Classical Christian education as whole-person formation.
BaseCamp Live treats education as more than preparation for college, career, or measurable achievement. Through generous interviews with educators, leaders, alumni, and parents, it asks how schools can shape wisdom, faith, habits, curiosity, and character.
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BaseCamp Live is an interview-centered education show rooted in the world of classical Christian schooling. Its central question is simple and demanding: what is education actually for? The answer, across recent episodes, is rarely framed as test scores, college admission, job preparation, or technical competence alone. The show keeps returning to formation. It asks what kind of person a child is becoming, what loves are being trained, what habits are being formed, and how schools and homes can work together in that deeper task. Davies Owens gives the conversations a pastoral, community-minded shape. Guests are introduced through biography and lived experience before the discussion moves into principle. That pattern matters. An episode with Ali Ghaffari turns leadership and school founding toward the question of formation rather than mere information. A conversation with Patrick Egan brings Charlotte Mason back into view, especially her concern for habits, affections, and rich encounters with truth, goodness, and beauty. Joshua Pauling’s episode presses against the modern instinct to optimize children into achievement machines. Other conversations look at training classical Christian teachers, defining classical Christian education, alumni stories, science classrooms, and better questions around the dinner table or in the car. The show has a clear audience. It speaks to parents, school leaders, teachers, mentors, and supporters of the movement who want encouragement, vocabulary, and practical imagination for the work in front of them. Its concerns are often cultural, but the posture is not frantic. It prefers encouragement, story, and thoughtful challenge. BaseCamp Live is most useful for listeners who already care about Christian formation and want to think more carefully about schools as places where children are taught not only what to know, but how to attend, wonder, judge, love, and serve.
Made for: BaseCamp Live is for parents, educators, school leaders, mentors, and school communities invested in classical Christian education. It especially suits listeners looking for thoughtful encouragement rather than quick education hacks.
What sets it apart: The show pairs movement-level questions with grounded stories from school leaders, alumni, teachers, and practitioners. Its strength is translating classical Christian ideals into practical concerns about homes, classrooms, leadership, habits, and children’s formation.
BaseCamp LIVE will equip you, the parent, educator, or mentor to climb the biggest mountains as you seek to shape young people to become exceptionally prepared, compassionate, and thoughtful human beings. Our guests are thought leaders, culture watchers, and educational experts who are seeing the benefits of a classical Christian education to form students into adults who can think critically, believe with courage, and serve compassionately.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Davies Owens connects classical Christian educational ideals to the practical judgments parents, teachers, and schools make about learning and human formation.
BaseCamp Live keeps returning to a consequential question: what kind of person is education forming? Davies Owens uses guest conversations to examine schooling through a classical Christian framework, with attention to the choices made by teachers, schools, and families.
Grades lose their halo when Davies Owens asks what a child is actually becoming.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear case for education that forms the whole person, not just delivers information.
BaseCamp Live frames Charlotte Mason as a answer to modern schooling that can shrink education into information and job prep. It keeps the focus on formation: habits, affections, rich ideas, and fuller encounters with truth, goodness, and beauty.
A clear, grounded conversation about education, formation, and the pressure to perform.
Joshua Pauling's conversation on Basecamp Live keeps the focus on what education is for once grades and metrics start steering the discussion. It asks a plain question: are schools helping form people, or just training students to score well?
A grounded look at teaching that values formation and judgment over test prep.
Base Camp Live asks a plain question with a lot behind it: what makes a good teacher? It treats good teaching as more than delivery. The point is formation, curiosity, confidence, and the teacher as a real guide in the room.
A thoughtful case for treating STEM as a partner to classical formation, not its opposite.
This discussion makes a steady case that classical Christian schooling and STEM do not have to compete. The guest, who has done extensive research on the topic, answers a practical concern directly: whether a child drawn to science, technology, and math can still do well in a…
A practical look at why Christian education matters beyond academics.
Basecamp Live treats school choice as part of a wider question about how Christian education shapes children over time. Davies Owens talks with a guest who leads a major foundation serving Christian education, and the conversation gives a clear sense of the movement's growth…
Primary-source education for serious Mason readers.
Waldorf education, explained one family question at a time.
Héctor and Beto dissect Mexican grammar, slang, and news in native-speed Spanish conversations.
Asian Efficiency's Tan Pham and Brooks Duncan on time management, habits, and AI tools.
A call-in helpline where listener questions turn into reported science and history investigations.
This episode explores the purpose of education beyond career preparation, focusing on personal formation and faith, featuring guest Ali Ghaffari who co-founded Divine Mercy Academy after his experiences at the U.S.
Davies Owens interviews Dr.
Josh Pauling, headmaster of All Saints Classical Academy and vicar of All Saints Lutheran Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, applies Jacques Ellul's concept of 'technique'—the demand for absolute efficiency in every domain of life—to K-12 education, arguing that both progressive and classical schools are at risk of treating students like factory outputs.
This episode discusses the unique challenges and resources for finding and training teachers in classical Christian education, featuring insights from Dr.
This episode explores classical Christian education through an interview with Dr.
This episode features an alumni interview with Neeya Toleman, discussing her role in managing power grids and how her classical Christian education background influences her work and the broader education movement.
This episode explores how classical Christian education can prepare students for science careers by integrating academic rigor, curiosity, and theological imagination, featuring an interview with educator Paul Laywell.
This episode explores how asking intentional questions can deepen conversations and relationships with children, drawing on classical Christian education principles.
An interview with Mitchell Slater about his journey from starting a business at 17 to inspiring young people to be real-world ready through classical Christian education.
This episode explores what classical Christian education is and how it differs from other schooling approaches, featuring host Davies Owens and guest interviews.
This episode discusses the importance of forming healthy habits in children and offers practical examples for parents and educators.
This episode discusses the concept of 'ordo amoris' (ordering of loves) and how classical Christian education helps parents and educators raise children to love the right things in the right order.
Davies Owens interviews Carrie Eben, co-author of The Good Teacher: 10 Pedagogical Principles That Will Transform Your Teaching, a book she wrote with Dr.
Diane Gray, a microbiologist with degrees from Oregon State University and 12 years in biotech R&D at Lucky Probes in Eugene, Oregon, argues that classical Christian education is not only compatible with STEM careers but provides its necessary foundation.
This episode discusses the role of hymns in classical Christian education and the revival of faith-based schooling.
Christian schooling comes through as formation.
This episode discusses how to create environments where boys can thrive through classical Christian education, featuring a founder of a new school for boys.
This episode explores the balance between protecting children and preparing them with wisdom and discernment to thrive in the modern world, offering practical insights from home and school perspectives.
This episode defends the value of learning Latin in classical Christian schools, arguing it is both practical and formative for students.
This episode discusses the benefits and practical management of school uniforms within a classical Christian education context.
An interview with Dr.
This episode explores changes in AP testing and emerging alternatives for students, framed within a classical Christian education perspective.
This episode explores how to measure holistic formation of head, heart, and hands in education, featuring Katherine Schultz and discussing tools like ZipCast for schools.
This episode discusses the importance of creating consistent rhythms and routines at home to nurture well-being and help children develop good habits.
This episode discusses the value of reading classic long-form books in a classical Christian education context.
A flashback episode addressing whether classical Christian education is elitist, arguing it pursues excellence with humility.
This episode revisits a conversation with Andrew Pudewa on how classical Christian schools develop articulate communicators through rhetoric and phonics.
Host Davies Owens introduces a new segment with Christina Crook about JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) as an antidote to FOMO, encouraging intentional living and family connection.
A flashback episode exploring how to teach science and math within a classical Christian education framework, featuring an interview with expert Robbie Jane.
A flashback interview with Dr.
Christian counselor Keith McCurdy discusses the role of sports in child development, balancing benefits with risks of overscheduling.
The episode discusses how to raise wise, grounded children with biblical truth and purpose in a modern culture that prioritizes feelings over transcendent truth.
This bonus episode of Base Camp Live features Davies Owens and Hannah Brusven answering frequently asked questions about Zipcast, an educational communication platform designed to help school leaders connect with their communities.
This episode explores strategies for teaching reading effectively and fostering a love of reading in both home and classroom settings, featuring insights from Dorrie McKoy.
This episode explores simple daily habits and rituals that can strengthen family bonds and improve home and school life, featuring insights from Jim Mhoon.