The Well-Trained Mind podcast

Susan Wise Bauer has a great perspective on homeschool! Unfortunately, there is a lot of time spent on her dissecting and reviewing her fundamentalist childhood. Which obviously that colors a lot of what she says. But I do think that could be helpful for those who had a similar upbringing. For those of us that didn’t, it’s a bit redundant and takes up way too much time. Less religion talk, more about actual schooling!

I was excited to find this podcast however in the episode I’m listening to now Susan and her co host are bashing Hilsdale for being a conservative school. Can you show me any public school that doesn’t teach extreme leftist ideologies? Or university for that matter ? Are conservatives not allowed to have their space too? Edit: I’m currently listening to the episode with Julie Bogart, and they start the episode off by talking about how Julie was kicked out of a conference for being too progressive. Meanwhile, this happens to conservatives too. They get kicked out of spaces for not having views that are progressive enough so it goes both ways. Edit 2: Even though I was irked by the put downs of conservatives, overall I did enjoy the podcast and found a lot of great information.

So glad to hear straight from SWB! Practical and delightful. Have listened to many episodes over and over. Susan and Susanna know what they’re talking about!

I was homeschooled from 1st-12th grades and I am homeschooling my children now. It has been very difficult for me to find resources that were not heavily religious. While Susan Wise Bauer is unashamedly Christian, she does not let it cloud her vision when discussing academic topics. She pushes back when people are radical on both ends of the spectrum. I told my husband just yesterday, I love how I can’t tell where he stands politically because sometimes she says things that seem left-leaning, while other’s she sounds more conservative. This leads me to believe that she is a critical thinker, not bound to any political ideology. Anyone who says different probably don’t know how to think critically and more than likely want an indoctrination program rather than a true education. I will be binging this podcast from now on.

I was truly excited for this podcast due to the secular nature of the curriculum. However, I agree with others when they hear the condescension for Christian’s and conservatives and white men, as well as an appeal to tribal politics. I had high hopes for this podcast, but pushing a political agenda when discussing education is unattractive and unneeded. Teach me about classical education and how to do it. Teach me about developmentally appropriate lessons in grammar, writing, history, etc. Please stop denigrating groups of people. I want to continue listening, but I am having a hard time doing so due to political affiliation. I’m a classical liberal, an atheist and an educator. Identity politics do not belong in education. Teach the material using the best sources. Whom they’re written by doesn’t matter.