[Podcast #362] Susan Wise Bauer and The Great Shadow

Brave Writer

What if the way we think about sickness has been shaping our lives for thousands of years?

Historian and author Susan Wise Bauer joins us to discuss her new book, The Great Shadow, and the surprising ways illness has influenced everything from religion and medicine to consumer culture and politics.

Susan Wise Bauer
Susan Wise Bauer

We explore:

  • why ancient beliefs about sickness persist,
  • how historical pandemics mirror our experience with COVID-19,
  • and why we so often associate good health with personal virtue.

Susan also shares how understanding history can help us question our assumptions, navigate medical decisions, and approach illness with greater compassion.

Join us for a fascinating look at the history we carry into the present!

Show Notes

Why Our Beliefs About Sickness Haven’t Changed as Much as We Think

What if you woke up with a sore throat and knew you might be dead by evening?

For much of human history, that was a genuine possibility. A minor infection could become fatal, and families lived with the constant awareness that sickness might strike without warning.

Today, we have antibiotics, vaccines, and sophisticated medical treatments. Yet historian Susan Wise Bauer, author of The Great Shadow, reveals something surprising: despite centuries of scientific progress, many of our beliefs about sickness remain remarkably unchanged.

The Ancient Beliefs We Still Carry

Throughout history, humans have searched for explanations for illness. In ancient societies, sickness was often understood as punishment from the gods or evidence of spiritual wrongdoing.

Later, Hippocratic medicine suggested that illness resulted from an imbalance in the body. Perhaps you ate the wrong foods, lived in the wrong climate, or indulged in unhealthy habits.

Sound familiar?

Susan draws a fascinating connection between these historical explanations and modern wellness culture. We still hear that eating correctly, exercising regularly, and maintaining the right habits will protect us from illness.

Of course, taking care of our bodies matters. But there’s a troubling assumption hidden beneath these beliefs: if we’re sick, perhaps we did something wrong.

That assumption becomes particularly painful when serious illness strikes someone who has seemingly done everything right.

Why Pandemics Bring Out Familiar Behaviors

One of the most striking revelations in Susan’s research is how closely historical pandemics resemble our recent experience with COVID-19.

Centuries ago, European cities introduced quarantines to slow the spread of plague. Merchants protested restrictions, communities questioned authorities, and people worried about losing their livelihoods.

The same conflicts emerged during COVID-19.

Disease outbreaks have also repeatedly inspired scapegoating. Throughout history, marginalized communities have been blamed for spreading illness, allowing others to maintain the comforting illusion that their own behavior or social standing makes them safe.

Understanding these historical patterns helps us recognize the fears and assumptions influencing our reactions today.

What Happens When We Blame People for Getting Sick?

Consider the language we use around illness.

We describe someone as “fighting” cancer or “losing the battle” against disease. We praise healthy people for their discipline and sometimes assume that those experiencing illness have neglected their responsibilities.

But what does that suggest about someone who doesn’t recover?

Susan encourages us to examine these expressions because language reveals our underlying beliefs.

The consequences extend beyond individual relationships. When we associate sickness with irresponsible behavior, those assumptions can influence our attitudes toward healthcare access, public assistance, and who deserves support.

Compassion requires recognizing that illness isn’t necessarily evidence of a personal failure.

History Gives Us Better Questions

One of our favorite things about Susan’s approach is how studying a single subject opens the door to understanding so much more.

By examining sickness throughout history, we encounter religion, economics, politics, science, consumer culture, and social change.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for homeschoolers.

Imagine studying the Black Death and discovering how it affected labor, government, religious beliefs, and everyday family life. Or tracing the history of vaccination and exploring the relationship between scientific knowledge, public trust, and personal experience.

We don’t have to study every historical subject separately. Sometimes following one compelling question takes us through centuries of human experience.

And perhaps the greatest lesson is that historical knowledge gives us the opportunity to question what we take for granted.

We can respect medical expertise while asking thoughtful questions. We can care for our health without believing we control every outcome. And we can recognize that the fears we experience today have been shared by generations before us.

When we understand the history behind our assumptions, we become better equipped to examine them, and more compassionate toward ourselves and others.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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The Secret to a Great Writing Prompt

Brave Writer

Have you had this convo?

You: Let’s try a writing prompt! You pick! 

  • Write a five-paragraph essay on your favorite season
  • Write about what you did on your summer vacation.
  • Write three paragraphs on the following topic: What makes a person successful?

Your kid: Ummmm…

In their head:

  • I can’t think of anything to say. (Actually, there’s too much to say. My hand already hurts.)
  • I don’t remember summer vacation. (That was, like, ages ago.)
  • I have no clue what makes a person successful. (And I don’t really care!)

The issue? Some writing prompts are so open-ended that they leave kids staring at a blank page, not sure where to start. Others are so narrow (or dull) that they result in writing that feels a bit…forced.

The secret to a great prompt is to offer kids just enough direction to get going, but enough wiggle room for them to run with their own ideas and creativity.

That’s exactly our goal in Building Brave Writers: Experience. Oodles of engaging prompts. Three weeks to play, experiment, write, and get fantastic feedback from an interested reader! 

You’ll see teacher feedback in action, and even have extra prompts to use afterward!

Want to try a writing prompt from class? Here’s one from Week 3!

Prompt: Your Own Invention

Step 1. Brainstorm

With a pad of paper and a pencil, walk around your house, your yard, or up and down your street. What’s missing that would make your life easier or more fun?  Think of ONE new item that hasn’t been invented yet or an existing invention that could be made better/more helpful/faster/easier. It might be a game, a gadget, or some electronic item.  Quickly jot down a sentence or two describing your idea.

Step 2. Freewrite!

Set the timer for 5 minutes.  List a few ways your new or improved invention could make life better.

Take a quick break, then reset the timer for 5 minutes.

Step 3. Freewrite again!

How could someone use your invention in their daily life? Provide instructions, advice, whatever you think we need to know in order to use your new invention.

Step 4. Draw (if you like!)

Create a simple drawing so we can see what your invention would look like.

Ta-da! Time to celebrate!

For an expanded version of this activity, you can check out our sample classroom.

And if your kids enjoyed this prompt, there are plenty more in Building Brave Writers: Experience. Join us, and learn how to provide prompts that actually inspire writing!

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[Podcast #361] Growing Wild with Ainsley Arment

Brave Writer Podcast

What if the best thing we can give our kids isn’t a perfectly planned education, but a childhood that leaves room for wonder?

Wild + Free founder Ainsley Arment joins us on the Brave Writer podcast to talk about her new picture book, Grow Wild, My Child, and the philosophy behind a childhood rooted in nature, curiosity, story, and play. We explore Ainsley’s unexpected path to homeschooling, the origins of Wild + Free, and why wonder and rigor don’t have to compete.

Ainsley Arment
Ainsley Arment

We also dig into screens, AI, child-led learning, family culture, and the joy of following “contagious obsessions” wherever they lead.

Join us for a refreshing reminder that learning doesn’t need a worksheet to count.

Show Notes

What Can We Give Our Kids Because They’re Home?

It’s easy to approach homeschooling by asking what we need to cover. Which curriculum? How much math? Which history program? How many pages should we finish?

There’s another question worth asking: What can we give our kids because they’re home?

That question opens up an entirely different vision of education.

Ainsley Arment, founder of Wild + Free and author of Grow Wild, My Child, describes “wild” childhood not as chaotic or unruly, but as fully alive. It’s a childhood with room for nature, story, wonder, curiosity, and play.

Those things don’t compete with learning. They help give learning its life.

Wonder and Rigor Belong Together

Homeschoolers can get trapped in false choices.

Are we child-led or parent-directed? Do we prioritize play or academics? Are we following curiosity or doing rigorous work?

We don’t have to choose.

Children can spend hours outside and learn math. They can pursue an obsession and still practice difficult skills. Parents can introduce subjects and set expectations while remaining alert to the interests bubbling up from their children.

The goal isn’t to abandon rigor. It’s to stop assuming that rigor only happens when learning looks like school.

Sometimes an education begins with a musical.

Ainsley’s family became collectively obsessed with Hamilton after one of her sons introduced it to them. Soon they were quoting lyrics, investigating the American Revolution, and asking which parts of the story were historically accurate.

Nobody needed to make a Hamilton worksheet.

The curiosity was already doing its work.

Build a Family Culture of Learning

Our children also need our curiosity.

Kids enter the world without knowing what possibilities exist. We bring them books, music, art, science, nature, history, movies, places, and people. We expose them to what delights us, and they expose us to what delights them.

Over time, those interests become part of a family culture.

That culture won’t look the same in every home. One family may live and breathe Shakespeare and poetry. Another may be building things in the backyard, studying fish, or experimenting with electronics.

Our children do not need us to reproduce somebody else’s homeschool.

They need access to the particular richness of their own family.

Childhood Is Valuable Now

This becomes especially important when we think about screens and AI. Children are growing up surrounded by technologies that ask them to manage distractions even adults struggle to resist.

We can give them something else too: unhurried time. Books. Nature. Making things with their hands. Long conversations. Boredom. Play. The chance to develop a skill before a machine offers to perform it for them.

And we don’t have to justify those choices by pointing to the adults our children eventually become.

A childhood filled with wonder isn’t worthwhile only if it produces a particular college acceptance, career, or accomplishment.

Childhood has value while it is happening.

So follow the rabbit trail. Read the book. Go outside. Investigate the strange question that has suddenly captivated everyone at dinner.

Here’s to more contagious obsessions.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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