“If that in sight of God is great Which counts itself for small, We by that law humility The chiefest grace must call; Which being such, not knows itself To be a grace at all.” Trench. One of the gifts of practicing the Charlotte Mason method is that she gently guides the teacher in how to live and how to ..read more

Announcing the 18th annual Living Education Retreat! Below you can find the two-page flyer with links to registration. The theme this year is “Abound In Hope” and each amazing speaker will share their knowledge, experience, wisdom, and love for Charlotte Mason and her philosophy of education. This long-running and renowned event lovingly brings together CM veterans and newbies each year ..read more

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –That perches in the soul –And sings the tune without the words –And never stops – at all – -Emily Dickinson As a little girl growing up on Jackson Street in Mentor, Ohio my friend across the street had a mom who was a nurse. She had a sash that she wore with the ..read more

If in a few schools the children have difficulty in narrating Plutarch’s Lives, it will almost certainly be found that the teacher (as one excellent teacher frankly confesses) does not like the book: he may or may not understand why Plutarch wrote it, why Miss Mason with her wonderful insight adopted it as an inspiration to Citizenship, or indeed why ..read more

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 25:3 I was revisiting this piece of advice that I shared with a sweet mother over a decade ago to see if it still holds true for today’s families. I think that it does and much of what I share in my ..read more

Some mornings I take a walk across town to Island Park where you enter under a stone gateway that has the title, “Where Friends Meet.” Alas, no friends are meeting there at 6:00 a.m.! The park is bordered by the Des Moines River, a tributary of the Mississippi River. A few years ago, a dam was removed and replaced with ..read more

Charlotte Mason Inspiration and Community As the school year wraps up for many of us, let’s exercise our wills and choose to finish well. Let us not grow weary in doing good. Perhaps this little community is just the encouragement and help you need! LEL is an opportunity to allow other women to come alongside you in your efforts toward ..read more

If there’s one thing that strikes me when I read what the Parents Union School (PUS – Charlotte Mason’s schools for children) teachers thought about teaching Shakespeare, it would be the joy with which the plays were approached and appreciated by both teachers and students. This article will focus on the “how” of teaching Shakespeare in a living education and ..read more

See that picture of my Riverside Shakespeare? I read it in college at the University of Minnesota many years ago. I didn’t enjoy it and plowed through it for the grade. Almost entire plays have pink highlighter throughout as I grappled with each play at breakneck speed. Thank goodness Charlotte Mason entered my life a few years later! Thanks to ..read more

Here is a post written by one of my sons after his freshman year in college. What does a Charlotte Mason graduate raised on living books do when he gets to college and has to read all those fact-filled textbooks? I hope you find Jack’s take on it encouraging! When he wrote this, he was studying English at the University ..read more