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Dr. Toyin Atolagbe shares how her early education in Nigeria, marked by daily hymns, strict discipline, and a focus on shaping both heart and intellect, formed the habits and virtues that guide her work today. She discusses the power of classical education to instill excellence, the crucial role of parents as first educators, and her current work supporting families through Lighthouse Parenting Hub.

What's in This Episode:

• How Dr. Atolagbe's elementary education in Nigeria shaped her character through daily assemblies, hymns, literature, and high moral standards
• The formation of lifelong habits of excellence, discipline, and virtue through classical-style education
• The importance of beauty, truth, and goodness in shaping young minds and hearts
• Technology's impact on children and the need for parents to set clear boundaries
• Supporting parents through coaching, training, and resources at Lighthouse Parenting Hub

Chapters:

• 00:00: Introduction and welcome
• 01:15: Growing up in Nigerian schools—classical education in practice
• 07:14: Formative experiences—songs of praise, cultural groups, and leadership
• 14:32: The role of discipline and high standards in character formation
• 28:45: Teaching in classical schools and forming student virtue
• 42:18: Parenting philosophy: setting boundaries while supporting growth
• 54:26: Technology use and building discipline in children
• 01:03:02: Lighthouse Parenting Hub: coaching and resources for families
• 01:08:19: Closing thoughts

Resources Mentioned:

• Lighthouse Parenting Hub
• Arcadia Education
• Classical Learning Test

Hosted by Ryan Klopak (Arcadia Education) and Alex Julian (CLT). The Furrows podcast features leaders in classical education who have been transformed by classical education.

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

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In Part 2 of their conversation with Jonathan Mueller, Ryan and Alex pick up where they left off—tracing the circuitous path from Torrey Honors College through Boethius, Plato, and the Phaedo that eventually led Jonathan into classical education.

What's in This Episode:

• How Jonathan went from Biola/Torrey to dancing Greek waiter before finding his way into classical education through the Academy at HCU with John Mark Reynolds
• The encounter with Boethius and Plato at age 19 that harmonized philosophy and theology and set the course for everything since
• What Socrates means in the Phaedo when he says philosophy is the preparation for death — and why it's a deeply hopeful claim, not a morbid one
• Why "we don't teach them what to think, we teach them how to think" is a phrase that hasn't aged well, and what students actually need to believe first
• Misology, intellectual ferocity, and the moment Jonathan ripped up his eighth graders' homework mid-discussion of The Man Who Was Thursday

Chapters:

• 00:00: Introduction
• 15:22: Philosophy as Preparation for Death
• 30:52: Lao Tzu, Plato, and the Return to Christianity
• 34:18: Teaching What to Think vs. How to Think
• 38:08: Intellectual Ferocity and Misology
• 51:43: Marriage and the C.S. Lewis Principle
• 59:56: Great Books for Eighth Graders
• 01:06:18: The Man Who Was Thursday in the Classroom

Resources Mentioned:

• Aristoi Classical Academy
• The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
• The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
• Arcadia Education
• Classical Learning Test

Hosted by Ryan Klopak (Arcadia Education) and Alex Julian (CLT). The Furrows podcast features leaders in classical education who have been transformed by classical education.

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

Send us Fan Mail

Jonathan Mueller grew up at the intersection of classical homeschooling and community college, encountering Plato in ninth grade and the Tao Te Ching at seventeen—two texts that cracked open the difference between a conception of God and the eternal thing itself.

In part one of this two-part conversation, Jonathan traces a winding path through dialectic and doubt, a year of construction work and wanderlust, and three months teaching English to atheist teenagers in Czech Republic. Along the way, the conversation circles one persistent question: what kind of education can't be taken away from you?

What's in This Episode:

• How Jonathan's homeschool foundation and a ninth-grade encounter with Plato's Euthyphro first opened him to the thrill of dialectic
• What the Tao Te Ching taught a seventeen-year-old about the difference between talking about God and the eternal God himself
• The tension between building faith and testing it—and why classical education treats truth as a tuning fork rather than a fragile inheritance
• Jonathan's year of construction and waiting tables before heading to Czech Republic, where teaching English to atheist teenagers rekindled his desire to share the faith
• How George MacDonald's Phantastes, Plato's Phaedo, and a "concentration camp education" philosophy shape Jonathan's vision for what education should do for the soul

Chapters:

• 00:00: Welcome and Introduction
• 01:10: Jonathan's Background and Classical Formation
• 03:50: The Euthyphro and the Thrill of Dialectic
• 08:44: The Tao Te Ching and Rethinking God
• 20:38: Building Faith vs. Testing Faith
• 37:47: Foundations for Children—Memory, Story, and Song
• 42:33: Working Construction and Heading to Czech Republic
• 47:50: Encountering Atheism in Prague
• 51:37: Phantastes and "Good Is Always Coming"
• 55:17: Discovering Torrey Honors College

Resources Mentioned:

• Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University
• Arcadia Education
• Classical Learning Test

Hosted by Ryan Klopak (Arcadia Education) and Alex Julian (CLT). The Furrows podcast features leaders in classical education who have been transformed by classical education.

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios