Director's Blog
Cheryl Hair, Director of Academics
When we began homeschooling (many years ago), there were not that many options out there. Our first two years were with textbooks that we ordered online from home school companies. It didn't take us long to see that this wasn't working for our family. A friend from church introduced my friend and I to the Charlotte Mason approach of learning. She graciously invited us to her farmhouse, where she spent the day encouraging, explaining, and letting us pore over her home library-with hot tea of course. It was a day that changed our home school journey. Our children fed chickens & gathered eggs, and were read wonderful stories by her daughters, as we soaked up all we could 😊. I purchased a copy of, A Charlotte Mason Companion (it is still one of my favorite books and though quite used still sitting on my library shelf), and we were off to a new way of learning-a lifetime of learning and memories!!
We began using real, living books for history, science and literature, learned through play (not just in kindergarten), and school was no longer the struggle that it had been-my kids enjoyed it, and loved our new way of learning. For those families who have struggling learners, the Charlotte Mason approach is such a gentle way to learn. Our days became days of reading great stories and literature-on the sofa, in front of the fire, at the park, lots of hands-on activities, art, music, and our afternoons were free for outdoor play, a quiet time each afternoon (for all of us), and which ended with us all of us gathering at the kitchen table for tea, while I read our latest literature book. We had nature walks, kept Nature Notebooks, and had lots of narration, great discussions, copywork, and as they got older, we incorporated Notebooking into our studies.
My desire is to help those in the home school community to instill that love of learning into their children, and to understand that each family is unique, and we don't have to fit into that box like everyone else. We should not compare ourselves or our children to others. We offer classes that use great books/literature, and lots of hands-on activities, making learning fun-especially during the elementary years. We provide classes that have children of multiple ages-just like learning at home. We do not desire to take the place of homeschool, but to implement their studies and learning.