[Second Spring]

Hello newbies! Tell us a little about yourself.*

I have worked at Second Spring for over 7 years. I am the managing editor on our publications, programme manager for the summer schools, and general business manager…as well as running our website and social media! I am so excited to launch this online forum where people can connect and work towards the “Re-Enchantment of Education”.
I am a dual British-American citizen, and though I grew up in England I now live just outside Philadelphia PA with my teacher husband. My BA was in Theology but I have always loved the Liberal Arts (and the Fine Arts for that matter).

*Please note that whatever personal details you share are public. What you choose to share is your call, I just wanted to point that out!

[charoster]

I’m a ‘veteran homeschooler’ whose nest is now empty, so I have time to write more. I published Souls at Rest and Souls at Work via the Second Spring imprint of Angelico Press, and am working on some small offerings on freedom to support a small non-profit effort to support Catholic cultural initiatives. I speak and write on various topics under the general umbrella “education for freedom”. Thanks much to those who have pulled this forum together!

[Roy]

Hello everyone, I’m a home educator, secondary school teacher in the UK, and author of ‘Out of the Classroom and Into the World’ which has recently been published as part of Angelico Press’s Second Spring imprint.

[TomGourlay]

Hi everyone,
my name is Tom, and I work at the University of Notre Dame Australia, in Campus Ministry. I have worked as a teacher of religious education in a variety of Catholic high schools, and am currently in the very early stages of doctoral studies looking at how a sacramental vision of reality impacts on the life of the mind and how we come to know things, even in the supposedly ‘secular’ disciplines.
I have gained a lot from reading Stratford Caldecott’s work on education (and other subjects), along with others associated with the Communio journal.
I really am looking forward to what might emerge from the conversations on this forum.

[DRMosley87]

Salutations!

My name is David Russell Mosley. I have a PhD from the University of Nottingham in theology. I currently work at a private, Catholic, classical high school in Manchester, NH and I teach theology online for a small protestant university with campuses in TN and FL. I teach theology and literature. Stratford Caldecott’s work has been monumental both in my work as a teacher/professor and in my personal life as his work were an important part of my coming into the Catholic Church.

I am actually trying to get my faculty to read Beauty for Truth’s Sake because I think we need a little stronger understanding of the liberal arts and why we educate the way we do.

[KathrynH]

Hello,

Roy and Tessa both mentioned this forum to me and I’m rather tardily getting around to signing up. I’m a home-educating mother of eight; I’ve been home-educating for 19 years now – my oldest son is 23, my youngest is 8. I’ve been interested in the Classical education revival in the US for several years and found Stratford’s books enormously helpful in forming my own ideas on education from a Catholic, classical perspective. My own ‘angle’ is that I’m very keen for us to establish UK based Catholic Classical home-education rather than carry on relying on the American programmes. We have so much to offer our children from our own cultural heritage and education system! I have gained a great deal of help and support from the US (especially via Laura Berquist) but have resisted the temptation to sign up to MODG/Seton and instead have stayed with the UK GCSE system whilst attempting to give my children a more liberal arts based education. I’d love to talk to anyone else who is attempting this! What I love about Stratford’s vision is that it is so much broader and deeper (and contains so much more potential) than the standard US Sayers model. Strat’s the first one who’s managed to make me see that the quadrivium is just as important as the trivium in providing an overall ‘cosmology’ in which to contextualise all our other teaching. Although practically we start with the Trivium, in our theory we need to start at the top with theology and work back through philosophy and the quadrivium. When we know where we’re headed, we can give meaning to our pursuit of the trivium. Anyway, that’s what I felt after re-reading Beauty for Truth’s Sake again this week on a long train journey. Any thoughts? PS Tessa, my degree is also in theology 😉

[Second Spring]

To everyone who has introduced themselves so far: Thank you for dropping in!

I know things have been a bit slow here, and we’re working on ideas to get it moving, but for now I just wanted to say that our first members certainly demonstrate a wonderful range of interesting people who want to connect and discuss these topics.

Kathryn, I certainly hope we can find people in the UK for you to talk about curricula with. We have so much common ground with our American friends, but there is a different context and a slightly different…tone/sensibility?… to work with. And your summary of what Strat offers in BfTS is great – spot on!

David, charoster, Tom – it was very good to see you all on here. I hope you check back in from time to time, and feel free to start some more discussion topics.

[regina_doman]

Hi all,
I knew Strat and worked with him a bit, and have been a fan of his ideas for a long time. Right now I teach the Seton Curriculum at our parish co-op three days a week, teaching high school English at all four grade levels, plus theology. I have tried my hand at creating a memorized schedule of work to compliment our curriculum and make it more unified, but thus far haven’t received much administrative support, although some folks were very interested in the concept. I’m currently reading Beauty for Truth’s Sake.

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