About

Muse and Hearth is a podcast for Christian women who want to extend the ideas behind classical education and the Great Books tradition into all of life. Too often we leave the intellectual rigor of the liberal arts in the towers of academia, or in the textbooks. But what if we as women, as wives, as mothers, made that intellectual tradition a part of our own habits and our family culture? 

The root of the word Amateur is from the Latin “amator,” or “lover.” Amateur means doing a thing out of love for it. Not because you’re an expert or because it’s your full-time job, though that love certainly tends toward mastery over time. We want to revitalize this word in its fullest and oldest sense–we want to be lovers of our vocations, not mere workers in those vocations. We want to love our work in our homes, in our families, in our life-long education, in our churches, in our communities. Join us as we rediscover the richness of a life lived with the passion of the amateur. 

About your Hosts

I’m Valerie Abraham, mom to two toddlers plus one on the way, wife to Matthew, and homemaker. I’m also sister-in-law to my co-host, Lydia, and fellow alumna of New Saint Andrews College. The kitchen is my main creative outlet, but I also love hospitality, illuminated manuscripts, coffee made by anyone but me, and long conversations about the Great Books. 

And I’m Lydia Foucachon, homeschool mom of five children aged 1-10. I’m married to my best friend and co-conspirator in the quest for world domination, Daniel who is the CEO and founder of Roman Roads Press and Kepler Education. Like Valerie, he and I are both alums of New Saint Andrews College, where we studied liberal arts. Daniel and I live on a small farm on the Palouse where I grow tulips and children. I love a good chat about challenging topics, and I have a habit of starting multiple books at once and keeping a running stack in progress at all times.