SS#159 – Curriculum is more than something you buy

Every homeschool mom has faced it: the endless quest for the “right” curriculum. But what if the curriculum isn’t just what you buy—but how you live? In this special episode, the Scholé Sisters reveal the theme for the 2025 summer retreat and walk through why curriculum matters more than most of us realize.

Instead of debating which math book to use, we’re inviting you to consider the direction, atmosphere, and formation at the heart of your homeschool. Using The Liberal Arts Tradition as our roadmap, we unpack the six curricular categories that define a classical education—and how they apply to your everyday home life.

Curriculum is more than what you buy!

Today’s Hosts and Source

“This full-orbed education aims at cultivating fully integrated human beings, whose bodies, hearts, and minds are formed respectively by gymnastic, music, and the liberal arts; whose relationships with God, neighbor and community are marked by piety; whose knowledge of the world, man, and God fit harmoniously within a distinctly Christian philosophy; and whose lives are informed and governed by a theology forged from the revelation of God in Christ Jesus“

Scholé Every Day: What We’re Listening To

The Right Stuff Podcast with Jared Longshore, episode: “Side-Hustle Wives Are Tradwives Too with Scott Yenor”

Mystie enjoyed this warning to not swing over to the other ditch when rejecting feminism.

The Shakespeare Sessions (From BBC) The Art of Storytelling with Prof. Emma Smith

Abby listens to this episode as teacher prep for her co-op.

The Symbolic World, ep 392: Richard Rohlin – Universal History: Symbols from the Edge of the World (St. Brendan)

Brandy shared a podcast episode that isn’t political!

Scholé Sisters 2025 Retreat Reveal

Every summer, the Scholé Sisters host a one-day online retreat that provides four live, interactive sessions. It’s not your typical webinar or conference. The format is more like watching a podcast unfold in real time, with lively conversation among the hosts and a built-in expectation for listeners to engage in conversation as well—whether in person with a local group or in the chat.

This retreat is a day set apart to step back from daily routines and consider the big picture of homeschooling with your best homeschool friend or a group of moms. While rooted in classical education principles, the retreat remains accessible for any thoughtful homeschool mom, regardless of educational philosophy.

Why “Curriculum” Is Our Theme This Year

Curriculum often dominates homeschool conversations. After socialization, it’s probably the most frequently asked question: “What curriculum do you use?” But few pause to consider what curriculum actually is, or how it functions beyond a boxed product.

This year, the retreat dives deep into the concept of curriculum as a path—not a product. Instead of handing out a list of favorite programs, we explore curriculum as a principle-based structure. Your curriculum isn’t just what you buy; it’s what you live. This approach shifts the focus from external tools to internal purpose and direction.

Classical Goals and the Purpose of Curriculum

Drawing from The Liberal Arts Tradition, we explore the idea that a true curriculum forms not just intellectual virtue but also moral and spiritual virtue. The ultimate goal isn’t knowledge for its own sake but wisdom, virtue, and service to Christ.

That means your curriculum must serve your educational goals, not the other way around. It requires knowing what you’re aiming at. The retreat will help attendees think through what it means to educate whole persons—mind, body, and soul—and how to evaluate resources with that end in mind.

Tangible vs. Intangible Curriculum

Curriculum isn’t only what you buy. Purchased materials are just one piece of a much broader reality. Intangible curriculum includes the daily habits of reading Scripture, singing hymns, memorizing poetry, and discussing life with your children.

These formative practices might not cost money, but they come at a cost: your time, attention, energy, and perseverance. That’s why one host remarked, “Your curriculum includes you, mom.” Moms set the tone and model the culture—they are a living curriculum.

PGMAPT: A Framework for a Full-Orbed Education

Curriculum can be structured around the six curricular categories from The Liberal Arts Tradition: Piety, Gymnastic, Music, Arts, Philosophy, and Theology.

• Piety refers to foundational practices of godliness: prayer, Bible reading, church attendance. It’s free, but requires faithfulness.
• Gymnastic & Music shape the body and affections through exercise, song, and poetic learning. These pre-critical, poetic forms prepare students for deeper intellectual work.
• The Arts (grammar, logic, rhetoric, and mathematical disciplines) are tools of learning—not just school subjects but ways of forming intellectual virtue.
• Philosophy and Theology are the capstone studies, forming the student in wisdom and understanding the world rightly.

Each category will be explored at the retreat with an eye toward both what you can buy and what you can’t—because both matter.

Join Our Retreat!

This year’s retreat, Homeschool Essentials: Curriculum, is available for live participation or on-demand replay. Every registration includes lifetime access. You can join on your own or host a local group with either a digital or printed hostess kit.

Whether you’re a veteran homeschooler or just beginning, this retreat will challenge and encourage you to think more deeply about your curriculum—and your calling.

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