Vanessa Priestner

Vanessa is the wife of a diehard Cowboys fan and the mother of three young men who watch their father’s Super Bowl dream die each December, only to see it rise from the ashes with the coming of fall. While her husband watches football, Vanessa watches classical education webinars, plays with her dogs, relishes the feel of a paperback in her hand, and enjoys a taste of the four seasons in Northwest Arkansas. From the beginning, she homeschooled her boys with the intent of guiding them to love the Lord and the many stories that reflect His truth. Each boy has received books to begin his own family library. Her two oldest will have graduated from college, married their fiancées, and brought the books to their new homes before the Cowboys return to the field in September. These joyous events, along with the companionship of their high school son, should help her husband’s heart heal in time for next season’s woes.

Fall means football, but it also signals the beginning of a new school year. This has always excited Vanessa. Over the last two decades, she has taught several types of classes in homeschool co-op and tutorial settings. While educating her sons and their peers, she has led two mock trial teams, coached novice Lincoln-Douglas debaters, and assisted with coaching students in competitive speech events through a local Stoa Christian homeschool speech and debate club. She is dedicated to passing along a love of lifelong learning. As a student, she places herself in a posture of humble submission to great texts, revels in many good books, and asks students to do the same. Two years ago, Vanessa expanded her educational offerings to online writing classes for CiRCE and a Christian classical university-model academy. She has enjoyed mimetically teaching Levels One and Two of The Lost Tools of Writing for several years.

Presenting examples of the skills she asks her students to emulate, Vanessa walks through the examples and asks questions to aid her class in contemplating how and why to add the new tool to their kit. She then provides an opportunity for students to receive individual feedback on their own attempts to practice the skill during weekly lessons. Portions of the assigned story will be read aloud and discussed in class. In this way, she models attention to detail. Vanessa firmly believes that good readers make good writers and strives to help students see how the unchanging human nature revealed in myths and fairy tales also appears in rollicking ancient epics, Shakespearean plays, and the story of a girl whose humanity is awakened by a red-breasted robin who invites her into a garden. Yes, the beauty of God’s truth may be found and relished in all these places.

Vanessa is a CiRCE Certified Master Teacher and is pursuing a Master of Arts in the Great Books through Memoria College. She delights in sharing a sense of wonder with her students, encourages questions, and takes pride in the fact that her corgi is descended from fairy warhorses. It’s true! She is most excited to invite students and families to enter the Great Conversation. It is never too late to join!

Statement of Faith

I adhere to the truths summarized in the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds, believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, and worship Jesus Christ as the risen Son of the triune God. My family and I are members of a local church that is part of the Presbyterian Church in America. While we agree with the Westminster Shorter Catechism, we submit all teachings to the authority of the Bible. We are grateful to be a small part of the larger body of Christ.