Leigh bortins biography of michael
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The Conversation: Intriguing Your Schoolboy with a Classical Education
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The Question - Teaching Your Child the Essentials of Classical Education
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Classical Education and Conservatism
What is “classical” education? Is it a “conservative” thing?
The Heritage Foundation recently published a video lecture by Leigh Bortins, founder and leader of Classical Conversations.
Readers of ILYBYGTH may remember a recent guest post from Patrick Halbrook about the thought of classical education inspiration Dorothy Sayers.
Bortins’ talk at Heritage did not focus too much on Sayers’ work, but rather on teaching homeschooling parents a classical approach. Those familiar with the themes of classical Christian education will notice that Bortins mostly assumes the age-graded breakdown of the Trivium, though she does talk us through it.
Her organization, Classical Conversations, claims over 62, students enrolled. Bortins says her program has trained over 8, parents, as well as over 16, parents who have attended three-day practicums.
Bortins herself now hosts groups of college-age people (currently 19) in her home. She teaches them in the classical model at her home.
Young people, Bortins insists, must be challenged in age-appropriate ways. Monotony and repetition, she says, are the right way to teach young people. Older students must move into questioning and using knowledge to improve themselves and their communities.
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