The New Mason Jar with Cindy Rollins explores the application of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy to the atmosphere, discipline, and life of our homes and schools. We cover Charlotte’s timeless principles as they work themselves out in our real and modern lives. Interviewing seasoned moms who have cherished Charlotte’s works while raising real children in real families, we endeavor to lay a foundation of hope and possibility for our listeners. However imperfectly.
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Not just book chat! The Literary Life Podcast is an ongoing conversation about the skill and art of reading well and the lost intellectual tradition needed to fully enter into the great works of literature. Experienced teachers Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks (of www.HouseOfHumaneLetters.com) join lifelong reader Cindy Rollins (of www.MorningtimeForMoms.com) for slow reads of classic literature, conversations with book lovers, and an ever-unfolding discussion of how Stories Will Save the ...
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S8E112: Morning Time for Moms, Part 7, with Anne White
47:14
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47:14On The New Mason Jar Podcast this week, Cindy and Dawn talk with Anne White, AmblesideOnline Advisory member, about how she continues her own education as a veteran homeschool mom A little more background on how Anne learned about Charlotte Mason What kinds of books Anne remembers reading as a child How Anne realized she needed to continue her own …
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Episode 278: The Literary Life of Natalia Testa
1:29:14
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1:29:14On this week’s episode of The Literary Life, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks chat with their student Natalia Testa about her literary life. She is a rising homeschool junior living in Houston, Texas. She enjoys researching obscure manuscripts, classical languages and all things Lord Peter Wimsey. Angelina kicks off the conversation asking about …
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Episode 277: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
1:35:22
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1:35:22On today’s episode of The Literary Life podcast, Angelina and Thomas continue their series on Flannery O’Connor with a discussion of her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina explains why she chose this particular story to go over on the podcast. She and Thomas then go over the characters in the …
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S8E111: Charlotte Mason in the Early Years with Jeannette Tullis
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51:50In this week's episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn talk with Jeannette Tullis about implementing Kindergarten in harmony with Charlotte Mason's methods What was Charlotte Mason's approach to early childhood education? Is the idea of modern early education a myth? What do you do about writing or narration during the kindergarten years? How …
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Episode 276: An Introduction to Flannery O’Connor
1:30:17
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1:30:17This week on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina and Thomas bring us the first of a two-part series on the oft-requested, oft-misunderstood author, Flannery O’Connor. They begin by sharing their commonplace quotes for this week, which leads into the topic of O’Connor, the controversial mid-century southern American author. Angelina gives us a look …
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Episode 275: The Literary Life of Angelina Stanford
2:13:39
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2:13:39Today on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks have a much-awaited conversation all about Angelina’s own literary life and education. Thomas gets to ask the tough questions and put Angelina on the spot in this episode! She begins by sharing her childhood love of books and what her favorite books were when she was young. They…
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S8E110: Charlotte Mason Hybrid Schools with Anna Fischer
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47:03On this week's episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn share a conversation with Anna Fischer about the homeschool hybrid school, Canyon Creek Christian Academy in Tennessee How Anna first heard about Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy What is a hybrid school? How Anna got involved with CCCA and later became co-director What it is like t…
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Episode 274: The Literary Life of Dr. Anne Phillips
1:43:14
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1:43:14This week on The Literary Life Podcast, our hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks are back with a new “Literary Life of…” interview, this time with their teaching colleague at House of Humane Letters, Dr. Anne Phillips. In addition to her classes at HHL, you can also find Dr. Phillips writing on Substack. Angelina starts off the conversation ask…
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Episode 273: Best of Series- “The Enchanted April” by Elizabeth von Arnim, Ch. 12-22
1:29:08
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1:29:08This week on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas continue their discussion of The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim, on chapters 12-22. Angelina and Thomas begin the conversation sharing some thoughts on modern literature and why we don’t hear of modern authors like Elizabeth von Arnim among “the academy.” Cindy tells us what…
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S8E109: Speech and Debate from a Charlotte Mason Perspective with Hailey and Vivien White
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49:24Today on The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn have a veteran homeschool mom, Hailey White, and her daughter Vivien on the show to talk about speech and debate from a Charlotte Mason perspective How Hailey first learned about Charlotte Mason and her ideas What were Vivien's impressions of her education? How did the Whites become involved with Christian…
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Episode 272: Best of Series – “The Enchanted April” by Elizabeth von Arnim, Ch. 1-11
1:43:04
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1:43:04Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks. This week we are bringing you another episode from the vault, this time part one of our series on The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. Thomas gives some interesting biographical information about von Arnim, and Angelina shares some perspective o…
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Episode 271: The Literary Life of Peter Hitchens
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1:22:06On The Literary Life Podcast today we bring you a special “Literary Life of…” episode featuring author and journalist Peter Hitchens. After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina and Thomas dive into the interview with Mr. Hitchens, first asking about his memories of books and reading in his childhood. In this wide-ranging conversation, our hos…
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S8E108: Remix of Spring Nature Study with Jeannette
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37:03On The New Mason Jar this week, we bring you a replay of a great conversation all about spring nature study with Cindy, Dawn and Cindy’s friend Jeannette Tulis How can moms begin nature study when they have never done it before? How to find spring ephemeral wildflowers, and other things to look for at this time of year Ideas for stepping up your na…
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Episode 270: “Best of” Series – “How Much Land Does a Man Need” by Leo Tolstoy
1:26:28
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1:26:28This week on The Literary Life, we bring you a gem from the archives. In this episode hosts Angelina Stanford, Thomas Banks, and Cindy Rollins discuss “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy. To start off the discussion of this short story, Thomas gives us some background to help answer Angelina’s question about why this story seems so very…
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S8E107: Homeschooling as a Military Family with Zach and Andrea Vaughn
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49:43On the New Mason Jar today, we are sharing a conversation Cindy and Dawn had with Zach and Andrea Vaughn. Zach serves as a U.S. Navy chaplain while Andrea homeschools their four children. How Zach and Andrea found out about Charlotte Mason What it is like being an active duty chaplain What are some of the benefits of homeschooling through frequent …
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Episode 269: "An Experiment in Criticism" Revisited
1:38:51
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1:38:51Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast this week! Today we are bringing you a brand new episode on An Experiment in Criticism in which Angelina and Thomas revisit the ideas in this book and answer some listener questions from over the years! Angelina opens the discussion with a little background on the first series of episodes, then begins to un…
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Episode 268: “Best of” Series: An Experiment in Criticism, Ch. 10-Epilogue
1:32:18
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1:32:18On today’s “Best of” episode of The Literary Life, Angelina and Cindy are once again joined by Thomas Banks. They discuss the last two chapters and the epilogue of An Experiment in Criticism. The first topic of conversation is Lewis’ comments on poetry, including the un-literary reading of poetry and the importance of the sound of poetry. Angelina …
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S8E106: Using Math Journals and Games with Denise Gaskins
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44:53On this week’s episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn are joined by Denise Gaskins, veteran homeschool mom and math coach and tutor What are math logbooks, and why are they a helpful learning tool? Would Charlotte Mason have encouraged math games? How can math games progress as students gain proficiency with them? What is wrong with tradition…
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Episode 267: “Best of” Series – An Experiment in Criticism, Ch. 8-9
1:21:52
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1:21:52This week’s episode is a continuation of Cindy Rollins and Angelina Stanford’s discussion of An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis. They start with an exploration of the difference between loving a book and evaluating a book as a work of art, followed by an explanation of Lewis’ idea that works of art do not teach us. Angelina goes in depth abo…
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Episode 266: “Best of” Series – An Experiment in Criticism, Ch. 5-7
1:37:32
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1:37:32Angelina and Cindy open today’s discussion of C. S. Lewis’ An Experiment in Criticism with a recap of the terms that Lewis defines in chapters 5-7, starting with myth. They talk about what it means to have an “extra-literary” experience and how to cultivate the proper attitude of a good reader. Next Cindy and Angelina dig into the definition and be…
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S8E105: Personal Bible Study with Stephanie Russell
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34:00Today on The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn talk with Stephanie Russell about studying the Scriptures How Stephanie first learned about Charlotte Mason and her educational philosophy What is a “clew,” and how does this apply to studying the Bible? How Stephanie came upon this book along with Charlotte’s Mother’s Education Course Who was Mary Petrie,…
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Episode 265: “Best of” Series – An Experiment in Criticism, Ch. 1-4
1:32:41
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1:32:41This week on The Literary Life Podcast, we bring you the first installment of our series reprising C. S. Lewis’ An Experiment in Criticism. Join us over the next few weeks as we replay the original discussions of this book hosted by Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins. Then come back for a new episode at the end of the series in which Angelina and …
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Episode 264: "Much Ado About Nothing" On-Screen Adaptations
1:59:50
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1:59:50This week on The Literary Life podcast we are back with a fun episode all about film adaptations of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare! Angelina and Thomas are joined by Atlee Northmore for today's discussion, and you are in for quite a ride! Atlee begins the conversation with a general history of Shakespeare works on film, and the secon…
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S8E104: Misrepresentations of a Charlotte Mason Education with Karen Glass
53:48
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53:48This week we are delighted to bring you another conversation between Cindy Rollins and guest Karen Glass, veteran homeschool mom and member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory Karen and Cindy tackle the subject of Charlotte Mason and classical education, refuting some misrepresentations of a Charlotte Mason education Cindy explains why she has a proble…
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Episode 263: “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, Acts 4 & 5
1:40:26
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1:40:26This week on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina and Thomas are back to wrap up their discussion of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About About Nothing. Today, after some introductory talk about literary criticism, our hosts cover the last two acts of this play, highlighting how Shakespeare deals with the five act structure. Once again, we see the problem o…
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Episode 262: “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, Acts 2 & 3
1:37:09
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1:37:09Welcome back to our series on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing here on The Literary Life Podcast. Our hosts, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks, open the episode with some thoughts on disguises and appearance versus reality in Shakespeare. They talk about how the eavesdropping in this play works together with the things not being as they seem. …
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S8E103: Composition the Charlotte Mason Way with Karen Glass
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53:11Today on The New Mason Jar podcast, Dawn moderates a discussion between host Cindy Rollins and guest Karen Glass, veteran homeschool mom and member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory Karen and Cindy talk about narration and composition in the Charlotte Mason paradigm, beginning with a little background on Karen’s new book, The Art of Composition Why C…
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Episode 261: “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, Acts 1 & 2
1:22:46
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1:22:46Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and our series on Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. This week Angelina and Thomas are discussing Acts 1 and 2 and will try to do that by talking about the story as a whole, not simply focussing on the characters. They talk about the roles of the anti-romantic and the ultra-romantic couples, as …
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Episode 260: Introduction to William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”
1:24:01
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1:24:01Welcome to The Literary Life Podcast and our first book series of 2025, covering Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. Our hosts, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks begin by sharing their commonplace quotes, then lead into a little biographical background on William Shakespeare and the way in which he wrote his plays. They also talk a litt…
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S8E102: Morning Time for Moms, Part 6, with Megan Graham
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41:16Welcome back to The New Mason Jar and another episode in our Morning Time for Moms self-education series Today Cindy and Dawn chat with Megan Graham, homeschooling mother of nine, two of whom she has graduated How Megan came to learn about the philosophy of Charlotte Mason What Megan’s own education was like and what her perception of learning was …
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Episode 259: "Best of" Series - The Literary Life of Thomas Banks (Ep. 78)
1:35:51
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1:35:51On The Literary Life Podcast this week, due to unforeseen interruptions to the recording schedule, we are bringing you another episode from the vault. We hope you will enjoy this replay of The Literary Life of Thomas Banks! Cindy begins the interview asking Thomas about his family background and the influence of his parents on his own reading life.…
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