Katie and Shannon continue their discussion about education. They work through some practical questions like how to use a curriculum and what it might look like to "master" a subject before moving on to deeper philosophical questions like what the purpose of education ought to be, what a teacher is, and what the relationship between home and school should be. Enjoy! Website Link: Penelope's Loom - Classical Education Commonplace Quotes Mandell Creighton Then there is the temptation of practical life. A man pursues knowledge; he takes his earnings at once to the market, and makes use of them. His temptation is to regard knowledge as a commodity, and he treats it as such. Is that not a constant temptation that besets a teacher? No life requires such careful watching of its central motive as does the teacher's life. There is a constant temptation to reduce knowledge within the limits in which it can be most conveniently taught, to consider how it can most easily be foisted by mechanical means into an unreceptive mind. The tendency of our educational system at the present day is to increase tenfold the power of this temptation. The teacher is judged by his capacity to produce definite results, at definite times, in a definite shape. Before such a task how difficult it is to maintain a noble ideal, to keep a real interest in the spread of knowledge as such. It is very hard for the teacher to be true to his “first love”; but unless he is, assuredly his career, however outwardly prosperous and marked by the conventional testimonies of efficiency, will be fruitless of abiding results. Dorothy Sayers The sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves. Proverbs 2 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

In this episode, Katie and Shannon begin a discussion about the nebulous topic "classical education." After attempting to distill a description of modern classical education, they move on to discuss their own educational background from learning at home from their parents, to their formal education at the elementary, secondary, and college level. They dive into their personal stories of how each of them came to develop a sense of what education ought to be while recognizing that they have so much more to learn. Enjoy! Website link: Penelope's Loom - Classical Education  Commonplace Quotes Plato The correct formation of our feelings of pleasure and pain, which makes us hate what we ought to hate from first to last, and love what we ought to love; call this ‘education’, and I, at any rate, think you would be giving it its proper name. Hesiod Before the gates of Excellence the high gods have placed sweat Long is the road thereto and steep and rough at the first.  But when the height is won, then is there ease,  Though grievously hard in the winning.

In this episode Katie and Shannon discuss how to face those times of inevitable discontentment in life. They each have their own experience to draw upon as well as a lot of great advice that they have accumulated from others over the years. They explore how the Scriptures address discontent and talk about both how to address discontent with prayer and patience and some practical things that can help break the melancholy and refocus the mind away from oneself during such times. Enjoy! Visit the website, Penelope's Loom. Commonplace Quotes Sir Philip Sidney Leave me, o love, which reachest but to dust; And thou, my mind, aspire to higher things; Grow rich in that which never taketh rust, Whatever fades, but fading pleasures brings. Draw in thy beams, and humble all thy might To that sweet yoke where lasting freedoms be; Which breaks the clouds, and opens forth the light That doth both shine and give us sight to see. The Four Loves - C.S. Lewis It is apparent in our growing awareness that our whole being by its very nature is one vast need; incomplete, preparatory, empty yet cluttered, crying out for Him who can untie things that are now knotted together and tie up things that are still dangling loose. P. 3 Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones. Confessions - Augustine of Hippo You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.

In this episode Katie and Shannon discuss the difficult question of how to love one's enemies. They dive into distinctions and definitions about friends and enemies and try to make some sense of Jesus's command. Meanwhile, Shannon's little son, John, joins them briefly and they discuss a few commonplace quotes, too. Enjoy! Visit the website, Penelope's Loom. Show Notes: Common Place Quotes: Richard II by William Shakespeare Act V, Scene V: Richard’s Prison Speech I have been studying how I may compare This prison where I live unto the world: And for because the world is populous And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it; yet I'll hammer it out. My brain I'll prove the female to my soul, My soul the father; and these two beget A generation of still-breeding thoughts, And these same thoughts people this little world, In humours like the people of this world, For no thought is contented. The better sort, As thoughts of things divine, are intermix'd With scruples and do set the word itself Against the word. From On Duties by Cicero "Even in friendships, therefore, when you compare what seems advantageous with right action, the mere appearance of advantage should yield, and right action should prevail. Moreover, when friends ask you to do things that are not right, the scruple of conscience and trustworthiness should take precedence over friendship." A Poison Tree by William Blake I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I water’d it in fears, Night and morning with my tears: And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night. Till it bore an apple bright. And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine. And into my garden stole, When the night had veil’d the pole; In the morning glad I see; My foe outstretched beneath the tree. Mandell Creighton "Remember that the uttermost penalty was reserved for him who could say to his brother “Thou fool!” because contempt was the most un-godlike quality which man could display. Beware above all things lest a little knowledge only reinforce conceit and lead you into a false world where self is enthroned, far away from the true world which is illuminated by the love of God, manifested in the Person of the Incarnate Word."

In this episode, Shannon and Katie discuss the nature of the disunity that is so prevalent in our nation's society today. They talk about the possible results of that disunity and the plausibility of reunification efforts. They also discuss what each has been reading and learning about lately and share a few commonplace quotes. Enjoy! Visit our website, Penelope's Loom. Show Notes: Commonplace Corner: John Milton - Areopagitica -  "Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?" Bernard of Clairvaux  - In Capite Jejunii -  "Well, wholly well, is it for me to cleave to You, O glorious and ever-blessed Head, on Whom the angels yearn to look. Wherever You go, there will I follow You; if You pass through the fire, I will not be turned from You. I will fear no evil, for You are with me. You carry my griefs, and grieve for my sake; and through the narrow portal of the Passion You enter first, to make a wider passage for Your limbs that follow You." Dorothy Sayers - Lost Tools of Learning -  "For we let our young men and women go out unarmed, in a day when armour was never so necessary. By teaching them all to read, we have left them at the mercy of the printed word. By the invention of the film and the radio, we have made certain that no aversion to reading shall secure them from the incessant battery of words, words, words. They do not know what the words mean; they do not know how to ward them off or blunt their edge or fling them back; they are a prey to words in their emotions instead of being the masters of them in their intellects. We who were scandalised in 1940 when men were sent to fight armoured tanks with rifles, are not scandalised when young men and women are sent into the world to fight massed propaganda with a smattering of "subjects"; and when whole classes and whole nations become hypnotised by the arts of the spell-binder, we have the impudence to be astonished. We dole out lip-service to the importance of education--lip-service and, just occasionally, a little grant of money; we postpone the school leaving-age, and plan to build bigger and better schools; the teachers slave conscientiously in and out of school-hours, till responsibility becomes a burden and a nightmare; and yet, as I believe, all this devoted effort is largely frustrated, because we have lost the tools of learning, and in their absence can only make a botched and piecemeal job of it."  P. 10 JD Flynn -  "By now, our disunity is concrete and palpable. Neighbors and family members are living in parallel constructions of reality, with divergent sets of norms, and social taboos, and expectations. We are fragmented in ways that go well beyond our habits of masking, or our opinions on vaccines. Made clear in everything that has happened is that we are a people — inasmuch as we are one people — with no unified metaphysics, nor epistemology, nor teleology. We are a nation bound mostly by proximity. And that hardly seems enough to hold." Episode Artwork: The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau by Peter Paul Reubens

Jumping right into a conversation about how men can support women in childbirth, Shannon and Katie attempt to discuss how some of their ideas might be put into practice, wrapping up their discussion about true community. Their conversation touches on how young people ought to be educated about the purpose of marriage and sex and the importance of both those things within true community as well as the purpose of education in general for the continuation and continuity of a unified community and society. Enjoy!

Shannon and Katie continue their conversation about community. After a slight digression down a theological path, they dive into a question of what must be at the center of true community. They also touch on the purpose of community and how community can be sustained even in the midst of disagreement. Enjoy!

Shannon and Katie begin a discussion about community. They examine the great interest that “community” as an idea has gathered in the last seventy or so years and what has sparked that interest. They discuss what makes a community, looking especially at the idea that a group of people must hold beliefs “in common” in order to maintain community. They touch briefly on the connection that agriculture and landownership have with community, and hope to continue the discussion soon! Enjoy.

Dr. Saunders and Katie conversed about the relationship between theology, our faith, and mental health. Dr. Saunders shared his own story about falling away from the Roman Catholic faith, discovering Lutheranism, and then recognizing a direct parallel between the theology of the cross, the understanding that all are sinners and fall short of the glory of God and can do nothing to earn forgiveness, and the idea that mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of because anyone might suffer from it in the same circumstances. This is an important topic because each year one in five people suffer a mental illness, and throughout the course of a lifetime one in two people will suffer from one. This is especially important for Christians to recognize as they seek to be compassionate and merciful neighbors. Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy!

Welcome to our first recorded conversation. We discussed how we developed the idea for Penelope’s Loom, where the name comes from, and then we jumped right into a conversation about Woman’s Craft, feminism, and what we think of when we hear the term womanhood. Enjoy!