Over the past several years I’ve joined a panel of Classical educators who come together at the large regional conferences known as the Great Homeschool Conventions. Originally entitled “Classical Education Unplugged,” our panel found itself renamed “Classical Education Unhinged” in this year’s program. We laughingly asked ourselves, “How did we go from unplugged to unhinged?” But the result seems to be just as fine.

If you’ve never been to our panels, let me say that the combination of personalities like Andrew Pudewa, Christopher Perrin, Martin Cothran, Andrew Kern, yours truly, and several others who occasionally join us absolutely makes for discussions that are highly energetic and full of surprises. At the same time, the sessions are probing and often deeply moving.

Yet, there can be hilarious moments. Conferences, after all, need lighter touches, particularly since schedules are high-stress. People from multiple states come together with high expectations and a long list of things to accomplish. They pack in every possible speaker’s session, then take every minute they can find to browse and shop the long rows of vendors. Yet they still find quiet moments to visit with long-time friends.

So our panels offer a special kind of respite. A relaxing sense of collegiality and community radiates across the room, even when five-hundred people are packed into it.

This year, too, at the Regional Southwest conference, our panel featured a participant new to our sessions, but in no way new to the attendees: Leigh Bortins. Trained as an aerospace engineer and founder of the organization known as Classical Conversations, Leigh developed a now worldwide organization in order to provide a supportive community for local homeschool families. Countless students, parents, and tutors participate in Classical Conversations, fondly known by them as “C-C.” They look forward to the weekly meetings as they work through a hierarchy of curriculum that celebrates the adventure of learning.

The first time I was invited to give a guest presentation at a C-C session, I was most curious to see how it worked. Right up front I experienced the famous Classical Conversations “History Rap.” Starting each fall, kids of all ages begin to learn by heart a lengthy survey of World History. They add to it each week, and at the end of the academic year, even the younger ones can produce the cadence of chronology upon which they build their studies at age-appropriate levels. I just loved it.

Reflecting back on the last two weekends of conferences in Greenville, South Carolina and Fort Worth, Texas, I’m so glad to be part of this community of educators. I’ve loved all of our intense, joyful discussions, parsing our way through the timeless educational riches that we call our Western Classical Tradition. Nothing is more inspiring to me, right now, than our mutual travels through this tradition, from Old Testament wisdom and ancient philosophy to the Gospels and revelations of the New Testament. Add to that the collective learning of our early Church Fathers, the Great Books, and the incomparable tradition of our Western Fine Arts, and you have a brilliant, fruitful garden that we all must cultivate, tend, and pass on to future generations.

In May, we’ll take another step with our second conference under the banner of our Classical Consortium. This celebration entitled The Fruitful Garden will take place in Louisville, Kentucky on May 18 and 19, beginning the evening of May 17 with a festive, tasty reception at Highlands Latin School. We’d love you all to join us!

My kinship with this community means the world to me. Whether we’re “unplugged,” “unhinged,” or just plain fired up in our pursuit of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty, we inspire each other along the sometimes steep, sometimes difficult, but always illuminated path to learning.