When Maryellen St. Cyr first dreamed of Ambleside School, what was it that she sought to bring to life? With 25 years of our life’s work behind us, I want to bring us back to the foundation of our movement.
Parenting is the privilege of nurturing, instructing, training, and enjoying goodness and beauty in fellowship with young humans who will become your favorite adults in the whole world.
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.
In the home, parents are responsible for creating and maintaining a healthy atmosphere where children can experience love, joy, and peace.
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.
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.”
It must be remembered that every child is unique and responds to adversity uniquely.
