150 episodes listed below
Honest homeschool conversations, from daily rhythms to dead languages.
Amy Sloan's interview series brings together homeschooling parents and advocates of classical learning to talk about what home education asks of a family. The conversations run from saying no to good activities and splitting lessons around a job to defending Latin and Greek, and episodes close on a call to rest in the work of Christ.
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Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology is an interview show about educating children at home, hosted by Amy Sloan, who introduces herself as a second-generation homeschool mom. Each conversation pairs her with a guest, and the guests fall into two broad camps. The first is parents talking about what a homeschool day actually demands. In the episode with Brandon and Brigitte Beckley of Made2Homeschool, the academics of the elementary years are called the easy part. The harder part is that a much-loved child is home all day and needs a parent. They describe splitting the teaching around a job, with core subjects handled in the morning and geography and anatomy slotted into evenings. The Whitney Newby conversation turns on time: treating a schedule as belonging to one particular family, and accepting that the real choice is often between good things. It also includes a candid note that co-ops, life-giving for some families, have not been for the speaker. Sheri Renno, a mother of ten, recalls years of pregnancies and infants, deep exhaustion, and early investment whose fruit she could not yet see. Elizabeth Santelmann's episode tells new parents they owe no one a justification for their choice. It also includes a story of a homeschool room, flag and chalkboard included, abandoned after two weeks in favor of a cozier home setting. The second camp is educators with a classical bent. Dr. David Noe, who has spent years studying and teaching Latin and Greek, answers the charge that dead languages waste time by asking parents to audit the rest of their hours, football games and ice cream cones included. He also borrows an image from Augustine to argue that understanding a little of the Iliad beats consuming a great deal of poor literature. Chris Hall's conversation on the common arts ranges from Tolkien's elves and dwarves as sub-creators to a hurricane radio net with Jamaica, and makes the case for hands-on skills in an age of fragile power grids and a push toward screens and AI. Faith runs through both camps. Scripture surfaces naturally: Psalm 121 recommended as eight verses easy to memorize, Acts 17, the thorns and thistles of Genesis 3. Discipleship is treated as central, with Sheri Renno pointing to Paul's 'follow me as I follow Christ'. The register is warm and conversational, and it moves easily from evening anatomy lessons to the ancient world. Episodes end on a recurring benediction: repent of constant striving, relish the joy of learning, rest in the work of Christ, and 'stand fast, my friends.' For a family just starting out, the Beckley and Santelmann conversations speak most directly to first steps, while the Noe and Hall episodes suit a parent weighing a classical approach. Across all of them runs plain talk from people doing the work, and a reminder that a tired parent is not unseen.
Made for: Suits a Christian parent who teaches children at home, or is thinking about it, and wants practical talk about schedules and working around a job alongside classical ideas and Scripture.
What sets it apart: It puts candid parent stories about exhaustion, co-ops and split teaching duties next to educators making the case for Latin, Greek, Tolkien and the common arts, and frames all of it in explicitly Christian terms, closing on a recurring call to rest from striving.
Homeschooling is an excellent choice for many families, but it can feel overwhelming, and even isolating at times. In Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology, we talk with real life homeschooling parents about it all: educational philosophy, homeschool challenges, learning successes, faith & so much more. Host Amy Sloan, a homeschool graduate herself, is now homeschooling her own 5 children, and she brings the homeschool community to you. Informative, encouraging & fun - this is a podcast sure to encourage every homeschooling parent!
From 'who handles math?' to 'why read the Iliad?', your homeschool questions get room to breathe.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded conversation about protecting family margin by honoring the mother's wellbeing and the season at hand.
Whitney Newby centers the episode on choices that protect a family's time and a mother's capacity to keep showing up. She starts with the needs of her own household, then considers what can fit around them, including a season when co-ops were no longer life-giving.
A grounded conversation about the parenting demands beneath the academic work of starting homeschool.
The Beckleys make the case that the hardest part of starting homeschool is not usually the schoolwork itself. Their focus lands on the daily presence a child needs from a parent, especially when lessons have to fit around paid work and the real limits of attention and energy.
A lively defense of Greek and Latin that begins with football and questions what counts as wasted time.
Greek and Latin get a spirited defense through a simple question about time. David Noe asks why parents who make room for football, ice cream, coffee, and the occasional ceiling stare suddenly demand perfect efficiency from ancient languages.
A Christian homeschooling conversation about unseen work, family help, and becoming the example children learn from.
Home education here is framed as a work that often asks for trust before much evidence appears. The conversation stays close to the pressure of starting from nothing, with pregnancy and infant care adding to the weight.
A Tolkien-shaped case for recovering common arts before technology makes them feel optional.
This episode treats the common arts as a recovery of making, not just a critique of consumption. Working through Tolkien's elves, dwarves, men, and orcs, it casts people as sub-creators who are meant to pursue beauty, durability, and strength while resisting crafts bent toward…
A grounded, reassuring case for trusting a family's homeschool rhythm instead of rebuilding school at home.
Elizabeth's conversation gives first-time homeschool parents a calm way to think about the pressure to explain or defend their choice. The episode keeps returning to a simple point: homeschooling does not make anyone a better or worse parent.
Pastoral sermons for healing, faith, and release.
Faithful steps for God-shaped dreams.
Christian marriage counsel with prayerful accountability.
Christian steadiness for unsettled news and cultural life.
Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology centers on Whitney Newby and Amy Sloan discussing homeschooling with margin, joy, and Psalm 121.
Brandon Beckley says first-grade reading, language arts, and math take about an hour, and he calls that the easy part of homeschooling because the real work is parenting all day.
David Noe says the first word of the Iliad is "anger," then uses that opening to talk about Achilles and the human condition.
Amy Sloan interviews Sherry Reno, a second-generation homeschool mom of 10 children, about how discipleship shapes home education on Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology.
Chris Hall explains to Amy Sloan how classical education and common arts meet through gardening, cooking, repairs, agriculture, and other skills for embodied needs.
Elizabeth Sandelman describes a blended homeschool model for her sons, ages five, eight, and almost twelve, combining co-op classes two days a week with learning at home.
Jamie Erickson tells Amy Sloan that maternal overwhelm persists despite dishwashers, grocery delivery, and other conveniences because she views trouble as a universal consequence of life in a fallen world.
Amy Sloan interviews Brandy Vencel, Misty Winckler, and Abby Wahl about scholé, which they define as “restful learning” through reading, thinking, discussing, and reflecting.
Amy Sloan opens Season 13 of Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology with a personal update after her son Isaac completed 856 days of leukemia treatment.
Joy Lynn Blake explains why classical education should cultivate heart, soul, mind, strength, virtue, and maturity rather than function as elite college preparation.
Amy Sloan interviews Leilani Melendez, a former public and private school teacher with 10 years of classroom experience and a homeschooling mother of four, about educating Naomi, her eight-year-old daughter with Down syndrome.
Amy Sloan interviews Gregory Wilber, founder of New College Franklin, about the quadrivium, music, beauty, and Christian classical education.
Nadia, a grade-11 ballerina training about 22 hours weekly, compares Charlotte Mason homeschooling with a ninth-grade public-school year and explains why home education better supported her ballet and learning goals.
Amy Sloan interviews Calvin Beisner and David Legates, co-authors of Climate and Energy, the Case for Realism, about climate science, energy policy, Christian stewardship, and homeschool education.
Amy Sloan interviews Troy and Melissa Lamberth and their children about Five Solas Media, a family project using films and podcasts to teach church history.
Amy Sloan interviews Christine Keys, a second-generation homeschool mother of three in New Zealand, about simplifying home education while adapting routines to each family.
Amy Sloan interviews Daniel Nayeri, an Iranian-born author who arrived in Oklahoma at age seven after spending time as a refugee and later worked as a library page, editor, agent, and publisher.
Amy Sloan interviews Adrienne Fries about narration, which Fries defines as retelling learned content and as an art rather than a tool.
Amy Sloan interviews Dr.
Essie and Chin-Fu Wu of Resilient Panda explain why they created Asian American history guides after finding few materials for their homeschooled sons.
Amy Sloan interviews Elsie Iudicello, a homesteader, homemaker, and homeschooler who has educated four sons for 17 years.
Hal Prather explains how financial counseling cases involving bankruptcy and foreclosure repeatedly produced the regret, “I wish I learned this in high school.” He outlines a homeschool finance curriculum covering money habits, vocation, budgeting, investing, insurance, debt avoidance, and financial freedom.
Amy Sloan interviews Redeemed Reader editor-in-chief Betsy Farquhar and chief creative officer Megan Saban about helping children read with both delight and discernment.
Amy Sloan interviews Rachel, a second-generation homeschool mother of three and creator of Seven and All, about building a calm, capable, academically serious homeschool.
Amy Sloan opens Season 12 of Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology with a family update, including Isaac’s leukemia treatment, Emma’s associate’s degree, and Joshua’s electrical engineering studies.
Amy Sloan interviews Andrew Pudewa, founder and director of the Institute of Excellence in Writing, about reading, speaking, writing, and the development of thinking skills.
Jenny Hedrick tells Amy Sloan that defining her family’s homeschool purpose made it easier to evaluate curriculum, activities, and time.