D.J. Hobbs, Ph.D.

I was born and raised in Memphis—and, all things considered, there is no place I would rather be than the Midsouth. I have been involved with homeschooling in the Memphis area for as long as I can remember; from kindergarten all the way through the 12th grade, I was a homeschool student myself. During the 1990s and 2000s, I had the opportunity to receive a solid education and participate in all sorts of homeschool-related activities. Key figures and organizations in my education included not only a great teacher—my mother—but also various other instructors in the local homeschooling community as well as a variety of homeschooling organizations (such as MHEA) and church groups (such as the RAs).

These experiences, especially the group-based courses I took with knowledgeable teachers of particular subjects, prepared me well for my university education. I received a bachelor’s degree from Christian Brothers University in Memphis in 2011, graduating summa cum laude with a double major in Religion & Philosophy (a single major at CBU) and English. In 2013, I obtained a master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Memphis. During this time, I paid my way through my education by working at a local jewelry store, James Gattas Jewelers. Finally, in 2013, I moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I worked my way through my studies as a research assistant and teacher, eventually receiving my doctorate in Philosophy from Marquette University in 2017. Some of my research has been printed by the publisher Routledge in an academic manuscript titled Towards a Phenomenology of Values: Investigations of Worth.

I have seven years of experience teaching classes at the university level, both at Marquette, where I taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor until 2021, and at Silver Lake College, a small school located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, that focused on students from a working-class background. I have taught classes to as few as five students and as many as forty-five students at a time. Teaching has always been a favorite pastime for me; I have never considered being in the classroom, having conversations with students, and exploring topics as central to Western civilization as ancient Greek philosophy or logic to count as work (unlike grading papers, which, while necessary, definitely counts as work!). Many of my students have gone on to graduate from university, obtain rewarding jobs, and live good lives, and I am happy to have been a small part of their journeys.

When my tenure at Marquette ended in 2021 after the onset of COVID-19, I moved back home to Memphis. However, I knew that I wanted to continue teaching. At Free Range Schoolhouse, I have the opportunity to teach the classes that I want to teach, classes that focus on topics that have been important throughout the history of the Western world. Through these classes, I can reconnect with the Memphis-area homeschooling community to offer homeschool students and their families the same kind of educational opportunities and assistance preparing for university that were so helpful to me. As I said, there is no place I would rather be.

I teach classes in English, Foreign Languages (German), Philosophy, and Western Civilization.