompasses the raising and educating of children, as well as enculturation. When Paul says in Ephesians 6:4, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." the word for discipline is paideia. While the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, not Greek, we see a similar concept in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 & Deuteronomy 11:18-21.

## The Paideia of God

A [book by Doug Wilson](https://www.amazon.com/Paideia-God-Douglas-Wilson/dp/1885767595/?ref=brentodell.com) that is often recommended in CCE circles. It is on my bookshelf, but I don't recall having read it yet.

## Poetic Knowledge

> \[Poetic knowledge is a knowledge\], according to a tradition from Homer to Robert Frost, from Socrates to Maritan, a natural human act, synthetic and penetrating, that gets us *inside* the thing experienced. It is, we might say, knowledge from the inside out, radically different in this regard from a knowledge *about* things. In other words, it is the opposite of scientific knowledge. Concerning scientific knowledge and its predominant spirit in all aspects of modern education, by the end of the nineteenth century Charles Dickens gave us Professor Thomas Gradgrind \[a character in Dickens' book, Hard Times\] as its great champion.  
>  
> "NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them."  
>  
> From the point of view of an ancient tradition, actually from an immemorial view of the nature of the human being as knower, this position of Gradgrind's is a radically shallow idea of knowledge.  
>  
> – Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor

## Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning

[One of the earliest books](https://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Tools-Learning-Douglas-Wilson/dp/1954887108/?ref=brentodell.com) in the recovery movement of Classical Christian Education. It was written by Doug Wilson and published in 1991.

## Telos / Teleology

Teleology is the study of the final cause of things. The final cause is the purpose or goal for which something exists. We find this in Aristotle's four causes.

## Wisdom & Eloquence

A [book by Robert Littlejohn & Charles T. Evans](https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Eloquence-Christian-Paradigm-Classical/dp/1581345526/?ref=brentodell.com). It is on my bookshelf, but I have not read it yet. It is often recommended in CCE circles.
### An Invitation to the Pain of Learning
URL: https://brentodell.com/an-invitation-to-the-pain-of-learning/
Last updated: 2026-05-28T03:22:41.000Z
Last week I came across this article from 1941 by Mortimer Adler (the editor of the [Great Books of the Western World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great%5FBooks%5Fof%5Fthe%5FWestern%5FWorld?ref=brentodell.com) series, as well as at least one book that's discussed in classical circles: [The Paideia Proposal](https://www.amazon.com/Paideia-Proposal-Educational-Manifesto/dp/0684841886?ref=brentodell.com)).  
  
I came across it while looking for the source of something I read about a student being the only person who can give themselves an education, and the most that the teacher can do is inspire the student to want to learn.  
  
I make this post not to make a specific point, but to take note of this for my future reference. In the attached file, the colors of my highlighting don't have any meaning. I only switched colors when two highlights were touching.

[An Invitation to the Pain of LearningAn Invitation to the Pain of Learning.pdf2 MBdownload-circle](https://brentodell.com/content/files/2026/01/An-Invitation-to-the-Pain-of-Learning.pdf "Download")

A couple points I highlighted:

- We allow older students & adults to continue to behave as kindergarteners (I thought this was newly identified in the 2017 book, [The Vanishing American Adult](https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-American-Adult-Coming-Crisis-ebook/dp/B01MCUS3KV?ref=brentodell.com)!)
  - Based on his first paragraph, I couldn't tell if he was against play for young children, but I believe that children need both play, and responsibility. It becomes an issue when we don't gradually increase that responsibility as they grow, and hold them accountable to it.
- Not even college challenges students. (He was writing this in the 1940s!)
- Adult education is worse than childhood education in terms of coddling the mind.
- We feel "the important thing is to draw large numbers of people into this educational game, even if after we get them there we leave them untransformed."
- There are 2 views of education:
  - Filling a person with information
  - Transforming a person's mind and character towards the good
    - I hold to the second, as would the older view of [education](https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/education?ref=brentodell.com).
- Teachers can help with learning, but only "in the process of learning that must be dominated at every moment by the activity of the learner...the activity generally known as thinking. Any learning which takes place without thinking is...learning passively acquired, for which the common name is 'information.'"
- "Any one who has done any thinking, even a little bit, knows that it is painful. It is hard work–in fact the very hardest that human beings are ever called upon to do."
  - I don't know if I agree with this. I agree that it *involves* hard work (reading hard books, wrestling with big ideas, ideas that don't always have a clear right answer), but that's a pre-cursor to the thinking. The thinking comes later, through contemplation. Josef Pieper says in [Leisure: The Basis of Culture](https://www.amazon.com/Leisure-Basis-Culture-Josef-Pieper/dp/0865972109?ref=brentodell.com):

> And in the same way, the essence of knowledge does not consist in the effort for which it calls, but in grasping existing things and in unveiling reality. Moreover, *just as the highest form of virtue knows nothing of “difficulty”, so too the highest form of knowledge comes to man like a gift—the sudden illumination, a stroke of genius, true contemplation; it comes effortlessly and without trouble.*  
> ...  
> *The highest forms of knowledge, on the other hand, may well be preceded by a great effort of thought*, and perhaps this must be so (unless the knowledge in question were grace in the strict sense of the word); *but in any case, the effort is not the cause; it is the condition.*  
> ...  
> And similarly *to know means to reach the reality of existing things; knowledge is not confined to effort of thought.* It is more than “intellectual work”.

- "Not only must we honestly announce that pain and work are the irremovable and irreducible accompaniments of genuine learning, not only must we leave entertainment to the entertainers and make education a task and not a game, but we must have no fears about what is "over the public's head." Whoever passes by what is over his head condemns his head to its present low altitude; for nothing can elevate a mind except what is over its head; and that elevation is not accomplished by capillary attraction, but only by the hard work of climbing up the ropes, with sore hands and aching muscles."
- "The best adult-education program that has ever existed in this country...had two parts:
  - one consisted of lectures, which so far as possible, were always aimed over the heads of the audience;
  - the other consisted of seminars in which adults were helped in the reading of great books–the books that are over every one's head."
- "Unless we acknowledge that every invitation to learning can promise pleasure only as the result of pain, can offer achievement only at the expense of work, all of our invitations to learning, in school and out, whether by books, lectures, or radio programs will be as much buncombe as the worse patent-medicine advertising, or the campaign pledge to put two chickens in every pot."

Today, while reading Norms and Nobility by David Hicks, I highlighted a related quote:

> What a child can do should not become the sole judge of what the student is asked to do. “A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do, never does all he can,” wrote John Stuart Mill (1944). The activity of learning takes place in a no-man’s-land between what the student can accomplish and what he may not be able to accomplish. This fact sets up a creative tension in education, to which both student and teacher must become accustomed and responsive.
### The Lost Art of Conflict
URL: https://brentodell.com/the-lost-art-of-conflict/
Last updated: 2026-10-15T19:34:30.000Z
In C.S. Lewis’ On Reading Old Books we read:

> Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.  
>  
> All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook—even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it. Nothing strikes me more when I read the controversies of past ages than the fact that both sides were usually assuming without question a good deal which we should now absolutely deny. They thought that they were as completely opposed as two sides could be, but in fact they were all the time secretly united—united with each other and against earlier and later ages—by a great mass of common assumptions.  
>  
> We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century—the blindness about which posterity will ask, “But how could they have thought that?”—lies where we have never suspected it, and concerns something about which there is untroubled agreement between Hitler and President Roosevelt or between Mr. H. G. Wells and Karl Barth. None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books.

I came across a great example of this today, while reading [Norms and Nobility](https://www.amazon.com/Norms-Nobility-Education-David-Hicks/dp/1538195356?ref=brentodell.com) by David Hicks (1981), *the* pioneering work in the renewal of classical Christian education.

> Whereas Plato \[the philosopher\] recognized beauty in truth, the rhetorician saw truth in beauty; more than that, the rhetorician believed that whenever truth comes to man by way of beauty, it necessarily transforms his character and ennobles his behavior. Virtue, in his view, grows out of the beautiful adornments of dogma, not from the inelegant dialectic of philosophy. Conscience springs from style. “The right word,” the great rhetorician Isokrates (Marrou 1964) taught, “is a sure sign of good learning.” Learning to speak properly causes the student not only to think but to live properly. “In the eyes of the Ancients,” writes Marrou (1964), “eloquence had a truly human value transcending any practical applications … it was the one means for handing on everything that made man man, the whole cultural heritage that distinguished civilized men from barbarians. The idea underlies all Greek thought, from Diodorus Siculus to Lianius.”  
>  
> Not only did philosopher and rhetorician share the purpose of teaching virtue, but both borrowed freely from the methods of each other. The philosopher’s pretense of scorning style was eloquent indeed, and perhaps no one has ever written with more urgency and acumen on the connection between poetry and right conduct than Plato. The rhetorician, for his part, may not have flaunted a search for truth or professed belief in man’s innate goodness, but his learned recitations are everywhere infused with love of truth and with intimations of virtue in his listeners to which he makes appeal. Philosophical and rhetorical learning—as two rival approaches to education—enriched classical culture without disturbing its profound unity. But in the modern era, we watch helplessly as the near lockstep uniformity of state and private education emasculates learning and impoverishes culture. The lesson of the ancient quarrel between philosopher and rhetorician seems unimportant. Do we not understand that conflict which shares its purposes is good and that uniformity does not mean unity any more than conformity signifies independent and intelligent agreement? So long as the ancient quarrel persisted, it fired both sides with an intellectual passion for learning and helped to personalize, as well as to achieve, the goals of education. Both philosophers and rhetoricians hoped to demonstrate the efficacy of their respective methods by pointing to the virtuous lives of their students. Each side competed for the same prize, the formation of the virtuous man; each directed his opponent’s attention to moral ends by attacking the other’s tendency to become bogged down with intellectual or utilitarian concerns. With the unchallenged ascendency of the analytical methods of science, however, something of this healthy debate has gone out of modern education, and with it, the excitement of intellectual passion that makes the school a place where virtue can be taught.

For the ancients, the debate was over whether virtue (goodness) could be taught, and whether in doing so, truth came first and led to beauty (the view of philosophers) or beauty came first and led to truth (the view of rhetoricians). The underlying assumption—the agreement between both which we are missing and are blind to in modern education—was that a love of Beauty, Truth and Goodness *should* be pursued; that the end of education was the development of a virtuous man.

## The Current Predicament

Today it looks like there is no agreement between proponents of modern, progressive education and those of classical Christian education. If Lewis is right though, in the eyes of future generations our aims will not be so dissimilar. Hicks' work can be of help to us here as well:

> According to Aristotle, the perfect end of education will be an activity that is engaged in for its own sake, complete and sufficient unto itself. Aristotle calls the activity for which education prepares man—happiness. So far, all might agree. But as to the nature of happiness, the opinion of mankind is divided. Many believe that happiness attends the life of pleasure; others credit the practical life with producing happiness; but the wise—Aristotle has no doubt—find it in the theoretic \[or contemplative\] life, as the true end of education.

According to Aristotle, the modernist progressives and we classicists are in agreement: The purpose of education is the pursuit of happiness. The problem is that we have very different views of happiness. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle identifies three prevailing views of the source of happiness.

### Life of Pleasure

The pursuit of pleasure as our means to happiness is to be controlled by our appetites. Aristotle says that this is the view that most have of happiness, but that it is “slavish,” and “only a life for cattle.” Still, he says we must address it because even “many persons of high position share the feelings.” A life of pleasure is fleeting, and cannot satisfy.

> On the one hand the generality of men and the most vulgar identify the Good with pleasure, and accordingly are content with the Life of Enjoyment…The generality of mankind then show themselves to be utterly slavish, by preferring what is only a life for cattle; but they get a hearing for their view as reasonable because many persons of high position share the feelings of Sardanapallus.

### Life of Politics

For those who seek happiness through politics, that happiness is gained when they are honored. The problem is, that this too is fleeting. It is dependent on others to confer this honor, and leaves the judgement of our worth in their hands.

> Men of refinement, on the other hand, and men of action think that the Good is honour—for this may be said to be the end of the Life of Politics. But honour after all seems too superficial to be the Good for which we are seeking; since it appears to depend on those who confer it more than on him upon whom it is conferred, whereas we instinctively feel that the Good must be something proper to its possessor and not easy to be taken away from him. Moreover men’s motive in pursuing honour seems to be to assure themselves of their own merit;

### Life of Contemplation

The wise, Aristotle says, find happiness in their pursuit of virtue (ἀρετή, arete, meaning excellence) through contemplation. Accordingly, he says, contemplation is the highest activity that we can take part in. It is also the activity that we can perform most continuously, and is the “most self-sufficient” of all activities in that it requires no one else to be around.

> But if happiness consists in activity in accordance with virtue, it is reasonable that it should be activity in accordance with the highest virtue; and this will be the virtue of the best part of us. Whether then this be the intellect, or whatever else it be that is thought to rule and lead us by nature, and to have cognizance of what is noble and divine, either as being itself also actually divine, or as being relatively the divinest part of us, it is the activity of this part of us in accordance with the virtue proper to it that will constitute perfect happiness; and it has been stated already that this activity is the activity of contemplation.  
>  
> And that happiness consists in contemplation may be accepted as agreeing both with the results already reached and with the truth. For contemplation is at once the highest form of activity (since the intellect is the highest thing in us, and the objects with which the intellect deals are the highest things that can be known), and also it is the most continuous, for we can reflect more continuously than we can carry on any form of action. And again we suppose that happiness must contain an element of pleasure; now activity in accordance with wisdom is admittedly the most pleasant of the activities in accordance with virtue: at all events it is held that philosophy or the pursuit of wisdom contains pleasures of marvellous purity and permanence, and it is reasonable to suppose that the enjoyment of knowledge is a still pleasanter occupation than the pursuit of it. Also the activity of contemplation will be found most self-sufficient, to possess in the highest degree the quality that is termed self-sufficiency; for while it is true that the wise man equally with the just man and the rest requires the necessaries of life, yet, these being adequately supplied, whereas the just man needs other persons towards whom or with whose aid he may act justly, and so likewise do the temperate man and the brave man and the others, the wise man on the contrary can also contemplate by himself, and the more so the wiser he is; no doubt he will study better with the aid of fellow-workers, but still he is the most self-sufficient of men.

## The Solution

In Greek the word rendered happiness is εὐδαιμονία (eudaimonia), and it’s what the American founders would have had in mind when they wrote of that we are “endowed by \[our\] Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Happiness here is the freedom to live a life of the highest virtue. It is a state of human flourishing, which is desirable in and of itself. It is not a means to some other end (e.g. pleasure or honor). It’s what Aristotle viewed as the Contemplative Life.

Much like in Aristotle’s day, the majority of Americans view pleasure as the highest good, and they pursue whatever currency (money, fame, etc) that can be used to feed those appetites (power, sex, status). Modern educators leave us on similarly shaky ground. “Study hard so that you can get a great paying job, or move up in society.”

Classical Christian educators must reject these modern notions of happiness and urge our students towards the Contemplative Life. For we even see in God’s word that we are to “set our minds on things above,” (Colossians 3:2-6) and think on higher things (Philippians 4:8).

As educators, we must learn even now to embrace conflict in and out of our own camps. We must understand that we are all pursuing the same goal, but have very different understandings of what that goal is, and how to get there. We must debate and sharpen one another without it spiraling into a unending turf war.
### My Journey to Christian Classical Education
URL: https://brentodell.com/my-journey-to-christian-classical-education/
Last updated: 2026-01-29T13:00:23.000Z
Christian classical education (CCE). Telos. Paideia. I cannot remember where I first heard each of these terms, but over the past five to seven years they have become a defining part of my life.

My earliest experience with formal education was in a private Christian school, which I attended from kindergarten through second grade. The following year I moved to public school and found myself ahead of my peers who were just beginning to learn cursive, multiplication, and division.

In my younger years I was top of class and a favorite of my teachers. In fourth grade I distinctly remember having a voracious appetite for achievement, completing the day’s work before lunch and asking the teacher for more…until she told me to stop working ahead.

At some point around fifth or sixth grade, I lost the drive. I still made mostly A’s and a couple B’s but rather than being the teacher's pet, I became a class clown. I believe I was still liked by teachers, but rather than focusing my efforts on achieving, I focused instead on witty remarks and subverting their efforts to teach by feigning ignorance. This continued throughout college.

Fast forward a few years to say, 2017\. My wife and I had two children at the time, the oldest of which was approaching school age. I don’t recall ever considering their education up to that point. One day I overheard two co-workers discussing a book that one of them was reading, “The Vanishing American Adult” by Ben Sasse, and the idea of building a “personal cannon” of books—largely based on those inherited through the Western Tradition—that you wish to pass down to your children.

I bought the audiobook version, and for several years, this was one of the most influential books in my life. While visiting a college roommate, I told him about the book and he pointed me to “The Core” by Leigh Bortins, the founder of Classical Conversations. After listening to it, I was sold on the idea of Christian classical education.

I remember very little about those books now (I don’t recall if “The Vanishing American Adult” mentions CCE at all), but I credit them both with leading me to CCE. When our oldest daughter was five we joined Classical Conversations, and have been a part ever since.

In 2019 the same friend who had recommended “The Core,” recommended James K. A. Smith’s book “You Are What You Love.” I don’t know whether this book ever used the word paideia, but it is where I was first introduced to the concept of training our affections. Whether I stole the phrase from Smith or it’s my own summation of his work, I can frequently be found saying “Nothing is neutral. Everything you do is either drawing you closer to, or farther from, Christ.” That’s paideia. This idea has been the basis for the books we put in front of our children, the lack of a television in our home (or tablets in children's hands), and the way we approach family discipleship.

In January 2025 I was laid off from my job in tech. After spending 10 years as a software engineer, I decided it was time for a change. A friend offered me a job as a teacher in a Christian classical school which she had started that was going into its second year. I now teach 3rd & 4th grade in a single classroom. I am the only full-time teacher who has any prior knowledge of Christian classical education.

While I thought that I had a decent understanding going in, I’ve found CCE to be an ocean with depths that cannot be plumbed. In “A Short History of Classical Christian Education’s Recovery”, found in the front of “The Liberal Arts Tradition”, David Goodwin speaks of "generations" of [ACCS](http://classicalchristian.org/?ref=brentodell.com) schools. I see my personal journey in a similar light.

For much of the past 5 years, through our experience with Classical Conversations, I have been part of the first generation, focused on the Trivium.

At some point I moved into the second generation and started collecting "great books"—I now own the Harvard Classics and The Great Books of the Western World—and for as long as I can remember I have naturally ”integrated" subjects whenever an opportunity presented itself.

Since taking the job as a teacher, I’ve found myself quickly growing into the mindset of the third and fourth generation schools—primarily through my discovery of [CiRCE](https://circeinstitute.com/?ref=brentodell.com) and [Classical Academic Press](https://classicalacademicpress.com/?ref=brentodell.com)—with a focus on wonder, cultivating wisdom & virtue, and developing rightly ordered loves—ordo amoris—towards that which is good, true, & beautiful.

The more that I have learned about Christian classical education, the more I love it. The only way I can describe it is the feeling of going “further up, further in.”

As I said above, I consider nothing neutral, and try to be intentional when making decisions. Often though, decisions will have second or third level effects which I had not anticipated. A recent example was me deciding to have a physical dictionary in my classroom—specifically Webster’s [American Dictionary of the English Language](https://www.amazon.com/American-Dictionary-English-Language-Facsimile/dp/091249803X?ref=brentodell.com) from 1828\. Any time a student would ask me what a word meant, I would start to give an answer from the top of my head, but then catch myself and say “Let’s see how close I was.” as I went to look it up in the dictionary.

On one particular occasion, a student asked “Mr. Odell, why do you always look up the word in the dictionary, instead of just Googling it.” I responded “Let’s do an experiment. Each of you tell me what you think the word education means. We’ll then compare your definitions with the dictionary, and with Google. We found that even our best attempts [were insufficient](https://brentodell.com/the-meaning-of-education/).

This experience solidified for me the importance not only of education, but also of a proper understanding of what education is and a proper pedagogy to go along with it.

Socrates speaks of having a divine sign that tells him when not to do something—as Christians we’d call that the Holy Spirit. I’ve also heard David Goodwin speak of a classical school administrator needing to have a natural intuition about whether something belongs in classical Christian education. I believe the example he gave was walking into a school and immediately noticing school pride banners (e.g. “Go Knights!”) being out of place. Both examples resonate with me. As I read and listen to podcasts about CCE, or discuss school matters with fellow teachers, I will often have a visceral reaction and feel very firmly whether what’s being suggested “fits” within a CCE model. This is not always the case—sometimes I truly don’t know the right answer—but more often than not, I am whole-heartedly for or against an idea.

One area which I know that I am lacking in is in understanding how to put all of the theory into practice. Whether it is teaching math in a mixed-age classroom, throwing out modern grading systems for more classical assessment methods, or understanding classroom management—what do you do with a child who just won’t stop talking, or a child who won’t do his or her work—these are areas in which I know I need help; I know I need community; I know I need mentorship.

The chief end (telos) of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. My wife is a stay-at-home mom, and I’ve often said that in light of eternity there is no job more impactful than giving birth to and raising immortal souls. We as parents are to shape the paideia of our children (Deuteronomy 6; Deuteronomy 11; Ephesians 6:4) toward the proper end. Those of us who have been delegated the responsibility of educating others’ children in loco parentis feel much of that same weight. There is only one job in scripture that comes with a warning, and that’s the job of teaching. We cannot do this alone. We need community. We need mentors.

*This was originally written as an autobiographical essay to submit along with my application to the CiRCE Institute's* [*Apprenticeship*](http://circeinstitute.com/apprenticeship?ref=brentodell.com) *program.*
### The nature of cheating, and what to do about it
URL: https://brentodell.com/the-nature-of-cheating-and-what-to-do-about-it/
Last updated: 2026-08-03T04:58:08.000Z
Recently, I've been wrestling with what to do with cheating in my classroom. Do I name it and address it as such, or use other means to direct students toward what is right? Growing up in public school, my initial impulse is to call it out, and discipline for it...you've cheated, therefore you get an "F" on the assignment. There are a couple of things about the situation that make me question that impulse.

## Did the student knowingly cheat?

This may sound like a silly question to begin with, but much of my class is made up of kids who started out in home school, and may have no knowledge of what it is to "cheat". I have found it remarkable the number of things that I, as an elementary teacher, have to state explicitly for my students. I am constantly encountering instances where the curse of knowledge is working against me, and I just expect students to know or understand something that I cannot recall a time of not knowing myself, yet there they are staring back at me with blank faces. I'm finding that as a teacher, nothing can be taken for granted.

Now there have been one or two instances where a student has been sneaky, looking to see whether I'm watching before changing an answer, but this is the exception, not the rule. In these instances I address it with the student privately, after the fact. These instances are not the concern of the article though. The answer in those situations is clear. I try to lead them to acknowledge their sin, and to repent.

The instances I'm wrestling with are when students are not being sneaky, but may look over at their neighbor's spelling test to see how their spelling compares, or when they make corrections to their original spelling when they're supposed to rewrite the words a second time beside them for comparison, as the correct spellings are given. Is this really cheating if they don't know it to be such? Did I make it clear that they shouldn't do this? I thought that I had, but maybe I wasn't explicit and trusted that everyone knew what was appropriate.

## By calling out cheating, are we leading the student into sin?

I've heard the critique that not wanting to call looking at a neighbor's test cheating sounds a lot like permissive parenting, where the child is just expected to encounter truth on their own without the parents guiding & instructing them.

I believe that the law can be both a teacher (Galatians 3:24), and a stumbling block (Romans 7:7-11). If I explicitly say "Looking at your neighbors paper is cheating, don't do that." or "Correcting your original set of words when I give the correct spelling is cheating, don't do that either." I have now given a command and, as their authority, have placed a stumbling block before the student in two ways:

1. An action that might have been innocent, can now be innocent no longer. I've told the students not do it, and if they do it again then they are not respecting the authority that God has placed over them (e.g., Honor thy father and mother, and in this case honor thy teacher since the parents have delegated some of their authority, allowing me to operate [in loco parentis](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20loco%20parentis?ref=brentodell.com)).
2. I've planted the idea of cheating into the mind of the student, and they may think "If I do this, and get away with it, then I'll get ahead more quickly." We are tempted to do that which we've been commanded not to do. Augustine describes this in his Confessions: "I loved my own error— not that for which I erred, but the error itself."

## What does it mean to cheat?

While discussing my dilemma with a fellow teacher, and making a case for why I'm hesitant to call it out as "cheating", and make a big deal about it, she asked what "cheating" even means. Having recently been on a kick myself to [look up the meanings of words](https://brentodell.com/the-meaning-of-education/), I was shocked that I hadn't thought of this!

According to [Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language](https://www.amazon.com/American-Dictionary-English-Language-Facsimile/dp/091249803X?ref=brentodell.com) (1828), cheating means *"Defrauding by deception; imposing on."* If we look up defrauding in the same dictionary, it means *"Depriving another of his property or right by deception or artifice; injuring by withholding wrongfully what is due."*

Here we see that cheating involves *another*. It involves a violation of the second greatest commandment, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." In what we call cheating in the classroom, who is being defrauded?

Now some might suggest that cheating would violate one of the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not lie," but if we look closely this is an oversimplification that we parents often teach our children. The actual command is "Thou shalt not bear false witness *against thy neighbor*." (Exodus 20:16)

Again, love of neighbor is the focal-point. If a lie saves a life in the Underground Railroad or in Natzi Germany, is it sin?

## So where do we go from here?

I am comfortable calling sin sin, and dealing with it as such in my classroom. I however, am still not convinced that looking at a neighbors paper, or fixing a misspelled word is sin, unless the student is being sneaky, or I have told them not to do it. Do I think these actions are wise, no, but that is not the same thing as sin. If a student copies off of their neighbor and moves on to the next spelling list prematurely, then they have harmed no one but themselves.

Rather than putting a stumbling block before my students, or giving them a long list of rules, I try to keep my list of rules short and nurture the heart. In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived in a world full of yes, with just one no. (Genesis 2:16-17) There were ten laws that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai. (Exodus 20:3-17) Jesus later said that these could be simplified into just two. (Matthew 22:37-40)

My focus is on showing students the reason they are there (to learn and grow in wisdom & knowledge), to cultivate a love for that, and to show how their own actions can prevent that from happening.
### Allow me to wax poetic over waxing poetic
URL: https://brentodell.com/allow-me-to-wax-poetic-over-waxing-poetic/
Last updated: 2026-10-15T19:26:53.000Z
## On the Power of Words

Language. What is it? [Webster's Dictionary from 1828](https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/language?ref=brentodell.com) gives a long list of definitions. The first beginning with:

> Human speech; the expression of ideas by words or significant articulate sounds, for the communication of thoughts.

So language is made up of ideas expressed through words. This brings to mind John 1:1, *In the beginning was *the Word**...In Latin, *In principio erat *Verbum*.* In Greek, *Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ* [*λόγος*](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3056/kjv/tr/0-1/?ref=brentodell.com) (*En archē en ho *Logos**). Verbum is where we get our word verb, an action word, one might say an *active* word (Hebrews 4:12). It (He / Logos) was there in the beginning, creating the world ex nihilo (out of nothing) and is still active today (Hebrews 1:3).

Words communicate things. Words do things. While we don't have the ability to create things ex nihilo by the power of our word, our words do still have power. Power for great evil (Genesis 11:6) or for great good (Acts 2:14,41). Words can also be quite fun.

## On the Joy of Words

I cannot remember how long this has been the case, but I *LOVE* wordplay. Is love too strong of a word? I don't think so. I've often quibbled with the fact that people will put pizza and their spouse into the same category (things that they *love),* but we do know that out of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45), and it is a real struggle for my mouth *not* to play with words.

With words I play, from day to day, though the tongue must be tamed along the way. (James 3:2,7-10) I've struggled to understand why it draws me in so, but I find in conversing, I cannot let a pun go. While often these things simply come out in jest, I later find repentance best. (Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:6)

I also find joy in recursive acronyms. For instance, GNU stands for *"GNU is Not Unix"*. gRPC stands for *"grpc Remote Procedure Call"*. YAML stands for *"YAML Ain't Markup Language"*. These are all nerdy technology terms, but this article evokes similar feelings of joy in me. While the title is not based on an acronym, it does feel somewhat recursive and self-referential. I appreciate you indulging as I wax poetic over waxing poetic.

## On the Beauty of Words

I also like flowery, or eloquent words and phrases. I think this can be off-putting to some people and come across as snobbery. To be honest, I don't know for certain where this penchant of mine began, but there likely was some snobbery to begin with. I grew up in southern Oklahoma where an older, and well loved man I knew would introduce himself as "George Hicks from the sticks", and classmates would pronounce Denton as Dent'n.

I wanted something more, and I found that in movies...old movies...such as My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, the Absent Minded Professor, and the like. It cut me to the quick to learn that the dialect I had heard in these movies growing up, the beautiful enunciation, the sweet sound of the accent, wasn't actually real. It turns out that there was nowhere that people spoke like that in real life. The dialect went by several names, one being the [transatlantic accent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good%5FAmerican%5FSpeech?ref=brentodell.com), and was a learned accent used by actors. The purpose of it was to create a dialect that could sound at home both in Britain and the United States.

Today I think I'm over the snobbery of wanting to sound more educated than those around me, but I do still desire to increase my vocabulary for the sheer beauty of language and my own intrigue. As I increase my vocabulary, and repertoire of phrases, I desire to put them to use and to be able to speak eloquently. There was once a time when this was not looked down upon, but was prized by all.

There is one instance of learning a new phrase that always sticks with me (and is the namesake for this article). It was at my first job, as a web developer for [Igniter Media](http://ignitermedia.com/?ref=brentodell.com). I was fresh out of college and had a co-worker who was just a few years ahead of me. Whenever we made changes to the code, someone had to review those changes before we published them. In one of these reviews, my co-worker wrote something along the lines of "forgive me if I wax poetic, but..." I had never heard the phrase "wax poetic." I fact, I don't think I even knew of that meaning of the word wax, and it's opposite, wane. I remember having to google the phrase and becoming quite fond of it, despite it typically being perceived as having negative connetations. I didn't see his use of it as snobbery (whether it was or not). I saw it as an opportunity to take on a new phrase for myself.

## On the Meaning of Words

From the same co-worker I learned the word pedantic. And yes, I am afraid that I can be quite pedantic at times. Words have meanings! There is such a thing as truth, and reality. We should speak clearly so as to communicate truthfully about reality.

In the same vein, I really enjoy etymology. Words have changed meanings over time, and in our modern usage have often [lost the richness of meaning that they once had](https://brentodell.com/the-meaning-of-education/).

## Embracing the Journey, as Perilous as It May Be

So we begin where we started. Words have great power, for good or for evil. Tolstoy said "All happy families are alike, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Similarly there are many ways to abuse words, but only one way to put them to fruitful use:

> Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  
> \-- Ephesians 4:29 ESV

We've seen that words can build up the kingdoms of this world (Genesis 11:6), or build up God's kingdom (Acts 2:14,41).

Playing with words can bring joy, but we must be careful to reign in the tongue (James 3:2,7-10) and not let careless words fly (Ephesians 4:29).

We can care too little for the beauty and variety of words, not desiring to expand our vocabulary and make use of the mind that God has given us, or we can care too much for vocabulary, seeking for the purpose of drawing attention to ourselves.

We should always care about the meaning of words, to ensure that we're communicating truth. And we should look back to the riches of vocabulary from times past, working to recover some of that richness today.
### The Meaning of Education
URL: https://brentodell.com/the-meaning-of-education/
Last updated: 2025-10-31T04:03:12.000Z
Yesterday, one of my students asked me why I reach for a dictionary (specifically, Noah Webster's [American Dictionary of the English Language](https://www.amazon.com/American-Dictionary-English-Language-Facsimile/dp/091249803X?ref=brentodell.com), from 1828) every time one of them asks the meaning of a word, instead of using Google. My response was that while technology can be useful, we should also consult wisdom of ages past, what G.K. Chesterton called the "[Democracy of the Dead](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/54814-tradition-means-giving-votes-to-the-most-obscure-of-all?ref=brentodell.com)", because over time the meaning of words change to fit the cultural milieu of the day.  
  
To test this, we did an exercise:

> Students, tell me the meaning of the word "education".

## Definitions from the class

- Student 1 - to learn.
- Student 2 - learning; etching it into your brain.
- Student 3 - high knowledge.
- Student 4 - to consume knowledge.
- Student 5 - good for brain; helps you understand better. Also brings wonder and awe into your brain.
- Student 6 - When you're done learning something and accomplish (or get) it.
- Student 7 - doing something over and over until you get it right; practice.
- Myself - training the heart and mind to know what you ought and to love what you ought. To train the heart to pursue that which is good, true, and beautiful.

## Definitions from dictionaries, and online

- [Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language](https://www.amazon.com/American-Dictionary-English-Language-Facsimile/dp/091249803X?ref=brentodell.com) (1828) - The bringing up, as of a child; instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good *education* in manners, arts, and science, is important; to give them a religious *education* is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.
- Modern Dictionary (2020) - The action or process of educating or of being educated; a stage of such a process; the knowledge and development resulting from an educational process; the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools.
- Google
  - 1\. The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.
  - 2\. An enlightening experience.

## Class Discussion

We compared our class's definitions to the historic and modern definitions, and found that many of the students definitions more closely align with the modern view. We dug into the historic understanding and the meaning of "manners" (politeness), "youth" (young persons), and "stations" (roles in life; e.g. teacher, father, husband, etc). The students gave me these definitions. I never told them, directly, but when they struggled, I did ask questions to guide them in the right direction.  
  
We also observed that while the older definition includes much of what is covered in the newer (I'm thinking of "arts and science" in particular), the new definition leaves out key points from the old (training in manners and habits, correcting the temper, the necessity of religious education, and the duty of parents to provide it). One could say that the new definition also covers "fit\[ting\] them for usefulness in their future stations," but I would argue that the only station modern education focuses on is that of an employee.  
  
The older definition more closely aligns with the Greek word παιδεία (paideia), which is a key part of classical Christian education. There is no English word that translates it perfectly. Enculturation is close; it involves the forming of the whole person, not just the intellect, and not just for the practical uses of getting a job or making lots of money but for the pursuit of the good, the true and the beautiful (God being the essence and pinnacle of goodness, truth, and beauty).

---

After posting this, I joined a bi-weekly class I'm taking on [Norms & Nobility by David Hicks](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1538195356?ref=brentodell.com), and was reminded of a few sentences from the prologue, which we studied a few weeks ago:

> Our fascination with technical means, by the very nature of things, subverts the supreme task of education – the cultivation of the human spirit: to teach the young to know what is good, to serve it above self, to reproduce it, and to recognize that in knowledge lies this responsibility. Short of accomplishing this task, the training in our schools must seem purposeless, except in the narrow utilitarian sense of serving "natural religion": that is, the individual's lust for power, sex, and status. Democratic and materialistic society are quite sufficient, without the aid of our schools, for educating the young in the rites of natural religion.

> The good school does not just offer what the student or the parent or the state desires, but it says something about what these three ought to desire. A school is fundamentally a normative, not a utilitarian, institution, governed by the wise, not by the many. It judges man as an end, no as a means; it cultivates the human spirit by presenting a complete vision of man as he lives and as he ought to live in all his domains – the individual, the social, and the religious. It teaches the student how to fulfill his obligations to himself, to his fellow man, and to God and His creation.
### The Meaning and Purpose of Fellowship
URL: https://brentodell.com/the-meaning-and-purpose-of-fellowship/
Last updated: 2025-10-31T04:03:24.000Z
*Fellowship*. I grew up in the [Bible Belt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible%5FBelt?ref=brentodell.com) where that word gets used a lot. It can be used as a noun: "Come to the *Ladies Fellowship!*", "After our quarterly business meeting, we'll have a *finger food fellowship.*" (in Baptist churches, "Thou shalt always alliterate" might as well be the 11th commandment), or as a verb: "It was great fellowshipping with you!"

The word is widely used, but what does it really mean? Is it just some Christianese for getting people together and talking...about anything...even if it's just the weather?

The [Dictionary of Americanisms (Bartlett, 1848)](https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer00bart/page/134/mode/2up) says that

> *To* [*fellowship*](https://www.etymonline.com/word/fellowship?ref=brentodell.com) *with*, is to hold communion with; to unite with in doctrine and discipline.

So to fellowship is to hold communion (to commune), and to unite around doctrine. Interesting.

The greek word [koinonia](https://www.etymonline.com/word/koinonia?ref=brentodell.com) (κοινωνία) has a similar meaning:

> Christian fellowship...literally "communion, fellowship," from *koinos "*common, ordinary"

This also points out the necessity of communing and uniting around something common to all participants.

People naturally gather around common interests:

- hobbies (fishing, hiking, sports, quilting)
- occupations
- tastes (in art, music, movies, food)
- religious distinctives (e.g. one "holy catholic church", but many local bodies)
- etc.

When people gather for any of these, they have a particular telos (ultimate aim, end) in mind: to catch some fish, to discuss their career with peers, to share admiration for a particular type of art, to discuss a theological point and its implication in their lives.

Fellowship happens around a commonality, within a community, and towards a shared, ultimate goal ([telos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telos?ref=brentodell.com), [τέλος](https://biblehub.com/greek/5056.htm?ref=brentodell.com)). Without a unifying subject, what are we to [commune](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commune?ref=brentodell.com) (to [communicate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communicate?ref=brentodell.com) intimately) around? At best we will be amiable acquaintances discussing the day's weather.
### Why do we study Greek Mythology in Classical Christian Education? After all, weren't they pagans?
URL: https://brentodell.com/why-do-we-study-greek-mythology-in-classical-christian-education-after-all-werent-they-pagans/
Last updated: 2026-01-27T06:02:25.000Z
One of my fellow teachers who is new to classical Christian education asked this ⬆️ great question a day or two ago. She also asked why we study Latin. If we studied the Greek language, at least the kids could read the New Testament, right?  
  
I've heard similar questions before, and realized that I did not have a ready response.

# Why Latin?

To answer the Latin question first, there are many reasons for it:

- On a practical note, I believe something like 50% of English words are rooted in Latin, helping us better understand words that we don't know in our own language. I believe Greek makes up another 20%.
- Learning Latin makes it much easier to learn the romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French, etc), or from what I've heard, any language.
- Learning Latin allows us to read original sources. This serves multiple purposes:
  - Some ideas can be communicated in one language, but not another because the vocabulary just does not exist.
  - There can always be errors and omissions in translation (unintentional or not).
  - Many historic texts have not been translated.
  - C.S. Lewis said that for every new book we read, we should read 2 old books. G.K. Chesterton said "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about." We could say the same about reading old books.
- The majority of writing by church fathers is in Latin. Some might argue "but we're not Catholic!" However, all Christian churches descend from the Catholic Church. The Protestant reformation addressed many issues, but even the reformers looked back to earlier church fathers with admiration.
- Most of the historic work in science and academia has occurred in Latin.
- Latin is a "dead language," which means we don't have to deal with the pesky nature of living languages to change meanings of words, or grammatical rules.
- I've heard some argue that regardless of any "practical" benefits to learning Latin, we should learn it simply for the joy and beauty of it.

# Why not Greek?

As for learning Greek, many of the same benefits would apply, with the added benefit of being able to read the New Testament in its original language. While I expect that most classical schools prioritize Latin over Greek, I would expect it to be a close second. At our school, we hope for our students (and teachers 🙃) to become fluent in both Greek and Latin.

# Why pagan Greek myths?

Though I feel I have a decent response for why study Latin and Greek, the question about studying Greek Myths still had me stumped.  
  
I could say something about "all Greeks were pagans (they were pre-Christ), and yet Paul quoted them." In [Acts 17:28](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017%3A28&version=ESV&ref=brentodell.com), Paul quotes Epimenides when saying "In him we live and move and have our being." The original quote would have applied to the pantheon of Greek gods, but Paul applies this to Christ; he baptized the pagan culture around him with the Gospel. Our kids don't know anything of the pagan Greeks though (we're the ones teaching it to them) so that argument would break down.  
  
I could also point to Socrates who seems to have been a monotheist in a world of many gods, or Heraclitus who spoke of a divine Logos. Both lived prior to Christ, but were seeking truth and had they lived a few centuries later, might have found it in Him.  
  
After our conversation, I did some digging. The following can be found in the front of Memoria Press' Greek curriculum (emphasis mine).

> **Next to the Bible, Greek myths are the most important set of stories in our history. Greek myths are universal stories that describe human character types and the human situation in a wonderfully imaginative and entertaining way. They are everywhere in English literature and in our culture, from the names of cars and shoes to the names of constellations and planets.**  
>  
> Except for the Hebrews, all ancient cultures possessed a mythology. The Greeks developed the most extensive, imaginative, and literary mythology in the Western world. Many ancient mythologies had dark and evil gods like the Baal religion in the Old Testament, the religion that Phoenicia and Carthage had spread throughout the Mediterranean world.  
>  
> The Greeks had the good sense to create their gods in the image of man and give them the better, if sometimes comical, attributes of the human race. The Greek gods, being quite human themselves, detested human sacrifice. **As a literary creation, Greek mythology provides us with symbols and metaphors for human types, attributes, and ideals. Greek mythology is universal in our culture, because like Latin and Greek, artists, writers, musicians, and scientists have mined it extensively for two millennia.** 
>  
> **Greek myths and other ancient myths and legends often have similarities to Bible stories. These parallels provide good opportunities for distinguishing between the Bible and other ancient writings.** The fashion today is to lump Scripture with all other ancient writings as unreliable myth and legend.  
>  
> **For instance, the human race seems to have a collective memory of a universal flood and a "Garden of Eden" since almost all ancient mythologies have these two stories. This can be taken as nearly conclusive evidence for the opposite conclusions that (1) these two "myths," in fact, refer to things that are really true or (2) the universality of these stories shows that they are merely myths.** 
>  
> **One way to approach this with your students is to ask them what they would think if these stories were found only in Scripture and nowhere else.** The skeptic could then say that their uniqueness is conclusive evidence for their unreliability since if they were actually true, other cultures would have also had myths about such universal events. So **"evidence" can be used to support whatever position one wants to believe. Students who have gone through these thought processes will be prepared for the mythologizing of the Bible that will confront them later in life.** 
>  
> **A mythology is a culture's attempt to supply answers to the mysteries of human life. Man uses his imagination to penetrate beyond what his senses and reason can tell him. The Greeks in both their mythology and philosophy represent man's best efforts to penetrate to the divine. The Greeks show the limitations of the unaided human mind and, by doing so, witness to the divine origin of Scripture. The Greeks who created gods in the image of man, prepared the way for the God who created man in His own image.**

  
Also, I thought [this](https://forum.memoriapress.com/forum/classical-curriculum/k-8-curriculum-board/5508-why-do-we-study-greek-myths?p=40256&ref=brentodell.com#post40256) was a good response to the question (emphasis mine).

> One thing that I consider important to keep in mind as you teach mythology is that while they need to know the references for future reading of the classics, the **Greek gods give insight into the human condition. They were personifications of virtue and vice that the Greeks observed. For example, when speaking about Ares, the D'Aulaires book says, "Ares, god of war, was tall and handsome but vain, and as cruel as his brother Hephaestus was kind." The student should be led to see that war can be attractive (tall and handsome) for what a people can gain (land, resources, and hopefully peace from enemies in the future) but that it is motivated by vanity (a country always thinks it is better than the other) and leads to tremendous cruelty. And the contrast to Hephaestus, the god of the forge, is telling as well: men who spend their days occupied in honest work can more easily see the needs of others and empathize with them but those like Ares who stand idle react like him: "When Ares heard the clashing of arms, he grinned with glee, put on his gleaming helmet, and leapt into his war chariot."** 
>  
> **It can easily be overlooked that the Greeks were the first to develop the idea of human virtue (habits to do the good) and what that meant. They listed four primary virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Early Christian apologists would take those virtues and promote them as important for all people, whether Christian or not. However, only with the revelation of Christ did we receive the idea of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. All this relates to mythology when you realize that the myths were the instruments by which the Greek people learned their morality.** That they had a god of war does not mean that they worshiped war, but that they were aware of how serious a decision that was and that the outcome of a war was out of their hands and they may be the loser--so they must tread carefully when considering it. That they had a goddess of beauty does not mean that they were full only of immorality and licentiousness (obviously as sinners there was some of that too) but that there was an awareness of the goodness of creation (cf. Genesis 1) and it can be a calling to lift our minds to more heavenly things (cf. Col 3:1-2). So some important lessons should be learned from the mythology if understood in the proper way.  
>  
> I think your daughter is somewhat correct in characterizing the mythology as "dark"--after all, the light of Christ had not been revealed yet. Christianity's saving message completely changes our outlook while the Greeks were left alone only with their human talents--which we all know will not go far without grace. Contrasted in this light, it becomes easier to see the line between the human and the divine and the need for grace becomes clearer.  
>  
> As I said above, **it is necessary that the student know the references they will come upon in reading classic literature. Dante, Keats, Milton, and Shakespeare (just to name a few) all weave references to mythology throughout their works. Just to give you an example, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Puck (a fairy) attempts to play Cupid (the Roman god of Love; his Greek name was Eros). That is only clear by the words of Puck that reference Athens, "Through the forest have I gone / But Athenian found I none..." (cf. MND 2.2.66-83). Cupid is only mentioned by name one act later, and if you didn't know that Venus is Cupid's mother, you would not understand what these words mean: "When thou wak'st, if she be by, / Beg of her for remedy" (idem 3.2.108-109). Instead of thinking of the Roman goddess, you would be thinking of the planet! And as you may have noticed, Shakespeare will use the Greek and Roman equivalents interchangeably. A student's ease in recognizing the Greek and Roman mythological figures will help tremendously as they read literature.** 
>  
> **Now on to Latin: a week ago I was in Nashville for a homeschool convention and I was speaking to a woman who tutors a several children. After she told me her experience, I told her I would love to have her speak at conventions for me! She said it was so clear in her students how Latin helps put structure in their thoughts.** She had a clear view because she dealt with students who didn't have Latin, students that did, and students that were learning. Now I wish I had recorded her...  
>  
> **I can only attest to my own experience growing up--I started learning Latin in 3rd grade and continued studying in partly through college without a break. Learning four other languages was not difficult compared to what my peers went through who had not had Latin (even those that grew up bilingual).** As for the structure of my thoughts, I have no way to compare that to those around me! I have the same issue when it comes to students that I have taught. Every student I have ever taught has also been studying Latin. I have no "control group" to which I can compare my students. I will let the mothers who have implemented Latin at home give you their own testimony – which I am very interested in hearing as well.

  
Lastly, while looking for something unrelated, I was lead to Augustine's["On Christian Doctrine", Book II, Chapter 18](https://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine/doctrine.xix%5F1.html?ref=brentodell.com), which fits quite well in this discussion.

> But whether the fact is as Varro has related, or is not so, **still we ought not to give up music because of the superstition of the heathen, if we can derive anything from it that is of use for the understanding of Holy Scripture;** nor does it follow that we must busy ourselves with their theatrical trumpery because we enter upon an investigation about harps and other instruments, that may help us to lay hold upon spiritual things. **For we ought not to refuse to learn letters because they say that Mercury discovered them; nor because they have dedicated temples to Justice and Virtue, and prefer to worship in the form of stones things that ought to have their place in the heart, ought we on that account to forsake justice and virtue. Nay, but let every good and true Christian understand that wherever truth may be found, it belongs to his Master; and while he recognizes and acknowledges the truth, even in their religious literature, let him reject the figments of superstition, and let him grieve over and avoid men who, "when they knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."**

In summary, the Greeks did identify some truth, even if that was simply man's depravity. All truth is God's truth. We should point out the truth, and reject the lie ("figments of superstition"). As our students see that the Biblical account is the "[myth made fact](https://www.museumofthebible.org/magazine/exhibitions/c-s-lewis-and-the-myth-that-became-fact?ref=brentodell.com)", "[Perfect Myth and Perfect Fact](https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/reflections-july-2022/?ref=brentodell.com)," this will steel our students against the world's attempts to mythologize Scripture and treat it as just as fictitious as the rest.
### Beginning My First Year as a Teacher
URL: https://brentodell.com/beginning-my-first-year-as-a-teacher/
Last updated: 2025-09-26T02:58:18.000Z
My wife and I have been on the journey of recovering Classical Christian Education since around 2019\. During that time, we have homeschooled and been a part of a Classical Conversations community. Rebekah has primarily focused on the day-to-day teaching, while I have been focused on researching curriculum, methodologies, and philosophy of Classical Christian Education. If you ever want book or podcast recommendation, let me know!  
  
In the past, I have occasionally substituted for Classical Conversations, but this year I will begin formally teaching at a Classical Christian school and I couldn't be more excited.

## About my classroom

### Multi-Age

I will be teaching 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade in one classroom. Some would find this to be a daunting task (and to be honest, sometimes I do as well), but I believe that it is an important aspect of giving a better education to our children.

Age-segregated classrooms are an artificial construction of the late 19th and early 20th century education reforms initiated by Horace Mann, and continued by John Dewey, and are based on a Prussian model brought to the U.S. by Mann. Historically, children would have been taught in the home where, presumably, they would be surrounded by siblings representing a range of ages. Even in the early days of our own country's history, though children were sent to schools, they were "one room school houses."

Andrew Pudewa from the Institute for Excellence in Writing [makes a great argument for mixed-age classrooms](https://iew.com/mixed-age-classrooms?ref=brentodell.com).

### Soul-formation

Historically, education was far less about transference of information, and more about shaping hearts to love that which is good, true, and beautiful (which are all found in God, and emanate from God). When students seek truth, admire and create beauty, and pursue good, they will be able to learn, grow, and flourish in any discipline.  
  
While I do desire to offer a rigorous education, my highest goal is the shaping of souls. 

In a recent class I took with Matthew Bianco of the CiRCE Institute, he pointed out that we can go back to the creation of the world and see that God taught through stories (soul formation, e.g. Exodus 12:26–27; Exodus 13:8,14) before he ever gave his law (transference of information, e.g. Exodus 19:1-20:21). This was his way of teaching the Israelites that he was good and loving, and teaching them to trust him and love him.

### Integrated Subject Areas

All creation proclaims the glory of God. In the classical Greek & Roman eras, education was treated as the pursuit of wisdom, with philosophy (literally love of wisdom) at the center. In the early Medieval period, this took the form of the 7 liberal arts (the arts required of, and worthy of a free person). These 7 liberal arts were grouped into two broad categories:

- **The Trivium** (arts of language)
  - *Grammar*
  - *Logic* (or Dialectic)
  - *Rhetoric*
- **The Quadrivium** (arts of number)
  - *Arithmetic* (the art of pure number)
  - *Music* (the art of number as applied to time)
  - *Geometry* (the art of number as applied to space)
  - *Astronomy* (the art of number as applied to time and space)

These subjects trained the mind to reason well and were expected to be mastered so that one could pursue wisdom in the study of philosophy. There were 3 types of philosophy:

- **Natural philosophy** (the study of the physical world),
- **Moral philosophy** (the study of human action, ethics, and politics),
- **Metaphysics** (the study of being, and ultimate causes).

The study of philosophy prepared the mind for the study of theology, which was considered the "queen of the sciences." Theology dealt with divine revelation, the highest truth, and in turn illuminated and ordered all the rest.

It wasn't until the Enlightenment that we see education begin to become specialized and have a utilitarian focus. Even during this time though, most schools still tried to educate the "whole person." Education was still more than job training.

History has seen a long line of [polymaths](https://www.etymonline.com/word/polymath?ref=brentodell.com), people skilled in a wide range of disciplines.

*Aristotle* (384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and scientist. He wrote on logic, metaphysics, biology, physics, rhetoric, ethics, and politics—and has shaped Western thought for millennia.

*Archimedes* (287–212 BC) was a mathematician, engineer, inventor, and astronomer known for mechanical innovations like levers and pulleys.

*Isidore of Seville* (c. 560–636) was an archbishop, scholar, and encyclopedist. His *Etymologiae* preserved much of classical knowledge and earned him the title “last scholar of the ancient world.”

*Al-Farabi* (c. 872–950) was a philosopher, scientist, and music theorist, sometimes called the “Second Teacher” (after Aristotle).

*Avicenna* (c. 980–1037) was a physician, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer who was hugely influential in both Islamic and European thought.

*Leonardo da Vinci* (1452–1519) was a painter, sculptor, engineer, anatomist, inventor, and mathematician. He is best known for *The Last Supper* and *Mona Lisa*, but he also filled notebooks with designs for flying machines, military devices, and anatomical sketches.

*Francis Bacon* (1561–1626) was a philosopher, statesman, scientist, and author and is often credited as being the creator of the scientific method.

*Galileo Galilei* (1564–1642) was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and engineer. He advanced telescopic astronomy, formulated principles of motion, and championed Copernican heliocentrism (the earth revolving around the sun).

*Blaise Pascal* (1623–1662) was a mathematician, physicist, inventor, and Christian philosopher who wrote *Pensées*.

*Isaac Newton* (1642–1727) was a physicist, mathematician, and theologian.

*Benjamin Franklin* (1706–1790) was a statesman, scientist, inventor, printer, philosopher, and diplomat. He invented the lightning rod and bifocals, and was an important figure around the time of the American founding.

*Thomas Jefferson* (1743–1826), the third U.S. President was also a philosopher, architect, linguist, scientist. He designed his home, Monticello, and the University of Virginia.

Sadly, it is much more difficult to find such individuals today. I'd be hard pressed to think of a living person who is a true polymath. Elon Musk is the closest example that comes to mind, but I would consider him more of a serial entrepreneur than a polymath. From what I know of him, he seems very intelligent, but to my knowledge he is not mastering the technical aspects of each of his ventures. Instead, he has enough wealth to hire the top experts in of his pursuits.

It was only with the industrial age and modern mass schooling in the 1800s that we started to hyper-specialize, and started to focus skills in one particular area. Today, even the best educations are merely job training. Those working in the most prestigious careers are still engaging the servile arts, even the ["lowly medical doctor" (5:08-7:21)](https://consortium.kepler.education/scottpostma/ep-10-a-liberal-arts-education-practically-speaking/?ref=brentodell.com).

### Mimetic Teaching

This summer, at the annual conference for the Association of Classical Christian Schools I joined a breakout session on mimetic teaching led by Andrea Lipinski of the [CiRCE Institute](https://circeinstitute.org/?ref=brentodell.com). I found it so compelling that I took it twice!

I would like to eventually dig into the details of what I learned in these sessions, but for now, I will point you to a wonderful [article on the topic](https://circeinstitute.org/what-is-mimetic-teaching?ref=brentodell.com) on CiRCE's website.

### Socratic Discussion

I'm less familiar with [Socratic discussion](https://circeinstitute.org/what-is-socratic-teaching/?ref=brentodell.com), but it is an area that I would like to grow in. Targeted primarily at 7th grade and up, the teacher guides the student on a journey of seeking the truth by asking questions that reveal holes in the student's reasoning, and also asking questions that lead the student down the path of discovering the truth.

### Narration

I also attended a breakout session on narration at the ACCS conference. Narration was popularized by Charlotte Mason, with [Ambleside school](https://www.ambleside.org/blog/2020/3/20/narration-during-at-home-learning?rq=narration&ref=brentodell.com) being the most well-known modern day proponent of it. My current understanding of narration is that rather than using dry textbooks, teachers use "living books," or stories to convey the information they want the student to internalize. The students are then asked to tell back what they just heard in the exact words of the author, preserving the order and detail as much as possible.

Stories allow students visualize what is being taught, and better commit it to memory. The expectation that they will have to tell it back helps them to better attend to the story.

I just started reading A Classical Guide to Narration by Jason Barney. In the introduction, Barney describes how he first discovered narration, while observing a class during his college years.

> I was ushered in to observe a Bible class of fourth and fifth graders who were reading the book of Jeremiah. After the teacher read aloud a chapter of an intense prophetic oracle, she asked the students to close their Bibles and then called on a student to narrate. I was astonished at the fluency with which a young boy told back much of the obscure poetic language of the passage. I vividly remember thinking to myself, "I'm a fairly bright college student with a double major in English and Ancient Languages and a minor in Bible, and I don't think I could have told back from Jeremiah nearly as well as this boy did."

He later taught at that same school. Early in his time there, he taught an eighth grade class which was reading *The Great Divorce* by C.S. Lewis. He describes the experience:

> One of the literature books in our eighth grade curriculum was C.S. Lewis' classic *The Great Divorce, a dense and difficult (but gripping!) dream-like tale of an encounter with the realities of heaven and hell...* 
> *...* 
> *\[O\]ne of the first assignments we did was a written narration...I read aloud the first two chapters of the book. Then I asked them to write a narration of the beginning of* The Great Divorce*...I assigned the task of finishing their narration for homework that night without consulting their book. Each of them came back the next day with 3-4 sides of writing as a testament to their vivid memory of the storyline, including many of the exact details.*

The first literature exam came along 3 months later.

> Because of our practice of narration, the school did not encourage students to study for exams; the fact that they attended well to lessons and narrated regularly should have ensured that they knew and remembered in a way that reflected their work throughout the semester. Exams, the school believed, were simply an opportunity to show what the students knew...for that particular literature exam...the prompt was to tell back the first two chapters of *The Great Divorce*. Now you should know that none of them had reread or studied it at all since that initial read. In grading those exams, I went back to compare them with the students' first written narration from three months before, and without exception, every one of those students had been able to tell back as thoroughly, if not more thoroughly, than their first written narration. So powerful is the practice of narration for locking content in long-term memory!

I look forward to continuing to learn more about narration and implementing it in my classroom.

## Conclusion

I look forward to the year ahead. It has been a long time since I've felt this level excitement for work. I think the thing that drew me to computer programming was that it gave me power to do things that seemed impossible previously. While I never thought this exactly, I think the feeling of creating something *ex nihilo* (Latin for out of nothing) appealed to me. No one but God can truly create something ex nihilo, but since computer programming involves bits of data and not something that you can see and touch, it can give the illusion that you are.

Since that time I've learned the word *telos*, which comes from Greek and means "the ultimate object, or aim." It is the purpose for which something was made. The Westminster Confession says that "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." Therefore, the telos of *man*kind, or hu*man*ity is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. How can we do that? One of the best ways I've found is to live in wonder at his creation. After all, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies proclaim his handiwork (Psalm 19:1). When we meditate on the beauty and mysteries found in God's creation, it causes us to wonder, to enjoy God, and to praise Him.

Where previously my work in computer programming allowed me to shape the world to my own liking (or at least to believe that I could), my new line of work allows me to focus on shaping parts of God's creation, namely students, towards the end for which he created them. Each student is unique in their personality, and their giftings, but all of us are working towards the same common end.

If a carpenter is hired to outfit a house with all the necessary furniture, each piece will be the same in their ultimate purpose (to serve the family) and each will share a reflection of the carpenter's skill in some way. At the same time, each piece will have a unique role to play (a bed to lay in, a table to eat at) and will be wonderfully unique because of the distinct grain of the wood that each piece is composed of.

As educators, we are working with the grain, but towards a common, yet glorious, end (telos). May God bless the hands of we the carpenters, equipping us with the skills we need, and allowing the marks that we leave on our students to be a thing of beauty.
### A Gentle Critique of Classical Conversations
URL: https://brentodell.com/a-gentle-critique-of-classical-conversations/
Last updated: 2026-01-06T04:18:27.000Z
*I did not start out to write a critique of Classical Conversations. Our family has been a part of it for 5 years, and at present, we plan to continue to be (with supplementation). My initial goal was to write about the history of classical Christian education (CCE) and my growing understanding of it, but I found that to begin, I needed to lay the groundwork of where we've been.*

My wife and I have been pursuing a classical Christian education for our children since at least 2019\. Much of that time has been spent in Classical Conversations, and while we've enjoyed our time there, the more I've learned about CCE, the more I've felt something was missing.

Our oldest child just entered the Essentials program (second stage) of Classical Conversations last year, so I admit that I may just be missing the broader, overarching vision of CC that comes through completing the program. Regardless, I still have critiques.

## The Trivium As Developmental Stages

Classical Conversations is very focused on the Dorothy Sayers model of the Trivium as developmental stages. The book "The Core" by Leigh Bortins, the founder of Classical Conversations, was one of my earliest introductions to CCE. At the time, I found Sayers' insight, as implemented by Classical Conversations, to be compelling.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, Sayers' proposed that the 3 parts of the Trivium (grammar, dialectic/logic, and rhetoric) closely align with the developmental stages of a child:

- Grammar stage - In the younger years, children are sponges, absorbing any information that you give them. Therefore, it's to our advantage to give them the grammar (basic facts) of many subjects at this age so they can commit it to memory. We'll draw from this well of facts in later years.
- Dialectic, or Logic stage - preteens tend to naturally be argumentative. Given this, let's teach them to argue well, thinking clearly and avoiding logical fallacies, etc.
- Rhetoric - Teens often feel the need to prove themselves and present themselves well. What better way to do this than through their speech? At this stage we teach them to eloquently deliver the thoughts they've developed through the dialectic stage, based on information memorized during the grammar stage.

I do believe that Sayers' insight here is remarkable. I've been amazed at the number of history facts that my "grammar aged" children have picked up through song. That being said, it is a disservice to our children and to ourselves if we hold too tightly to this framework of ages & stages. We risk believing, or modeling, that older children, or adults can no longer learn the grammar of subjects, or how to wrestle with and reason about new ideas. If we were not taught rhetoric in high school, we may believe that there no hope for us to learn to share ideas with others in a compelling way.

While I don't necessarily believe that the leaders of Classical Conversations see the world this way, I do believe (and have observed that) it can start to unconsciously creep into the mindsets of parents who progress their children through the "stages" of the Trivium as they grow older.

## The Trivium Doth Not a Classical Education Make

The Trivium is a great start to Classical Education, but it is less than half of the story. As I said above, the Trivium is made up of Grammar, Logic (sometimes called dialectic), and Rhetoric. These can be viewed as the arts of language.

There is also the Quadrivium, meaning the four ways. This included Arithmetic, Music, Geometry, and Astronomy. Just as the Trivium can be viewed as the arts of language, these can be seen as the arts of number:

- Arithmetic (the art of pure number)
- Music (the art of number as applied to time)
- Geometry (the art of number as applied to space)
- Astronomy (the art of number as applied to time and space)

Together, the Trivium and Quadrivium made up the seven liberal arts (arts of a liberated, or free, people). These were considered prerequisites (preparatory disciplines that formed the mind) for the study of higher subjects such as philosophy and theology, which was considered the queen of the sciences.

## Content & Method

The CC content is a great start. As I said above, I've been amazed at the number of facts that my children have absorbed through the Foundations (grammar stage) program. That being said, I find it to be lacking. They memorize lists of things, but with no context or details about the items on the list, just rote memorization.

I do believe there is a place for rote memorization. My kindergarten through second grade years were spent in a private school that focused on rote memorization of phonograms and math tables, something I've missed about CC since it's not a complete curriculum. For a long time my critique has been around the missing information.

The more I've learned about classical education, the more my concern has become the fact that the primary focus is on information transfer, with little room for cultivating wonder, and going deep into topics that interest students. The memorization content can sometimes feel a mile wide and an inch deep. My guess is that CC would say that going deep into content happens in the Essentials program ("dialectic stage") or Challenge program ("rhetoric stage"), but this goes back to the "ages and stages" problem, and an opportunity is missed. Younger years are the ideal time to start [cultivating wonder](https://k12blog.hillsdale.edu/wonder-and-lesson-plans/?ref=brentodell.com), and this just cannot happen in a program where rote memorization is the primary focus.

It has also been my observation that Classical Conversations puts methodology on an equal footing with content. The way that the program is set up there are local campus directors, as well as regional representatives. A regional representative will typically visit a campus once or twice per year, where they'll observe tutors (teachers) and provide feedback to the director on how to do things the Classical Conversations way (being sure to repeat each memorization fact 7 times, for example).

I also care about methodology, but have a different view on what is a priority. A classical classroom should leave room for rabbit trails whenever students show interest; it should seek to integrate subjects whenever possible because they all originate in and declare the glory of God; most of all it should cultivate wonder and develop a love for the good, the true, and the beautiful. Our primary goal is soul formation not the transfer of information.
### Considering the moral implications of self-checkout
URL: https://brentodell.com/considering-the-moral-implications-of-self-checkout/
Last updated: 2025-09-04T04:23:05.000Z
I recently went to check out in a big-box home improvement store, only to find that every cash register had been replaced by self-checkout. While self-checkout is nothing new, and I've used it fairly regularly, I sometimes have a bit of hesitation and a thought crosses my mind: "What is self checkout doing to us as a society?" When I saw a store with self-checkout as the only option it immediately repulsed me and made me start to wonder about the implications of it.

## Pros of self-checkout

I do see two benefits of self-checkout (which are really one benefit, from different perspectives): Efficiency & expediency.

From the business owner's perspective, a single person watching over a host of self-checkout registers lowers costs & increases profits. From a customer's perspective, there's a good chance you'll get out of the store more quickly if there are 10 registers behind a line, even if that line is much longer.

For 10 years I worked as a software engineer. We often worked with asynchronous queues. That just means lists of jobs, with some number of workers (e.g. computers) that can perform those jobs. If you have 10 jobs (10 people in line), the last job will complete more quickly if there are 10 workers (cash registers) that can perform those jobs.

With the advent of scan & go[\[1\]](#fn1) and just walk out[\[2\]](#fn2) technologies, the number of workers (registers) are infinitely scalable. This is great for allowing the business to run efficiently, and for letting customers get out of the store quickly, but what is it doing to our society?

## Cons of self-checkout

### Job displacement

My immediate thought when I saw the missing cashiers was "What happened to their jobs?" Were the employees moved to another role, or were they laid off? Did they have a say in this? (My guess is no.) Many cashiers in our town are older and likely couldn't fill roles that required lifting, or walking long distances through the store. Where does that leave them?

### Lack of human interaction

This is my bigger concern. Our society is continuing to become more and more fragmented.[\[3\]](#fn3) The word society has its roots in: companionship, friendly association with others, fellowship, and community.[\[4\]](#fn4) How can we have "friendly association with others" without the "others"? We were made for human interaction.

## Closing thoughts

I don't have the answer, and am still working out my thoughts on this subject. I think people can fall into one two ditches: wanting to progress (looking only at the pros) or conserve (looking only at the cons), for the sake of their ideology. *(Sidenote: I found this to be an interesting observation, since I'm not aware of "pros" & "cons" having any etymilogical link to "progress" and "conserve".)* New technologies can bring with them both good and evil. We should not (necessarily[\[5\]](#fn5)) fear or dismiss new technologies, but should instead take a full-orbed view of any new technology. We should also be careful about allowing the ends (profits, speed, etc) justify the means.

Historically, jobs & careers being displaced by technology have opened the possibility for new careers to form. What happens to workers in the meantime though? And what happens to a society when its technologies continue to increase its fragmentation and isolation?

---

1. [https://www.walmart.com/cp/scan-go/9679980](https://www.walmart.com/cp/scan-go/9679980?ref=brentodell.com) [↩︎](#fnref1)
2. [https://aws.amazon.com/just-walk-out/](https://aws.amazon.com/just-walk-out/?ref=brentodell.com) [↩︎](#fnref2)
3. *Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community* by Robert D. Putnam ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Bowling-Alone-Collapse-American-Community/dp/1982130849?ref=brentodell.com)) [↩︎](#fnref3)
4. [Etymology of "society"](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=society&ref=brentodell.com) [↩︎](#fnref4)
5. Many technologies are morally neutral. A hammer can be used to build shelter. A gun can be used to protect or feed one's family. Both can be used to destroy unjustly. In those cases the tool is morally neutral, and it can be used for good or evil. Other technologies (abortion, "gender affirming care", etc) are evils in and of themselves and must be rejected unequivocally. [↩︎](#fnref5)
### On Shaping Loves
URL: https://brentodell.com/on-shaping-loves/
Last updated: 2025-09-26T17:01:50.000Z
I've got a friend who will often ask questions that force me to sit down, organize my thoughts, and put a response in writing. This first resulted in me writing out a list of my favorite [Family Discipleship Resources](https://brentodell.com/family-discipleship-resources/). His latest question has led to this post.

His family started giving up electronic entertainment four months ago, and just this week decided to also give up Disney (toys, music, movies, etc). Knowing that we've been on that journey a bit longer, he reached out to find out if our kids watch movies or TV shows at all, and if so what content we've found helpful.

The short answer is that we haven't owned a TV for probably 8 years, and rarely watch shows or movies on the computer. We had reasons for it when we started down this path, but when he asked the question, I found that the lack of a TV had become so much a part of our life, that I didn't notice it anymore, and couldn't recall the reasons that led us to give it up in the first place. I think our original reasons may have also morphed into new reasons as the years have passed.

His question started me on a journey of rediscovering our why. Ultimately, it all comes down to shaping loves.

## A Brief History

I grew up with way too much time in front of a TV screen. I recall from a very young age knowing which channel to go to and at what time to find my favorite shows. I don't remember the exact order, but I recall it included [Pappyland](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP0ct0lLVno14NRoFYJgukqmbIqUfIzc%5F&ref=brentodell.com), [Peppermint Place](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL89VoggpcYZof%5FS6LIIbj1ss0bNecam7R&ref=brentodell.com), [Lamb Chop's Play-Along!](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-ugmmb4Hu7%5Fc80PX0keTyowdSVgJooPN&ref=brentodell.com), [Gomer Pyle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomer%5FPyle,%5FU.S.M.C.?ref=brentodell.com), [Hogan's Heroes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s%5FHeroes?ref=brentodell.com), Happy Days, Leave It To Beaver, [Zoom](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfKpFSV221Bcw6fHcijkm4HEpWcHBNd25&ref=brentodell.com), [The Puzzle Place](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FPuzzle%5FPlace?ref=brentodell.com), [Between the Lions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between%5Fthe%5FLions?ref=brentodell.com), [Schoolhouse Rock!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse%5FRock!?ref=brentodell.com), etc.

In my elementary years, I would beg my parents to let me stay up to watch the two back-to-back reruns of [I Love Lucy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%5FLove%5FLucy?ref=brentodell.com) that would air at 10 & 10:30pm. In middle school, I spent hours in front of TV Land and Nick at Night, and would never miss a rerun of [MacGyver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver%5F%281985%5FTV%5Fseries%29?ref=brentodell.com). At the time, my language arts teacher required us to keep a daily journal. I hated writing (something I now regret), so I would give a play by play of what happened in the episode I was watching...until she finally said "enough."

These television shows shaped me. I remember crying when I read in our yearbook that Shari Lewis (creator of Lamb Chop's Play-Along!) had died. At one point I researched what it would take to have a career like MacGyver's. I've had a dreamy, idealized view of New York City, with classy big band night clubs like the Tropicana (from I love Lucy). It saddened me to learn of Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz's real life divorce, and to recently learn that Vivian Vance and William Frawley did not enjoy working together, and that Frawley dealt with drunkenness, volatility, and had few close friends.

In college, my tastes moved to movies and musical theatre. Being a time of life when many are hoping to find a spouse, my preference was romantic comedies and musicals that included a romantic plot line: The Music Man, Guys & Dolls, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, etc. I also enjoyed Bollywood movies with a similar theme, such as Bride & Prejudice.

Television, movies, and musical theatre allowed me to enter another world, through the eyes of the characters, but it was all a facade.

My wife didn't have a TV in the house until her teenage years, so she cannot relate to watching TV as a child, but she does have fond memories of family pizza & movie nights each Friday in high school.

I brought a TV into our marriage that I had purchased during college (the largest I could afford at the time), and at the time we didn't give much thought to our usage of it. After all, having & watching a TV is what everyone did.

That TV followed us through our first 4 apartments, the last move coinciding with a new chapter of married life.

## A Change In Priorities

Our move into the fourth apartment came with a move to a new city, and a new job. When we moved into that apartment, I paid for a cable package, along with our internet. Again, that's just what you do (or, at least it was at the time, before the ubiquity of streaming services).

My wife was pregnant with our first child at the time. This led me to think deeply about how I wanted to raise our children. I don't recall all of our inspirations at the time, but I believe that the following were some of them.

### Learning from other parents

In college I had noticed a young lady, slightly older than myself, who had a baby ensuring that the baby wasn't looking at a TV in the room. When I asked why, she referenced a study about television not being good for a child's development. There were fewer years between that interaction and us having are first child than there have been since, so I likely recalled the details better at the time. I believe it noted that children's brains undergo a massive amount of formation in those early years, and cannot handle the amount of stimulation brought by a TV. I seem to also remember that it's crucial that infants have human interaction to learn communication skills (facial expressions, speech, etc).

### Learning by observing other children

During those newly married years, we enjoyed meals at restaurants quite often. One thing that I often noticed was that as soon as a child would get fussy, the parents would pull out phones and tablets to pacify them. From first impression, this seemed very dangerous to me. That practice does not teach children to control their emotions, but instead to scream in order to get what they want, and to seek entertainment whenever they're bored. I have similar concerns with parents who give kids television on long car rides to entertain them. As a family we've taken several long road trips, and I'm happy to report that kids can survive them (and even thrive on them!) without digital entertainment, as can parents. I would say our family has grown closer on those trips because of that commitment.

Around the same time, I also had a co-worker who told the story of one of his son's friends coming over to visit. The friend walked in and the first thing he said was "what's wrong with your TV?"...just because it was off! Apparently he'd never seen a TV that was turned off before. While I don't think that my experience from childhood was quite that extreme, something about that resonated with me.

### Learning from books

I know I've learned from books as well, but I can't recall which ones at the moment. One thing I do remember is the point that kids are less creative, less curious, and less capable today because everything is handed to them. We do want our kids to rely on us in those early years, but the whole point of parenting is to shape and grow them to where they can live well ordered lives out from under our roofs, and lead families who will do the same.

### Applying what I'd learned

When our first child was born, I knew that I wanted her (and our future children):

- To have our attention, and to not feel that she had to compete with our phones or TV. We committed to no phone use or TV in front of her.
  - Sadly, though we have no TV, I think we have completely abandoned the no phone rule without realizing it. I had completely forgotten about that goal until writing this post, but it is something I want to get back to.
- To interact with us, and not have her attention mindlessly fixed to a screen. We committed to no screens for her.
- To be creative, inventing her own toys out of household objects, or items found in nature. We tried to encourage family members to give "experiences" (zoo membership, museum membership, arboretum membership, etc) instead of toys.
  - The experience idea went well for a while, but it can be very difficult to keep extended family aligned with the same ideals, so we end up with far too many toys.
  - Kids are incredibly creative, if given the chance and not having amusements laid at their feet. We've observed this on many occasions. Our oldest daughter is constantly "inventing" something. Our middle kids love to build "forts" inside or out. Our youngest (still a baby) finds joy in a stick that one of her older siblings has stripped of bark, smoothed, and oiled with coconut oil. When we fill their lives (and later the landfill) with stacks of colorful plastic, we rob them of the gifts of contentment, creativity, and ingenuity.

## The Learning Continues

On several occasions recently I've found myself saying, to the point it's almost become cliché, is that "Nothing is neutral. Everything that we do is shaping our heart in one way or another. It is either drawing us closer to (and increasing love for) God, or drawing us to some competing affection."

I couldn't pinpoint exactly where I had gotten this idea. Like most of my thoughts, it was likely a composite of ideas from several different sources. Sources that I have vague recollections of reading or listening to, but none of which could I give a detailed overview of. My friend's question, and this post, has led me on a quest to track down at least some of those source materials.

I've started with the following stack. These are all books I've listened to several years ago, and that I expect could be related, but I've now purchased physical copies that I'm working my way through. As I write this, I'm currently reading You Are What You Love. So far Smith has been saying much of what I was trying to convey in the paragraph above. My plan is to post book notes or reviews as I finish these, to share what I'm learning, and help me better track my sources in the future.

- You Are What You Love by James K. A. Smith ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-What-Love-Spiritual/dp/158743380X?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction by Justin Whitmel Earley ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Common-Rule-Habits-Purpose-Distraction/dp/1514006928?ref=brentodell.com))
- Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis--and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance by former senator Ben Sasse ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-American-Adult-Coming-Crisis/dp/1250181208?ref=brentodell.com))
- Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms by Justin Whitmel Earley ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Household-Practicing-Everyday-Rhythms/dp/0310362938?ref=brentodell.com))

I also have the follow books which I have not read or listened to, but I may read to see if they have application in this area.

- The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Disappearance-Childhood-Neil-Postman/dp/0679751661?ref=brentodell.com))
- Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Technopoly-Surrender-Technology-Neil-Postman/dp/0679745408?ref=brentodell.com))

## Conclusion

I want my children's loves to be shaped by all that is good, true, and beautiful. I don't want to give them facades of reality that will one day crumble before them. When I look at our children I see a level of creativity and ingenuity, a love for God's creation, and a level of self-control that is unique among their peers who have been raised behind a TV. They are still kids, so they do still have their moments, but overall I see the lack of TV in our home as a great gift to them, their future families, and to society writ large.
### Family Discipleship Resources
URL: https://brentodell.com/family-discipleship-resources/
Last updated: 2025-09-26T18:32:04.000Z
My wife recently had a conversation with a friend, about how we don’t send our kids to “Children’s Church.” This is a new practice for us, only within the past year or two. After the conversation, he reached out and asked for any resources I had on the subject. Little did he know that this question would open the firehose of all my favorite books on:

- Family integrated worship at church
- Family worship at home
- Family discipleship more in general

I also included my favorite:

- Children’s books
- Children’s Bibles
- Music
- Podcasts on the subject of discipleship & family life

Finally, I gave a rough outline of our \~daily/weekly routines.

As I shared with him, I tend to ingest a lot of content from books, podcasts, conversations, etc and then coalesce ideas in my mind. As a result, it’s difficult for me to point to exactly where I got an idea from. This post is my first step in attempting to cite my sources. Some day I’ll re-read the books that have helped me on this journey. And that time around, I’ll be taking notes.

Many of these resources I’ve read. Others I’ve perused and they are sitting on my bookshelf, waiting to be picked back up. Some I call out below with strong praise. For the others, assume that I’ve only skimmed them, or that it’s been so long that I cannot give an honest review.

Our family is a work in progress, as is everyone’s. By God’s grace, I’d say we’re in a better place today than we were 5 years ago in regards to the discipleship of our children. I know we still have far to go though. Our methods have changed with time—in different seasons, or with newfound resources—but the goal remains the same. Deuteronomy 6:4-7

## Family Integrated Worship (Children in Church)

![Family Integrated Worship in the Church](https://brentodell.com/content/images/2025/09/family-integrated-worship-in-church-1.png)

- Parenting in the Pew, by Robbie F. Castleman ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Parenting-Pew-Guiding-Children-Worship/dp/0830837779?ref=brentodell.com))
- Let the Children Worship, by Jason Helopoulos ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Let-Children-Worship-Jason-Helopoulos/dp/1781919097?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Family At Church, by Joel R. Beeke ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Family-Church-Listening-Attending-Meetings/dp/1601780435?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Nursery of the Holy Spirit, by Daniel R. Hyde ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Nursery-Holy-Spirit-Welcoming-Children/dp/1625648324?ref=brentodell.com))

Of these, I believe I’ve read the first two, but it was mid-2022 when I did so I can’t give a thorough review.

Some have argued that kids need children’s church so that they can hear teaching on their own level. This is a modern idea, and very much in line with handing off our children’s education to “professionals” via public schools. I would argue that it’s more important that they learn to worship as the Church from their parents (Deuteronomy 6:7, Deuteronomy 11:18-19, Ephesians 6:4), and that one of the ways that is done, is alongside us during the worship.

We ask our older kids to try to take notes. This can be simple (pictures describing what they hear), questions, actual notes, etc. It’s a training process. We also try to follow up lunch with “Ice Cream Sunday” (an idea we borrowed from [Cole Newton](https://bcnewton.co/?ref=brentodell.com)) where we discuss the sermon over ice cream. This allows us to dig into any questions they have, and also associates the discussion of God’s word with happy thoughts.

While, over time our hope is that they will grasp more and more of the teaching on Sunday, that’s not our ultimate goal at this stage of life. The goal is to train them to be still and listen, and to build a love for the church gathering as it is, not for the kiddie version of it. As you’ll see below, there are many child-level resources we use throughout the week.

## Family Worship At Home

![Family Worship at Home](https://brentodell.com/content/images/2025/09/family-worship-at-home-1.png)

- Family Worship, by Donald S. Whitney ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Family-Worship-Donald-S-Whitney-audiobook/dp/B01A62WJ5U?ref=brentodell.com))
- A Neglected Grace, by Jason Helopoulos ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Neglected-Grace-Family-Worship-Christian/dp/1781912033?ref=brentodell.com))
- A Practical Theology of Family Worship, by Jonathan Williams ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Theology-Family-Worship-Encouragement/dp/1601788851?ref=brentodell.com))

Of these, I’ve only listened to the audiobook of the first, and it’s been a few years so I do not recall the details. It is exceptionally short though.

Our daily practice changes with the seasons, but we try to start & end the day with reading that points us to Christ (a passage from the [Bible](https://www.crossway.org/bibles/esv-study-bible-personal-size-tpb/?ref=brentodell.com), [The Biggest Story Bible Storybook](https://www.amazon.com/Biggest-Story-Bible-Storybook/dp/1433557371?ref=brentodell.com), [Journey to Bethlehem](https://www.crossway.org/books/journey-to-bethlehem-cob/?ref=brentodell.com) during Christmas, etc). We also sing hymns together before bed.

We’ve recently tried to incorporate memory versions & catechism questions from [Truth and Grace Memory Books](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TRHS4BT?ref=brentodell.com) into the kids’ homeschool curriculum, which we plan to learn as a family and recite to each other at the end of the week.

## Family Discipleship More Broadly

![Family Discipleship](https://brentodell.com/content/images/2025/09/family-discipleship-1.png)

- Why Children Matter, by Douglas Wilson ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Why-Children-Matter-Douglas-Wilson/dp/1947644424?ref=brentodell.com))
- Building a Godly Home, by William Gouge, updated by Scott Brown and Joel R. Beeke
  - Volume 1: A Holy Vision for Family Life ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Building-Godly-Home-Vision-Family-ebook/dp/B00BI7ZW8E?ref=brentodell.com))
  - Volume 2: A Holy Vision for a Happy Marriage ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Building-Godly-Home-Vision-Marriage-ebook/dp/B00GCQA90C?ref=brentodell.com))
  - Volume 3: A Holy Vision for Raising Children ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Building-Godly-Home-Raising-Children-ebook/dp/B00NU69J94?ref=brentodell.com))
- Bringing the Gospel to Covenant Children, by Joel R Beeke ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Gospel-Covenant-Children-Guidance/dp/1601781172?ref=brentodell.com))
- Habits of the Household, by Justin Whitmel Earley ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Household-Practicing-Everyday-Rhythms/dp/0310362938?ref=brentodell.com))
- Disciplines of a Godly Family, by R. Kent Hughes ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Disciplines-Godly-Family-Kent-Hughes/dp/1581349416?ref=brentodell.com))

Of these, I’ve only read Why Children Matter.

I’m really interested in reading Building a Godly Home, but haven’t found the time to sit down and get through it. It is a modernized version of William Gouge’s [‘Of Domestical Duties’](https://www.amazon.com/Domestical-Duties-William-Gouge/dp/1430309598?ref=brentodell.com). William Gouge was a pastor, and father of 13 who lived from 1575–1653\. My understanding is that the only changes made in Building a Godly Home is splitting the original into 3 volumes, and updating the language.

## Children’s Books / Storybook Bibles

![Children's Books & Storybook Bibles](https://brentodell.com/content/images/2025/09/childrens-books-and-storybook-bibles-1.png)

- The Biggest Story, by Kevin DeYoung ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Biggest-Story-Crusher-Brings-Garden/dp/1433542447?ref=brentodell.com))
- Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey, by Tyler Van Halteren ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Little-Pilgrims-Big-Journey-Complete/dp/1989975291?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Ology: Ancient Truths, Ever New, by Marty Machowski ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Ology-Ancient-Truths-Ever-New/dp/194257228X?ref=brentodell.com))
- WonderFull: Ancient Psalms Ever New, by Marty Machowski ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/WonderFull-Ancient-Psalms-Ever-New/dp/1948130742?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Kingdom of God Bible Storybook, by Tyler Van Halteren ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-God-Bible-Storybook-Testament/dp/1989975194?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Parables of Jesus, by Tyler Van Halteren ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Parables-Jesus-Stories-Timeless-Truths/dp/1989975267?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross, by Carl Laferton ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Garden-Curtain-Cross-Carl-Laferton/dp/1784980129?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Promise, by Jason Helopoulos ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Amazing-Story-Long-Awaited-Savior/dp/B09H3MPYD1?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Story of God series, by Kenneth Padgett & Shay Gregorie
  - The Story of God with Us ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Story-God-Us-Kenneth-Padgett/dp/1736610600?ref=brentodell.com))
  - The Story of God Our Savior ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Story-God-Our-Savior/dp/1736610643?ref=brentodell.com))
  - The Story of God Our King ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Story-God-Our-King/dp/1736610627?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Biggest Story Bible Storybook, by Kevin DeYoung ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Biggest-Story-Bible-Storybook/dp/1433557371?ref=brentodell.com))

This is a list of books we’ve used over time in our nightly reading. As I started reading and thinking more about family discipleship, I began to care more about what books we set before our kids. I’ve started to purge our family library of shallow books that give hits of dopamine with no nourishment to the soul, and instead set before our children a feast of delicious, yet nourishing books that will whet their appetites for the good, the true, and the beautiful.

That’s not to say that every book we own is focused on Bible & Theology, but I do want to teach our children to feast well, and to have a high standard for what they feed into their minds & hearts (Luke 6:45, Galatians 6:7-8). As Cole Newton [has said](https://bcnewton.co/2020/08/03/look-carefully-how-you-walk-ephesians-515-17/?ref=brentodell.com):

> A truth is here that we must see. Entertainment does not simply distract us; it attracts us to something. It does not merely divert our attention away; it fixes it upon something. Our attention will be given to something, and we must take great care where we look, for we look at and walk toward what we love. There is a war being waged for our eyes because our feet follow our sight.  
>  
> We must, therefore, diligently set our attention upon Christ.  
>  
> …  
>  
> The greatest tools in the enemy’s toolbelt are not overt assaults but lullabies and seemingly harmless distractions.  
>  
> …  
>  
> Amuse (a-muse) means not musing or thinking. As Wiktionary notes, it derives from an Old French word meaning “to stupefy” or “to waste time.” Likewise, to distract means “to divert the attention of.”

The books above are roughly in the order we introduced them to our library.

[The Biggest Story](https://www.amazon.com/Biggest-Story-Crusher-Brings-Garden/dp/1433542447?ref=brentodell.com) was probably the first book I purchased after starting to rethink how we use books to shape the heart & mind. For a long time, it was my favorite children’s book, and gives a great overview of the Bible, in an engaging, easy to understand format. It’s divided into chapters and we would often read a single chapter each night and discuss, but is short enough that we’ve also at times read it through in a single sitting.

Our kids were huge fans of [Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey](https://www.amazon.com/Little-Pilgrims-Big-Journey-Complete/dp/1989975291?ref=brentodell.com), and if it were up to them, we would never have moved on to anything else. We’ve read through them so much that at least one has lost its cover. The Kingdom of God Bible Storybook is from the same author.

My most recent favorites are books in the [“Story of God” series](https://www.wolfbanebooks.com/collections/our-books/products/the-story-of-god-3pk?ref=brentodell.com), and the kids are big fans as well. Each book follows a “thread”, or theme through the Bible and showcases how God is with us, is Savior, and is King.

Another favorite of ours is [The Promise](https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Amazing-Story-Long-Awaited-Savior/dp/B09H3MPYD1?ref=brentodell.com), which goes through images of Christ in the Old Testament (Adam, Isaac, Moses, David, etc) and how none of them were perfect, and therefore could not be *the* Christ, and how all are fulfilled in Jesus. A wonderful song to pair with this book is [Christ the True and Better](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcl6WSNVcHM&ref=brentodell.com).

## Catechisms

![Catechisms](https://brentodell.com/content/images/2025/09/catechisms-1.png)

- The New City Catechism Devotional, by Collin Hansen ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/New-City-Catechism-Devotional-Coalition/dp/1433555034?ref=brentodell.com))
- Truth and Grace Memory Books, by Thomas Ascol ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TRHS4BT?ref=brentodell.com))
- Teaching Truth Training Hearts, by Thomas Nettles ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Training-Hearts-Thomas-Nettles/dp/1943539030?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Illustrated Baptist Catechism, by Paul Cox ([Buy](https://press.founders.org/shop/the-illustrated-baptist-catechism/?ref=brentodell.com))

Catechesis is an ancient practice in Christian discipleship that has been abandoned in many evangelical circles today. The catechizer asks a series of questions, and for each question, the catechumen replies with a response from memory. This is an effective way of hiding truth from God’s word in your heart. It cannot replace scripture memorization, but does help combine theology from the entirety of scripture into a set of concise questions & answers.

For several years we used The New City Catechism, which has longer & shorter versions of each question, as well as songs that can help children memorize them. My wife often used these during homeschool time.

Recently, I’ve started to incorporate the Truth and Grace Memory Books in our nightly routine.

## Hymnals

![Hymnals](https://brentodell.com/content/images/2025/09/hymnals-1.png)

- Hymns of Grace, by Philip Webb ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Hymns-Grace-Black-Masters-Seminary/dp/0996917608?ref=brentodell.com))
- The Gospel Story Hymnal, by Britta K. Wallbaum & Lindsey E. Goetz ([Buy](https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Story-Hymnal-Britta-Wallbaum/dp/1961290006?ref=brentodell.com))

As part of family worship, we try to sing 1-3 songs that we sing as a church on Sundays. Several of these songs can be found in the Hymns of Grace hymnal. Though we don’t use hymnals on Sunday mornings, I purchased a couple of copies to give our children something to read the lyrics off of. I was shocked at how much they enjoy it. It just shows that the idea of something being old and out of date only applies to those who are old enough to remember it as the “old way” of doing things. Children make the old new again.

Recently our pastor’s wife discovered [The Gospel Story Hymnal](https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Story-Hymnal-Britta-Wallbaum/dp/1961290006?ref=brentodell.com) for kids, and since she knows we are of a similar mind in the discipleship of our children, shared it with me. I debated whether or not to get it. Since our children were already excited about singing out of a traditional hymnal, I didn’t want to cripple them with the allure of bright colors and pictures. Too often today Christians think they cannot worship without guitars, lights, and fog machines (this was me as well from middle school until my late 20s, early 30s) which calls into question what the object of our worship is. I did eventually purchase this, but we gravitate more towards Hymns of Grace, or songs we know by heart.

## Music

Apart from formal times of discipleship, we listen to a lot of music. There is no Disney in our home, nor are there the latest pop songs. We want to be just as intentional with the music we listen to as with the books we read. There is nothing that shapes the heart more than story and song. The secular world seems to know this, but sadly many Christians have not caught on.

- [Western Meadows Song List](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3oTet6MGo9pOAMwsWseFoz?ref=brentodell.com)
- [The Greatest Story Ever Told: The Bible](https://open.spotify.com/album/63DoHAAuqkfkCrxtrhpOjT?ref=brentodell.com)
- Songs by [Brian Sauvé](https://www.briansauve.com/?ref=brentodell.com)
  - [Sing Psalms, Let Joy Resound](https://open.spotify.com/album/2txnSTlLVxNNcKXOtPPaNC?si=1udMvuEiTMudStPKpyUCyw&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [Even Dragons Shall Him Praise](https://open.spotify.com/album/40TAbJ7suyjLqC4JUB4sRb?si=jqYa9i6NTeemoWe7Ttld9w&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [The Voyage of St. Brendan](https://open.spotify.com/track/4mJtPy62DegrQaXCWYOU5E?si=b4827c90d573467d&ref=brentodell.com)
    - Our boys love this song, as well as [Old Neptune, He’s Roaring](https://open.spotify.com/track/0veopibBdS1GzafSOXYxfL?si=0d18f78d5d1c487b&ref=brentodell.com) from [Hearth Songs](https://open.spotify.com/album/6okaoKqo6RtMLYP4S6IHcj?si=HyaMcGOfSBaeiXtavvGuiQ&ref=brentodell.com).
  - [Hearth Songs](https://open.spotify.com/album/6okaoKqo6RtMLYP4S6IHcj?si=HyaMcGOfSBaeiXtavvGuiQ&ref=brentodell.com)
    - “An EP of seven original songs dedicated to demonstrating the glory and beauty of ordinary Christian life.”
  - [Songs Worth Singing](https://open.spotify.com/album/7v5CzJxRFOcwp0tg5eLxof?si=S32jcTHjRIC3RtqKS%5FSjdA&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [Bright, the Rider](https://open.spotify.com/album/639j8NtluMUEV38YYdYHcj?si=%5FJ5%5FQH1KRqOBISe0omZ7nQ&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [Psalm 37: He Fades Away](https://open.spotify.com/album/11O32ryCROwtPulOI507kT?si=OVGS0MkcRTCTiUitQyg45A&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [From the Realms of Endless Days](https://open.spotify.com/album/7volYSuaqdUcUCLOrE5zDt?si=%5Fri-ERX-QkCoEmy9Fp-pAQ&ref=brentodell.com)
- Christmas
  - [The Word Became Flesh](https://open.spotify.com/artist/65HjNConYcxW27mwvn5kjd?ref=brentodell.com), narrated by R.C. Sproul
- The New City Catechism
  - [Volume 1](https://open.spotify.com/album/6nXlwt8l8eUnUV1eS3GPoe?si=77c1e1e06a974bdd&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [Volume 2](https://open.spotify.com/album/6SHxlMbd1lrKp4Dq5yCVrL?si=7d906bd9f0df4ad7&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [Volume 3](https://open.spotify.com/album/2pFHFP4CTurpCzzkwbpg5m?si=81e0219461334f67&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [Volume 4](https://open.spotify.com/album/2182uixrP77EvkDKtozf88?si=b394039b1c154530&ref=brentodell.com)
- The Baptist Catechism
  - [Volume 1](https://open.spotify.com/album/2uk9JtOTKFAVvzJlhKjo8I?si=25be839f2f20422a&ref=brentodell.com)
  - [Volume 2](https://open.spotify.com/album/0qdtjfuG0eehnThxrolu7v?si=e5929f16976c4292&ref=brentodell.com)
- Classical Music (Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Mozart)
- [Classical Conversations Songs](https://classicalconversationsbooks.com/pages/foundations-audio?ref=brentodell.com) (part of our homeschool curriculum)

## Podcasts

- [Bright Hearth](https://www.briansauve.com/bright-hearth?ref=brentodell.com) \- I have not listened to this one in a while, but it has been my favorite podcast on family life. It is hosted by pastor Brian Sauvé (several of his songs are listed above) and his wife Lexy.
- [The Theology Pugcast](https://thetheologypugcast.com/?ref=brentodell.com) \- Great podcast for those interested in Christian history & philosophy. Hosted by pastor C.R. Wiley, historian Glenn Sunshine, and professor of Theology & Christian Ethics Thomas Price. Can be a bit heady at times, but overall I find it to be a great listen.
- [The Consortium Podcast](https://theclassicalconsortium.com/consortium-podcast/?ref=brentodell.com) \- Podcast on Classical Christian Education by [Kepler Education](http://kepler.education/?ref=brentodell.com). Often when I find a podcast that I like, I will go back to the beginning and listen in the order that they were released. I did that with this podcast, picking episodes that sounded interesting to me. I found the format of many of the episodes in 2021 to be quite appealing (the episodes with [Scott Postma](https://kepler.education/t/scott.postma/?ref=brentodell.com) and [Joffre Swait](https://kepler.education/t/joffre.swait/?ref=brentodell.com) discussing classical education). In November 2021, this podcast pivoted to a new format (based primarily on conference talks) which I've found to be hit or miss. Some episodes have been great, others less so.
- [The Everlasting Education](https://theeverlastingeducation.podbean.com/?ref=brentodell.com) \- By the same people as The Consortium Podcast, and with the original format 0f that podcast when it pivoted in November 2021\. Sadly it is not being produced anymore, but many of the older episodes are worth a listen.
- [ClassicalU Podcast](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDVo7Rgf4VuuOX0FFAqn1YGKIHmWNHdal&ref=brentodell.com) \- I just discovered this podcast recently, and have not had time to develop an opinion of it, but it is produced by the folks at [Classical Academic Press](https://classicalacademicpress.com/?ref=brentodell.com), and I've been a big fan of several of their books.