Diving Back into Homeschooling Series Part One:

A Catholic Charlotte Mason & Classical Curriculum

preparing and cleaning up our homeschool space

“It may be that the souls of children are waiting for the call of knowledge to awaken them to delightful living.” -Charlotte Mason in A Philosophy of Education, XXV

“Literature is the ox of culture, its beast of burden. Without it we have no means of bearing culture.” - John Senior, The Death of Christian Culture

This coming fall Cilla will not return to her school, but instead I’ll begin homeschooling her for her first-grade year. We’re going to follow a Catholic Charlotte Mason curriculum, called Mater Amabilis and a classical curriculum called The Children’s Tradition. Both I have felt beautifully guided to. This decision, more so an awakening, came after an experience working through a Lenten homeschool guide called The Wilderness Way.

After putting down homeschooling a year ago, then learning Penny would require extra support and essentially a summer full of appointments, I didn’t expect the homeschooling journey to begin again so soon! I am surprised (I’ll also admit delighted) to be picking up home education this time. I had suspected I’d come back to it at some point, maybe when my children were a bit older, but to be immersed now so soon feels both right and rooted in God’s plan and call for our family’s life. To take on the mantle of home education at times has felt overwhelming and sobering, the seriousness remains but instead of fear I’m compelled to action. I’m reading and learning so much presently, it’s at times a bit overwhelming as I wake up early to read as much as I can and then often late into the night.

The concept of liberty has acted for me in this story as a deep comfort. I am reassured that if homeschooling doesn’t work for us, that we have other, wonderful options. I am encouraged by friends and fellow homeschool mothers that I do in fact have the faculties and ability to teach my daughter. I had picked up 100 Easy Lessons a few years ago, finding the text and process overwhelming, this spring I checked out from our library a similar book titled, The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading, and Cilla and I have been working our way through it beautifully. I’m learning that if one resource isn’t a fit or works, that another may do just as well. Other mother teachers have guided me in this exercise of search and finding books or curricula that works.

Time can be a teaching agent all its own, I’m learning. Where once I feared to tread, surrounded by anxiety and no confidence, I now feel assured and up to the cause. We have loved Cilla’s school experience, and the boys will continue at their preschool. All four kids and I will attend forest school. I am immensely grateful to Cilla’s wonderful kindergarten that has provided her with building blocks of learning. She’s well on her way, and I’m ready and so very excited to take over her education this autumn.

I haven’t been this excited about something in a long, long time. I feel like something has awakened in me. Each step of this journey has felt divinely ordered. It began with prayer, then a search for a curriculum.

I’ve been drawn to the Charlotte Mason pedagogy, philosophy of education, for a long time. I also hold deep respect and reverence for the classical model of education. Charlotte Mason curriculum research led me straight to Ambleside Online, a free and seasoned curriculum, and when searching for a specific Catholic book to add to my book list, found Mater Amabilis. The term Mater Amabilis in Latin translates to: Mother love or Mother Worthy of Love. Image searches for it reveal beautiful, evocative artwork that stirs the soul. Desiring a deeply meaningful education for my children, touchpoints like these are divine signs that I am going in the right direction. When I pull back and consider the big picture, the classical model is often coming up again and again as an approach that I deeply respect as it has stood the test of time.

The process of planning for our school year has revealed to me the depth and breadth of this way of thinking and imparting knowledge. While I know we’ll have some challenging days, moments of frustration, and I’ll be required to pivot and stay flexible, I know that this is the right choice for us for the coming year.

the joy of planning & paper products