Something I have been pondering lately is the faithfulness of God to act as He has said he would. I briefly shared about Clews to Holy Writ chronological Bible study in my last newsletter, and one of the aims is to read Scripture with an eye on the whole redemption story and to look for illustration, allusion, or quotation connecting the Old Testament to Jesus Christ. I cannot explain how beneficial this study has been. I am taking much slower than the study is designed, but it is still proving to be so impactful. Last week I studied Genesis 22 and it was so timely to be pondering the sacrifice of Isaac as the Easter season approaches. I was struck by God’s faithfulness–He will provide for Himself the lamb–and He does. God provided the sacrificial lamb for one person (Isaac), He provided a sacrificial lamb for each household (Passover), He provided a sacrificial lamb for a whole nation (Day of Atonement), until He provided the sacrificial Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). God is faithful to His character and to His Word, and we have the privilege to be recipients of His grace. The echoes of his faithfulness will never cease and we can marvel at His sovereignty!

I am so very excited to release this labor of love. I have long wanted to write a truly special and gentle kindergarten. Last year I realized my youngest will be turning 5 and his kindergarten year is fast approaching, making this my last chance! So my little hope bloomed into a full curriculum–and can I just say it is the curriculum I wish I had with my other four boys–it is gentle, full of wonder, beauty, growth, and appreciation for this special age in the life of a child. Peek at a preview of weeks 1-3 here.

Prelude was designed to fit seamlessly in the greater Moravia Press framework, so it is also 30 weeks of lessons, three terms of 10 weeks, but more importantly it introduces the child to the idea of “echoes.” These Echoes are not subjects to be completed, but forms of attention that return again and again—listening, speaking, noticing, working, and remembering. After completing Prelude the child is ready to join the family in whichever volume of The Symphony of History and correlating Echoes of Beauty and Place they find themselves.

Each week includes time spent in the Echo of Words (gentle phonics and copywork, recitation); Echo of Beauty (music, poetry, art); Echo of Truth (Scripture and memory verses); Echo of Story (history, literature, fables and fairy tales); Echo of Wonder (nature and geography), and Echo of Character (early mathematics, habits, and skills).

Your purchase includes The Quiet Work Companion (student notebook), The Quiet Work printables (geography, timeline cards, animal cards), and Prelude Picture Study Gallery.

Use code GROW10 for 10% of Prelude through Sunday 3/22!

A lot of studies are currently in the works, but here’s what’s getting top billing:

All of these will join the Epoch and Echoes bundle for Nocturne and will complement a study of the Middle Ages!

In my last newsletter (read it here) I spoke a little to the beauty of Miss Mason’s framework of habit formation, which forms the will and allows the mind to devote itself to the relationship of knowledge. But how exactly is knowledge presented and how are students to engage with this relationship?

“The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should have a generous curriculum.”

A generous curriculum is the corridor by which children are given the opportunity to engage with living ideas and experience the science of relations. All knowledge is related by the sheer reality that God created all things. Therefore, when we present our children with a wide and generous feast of ideas in many subjects we are giving their minds the food it needs to see relationship (science of relations), to build relationship (the love of learning), and to be inspired in their own learning (self-education).

This is one of the reasons I labor at presenting history, geography, art, music, poetry not as separate but as harmonious elements, allowing the student to be presented with a myriad of living ideas and consider the relationship between them.

Our family is currently studying Ancient history, specifically ancient Greece and Rome. One of the things I love the most about allowing history to be the pivot of our other studies is it allows for 1) intention and direction–there’s thought behind who we study or what we weave in, and 2) there is connection. Connection, both between subjects themselves and between the student and the idea, are at the heart of a Charlotte Mason education.

Recently, we read Shelley’s poem Ozymandias, about the great Egyptian ruler Ramses. If you’re unfamiliar with that poem, basically it recounts a traveller stumbling upon the ruins of the ruler’s statue buried in the desert sand. A few weeks later we pondered Longfellow’s convicting poem A Psalm of Life, where he challenges the reader to think about what legacy he will leave behind. Reading these two poems with the backdrop of ancient geography and architecture, while also reading about Alexander the Great and the Buddha and Confucius–men whose lives are remembered and praised for their contributions to history–made us all consider what does matter in life. Is it the greatness? Is it the fame? Is it the statue? Or is it perhaps “But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day.”? I pray this discipleship education grants us all strength, time, and courage to impart in our children deep rooted care for what really matters.

One of the quiet gifts of a Charlotte Mason education is that it refuses to separate the education of the child from the formation of the mother.

As we spread the feast of ideas before our children—history, poetry, music, Scripture, beauty, science, nature—we soon discover that we are sitting at the table with them. The books we read aloud shape us. The ideas we contemplate settle into our own hearts. The habits we seek to cultivate in our children begin first in us.

And perhaps this is the quiet aim of our homes: that in the daily work of learning together, truth, goodness, and beauty would take root and grow not just in us and our homes but in our churches and communities.

For the feast and the forming of hearts,

~Tiffany

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