Leigh! at Lunch 2012-2013 Season

Please join Leigh@Lunch this week and enjoy a different kind of show! At Classical Conversations, we offer our best advice for classical, Christian homeschooling, but we all have moments when things don’t go as planned. In fact, sometimes things just fall apart completely and we just have to laugh out loud with our students and children. Join us as we share some of those moments! This week's show will be hosted by members of our CCMM team. We hope you enjoy this show as they share their stories about homeschooling with Classical Conversations. Be sure to sign up on blogtalkradio.com in order to participate in the conversation with questions or comments during the show.

Please join us on February 13th as Leigh Bortins interviews Robert Cathcart. Mr. Cathcart will be speaking at our upcoming Toward the Quadrivium event in March. In this show, Mr. Cathcart will be talking about music education from a practical and pastoral perspective. He is a CC Dad and will also be addressing music eduation from a homeschool perspective as well. Robert Cathcart serves as Pastor of Friendship Presbyterian Church (PCA) in the hamlet of Hickory Tavern, near Greenville, SC. Robert’s wife, Sarah, currently directs Challenge I for Classical Conversation’s Downtown Greenville group, where the oldest three of their four children are enrolled. Robert grew up in a musical home and holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of South Carolina. While studying in Columbia, Robert became principal trombone in the USC Symphony Orchestra, USC Wind Ensemble, and played lead in the Left Bank Big Band Jazz Ensemble. Before entering seminary, Robert substituted with the Augusta Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony and the Durham (NC) Symphony. During his studies, Robert began writing hymn texts set to familiar tunes, an activity that he continues today. Basing the new texts on sermons that he prepares for his congregation, Robert follows in the footsteps of prominent ministers such as Richard Baxter, Isaac Watts, John Newton, and Charles Wesley. Currently, Robert has two collections of congregational song available for use: Psalms, Hymns, and Canticles, and Christian Psalms for the Twenty-first Century. Please join this week to learn more about Mr. Cathcart and about the TTQ event. Remember to join blogtalkradio.com in order to participate in the conversation.

Please join us on February 6th as Matt Bianco interviews John Mason Hodges. Hodges will be speaking at our upcoming Toward the Quadrivium event in March. In this show, we hope to learn more about the quadrivium and specifically, to learn more about the importance of music and music education.  John Mason Hodges is a conductor, lecturer, composer, and writer. He conducted orchestras and choruses since finishing graduate studies in music at Indiana University in 1983. He also has 14 years experience conducting, composing, and arranging music for churches. He has lectured in this country and in Europe on the subjects of aesthetics, education, and music, and writes occasional articles for various publications on the arts. He held the position of Associate Professor of the Arts and Culture at Crichton College where he taught classes in worldview, history of the arts and reader’s theater; directed theater productions; and was founding director of the Institute for the Arts and Cultural Apologetics. Most recently he has founded and directs the Center for Western Studies, a year-long tutorial program that teaches college-aged students a Christian worldview and the history of Western ideas. He lives in Memphis with Day, his wife of 28 years, and their son Mason who is graduating college this spring. Be sure to sign up on blogtalkradio.com in order to participate in the conversation with questions or comments during the show.

Do you have unanswered questions about American history? On Wednesday, January 30 at 12:00 noon EST, Leigh Bortins will interview Larry Schweikart, history professor and author of A Patriot's History of the United States. Challenge III students, what questions would you like to ask your textbook author directly? Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to discuss our nation's history directly with Mr. Schweikart.  Perhaps he may answer your final questions before Lincoln-Douglas debates and finals this semester. We look forward to hearing from our Challenge students! Of course, Challenge parents and tutors are welcome to join the conversation too. Don't miss this opportunity to find out more about issues that will impact your life and our nation. Remember to join the conversation by signing up on BlogTalkRadio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. *Please note: you must be signed up to chat.*

Please join Leigh!@Lunch this week as Matt interviews Shannon Brown and CEO of Classical Conversations, Robert Bortins, to discuss the ins and outs of end of grade testing. Is your child ready? What are the legal requirements for YOUR state? What do you do if your child has struggled all year? Have questions about the testing booklets?These questions and more, will be answered in this session of Leigh!@Lunch on BTR with Matt, Robert Bortins, and Shannon Brown. Remember to sign up on blogtalkradio.com in order to chat and ask questions during the show.

Join Leigh@Lunch this week as the CCMM Team talks about "What's Going On in 2013". We hope this show will help inform you about new products, programs, and other learning opportunities to strengthen your homeschool experience with Classical Conversations. The Classical Conversations Multi-Media Team will be hosted by Matt Bianco and will be discussing topics such as 2013 Practicums, CC Difference, Prescripts' products, Leigh's new book The Question, and much more! Please take the time to join this week's program in order to be more informed with Classical Conversations' updates in order to prepare you for the upcoming year. Join the conversation by signing in on BlogTalkRadio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. Please note you must be signed in to chat.  

Please join Leigh@Lunch this week as Leigh Bortins interviews Israel Wayne about homeschooling with a biblical worldview. They will also be talking about parenting, education, and entertainment and the influences of modern culture in each.  Israel Wayne is a homeschooled graduate who is leading his generation in defending the Christian faith and developing a Biblical worldview. He is the author of the books Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview and FullTime Parenting: A Guide to Family-Based Discipleship. Israel is a regular columnist for Home School Digest and Brush Arbor Quarterly, published by Wisdom’s Gate (www.WisdomsGate.org), where he currently serves as the Marketing Director. He is also the site editor for www.ChristianWorldview.net. Since 1995, Israel has been a popular conference speaker, and a frequent guest on national radio programs discussing home education and cultural issues from a Biblical perspective. Israel’s family began home educating in 1978 and has been featured in national and international publications including TIME Magazine, The Arizona Republic, The Boston Globe, and the Wall Street Journal. Israel has been featured as the keynote speaker at various state homeschool conferences, with over 5,000 in attendance. Israel and his wife Brook, also a homeschool graduate, are home educating their seven young children, and Brook is a regular columnist for An Encouraging Word magazine. Join the conversation by signing in on BlogTalkRadio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. Please note you must be signed in to chat.

Please join Leigh@Lunch this week as Matt interviews Dr. E. Christian Kopff on the Classics and Latin. Chris Kopff was born in Brooklyn NY, November 22, 1946 and educated at St. Paul's School (Garden City NY), Haverford College PA (B.A., summa cum laude) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (PhD, Classics). He has taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder since 1973. For about five of the last thirty years he has lived in Rome, Italy, teaching and studying. He is editor of a critical edition of the Greek text of Euripides' Bacchae (Teubner, 1982) and author of over 100 articles and reviews on scholarly, pedagogical and popular topics. He currently works with the Classics Department of the University of Urbino, Italy on ancient Greek lyric poetry. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the CU Committee on Research. His book, The Devil Knows Latin: Why America Needs the Classical Tradition is widely cited in the new Classical Education movement. Dr. Kopff is the founding faculty father of the CU-Boulder Honors Journal, which is the elite undergraduate publication for the university. He is winner of the Jacob Van Ek Mentor Award, the Faculty Essay Award of the CU Graduate School Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and two-time winner of the SOAR Award (Student Organization for Alumni Relations. To win this award twice is a very exceptional accomplishment). Remember to sign up on blogtalkradio in order to chat and participate in this week's show!

Join Leigh!@Lunch this week as Leigh interviews Andrew Kern about how Christians should approach classical culture. Matt and Andrew will also be discussing the Odyssey and its importance to the classical renewal.Andrew Kern, is president and founder of the CiRCE Institute. He graduated from Concordia University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he was mentored by Dr. Gene Edward Veith and was graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts. Shortly afterward, Dr. Veith and Andrew co-authored the best-selling book, Classical Education, The Movement Sweeping America, now in its second edition.Andrew has been directly involved in the establishment of three classical Christian schools, has trained teachers in over 50 states since 1996, and has been directing the CiRCE Institute full time since the summer of 2000.Andrew Kern is married to Karen. They are the parents of three boys and two girls: David, Matthew, Katerina, Larissa, and Andrew.Remember to sign up on blogtalkradio in order to chat and participate in this week's show!

Join Matt Bianco and the CCMM Team today on Leigh!@Lunch as they discuss specific Classical Conversations' products and updates. Jennifer Courtney, Jen Greenholt, Courtney Sanford and others will all be with us from Classical Conversations MultiMedia Team to explain new iPad/iPhone applications, discuss CC Connected, and introduce a new program called Scribblers. The team will be discussing a new product from the Scribblers program and also be describing the program and its purpose. We are looking forward to this informational discussion and hope you join the conversation to ask your questions. *Join the conversations by signing up on blogtalkradio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. Please note you must be signed up to chat.

Please join Leigh@Lunch on October 24th, 12:00 pm EST and hear Matt Bianco interview Andrew Pudewa. Mr. Pudewa is the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and a homeschooling father of seven. Presenting throughout North America, he addresses issues relating to teaching, writing, thinking, spelling, and music with clarity, insight, practical experience, and humor. His seminars for parents, students and teachers have helped transform many a reluctant writer and have equipped educators with powerful tools to dramaticaly imporve students' skills He and his beautiful, heroic wife Robin are parents of seven, grandparents of three, and educators of their two youngest children at home in Oklahoma’s Green Country. *Join the conversation by signing up on blogtalkradio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. Please note you must be signed up to chat.  

Please join Leigh@Lunch as Leigh interviews writer, author, and journalist, Richard J. Maybury. We are excited to have author of Whatever Happened to Penny Candy on this week's show! We hope to have many of our Challenge I tutors, parents, and students listening and participating in the discussion. Richard J. Maybury is widely regarded as one of the top free-market writers in America. Maybury's articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other major publications. President of Henry Madison Research, Inc., Maybury is a world-renowned author, lecturer and analyst who consults with business firms and individuals in the U.S. and Europe. Maybury is the Editor of the widely read newsletter, Richard Maybury's U.S. & World Early Warning Report. Maybury has written 22 books and monographs, including his highly acclaimed Uncle Eric series of books, which focus on economics, law and history. Mr. Maybury's Uncle Eric series of books has been awarded First Place, in the government category, of the 2012 Practical Homeschooling Reader Awards. *Join the conversation by signing up on blogtalkradio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. Please note you must be signed up to chat.

Please join Leigh@Lunch today as Leigh interviews writer, editor and founder of World magazine, Joel Belz.     Author Joel Belz founded World magazine, a Christian interest weekly, in 1986. He served as editor and publisher until late 1994. Before that, Belz was managing editor of The Presbyterian Journal, a magazine of theological interest started in 1942. In 1997 Belz was elected president of the Evangelical Press Association. In 1994, he received the James DeForest Murch award from the National Association of Evangelicals. Belz focuses now on editorial tasks for World magazine, having written the lead column for more than 20 years. He also speaks across the country. He is an active churchman, having served in 2003 as moderator of the highest assembly of his denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. He has been a member of the board of Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, for most of the last 25 years. He has a B.A. from Covenant College, an M.A. in mass communications from the University of Iowa, and a doctor of humane letters from Geneva College.    *Join the conversation by signing up on blogtalkradio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. Please note you must be signed up to chat.

Please join Leigh@Lunch today as Leigh interviews Christopher Perrin on Classical Education. The conversations will include Dr. Perrin's work with Classical Academic Press, Alcuin Fellowship, and his work with the Society for Classical Learning. Dr. Perrin is the vice-chairman for the Society of Classical Learning. Christopher Perrin is the publisher with Classical Academic Press, a consultant to classical, Christian schools and the Director of  the Alcuin Fellowship with the Institute for Classical Schools.  Dr. Perrin has taught at Messiah College and Chesapeake Theological Seminary and served as headmaster of Covenant Christian Academy in Harrisburg, PA from its founding in 1997 until 2007.  He received his B.A. in history from the University of South Carolina, his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in California and his Ph.D. in Apologetics from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.  He was also a special student in literature at St. Johns College in Annapolis.  Dr. Perrin is the author of the books An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents, The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker, Greek for Children, and co-author of the Latin for Children series published by Classical Academic Press.  *Join the conversation by signing up on blogtalkradio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. Please note you must be signed up to chat.

Join Leigh@Lunch this week as Matt interviews author James W. Sire about worldview and philosophy. James W. Sire (Ph.D., University of Missouri), formerly a senior editor at InterVarsity Press, is an active speaker and writer. He has taught English, philosophy, theology, and short courses at many universities and seminaries. He continues to be a frequent guest lecturer in the United States and Europe. His InterVarsity Press books and Bible studies include The Universe Next Door (a worldviews textbook), Scripture Twisting, Discipleship of the Mind, Chris Chrisman Goes to College, Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All?, Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling, Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept, Learning to Pray Through the Psalms, Why Good Arguments Often Fail and A Little Primer on Humble Apologetics. *Join the conversation by signing up on blogtalkradio and chatting or calling in with your specific questions or comments. Please note you must be signed up to chat.