The “Ready for Real Life” webinar, hosted by the entire Botkin family, will take on the practical side of educating children for the real world, also tackling every-day issues like saving money on curriculum, teaching your children to take responsibility for their own education, dealing with different learning styles, teaching social skills and confidence, helping children who don’t like to read or write, creating an educational home environment, and helping children learn marketable skills.

Hear from each member of the Botkin family, as they talk about lessons they’ve learned along the way, books and resources they recommend, things that worked for them, and things they’ll never do again. Listen to the first episode here, and find the other six at WesternConservatory.com

Are Your Children Ready for Real Life?

The letters of Abigail Adams bear faithful and moving witness to one of the greatest epochs of world history: the American War for Independence. They also attest to the remarkable life of a wise and witty New England woman who was her husband's chief adviser and war correspondent, who raised and educated four children, managed a farm on a war-time budget, and served her country as its ambassadress and First Lady. This spell-binding narrative takes the listener from the bustling hub of Boston, to Penn's Hill, where Abigail stood with her son and watched the slaughter of her people and Charleston going up in flames, to the glittering courts of Europe, where she came face to face with the perpetrator of these crimes, King George III himself.

Abigail Adams: Her Letters

In this powerful audio series, Geoffrey and Victoria Botkin and their seven children tackle the most challenging issues currently facing Christian families. What is a Christian family and how does it function? How can Christian families live, survive and prosper spiritually in a nation that will become increasingly anti-family and anti-Christian in the next several years? In these thirteen critical messages, the Botkin family speaks on these pressing issues sensibly, drawing wisdom and timely answers from the Word of God.

Find some of the 13 lectures for free at <a href="http://westernconservatory.com/store/free">Western Conservatory.com</a>.

Battleground or Playground?

Family Dynamics with Adult Children

Making Allies of Your Siblings

Raising the Bar for Higher Education

Curriculum catalogs tell homeschooling parents to choose from a confusing array of 25,000 products. Government educators say, "don't even try homeschooling unless you use our multi-million dollar curriculum." Then there is Victoria Botkin. Her advice will help you relax and enjoy the high calling of motherhood. This successful home educator discloses the wisdom needed to educate children 8-14 at home. As an added bonus, you will hear from her seven well-educated children. If you want to combine a godly home life with high academic standards, listen carefully to these messages. 

Curriculum Advice 2

In 1831, Rebecca Burlend, with her husband and five small children, said goodbye to their homeland of Yorkshire, England after years of struggle to survive as tenant farmers, and emigrated to America. Through her first-hand account of moving to a new country, we can feel the anguish of standing on the deck of a ship, watching one's homeland disappear into the distance, the experience of traveling steerage on an Atlantic voyage, and then of the pioneer's experience in what was truly a New World -- the virgin wilderness of the interior of the continent -- and their family's struggle, ultimately, to prosperity. A true picture of the stark beauty, hard work, and hope of the pioneer adventure. 

English Family in the American Wilderness

In 1909, Elinore Rupert, a widow with a two-year-old daughter, took a job as cook and housekeeper for a cattle ranch in Wyoming, a beautiful but wild and rugged place peopled with trappers, cowboys, European immigrants, and outlaws. In her adventures on the frontier she found a husband, saw birth and death, triumphs and trials, meeting whatever came her way with a smile. She described it all in letters which are extraordinary for their appreciation of the everyday blessings: home, good food, family and friends; hoping to give her invalid friend, "as nearly as I could – a true picture of the West." Enhanced with sound effects and period music. 

Frontier Adventures of Elinore Stewart

The books a girl reads during her formative years awaken her mind to new affections, a new view of reality, and a vision of who she dreams of becoming. What books – and worldviews – are we putting into the hands of our daughters? In this fascinating message, Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin analyze authors from Jane Austen to Janette Oke to Stephanie Meyer, and break down the basics of discriminating reading.

Jane Austen and Vampires

When 16-year-old Eliza Lucas's father was deployed to Antigua in 1740, he left the management of his household and three plantations in Eliza's capable hands. In these lively letters, she describes her adventures handling her father's affairs, cultivating and exporting indigo, educating her sister and the black children on the plantations, and helping to build up the economy of her fledgling colony through her many business schemes. Hear her words of encouragement and exhortation to four generations of men in her family, including her two sons, both Revolutionary War heroes, over the full and fruitful lifetime of this great mother of our country.

The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinkney

Families across America are realizing that "dating" leads to trouble, not dynamic marriages. Other families have realized that the "courtship" model is an maze of unexplored definitions, and find themselves taking wrong turn after wrong turn. Is courtship the answer? Is it always necessary? How do young people find each other and then discern the Lord's will for marriage? What does it mean to "marry well"? How do parents shepherd their children through the process? While the Bible doesn't offer a formula for getting to the altar, it has much to say about the maturity, vision, and love that make a marriage beautiful and powerful, from the very first day.

Marrying Well Webinar

Whose are you really? Do you belong to God, or to yourself? Are you your father's daughter, or the world's daughter? Are you femininity's daughter, or feminism's? Beneath the nice-girl exterior — where is your heart? In this message to young women, Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin ask incisive questions to help listeners determine the state of their souls, the direction of their affections, the object of their motivations, and their true identity.

Whose Daughter Are You?

Why is it hard for girls to find the balance between flirting and shunning? How can girls keep their hearts pure? What responsibilities do they have toward young men? Is it possible to be "just friends"? Hear practical advice from Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin on navigating the tricky waters of relationships with boys, and how these relationships, properly conducted, can be edifying and strengthening.

What Our Father Taught Us About Boys

You can tell a lot about a nation by how the boys are trained to treat girls. Will boys grow up with the ability to respect, cherish, and lead women into the future, or will young men continue to exploit and degrade women? Is it possible for American boys to rediscover the ways men were created to honor women the ways God intends for women to be honored? This message reveals the attitudes three young gentlemen learned to cultivate as they listened to their father’s instruction, studied scripture on their own, and then interacted with the fair sex with confidence, gallantry, and manliness. Get practical advice on how to obey the command to treat young women "as sisters, with all purity": how to view girls; how to interact with girls; how to protect girls; how to handle flirtatious girls; and how to encourage and edify your sisters in Christ. Gain a vision for how to have meaningful and edifying friendships with those who are "heirs together of the grace of life."

What Our Father Taught Us About Girls

The great purpose of the Western Conservatory of the Arts and Sciences is to define, interpret and illustrate the greatness and wisdom of the created order with tools designed to help average 21st century families.

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