SS #124: Redeeming the Five-Paragraph Essay (with Renee Shepard!!)
Scholé Sisters: Camaraderie for Classical Homeschooling Mamas
Brandy Vencel
4.7 • 540 Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2023
⏱️ 62 minutes
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Summary
Our guest today is Renee Shepard. Renee was one of the fortunate few to be homeschooled back when that wasn't really a thing. When she had her own children, she wanted to provide an even better education for them. That drove her to a study of classical education, and over the last ten years she has been homeschooling her children while staying a step ahead of them as she completed her Masters in Classical Christian Studies at New Saint Andrews college. She has been teaching the progymnasmata at various homeschool co-ops for the last 5 years and next year will begin teaching part time at Logos School.
Today, we're going to talk about this classical approach to writing — called the progymnasmata! — how it relates to the modernist five-paragraph essay, why it's better than modernist writing curricula, and so much more.
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Renee Shepard isn't just our guest for this episode; she's the teacher we hired to teach summer school this year! Renee is going to unwrap a big gift for us, one that has been sitting under classical education's tree, untouched, for a very long time, and that is CLASSICAL WRITING. Did you know that classical education has its own, highly effective way of teaching writing, that writing was taught this way for at least 1500 years, and that when we abandoned this way of teaching, that was when writing began to decline? You're a classical homeschooler; you don't have to use a modernist writing program. Renee will help. To register for summer school, go to https://www.scholesisters.com/writing and sign up!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I've been working with some of my kids through the exercises and realizing all of the |
| 0:07.2 | homeschool families that want to have a virtue curriculum, it actually should just be their |
| 0:12.5 | writing programs. |
| 0:14.0 | Amen. |
| 0:15.5 | Yeah. |
| 0:32.1 | Welcome, Tiska. Welcome to Scalae Sisters, the podcast for classical homeschooling mamas who yearn for something more than just checking boxes and getting it all done. |
| 0:38.1 | Scalae Sisters discusses topics that matter to those of us who believe that educating ourselves through reading widely, thinking deeply, and applying faithfully, equips us for the task of educating |
| 0:43.1 | our children. I'm your host, Brandy Vensel. My Charlotte Mason Boot Camp is happening again this summer. |
| 0:51.1 | To get on the interest list, go to afterthoughts blog.net slash CM boot camp. |
| 0:57.9 | My co-host today is Misty Winkler. Missy is a homeschooling mom of five, including two graduates. |
| 1:04.8 | She writes and podcasts at simplyconvial.com and is the author of the Convivial homeschool, |
| 1:10.2 | now available on Amazon. |
| 1:13.6 | Our guest today is Renee Shepard. Renée was one of the fortunate few to be homeschooled |
| 1:18.3 | back when that wasn't really a thing. When she had her own children, she wanted to provide |
| 1:22.6 | an even better education for them. That drove her to a study of classical education, and over the last 10 years, |
| 1:29.4 | she's been homeschooling her children while staying a step ahead of them as she completed her |
| 1:33.1 | master's in classical Christian studies at New St. Andrews College. She has been teaching the pro-gem |
| 1:38.7 | at various homeschool co-ops for the last five years, and next year she'll begin teaching part-time |
| 1:43.8 | at Logos School. |
| 1:47.3 | Renee Shepard isn't just our guest for this episode. She's also the teacher we hired to teach |
| 1:52.5 | summer school this year. Renee is going to unwrap a big gift for us, one that has been sitting |
| 1:58.7 | under classical education's tree untouched for a long time, |
... |
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