BaseCamp Live

What actually forms a child in a classroom? In this episode, author and classical educator Mandi Gerth joins host Davies Owens to explain why formation in a classical Christian classroom is often more caught than taught. She unpacks the role of culture, liturgy, and rightful authority in the classroom, and she offers simple, realistic ways parents can support those same habits at home so that what happens between 8 and 3 is not undone after 3:01.

Smartphones are everywhere, but do our kids really need them? Davies Owens talks with Techless founder Chris Kaspar about why families feel stuck between giving kids full access or going fully offline. Chris shares a healthier third option that protects childhood, safeguards identity, and helps families reclaim deep, meaningful life beyond the screen.

Senior thesis is the capstone moment of a classical Christian education. It is where students pull together years of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric training into one demanding, meaningful project. In this episode, Davies Owens talks with Dr. Tom Vierra, Senior Thesis Coordinator at Wilson Hill Academy, about what senior thesis is, why it is more than a long paper, and how it forms students who can think clearly, research carefully, and speak truth with conviction and grace in a culture of shallow soundbites. They also dig into the six-part classical structure, the value of refutatio and antithesis, and how schools can uphold academic integrity in the age of AI.

Classical Christian education is quietly returning to the United Kingdom. British educator Jamie Burns joins host Davies Owens to tell the story of his journey from relativistic classrooms to founding new classical Christian schools in London and Cardiff, and what this renewal means for parents and school leaders in the US.

Classical texts can feel intimidating in a short-attention world. English professor and mom Sara Osborne shares an honest, hopeful roadmap for parents and schools: how to assess what’s really going on, start small without dumbing down, and build stamina and character over time. This is about more than decoding words. It’s forming a “reading life.”