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