The New Mason Jar with Cindy Rollins Cindy Rollins

On The New Mason Jar this week, Cindy and Dawn sit down to talk with veteran homeschool mom Elissa Kroeger about her own journey of self-education How Elissa first heard about Charlotte Mason Elissa’s own history with reading and self-education through her school years How Elissa’s early homeschooling community grew organically How was a Charlotte Mason lifestyle a catalyst for wholeness in Elissa’s life? How has life changed since most of Elissa’s children have grown and are no longer in her homeschool? What Elissa does now for self-education Who were the women who made the biggest impression on Elissa’s life? If we know one person who grows pale at a lofty thought, whose tears come at the telling of a heroic action, let us learn, from that, that these are thoughts and actions that have the power to move us all; therefore, we must give freely of our best, without the supercilious notion that So-and so would not understand. If music, poetry, art, give us joy, let us not hesitate to present these joys to others; for indeed, those others are made in all points like as we are, though with a different experience. The orator whose Sympathy is awake appeals to the generosity, delicacy, courage, loyalty of a mixed mob of people; and he never appeals in vain. His Sympathy, his comprehension, has discerned all these riches of the heart in the unpromising crowd before him and; like Ariel, released from his tree prison leaps out of many a human prison, a beautiful human being at the touch of this key.
Charlotte Mason, Ourselves Books and Links Mentioned: Better Late Than Early by Raymond Moore
Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins
The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
The Tripods Series by John Christopher
Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead
The City of God by St. Augustine
Genevieve Foster
H. E. Marshall
Spiritual Sight by Joyce McPherson
AmblesideOnline
Set Your Feet Retreat
It is by way of an effort towards this adjustment of power that I wish to bring before parents and teachers the subject of ‘masterly inactivity’. We ought to do so much for our children, and are able to do so much for them, that we begin to think everything rests with us and that we should never intermit for a moment our conscious action on the young minds and hearts about us. Our endeavours become fussy and restless. We are too much with our children ‘late and soon’. We try to dominate them too much, even when we fail to govern, and we are unable to perceive that wise and purposeful letting alone is the best part of Education. But this form of error arises from a defect of our qualities. We may take heart. We have the qualities and all that is wanted is an adjustment; to this we must give our time and attention.
Charlotte Mason, School Education Find Cindy and Dawn: Morning Time for Moms
Cindy’s Patreon Discipleship Group
Mere Motherhood Facebook Group
The Literary Life Podcast
Cindy’s Facebook
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Dawn’s Swedish Drill website
Dawn’s A Reasoned Patriotism website
Dawn’s Substack

On The New Mason Jar today, we bring you a conversation Cindy and Dawn had with the AmblesideOnline Advisory members Anne White, Donna-Jean Breckenridge, Karen Glass and Leslie Laurio. How the friendship of the AO Advisory developed and has been a gift for each member throughout the years Did the Advisory members use the whole AO curriculum as written? What about those fears about missing out on something if a family doesn’t do everything in the curriculum perfectly? The simplicity of the Charlotte Mason approach to language arts Do any of the Advisory doubt Charlotte Mason’s methods now that they have all graduated their children? Are there any things that aren’t common knowledge that the Advisory wants to share? Books and Links Mentioned: AmblesideOnline
Six Voices, One Story by Donna-Jean Breckenridge, et. al.
In Vital Harmony by Karen Glass
For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
AO Advisory Bios: Anne White grew up and still lives in southern Ontario.  She anticipated David Epstein’s Range by changing her university major three times and stretching a four-year degree into seven, but she did complete a BA in creative writing, and later added a BEd in adult education. In the thirty years between those things, she (and her husband) raised three homeschooled daughters, who have each found their own Range. Anne has been associated with AmblesideOnline since its beginning, and is the author of several books about Charlotte Mason’s philosophy.
Donna-Jean Breckenridge lives with her family in northern New Jersey. She is honored to be a founding member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory, and she continues to serve AO’s community while homeschooling her granddaughters. She is a public speaker, writer (This Country of Ours – Annotated, Edited, and Updated and Six Voices, One Story: The Heart of AmblesideOnline), and audiobook narrator. She counts her greatest roles as mom to her four children, grandmother to five, and grateful friend. Her heart’s desire is to encourage others that God is safe to trust, no matter what. 
After living 25 years in Krakow, Poland, Karen Glass currently lives in Indiana with her husband and youngest daughter. She is a founding member of AmblesideOnline and home educated her four children through graduation. She is the author of several books related to Charlotte Mason and speaks and teaches on the philosophy and methods (especially narration). She reads, writes, tries to grow things, and has been known to crochet doilies and knit socks.
Leslie Laurio is an art school dropout, a veteran, a homeschool mom, and one of the founders and original creators of AmblesideOnline. She and her husband live in Tennessee and have four children who were homeschooled all the way from kindergarten through high school, and are now married and scattered across the eastern US pursuing various careers and passions. She has paraphrased the Charlotte Mason series, Parables From Nature, and other works.
The person who can live upon his own intellectual resources and never know a dull hour (though anxious and sad hours will come) is indeed enviable in these days of intellectual inanition, when we depend upon spectacular entertainments pour passer le temps [to pass the time].
If knowledge means so much to us, “What is knowledge?” the reader asks. We can give only a negative answer. Knowledge is not instruction, information, scholarship, a well-stored memory. It is passed, like the light of a torch, from mind to mind, and the flame can be kindled at original minds only. Thought, we know, breeds thought; it is as vital thought touches our minds that our ideas are vitalized, and out of our ideas comes our conduct of life…
The direct and immediate impact of great minds upon his own mind is necessary to the education of a child.
Charlotte Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, p. 303 Let us, out of reverence for the children, be modest; let us not stake their interests on the h

Every plant bears fruit, ‘fruit and seed after his kind.’ All this is stale knowledge to older people, but one of the secrets of the educator is to present nothing as stale knowledge, but to put himself in the position of the child, and wonder and admire with him; for every common miracle which the child sees with his own eyes makes of him for the moment another Newton.
Charlotte Mason, Home Education, p. 54 Show Summary: On The New Mason Jar this week, Cindy and Dawn continue their Morning Time for Moms series with guests Summer and Mike Smith How Summer and Mike first learned about Charlotte Mason and her philosophy Mike’s early love for books and Summer’s own life of reading How Mike and Summer continued to enjoy reading and self-education after formal schooling Some thoughts on the college experience How Summer keeps up her own education while homeschooling How Mike and Summer help their children see ministry opportunities in their community Books and Links Mentioned: In Vital Harmony by Karen Glass
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Ice Magic by Matt Christopher
The Kid Who Only Hit Homers by Matt Christopher
Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry
Pickle Chiffon Pie by Jolly Roger Bradfield
Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank
Calico Palace by Gwen Bristow
Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow
Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow
American Regional Books by Lois Lenski
Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
Kent Family Chronicles series by John Jakes
Range by David Epstein
Holling C. Holling
The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon
Beyond Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins
Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Iliad by Homer
The Aeneid by Virgil
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
C. S. Lewis
T. S. Eliot
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy
Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso
Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger
The Major and the Missionary by Diana Pavlac Glyer
The Odyssey by Homer
A Curious Life for a Lady by Pat Barr
Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley
The Latin Letters of C. S. Lewis ed. and trans. by Martin Moynihan
Find Cindy and Dawn: Morning Time for Moms
Cindy’s Patreon Discipleship Group
Mere Motherhood Facebook Group
The Literary Life Podcast
Cindy’s Facebook
Cindy’s Instagram
Dawn’s Swedish Drill website
Dawn’s A Reasoned Patriotism website
Dawn’s Substack
We should allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and the ‘spiritual’ life of children; but should teach them that the divine Spirit has constant access to their spirits, and is their continual helper in all the interests, duties, and joys of life.
Charlotte Mason, Principle 18

If mankind had not been organized into families, it would never have had the organic power to be organized into commonwealths. Human culture is handed down in the customs of countless households. It is the only way in which human culture can remain human.
G. K. Chesterton, Marriage and the Modern Mind Show Summary: For this week’s episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn share about this year’s summer discipleship course, “Joy in the Morning” Gretchen Neisler tells about her own experience with past summer discipleship and why she keeps coming back for more What you can expect from this year’s Morning Time for Moms content and schedule Other ways you can benefit from Cindy’s wisdom and interact with other moms (Scroll down to the “Find Cindy” section for all the links) Books Mentioned: A White Bird Flying by Bess Streeter Aldrich
A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
In Vital Harmony by Karen Glass
Ideas Freely Sown by Anne White
Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins
Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher
Charlotte Mason’s Great Recognition by Deani Van Pelt and Camille Malucci
Joy in the Morning (Jeeves in the Morning) by P. G. Wodehouse
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Norms and Nobility by David Hicks
Find Cindy: Morning Time for Moms
Cindy’s Patreon Discipleship Group
Mere Motherhood Facebook Group
The Literary Life Podcast
Cindy’s Facebook
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Those who believe in the dignity of the domestic tradition, who happen to be the overwhelming majority of mankind, regard the home as a sphere of vast social importance and supreme spiritual significance, and to talk of being “confined” to it is like talking of being chained to a throne or set in the seat of judgment as if it were the stocks.
G. K. Chesterton, “The Dignity of Domesticity,” The Illustrated London News, 1929

They notice for themselves, and the teacher gives a name and other information as it is asked for… In this way they lay up that store of “common information”… and what is more important, they learn to know and delight in natural objects as in the familiar faces of friends.
Charlotte Mason, School Education, p. 237 Show Summary: On The New Mason Jar this week, we bring you a conversation all about spring nature study with Cindy, Dawn and Cindy’s friend Jeannette Tulis, who has been a previous guest on the podcast How can moms begin nature study when they have never done it before? How to find spring ephemeral wildflowers, and other things to look for at this time of year Ideas for stepping up your nature study game What are some tips for nature journaling? Books and Links Mentioned: Episode 12: Charlotte Mason Study Groups
Episode 56: Building a Home Library
Who’s Afraid of a Little Paint? by Jeannette Tulis
The Tree Identification Book by George Symonds
Wild Green Things in the City by Anne Ophelia Dowden
The First Book of Weeds by Barbara Beck
 
Find Cindy: Morning Time for Moms
Cindy’s Patreon Discipleship Group
Mere Motherhood Facebook Group
The Literary Life Podcast
Cindy’s Facebook
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Let them once get in touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.
Charlotte Mason, Home Education, p. 61

Ourselves, our Souls and Bodies is much used in the P.U.S., as I know of no other attempt to present such a ground plan of human nature as should enable the young student to know where he is in his efforts to ‘be good’ as the children say. The point of view taken in this volume is, that all beautiful and noble possibilities are present in every one; but that each person is subject to assaults and hindrances in various ways of which he should be aware in order that he may watch and pray. Hortatory teaching is apt to bore both young people and their elders; but an ordered presentation of the possibilities and powers that lie in human nature and of the risks that attend these, can hardly fail to have an enlightening and stimulating effect.
Charlotte Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education Show Summary: On the New Mason Jar today we welcome back Anne White, veteran homeschool mom, author, and member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory How Anne first discovered Charlotte Mason About Anne’s new book title and how she came to write this work Is this book for homeschoolers? How can we understand and apply “justice” in the way that Charlotte meant here? Why children need time and space to think and let ideas work in them What do you mean by the statement that “there is is only sacred, sanctified education, or desecrated education”? How Anne tied the magic of narration into the ideas in this book Books and Links Mentioned: For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
A Bit of the World’s Work by Anne White
Offering Ourselves: A Lenten Journey with Charlotte Mason by Anne White
Honest, Simple Souls by Anne White
Ourselves by Charlotte Mason
 
Find Cindy and Anne: Morning Time for Moms
Cindy’s Patreon Discipleship Group
Mere Motherhood Facebook Group
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Anne Writes
Anne’s Author Page on Amazon
Anne’s Blog: Dewey’s Treehouse
 
The worth of any calling depends upon its being of use; and no day need go by without giving us practice in usefulness. Each one is wanted for the special bit of work he is fit for; and, of each, it is true that– “Thou cam’st not to thy place by accident: It is the very place God meant for thee.”
Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, Bk. 1, pp. 209-210