Classical Et Cetera

Essential Christian Novels for Classical Readers

What are the best Christian novels to read? In this episode of Classical Et Cetera we share a new list of books we think are especially worthwhile for Christian readers. These stories that have stayed with us, shaped our thinking, and resonated with our Christian beliefs. Whether you’ve read through our original list or you're simply looking for your next great book, this episode offers practical recommendations and helpful discussion!
 
*Read the original article from Martin Cothran—"Twelve Great Christian Novels"*
https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/twelve-great-christian-novels/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=196
 
*Watch our previous episode on "12 Great Christian Books You Should Read"*
https://youtu.be/j9vLO8-dfbc?si=gh9P0LSVzsFVIdAd?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=196
 
*What We're Reading* from This Episode: 
"Twenty Years After" Alexandre Dumas (Paul)
"Green Dolphin Street" Elizabeth Goudge (Tanya)
"King Lear" William Shakespeare (Tanya)
"Northwest Angle" William Kent Krueger (Martin)
"Merlin's Isle" Malcom Guite (Martin)
"Truth Matters" Robert P. George & Cornel West (Martin)
 
*And here are titles that we talked about, this episode, adding on to the original "Twelve Great Christian Novels"*
"A Lesson Before Dying" Ernest J. Gaines"East of Eden" John Steinbeck"Fidelity" Wendell Berry"Hannah Coulter "Wendell Berry"I Heard the Owl Call My Name" Margaret Craven"Jane Eyre" Charlotte Brontë"Silence" Shūsaku Endō"The Gathering" Anne Enright"The Princess and the Goblin" George MacDonald"The Scarlet Letter" Nathaniel Hawthorne"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" Anne Brontë"To Kill a Mockingbird" Harper Lee
 
 

Should My Gifted Child Skip a Grade?

Every parent wants to do what’s best for their child—especially when that child seems ahead of the curve. But in a classical education, growth isn’t about racing forward; it’s about steady formation and broad mastery. In this episode of Classical Et Cetera, the panel discusses when a gifted child should skip a grade and why every stage of learning matters. They explore how to challenge bright students without rushing the basics, how maturity shapes readiness, and why true education values depth over speed. This is a thoughtful conversation for parents seeking wisdom, not hurry, in their child’s learning journey.
 
What We're Reading from This Episode: 
"The Ghost Keeper" Natalie Morrill (Tanya)
"Christian Paideia (Vol. I)" Brian Welter (Martin)
"Frankenstein" Wollstonecraft Shelley (Marcie)
"Anne of Green Gables" L.M. Montgomery (Marcie)
"The Good, the bad, and the Beautiful" Joseph Pearce (Marcie)

Can Classical Conversations & Memoria Press Work Together? | Classical Et Cetera Mailbag

This week on Classical Et Cetera. it’s another Mailbag episode! We’re answering all your homeschool and classical education questions. Should you teach with drawings, if you can’t draw? How do you start a book club that actually works? How does Berean Builders fit with Memoria Press science programs? Can Classical Conversations and Memoria Press work together? Join us as we dig into these questions and more, and ask us more questions by emailing us at podcast@memoriapress.com.
 
*What We're Reading* from This Episode: 
"Against The Machine" Paul Kingsnorth (Paul)
"Truth Matters" Robert P. George & Cornel West (Tanya)
"The Hound of the Baskervilles" Arthur Conan Doyle (Tanya)
"The Ghost Keeper" Natalie Morrill (Tanya)
"Cork O'Connor series" William Kent Krueger (Martin)
"The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion" Beth Brower (Jessica)

Classical Education in a Casual Age: Let’s Be Formal Again

As classrooms grow more casual, is something important being lost? This week’s Classical Et Cetera tackles the question of formality in both schools and homeschools. We explore why order, decorum, and even dress still matter in a classical education. Along the way, a listener brings us a question about balancing extracurriculars with the homeschool day—and how pursuits like music, art, and physical fitness fit within an ordered life. From playing with purpose to pajama days, we trace how formality shapes not just the classroom, but the character of the student and the culture of learning itself.
 
What We're Reading from This Episode: 
The Two Gentlemen of Verona - William Shakespeare (Tanya)
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis (Tanya)
The Killing Stones - Ann Cleeves (Tanya)
Truth Matters - Robert P. George & Cornel West (Tanya)
Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Undset (Carrie)
The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle (Carrie)
From Dawn to Decadence - Jacques Barzun (Martin)
Mythology - Edith Hamilton (Martin)
Joseph Epstein (Martin)
King Lear - William Shakespeare (Jeremy)
Macbeth - William Shakespeare (Jeremy)

A Scenic Route to the Liberal Arts (There's Lots Of Et Cetera)

It takes us a while to get there, but it’s worth the journey! In this episode of Classical Et Cetera, Tanya, Martin, and Paul share what they’re reading, answer a listener question about audiobooks, and (eventually) get around to the main topic of the liberal art
Here, they explore the liberal arts through the lens of Sister Miriam Joseph’s The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric. This classic work provides a clear look at the foundations of classical education. We hope you enjoy this wide-ranging conversation!
Read the sample from Sister Miriam Joseph's book that we use for this episode: https://www.memoriapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/The-Trivium-The-Liberal-Arts-of-Logic-Grammar-and-Rhetoric-Chapter-1-Sample.pdf?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=192
Read with Paul & Tanya! The Hound of the Baskervilles Set: https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/literature-and-poetry/eighth/hound-baskervilles-set/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=192
Find us online! https://www.memoriapress.com/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=192
More to A Midsummer Night. A Midsummer Night's Dream Set: https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/literature-and-poetry/ninth/a-midsummer-nights-dream-set/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=192
About Memoria Press: https://www.memoriapress.com/about/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=192
 
What We're Reading from This Episode: 
The Hound of the Baskervilles—Arthur Conan Doyle (Paul)
Sun and Steel—Yukio Mishima  (Paul)
Mythology—Edith Hamilton (Martin)
Plutarch: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans—Plutarch and Arthur Hugh Clough (Martin)
The Killing Stones—Ann Cleeves (Tanya)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona—William Shakespeare (Tanya)
Truth Matters—Robert P. George & Cornel West (Tanya)00:00 Introduction00:42 What We're Reading12:18 Listener Question: Do You Count Audiobooks as Reading?22:10 Topic: Introduction to "The Trivium"—Sister Miriam Joseph

Why American Democracy Is Breaking—and How Classical Education Can Fix It

What’s behind the decline of American democracy—and can education fix it? In this episode of Classical Et Cetera the team discusses why the health of our republic depends not necessarily on politicians, but on teachers, parents, and the formation of virtuous citizens.
Modern society often treats the decline of democracy as a political problem, but classical educators know it’s an educational one. A free people can only remain free when they know how to govern themselves—and that begins in classrooms, not in Congress.
Join us as we explore how classical education cultivates wisdom, virtue, and self-government, and why rebuilding the soul of the nation starts with the minds of the young.
Read Mitchell Holley's article "A Democratic Education" right here! https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/a-democratic-education?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=191
You can read Anne of Green Gables too! LEARN MOREhttps://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/literature-and-poetry/sixth/anne-of-green-gables-set/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=191
Be ready for Mitchell to finish Third Form Greek! LEARN MOREhttps://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/greek/first-form-greek-complete-set/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=191
"It is funny how mortals picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.” READ NOWhttps://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/educational-resources/the-screwtape-letters/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=191
Check out our Classical Core Curriculum! LEARN MOREhttps://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=191
Famous Men of Rome videos now available! BUY NOWhttps://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/classical-studies/famous-men-rome/?utm_source=PodBean&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=191
 
What We're Reading from This Episode: 
Various Greek Authors (Mitchell)
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion—Beth Brower (Tanya)
The Screwtape Letters—C.S. Lewis (Tanya)
Truth Matters—Robert P. George & Cornel West (Tanya)
A Midsummer Night's Dream—William Shakespeare (Tanya)
The Idiot—Fyodor Dostoevsky (Martin)
Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture: Volume III—Werner Jaeger (Martin)

Why Poetry Belongs in Classical Education Curriculum

What does poetry offer that prose cannot? In this week’s Classical Et Cetera, we explore how verse builds literacy, memory, and a love of language. Discover how rhythm, structure, and beauty shape the mind and soul, and why poetry remains essential for both personal enrichment and classical education.
 
*What We're Reading* from This Episode: 
Gerard Manley Hopkins Poetry (Kathy)
_Notes from Underground_—Fyodor Dostoevsky (Kathy)
_Anne of Green Gables_—L.M. Montgomery (Tanya)
_The Two Gentlemen of Verona_—William Shakespeare (Tanya)
_Truth Matters_—Robert P. George & Cornel West (Tanya)
_The Idiot_—Fyodor Dostoevsky (Martin)
_The Glass Bead Game_—Hermann Hesse (Martin)

Why Writing Things Down Is IMPORTANT | Note-Taking Tips for a Classical Education

Why does writing things down matter? In this episode of Classical Et Cetera, we dive into journaling, commonplace books, and note-taking tips within a classical education. From how to properly journal in an academic setting to how to use a journal for personal and self growth, we discuss the benefits of good handwriting, the value of writing by hand vs typing, and why keeping a commonplace book—or "Vade Mecum"—helps students and adults remember and reflect.
 
We share practical advice on academic journal writing, how to mark a book, and how classical educators guide students from simple note-taking in the early grades to more independent habits in high school. Plus, we touch on classical preschool readiness activities and how parents can instill a love of books, build fine motor skills, and nurture reading habits from the very beginning.
 
Join the conversation and discover why journaling and note-taking remain timeless tools for learning and growth!
 
*What We're Reading* from This Episode: 
_Anne of Green Gables_—L.M. Montgomery (Tanya)
_The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion_—Beth Brower (Tanya)
_Persuasion_—Jane Austen (Tanya)
_Boone: A Biography_—Robert Morgan (Paul)
_The Big Sleep_—Raymond Chandler (Martin)