We Americans, surrounded by our devices and other distractions, tend to use our available “leisure” time to escape into idleness and amusements. Neil Postman wrote about this American cultural problem in a 1985 book he appropriately called: Amusing Ourselves to Death.

Originally published on Dec. 18, 2020 at https://reginaacademies.org/2020/12/18/the-word-was-made-flesh/ Christmas, 2020 In just a few days, when we all gather at our parishes to celebrate Christmas Mass, we will do something we only do once each year –  genuflect as we recite these words of the Creed… “…by the Holy Spirit [he] was incarnate of the...

Formation of the imagination through our heritage of art and letters is exactly what classical schools do. In Catholic classical schools, the moral imagination is formed by truth, goodness, and beauty, or what we call the transcendentals, as they are found in our great heritage of western civilization.

Originally published on October 20, 2020 at https://reginaacademies.org/2020/10/20/originals-or-photocopies/ Formation in virtue is one of the hallmarks of the Regina Academies. If you haven’t heard of him, Carlo Acutis was a very special young man. He was born in London in 1991 but fell ill with leukemia and died in Milan on October 12, 2006 at...

Originally published on October 8, 2020 at https://reginaacademies.org/2020/10/08/the-trivium/ Classical education often seems to have its own language to those unfamiliar with classical schools. We talk about memetic teaching, paideia and the liberal arts, and that favorite of all words… “trivium”. The “trivium” is a hallmark of classical schools, and in many ways it establishes our...

Originally published on September 4, 2020 at https://reginaacademies.org/2020/09/04/patriotism/ There is a beautiful verse in the well-known Marian hymn, Immaculate Mary, that says: We pray for our Mother, the Church upon earth,And bless, Holy Mary, the land of our birth. These two lines of verse express two important virtues, piety and patriotism, that are challenging to...

Originally published on August 26, 2020 at https://reginaacademies.org/2020/08/26/education-or-indoctrination/ It was recently reported that a teacher in a Philadelphia public charter school lamented on his Twitter that with the Philadelphia schools going virtual again this fall, he wouldn’t be able to have “honest conversations about gender/sexuality” with his students. His reason… parents might be “spectators” in...

Originally published on April 21, 2020 at https://reginaacademies.org/2020/04/21/the-why-of-classical-education/ The Golden Circle and the WHY of Classical Education Simon Sinek is an author and motivational speaker who is best known for popularizing the concept of WHY. His first TED Talk in 2009 has received over 50 million views, and his book, Start with WHY has sold...

Originally published on March 24, 2010 at https://reginaacademies.org/2020/03/24/for-such-a-time-as-this/ As schools, and all but essential business are shutting down around us and the world adopts “social distancing” in response to the coronavirus, we are all presented with a challenge: How do we respond? The book of Esther is one of those gems of the Old Testament....

Raising children who will be prepared to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex and competitive world is one of a parent’s greatest concerns. Two reports were published last week that should cause them alarm. They show that innovation in education has not been in the student’s best interest. “A student achievement crisis” The Nation’s Report...