Articles

Ambleside Schools International inspires, trains, and equips a global community.

Articles

Ambleside Schools International inspires, trains, and equips a global community.

The differences however between merely reading an educational work and being trained on the principles laid down in the work are as the difference between seeing a light and being kindled at a flame.

— CHARLOTTE M. MASON —

The differences however between merely reading an educational work and being trained on the principles laid down in the work are as the difference between seeing a light and being kindled at a flame.

CHARLOTTE M. MASON

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A Renewal of Christian Education: A Charlotte Mason Perspective

Ambleside Schools International’s mission statement calls for the renewal of Christian education. This renewal goes beyond merely teaching a Christian worldview—it reorients the entire process of teaching and learning to be deeply rooted in this worldview.

Gratitude

No other Lord of the Heart should do more to guide us into joyous and happy living than Gratitude. How good and glad it is to be grateful!

A Better Way to Learn

Every subject, whether history, science, or language, is approached with curiosity and delight. Even the hardest lessons are infused with joy because the children see learning not as a chore but as a living, breathing pursuit.

The Meaning of Must

The recognition of must is another human principle at work. Must in living means, I live under authority, I live in relationship, and I live responsibly.

Veterans Day at Ambleside

At Ambleside we seek to instruct students in the roles and responsibilities of a citizen of one’s country. Veterans Day is an opportunity for such instruction.

Atmosphere in the Home Part 1: Hearth or Furnace

In the home, parents are responsible for creating and maintaining a healthy atmosphere where children can experience love, joy, and peace.

The Week That Changed My Life

We all have experiences that shape and form us. It could be the passing of a loved one, a serious illness, a book we read, a conversation with a mentor, or a teacher who profoundly impacted our life.

What A School Is Required To Be

In a world where education often feels like a competition, the Ambleside Method offers a refreshing perspective: a school should be a sanctuary of belonging, joy, and disciplined harmony, where students learn not for rewards, but for the sheer delight of discovery and shared growth.

Interview with Kaleb Puckett

Kaleb recounts how he and Sarah discovered Ambleside and fell in love with its transformative approach to education and life.

Education as Gradgrind or Fulness of Living

Like so many of Charles Dickens’ wonderful characters, Thomas Gradgrind is a caricature but a caricature with a point.

How an Ambleside Education Transformed my Family’s Learning Journey

During our search for a nurturing environment for our daughter, we discovered an Ambleside school and its unique educational philosophy.

The Test of the Living Book

Parents today encounter a modern problem when looking for living books, but the solution, which Miss Mason identifies for us, is ages-old, just the same as it’s always been.

The Teacher and Joy

Our brains are made to run on joy. A joyful brain functions much better than the anxious, agitated, or depressed brain. Joy supports brain growth. Specifically, it contributes to the generation and reinforcement of new brain synapses.

Education and the Three Desires

Charlotte Mason identifies three primary human desires: the desire of knowledge, the desire of society (belonging), and the desire of esteem (to be held in high regard).

The Songs of Birds

With the sudden nature of spring the cool breezes longed to come in through the  windows, and with them, a cacophony of bird songs competing with each other for sound space…

Work, Leisure, Entertainment

Summer draws near, and we begin to consider how we will spend our days. In his book, Leisure, the Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper (1904-1997), a German philosopher, offered a helpful framework for considering the relationship between work, leisure, and entertainment.

Charlotte Mason the Early Years

Charlotte Mason was an intensely private person, and some aspects of her life have only come to light over the last ten years. Here are some lesser-known facts about Charlotte.

Observation and Delight

Thania described a Charlotte Mason education as rich, inspiring, and life-changing. Not only did it change the way she viewed learning as a homeschool mother, but it truly instilled a joy of learning and the desire to become lifelong learners in herself and in her children.

From Here to There

Before Ambleside, I attended traditional Christian schools. In third grade, I was depressed, acting out, behind in math, trailing in reading, and I hated school. I was deeply convinced that I was stupid. My parents were fearful for my future, questioning if I would even graduate high school.

Ambleside’s Skylark in Song and Spirit

In 1903 it had been suggested by a home-schoolroom pupil, Eric Bishop, that the P.U.S. should have a badge. He wrote to Charlotte Mason to ask if this could be arranged and sent her a design of a lark soaring towards heaven, encircled by a wreath of daisies.

Resurrection and Life

A grieving Martha meets Jesus on the way. “If you had been there, my brother would not have died.” And Jesus responds with sweetest of words: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

Forming the whole child, not just the mind.

I think schools often focus on information as the outcome of what they’re trying to do. Test results. What makes a “living education” is that we focus on the work of formation. It’s not just passing the test. We’re trying to form the child for every aspect of their future life.

What it means to be known.

Charlotte Mason understood the potential of the littlest of us and then made it her duty to cultivate a way of education that respects our children as persons; worthy to be given the BEST ideas to nourish their minds upon.

Flora. Fauna. Fairies.

Charlotte Mason talks about “seeing eyes” – truly looking and observing deeply the world and God’s creation in front of us.

Knowledge – A Diet of Ideas

Knowledge and the mind of man are to each other as are air and the lungs. The mind lives by knowledge; it stagnates, faints, perishes, if deprived of this necessary atmosphere.

A Mind-to-Mind Meeting

All education in the True, Good, and Beautiful is a gift of common grace. And yet, to be wisely offered, such an education involves a set of definite practices.

Ambleside Method – Timelines

One of the first things you notice in an Ambleside classroom is its distinctive timeline spanning the top of the room. Pictures, names, dates — all linked together by a seamless cord.

Ambleside Method FAQs

The Charlotte Mason-inspired Ambleside Method is unique and countercultural. We are not like even other Christian schools. The Ambleside vision is to renew Christian education across the globe with our Holy Spirit-infused model of education.

Equipping Students to Grapple with Tough Questions

In considering their children’s education, parents often ask themselves “what kind of person do I want my child to be like when he or she turns 18?”

Seeds to Flourish – Investing in Growth

ASI has trained me. It started with my training as an Ambleside teacher. I took part in the Ambleside Institute and Internships and really fell in love with this education.

Video Series Part 16. Chapter Thirteen: Establish a Strategy

After inspiring a child with an idea and building an alliance, then, establish a strategy for forming a new habit. Ask the child, “How can I help you?” Often they themselves will offer a great strategy.

Caroling, Caroling!

Corporate singing is important for every person. We come together with a shared faith in a shared melody. Make time this Christmas season to carol together with family and friends in the car, at home, at church, and in your neighborhood.

Video Series Part 15. Chapter Twelve: Building a Working Alliance

Healthy habit formation occurs when a joyful adult comes alongside a child to help them learn a new habit. We can’t lay down a good habit if we are filled with anxiety, because then the child focuses on protecting themselves from us or making us happy.

Advent

The English word, advent, derived from the Latin, adventus, is a translation of the Greek word, parousia. In the classical world, parousia and adventus were technical terms for the appearance, the manifestation of presence of a king, a great ruler, even a god to be worshipped. Arriving, the king gifts his people with his presence.

Video Series Part 14. Chapter Eleven: Good Habits

Caring adults can intentionally cultivate habits in a relational way so that children grow in habits such as focused attention, neat and accurate work, asking questions, respecting others, working hard, and recovering from emotional distress.

Video Series Part 13. Chapter Ten: What is a Habit?

By intentionally and carefully forming new habits in children, we can “lift them above their natures,” freeing them from negative propensities. Focused attention is the most important educational habit to be formed because that to which we give attention, we come to know.

Video Series Part 12. Chapter Nine: How Much Does the Student Care?

Motivation is more important than information. The student who cares about spelling or science or mathematics will do well and learn these things to the fullness of their God-given ability. We care about those things with which we have developed a relationship; we care about those things which are valued by our community. The student who cares will do well.

Video Series Part 11. Chapter Eight: Worthy Work

Worthy work is intrinsically satisfying. Students gain the satisfaction of knowing and of work well done. Well-intentioned adults may inadvertently contaminate the learning atmosphere by using artificial rewards and incentives, which demean the joy of knowing and diminish the student’s capacity for intrinsic motivation.

Video Series Part 10. Chapter Seven: Cultivating Tastes

In prior times, children grew up with a mind to work—it was breathed in by the atmosphere of the home. Many children and many duties required many hands. As society has changed, however, much of our work is accomplished outside of the home, and parents labor in workplaces unseen by their children. Taking this into account, it is important to be purposeful to train a child in a view toward work.

Video Series Part 9. The Importance of Atmosphere Chapter Six: Aesthetics and Atmosphere

Beauty is all around us, but we must learn to notice and recognize it. We begin in the classroom with beautiful music, art on the walls, wooden furniture. These all play a part in developing the aesthetic sense in a child while at the same time valuing the child as a person who has great capacity.

Video Series Part 8. The Importance of Atmosphere Chapter Five: Masterly Inactivity

Masterly Inactivity is the peaceful presence held by an Ambleside teacher that gently invites a child to strengthen his will to do as he ought – for example, to sit up correctly, or show kindness. Masterly Inactivity is not heavy-handed but is peaceful and natural.

Video Series Part 7. The Importance of Atmosphere Chapter Four: The Teacher and the Atmosphere

Charlotte Mason proposes the need to ‘rectify’ our view of authority and how authority rightly ‘vested in the office’ of the teacher impacts the learning atmosphere. Miss Mason explains how authority is not autocratic rule but rather it is a mantle to wear with dignity and confidence. The teacher walks in authority, is under authority, and is ever aware that she stands always on Holy ground before the children.

The Charlotte Mason Method with Maryellen St. Cyr – Making the Leap Podcast

Our founder Maryellen St. Cyr shares how she came to know Charlotte Mason, how it changed her understanding of education, and how this new understanding is implemented in our Ambleside classrooms. Check out the Making the Leap podcast from our partners at the Herzog Foundation, hosted by Christine and Chris Stigall.

Video Series Part 6. The Importance of Atmosphere Chapter Three: Cultivating an Atmosphere for Learning

In cultivating an atmosphere for learning, we at Ambleside are ever-mindful of our responsibility and vocation as educators to nurture the children, providing a place for them to grow and thrive — a place that encourages and supports the development of their mind and capacities through their own worthy efforts to apprehend knowledge.

Video Series Part 5. The Importance of Atmosphere Chapter Two: How Atmosphere Sets Affections

In this next part in our video and discussion guides, we flesh out Charlotte Mason’s ideas on how to ‘excite appetency … toward things lovely, honest, and of good report.’ And we wholeheartedly agree that this is the earliest and most important ministry of the educator.

Video Series Part 4. The Importance of Atmosphere Chapter One: The Foundation of Joy

Charlotte Mason emphasized cultivating an atmosphere conducive to learning and growing. At Ambleside, we take great care to develop such an atmosphere, and our teachers are actively engaged and attuned to what is ‘going around’ in the classroom, on the playground, and through the school hallways.

Video Series Part 3. What Are We Drawing the Children To? Means of Motivation

With the principle always in mind that children are born persons, an Ambleside teacher is trained to be aware of the innate, God-given desires within each child, while at the same time being cautious to tread carefully in how to satisfy these.

“The Nightingale and the Rose” a tale by Oscar Wilde

Charlotte Mason gives us a thoughtful vision to the significance and purpose of a ‘literature lesson’ to a child’s education. At Ambleside Schools, we believe as she does that ‘a child ‘gets moral notions’ from these stories.

Video Series Part 2. How is the Student Growing? The Mind of a School-Child

At Ambleside Schools we wholeheartedly agree with Charlotte Mason’s premise that children are born with an innate desire to know. They’re “pre-wired,” so to speak, to naturally learn and grow — to “self-educate.”

Video Series Part 1. Persons or Products, Children are Born Persons

A vital principle in an Ambleside education is the idea that ‘Children are Born Persons.’ Charlotte Mason reminds us that children are made in God’s image with great capacity and born with an innate desire for knowledge.

The Greatest Benefit Gained

I didn’t simply read about Abraham Lincoln or study algebra in the same way that other secondary school students did. Rather than having reading assignments for homework, I read and discussed living books together with my classmates. We made discoveries and came to understanding, and I was enlightened to the past.

A Poetry Lesson

As an Ambleside teacher, preparing and teaching a lesson is a lesson itself — a great adventure that takes the teacher on his or her own path of discovery. We search, we read, we consider, we ponder, we reflect, we gain insight … we’re inspired. In the preparing and planning we grow and learn ourselves. The text is the teacher, and the teacher is taught. And each subject has its own distinct path of learning.

Ambleside Schools Launches Expanded Effort to Bring its Homeschooling Mentor Program to More Families

Amid growing and urgent demand from families for alternative educational models for their children, Ambleside Schools International has launched an expanded effort to bring its comprehensive homeschooling mentorship program to more families to train them in the Charlotte Mason philosophy and Ambleside Method. 

An Atmosphere of Words, Wisdom, and Peace

In the five years since graduating from Ambleside, I have held close the loves that it shaped in me. I love peaceful learning; Ambleside formed in me a diligence and deep interest which outlasts and supersedes the bribery of grades, the perfectionism that drives procrastination, and the harshness of hurry.  

Our Living Education

May 2023 marked the trip to Washington, D.C., when Ambleside high school students from around the country gathered together for a time of learning in our nation’s capital. It was a beautiful week. We shared meals and delighted in conversations with other students of a similar age, who are participating in the same educational model that we are.

Seeds to Sow – Financial Assistance for Training & Curriculum

We started visiting Christian schools and the second school we visited was an Ambleside school. The Head of School answered our questions and we knew we were in the right place. We decided to take that next step, trusting that God would provide the tuition — which He did miraculously.

What is the Ambleside Difference

Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking – the strain would be too great – but all living; that is to say, we should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest. The question is not – how much does the youth know when he has finished his education – but how much does he care? — Charlotte M. Mason —

Reflections on Reconciliation, Redemption, and the Resurrection

Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on.

He is Risen, and He is With Us

The resurrection of Christ Jesus, which we celebrate this and every Easter, is something more than the decisive proof of the truth of Christian doctrine. Easter resurrection makes possible a new way of life today.

Easter Reflection

As Easter approaches, we take a moment to reflect on what seems the most tender of the resurrection accounts found in John 20:11 – 16.

Hannah Whitall Smith and Charlotte Mason

Hannah Whitall Smith, mother to seven, speaker, suffragist, and author, wrote The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life in 1875. I found her timeless wisdom to be refreshing, challenging, and grounding to my soul that teetered on the fulcrum between the eras of modernism and postmodernism.

What is in the Air?

We are shaped by the ideas that are seeded in us and the relational air that we breathe. And we are continuously exhaling ideas and relational air which those around us will inhale. The question is “What’s in the air?”

Under the Influence of Entertainment

How do we inspire and support a sense of caring, duty, thankfulness, and sacrifice? How are the influences of our modern world misdirecting our youth? As a teacher and a parent I have to ask myself, “How am I contributing to the problem?”

Lenten Thoughts on Love

As we choose to walk the pilgrim path to Christ and our true home, we often wonder. What is my calling? What is God’s will for my life? We may even fret and worry and become anxious, because we don’t seem to have an answer, or the answers come too slowly for our liking.

Education, the Science of Relations: We are Educated by Our Intimacies

In education, as in every human endeavor, there exists the possibility of erring to the left and erring to the right. We live in an age in which the responsibility of adults to be intentional and diligent in the formation of children’s habits is largely forgotten.

Perfect Execution: The Habit of Quality Work

For us and our students, the element of beauty, order, offering one’s best, the achievement of accuracy, respect for others as they view or use the work, perseverance, joy in accomplishing something of quality and durability, and other similar benefits are seen in doing quality work. To develop this habit, it is important that we hold high expectations for our children’s work.

Presidents Day: A Reflection on Humility

Fondly do we consider the two presidents whom we honor this month. As young men, both were brash. But they allowed life to season them, and being humbled, they became humble. And, by the end, worthy of admiration.

Specialized Brain Training

The brain is plastic. It molds, changes as we learn. Though lacking the benefits of modern technology, one hundred years ahead of her time, Charlotte Mason recognized the importance of neuroplasticity.

Deceptive Brain Messages

As an Ambleside teacher, we often discuss our “paradigm shift’ – from textbooks, grades, and stickers to “living books,” “narrations,” and “habits.” It’s difficult, for many of us. We’re not just learning about a method of education; we’re learning again how to learn.

Disobedience

When a child whose relational guidance system is malformed, such that he doesn’t recognize certain behaviors as being inappropriate or hurtful, it is important to make the distinction between two different kinds of disobedience: Defiant Disobedience and Supra-conscious Disobedience.

Ideas to Ponder

As an Ambleside teacher, we often discuss our “paradigm shift’ – from textbooks, grades, and stickers to “living books,” “narrations,” and “habits.” It’s difficult, for many of us. We’re not just learning about a method of education; we’re learning again how to learn.

Loyalty to the King

There is little, if anything, that brings such sweetness to the soul of devout Christian parents as their children’s allegiance to the risen Savior King. And few things are so harrowing as the prospect that one’s child might abandon Him, who is the Source of all life and goodness.

The Great Recognition

On January 1, 1842, Charlotte Mason was born. We at Ambleside Schools are eternally grateful to her for teaching us through her own living books and ideas, one of the most important of which is the view of a child as a whole person. From the beginning, she has inspired and influenced our sacred work of educating children, and we honor her today for the beautiful legacy she left us.

Christmas Reflections – Christmas and the Disappointed Faithful

The world has two kinds of people, the disappointed faithless and the disappointed faithful. Since the time of Adam and Eve, the world has disappointed, and, when left to itself, the world will always disappoint. Christmas is the story of God decisively breaking into history on behalf of the disappointed faithful.

Christmas Reflections – Good News of Great Joy

Let them grow up, too, with the shout of a King in their midst. There are, in this poor stuff we call human nature, founts of loyalty, worship, passionate devotion, glad service, which have, alas! to be unsealed in the earth-laden older heart, but only ask place to flow from the child.

Christmas Reflections – The Christmas Story in Art

During a visit to the National Gallery of Art, we had the privilege of learning from Dr. David Gariff, a senior lecturer at the Gallery. We walked among and reflected upon a dozen Nativity masterpieces.

Christmas Reflections – A Meditation on Handel’s Messiah

In melodious repetition a larger harmony came forth, instruments and voice proclaiming the God who is God of all comfort beckoning to his people. Handel makes skillful use of “word painting,” a technique by which the music reflects the literal meaning of a song.

Seeds to Grow – Calcutta Emmanuel School

In 1978, my mother and father had started a Christian school in India called The Calcutta Emmanuel School. Originally, they had no intention to start a school. My father had a counseling center and there were always poor children playing outside on the street and making so much noise. It drew his attention, and the school became an answer to the needs of these children.

Christmas Reflections – A Hint of Christmas

I had before me a six-year old’s rendering of a giraffe. There was a tinge of grace in the play, the picture, and the presentation. Such graces shape the heart of a child. Such graces make for a hint of Christmas every day.

Educating for Relationship

When we think of relationships, we usually think of those persons whose lives have touched our lives – family, friends, and co-workers. As important as these are, we must expand our vision.

Thanksgiving Reflection

All that we encounter, abundance and scarcity, joy and suffering, the beautiful and the ghastly, become meaningful in our sacrifice to God; it all becomes our offering.

Gratitude

Those with the habit of being grateful have eyes to see and ears to hear the many gifts that are daily given. Yet, is there ever a day when we cannot find some excuse for ingratitude, anxiety and dissatisfaction? But, what is the fruit of this bad habit?

Honoring Our Beloved Veterans

This week, across the United States from ‘sea to shining sea,’ our Ambleside School communities are taking a pause to reflect and honor our country’s veterans as we do each year.

What a Yearling!

Rarely do we see transformation in one simple step, and never have I seen it without tension.  We can use that tension and decide that what we left behind was left behind us.

Cultivating the Habit of Attention

It is impossible to overstate the importance of this habit of attention. It is …”within the reach of everyone and should be made the primary object of all mental discipline.” — Charlotte Mason

Watchwords – Habit

By Education is a discipline, is meant the discipline of habits formed definitely and thoughtfully, whether habits of mind or body.

What a Bouquet!

In a moment, these three simple words shed a better light on a year’s work of daily lessons and nurturing and mending relationships.

Offend Not These Little Ones

In the Gospels we find a code of education summed up in three commandments: take heed that ye offend not––despise not––hinder not––one of these little ones.

Community

What does community look like at Ambleside? A good start would be to look at Charlotte Mason’s “Science of Relations;” right relationships to God, self, others, and ideas.

Training Children as Ministers of Grace

Charlotte Mason evokes several principles in her call for children to serve: Service is a deliberate work; service widens one’s sympathy; and service involves self-sacrifice.

Watchwords – Read Aloud

Charlotte Mason speaks of the family read aloud as a habit, 1-2 evenings each week for an hour. There are few stronger family bonds than this habit of devoting an occasional hour to reading aloud.

To Know God — First Concerns of a Teacher

While there are many aspects to maturity, there is none as important as the nature of one’s relationship with God.

Knowing God

Education is the science of relations, relations with saints and sinners, the past and the present, earth and sky, art and craft, work and leisure. Still, there is more. Nothing matters so much in the making of a man or woman as his/her relationship with God.

Handwork as Heritage

For Ambleside students in the home and school classroom, the handwork lesson is a time of rest, contemplation, joy and accomplishment. Emphasis is placed on the skill to be learned rather than the project to be produced.

New School Year

As another school year begins, parents and teachers take stock of the daunting privilege of nurturing the inner lives of children; sowing seeds today, in the hope of fruit tomorrow.

Strange and Glorious Amphibians

How often it is that we go through life missing the simple pleasures. Our focus is on ourselves; our thoughts, our plans and our concerns–failing to hear the joy around us. Charlotte Mason reminds us to be fully present and to listen. Miss Mason’s idyllic picture of being “in the fields on a spring day” is far from the reality of most 21st century lives. Although being in the fields on a spring day, or most days for that matter, would do us all good.

Learning to Observe Truth

How often it is that we go through life missing the simple pleasures. Our focus is on ourselves; our thoughts, our plans and our concerns–failing to hear the joy around us. Charlotte Mason reminds us to be fully present and to listen. Miss Mason’s idyllic picture of being “in the fields on a spring day” is far from the reality of most 21st century lives. Although being in the fields on a spring day, or most days for that matter, would do us all good.

The Tree Standing on the Hill

How often it is that we go through life missing the simple pleasures. Our focus is on ourselves; our thoughts, our plans and our concerns–failing to hear the joy around us. Charlotte Mason reminds us to be fully present and to listen. Miss Mason’s idyllic picture of being “in the fields on a spring day” is far from the reality of most 21st century lives. Although being in the fields on a spring day, or most days for that matter, would do us all good.

Watchwords – Revealer

An understanding of the meaning of must, moved by ought, a heart stirred by that which a person owes to another, that which a person is bound by natural, moral or legal obligation to pay, do, or perform.

Summertime Vision

How often it is that we go through life missing the simple pleasures. Our focus is on ourselves; our thoughts, our plans and our concerns–failing to hear the joy around us. Charlotte Mason reminds us to be fully present and to listen. Miss Mason’s idyllic picture of being “in the fields on a spring day” is far from the reality of most 21st century lives. Although being in the fields on a spring day, or most days for that matter, would do us all good.

To Listen

How often it is that we go through life missing the simple pleasures. Our focus is on ourselves; our thoughts, our plans and our concerns–failing to hear the joy around us. Charlotte Mason reminds us to be fully present and to listen. Miss Mason’s idyllic picture of being “in the fields on a spring day” is far from the reality of most 21st century lives. Although being in the fields on a spring day, or most days for that matter, would do us all good.

Loving, Right, and Noble Ideas

We endeavor that all our teaching and treatment of children shall be on the lines of nature, their nature and ours, for we do not recognize what is called ‘Child-nature.’ We believe that children are human beings at their best and sweetest, but also at their weakest and least wise. We are careful not to dilute life for them, but to present such portions to them in such quantities as they can readily receive. 

Watchwords – Duty

An understanding of the meaning of must, moved by ought, a heart stirred by that which a person owes to another, that which a person is bound by natural, moral or legal obligation to pay, do, or perform.

The Atmosphere of Home

We often talk of ideas in the classrooms at Ambleside, but what about the ideas in our homes? We want our children to love learning, but does our home life foster this love? Charlotte Mason says that every parent holds their breath when they hear that their children take direction and inspiration from all the casual life about them, and that even the parents’ words and ways form the starting point from which he develops.

In Memory

As another Memorial Day is upon us, we remember the men and women who died in combat, gave their lives, this year, and years past.

Child Gymnasium or Child Garden

In the six volumes of her Home Education Series, Charlotte Mason speaks of joy over 270 times. This is not surprising, for the consistent experience of joy is essential to a child’s well-being. Through experience, parents and teachers know how difficult it is to help the sullen child move forward. Ms. Mason would take it a step farther, arguing that “The happiness of the child is the condition of his progress.” Thus, “his lessons should be joyous and that occasions of friction in the schoolroom are greatly to be deprecated.”

Imagine the Mustard Seed

“An idea is more than an image or picture; it is, so to speak, a spiritual germ endowed with vital force—with power, that is, to grow, and to produce after its kind. It is the very nature of an idea to grow: as the vegetable germ secretes that it lives by, so, fairly implant an idea in the child’s mind, and it will secrete its own food, grow, and bear fruit in the form of a succession of kindred ideas.”

Building Joy

In the six volumes of her Home Education Series, Charlotte Mason speaks of joy over 270 times. This is not surprising, for the consistent experience of joy is essential to a child’s well-being. Through experience, parents and teachers know how difficult it is to help the sullen child move forward. Ms. Mason would take it a step farther, arguing that “The happiness of the child is the condition of his progress.” Thus, “his lessons should be joyous and that occasions of friction in the schoolroom are greatly to be deprecated.”

Watchwords – Living Books

History, literature, archeology, art, languages, whether ancient or modern, travel and tales of travel; all of these are in one way or other the record or the expression of persons; and we who are persons are interested in all persons, for we are all one flesh, we are all of one spirit, and whatever any of us does or suffers is interesting to the rest.

Are There Any Ideas In Your Children’s Books?

When Charlotte Mason discussed the spiritual life in relationship to ideas, she identified spiritual life as the life of thought, of feeling, of the soul, of that which is not physical. This very human life needs food, and “this life is sustained upon only one manner of diet: the diet of ideas — the living progeny of living minds.”  She uses this framework—the spiritual life is sustained only by a diet of ideas—to answer the perennial question, “What manner of schoolbooks should our boys and girls use?”

Watchwords – Person

We know now that authority is vested in the office and not in the person; that the moment it is treated as a personal attribute it is forfeited.

Reflection on the Crucifixion

The Gospel accounts of the Lord’s Passion, death, and Resurrection have, over the centuries, inspired countless master artists. Such works reveal the artists’ skill and creative inspiration. They also invite a profound sharing in the mystery of Christ’s dying and rising, made present for us in Lenten liturgies. Such artistic masterpieces are visual reminders that Good Friday and Easter Sunday are not distant theological abstractions, but events that forever transform human history, and our own daily existence, if we allow it.

A Method For Educating Human Persons: Not a System

Why is a ‘method’ of education more important than utilizing a ‘system’? In “Home Education,” Charlotte Mason says our tendency in educating children is toward a system — which is ‘alluring’ because it is successful in achieving precise results. But we are educating children – and children are persons, individuals, image-bearers of God – who thrive on relationship. She proposes the idea of a method of education instead.

Nurturing the Divine Life of the Child

A great power has been placed in the hands of parents and teachers, the power to enthrone the King, to induct the Priest into the innermost chamber of a child’s heart. There is no greater service to be done for a child, no greater gift to be given a child. For what does it matter if a child gains the whole world but loses his soul?

Primacy of Belonging

The work of Christ establishes us as belonging to community, and this shared belonging is foundational to the experience of the Father. We are to be both participants and instruments of belonging, the kind of belonging that creates joy. Charlotte Mason calls this need to belong the “desire of society” and places it among the desires that are both primary and universal.

Children are Made for God and Drawn to God

Children are made for God. They are drawn to God; possess a spiritual capacity for God. Often, they are graced with a spiritual insight which would astound the adult.

Watchwords – Authority

We know now that authority is vested in the office and not in the person; that the moment it is treated as a personal attribute it is forfeited.

Atmosphere: To Love and To Know Breathed In

Most of us tend to think in terms of the primacy of individual choice in selecting the ideas which are held and those which are rejected. In fact, the dominant ideas which have the greatest impact upon us are caught not taught. They are “in the air” and breathed in, either from the society at large or particularly significant individuals.

For the Love of Knowing

Here is an astounding possibility, if we would believe it, the awakening not just of one soul but of an entire class, not a class of the gifted (socially, financially, intellectually) but rather a class of those who lacked the usual “advantages.”

Why the Nicene Creed?

From the time of its founding, Ambleside Schools International has affirmed the Nicene Creed as its statement of belief.

Reporting On Growth

The aim of Ambleside Schools is student growth, and one of the distinctives is that student growth is not measured by grades.  

Meditation in the Air—Beginning Anew

In the light of our God, our Father, Savior and King, and the Spirit given to us; may we all begin anew this January.

Our Christmas Stories

Bringing up children well, even on Christmas, especially on Christmas, requires a measure of reflection and intentionality.

The Primary Thing for Them

The Pilgrims defined daily living in relationship with God; He was ever before them, the primary thing for them; lives sustained in Him and through Him.

When Striving Ceases

Life is so much better when not striving – more delightful… and a far freer, richer connectedness with others.

On Providence

For our sake, and even more for the children’s sake, let us not be counted among those who wail and gnash their teeth, for we are on a sacred journey.

Every Person: A Creature of Desire

We are creatures of desire. Every day we want, wish, crave, fancy and yearn for a multitude of diverse things in a multitude of diverse ways.

Children Are Born Persons

The first article of a valid educational creed – “children are born persons” – is of a revolutionary character.

The Greatest Gift of All

Like a master medieval embroiderer, God has woven luminous strands of glory into the fabric of existence that consecrate all of existence as a sacred mystery.

Every Person a Web Of Relations

Let us pause today and every day, to give some time to our continuing education by thickening a relation with some real person and some real thing.

My Father Made Them All

A mother knows how to speak of God… with all the evidences of his care and love about her and his children.

Foreign Language at Ambleside

Foreign language instruction at Ambleside Schools follows a “series method” created by François Gouin.

The Power of the Resurrection

What if the power that raised Jesus from the dead is present now to transform a life? How would such a transformed life appear?

An Ambleside Teacher’s Reflection

Being your teacher has been my greatest joy and privilege. We did the work, together, and it was good to be me here with you!

Calming The Troubled Heart

If while young a person learns skills to recover from a troubled heart, they will be better prepared to face the troubles life brings.

Bringing Up Children in Distressing Times – Part 2

The ability to manage emotional distress well and stay one’s best self is a learned skill.

Bringing Up Children in Distressing Times – Part 1

It must be remembered that every child is unique and responds to adversity uniquely.