In early January we held a chili dinner for alumni of Ambleside School in McLean, Virginia. It has been seventeen years since I took the helm of Ambleside, and sitting with these young graduates—high school students, college students, and professionals, I was reminded of the long road we are on with our students and the distant vision of growth parents and teachers need to endure the difficulties along the way.
One student was eager to share his latest wisdom from his freshman year in college:
It’s so great that students at Ambleside listen to Mozart. It’s as if there is a distant drum beat that reminds me that there is something good and true in the world, and I can do something good and true in it. My friends at college don’t have this.
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Nature Study Lesson, created for 4th Grade At Home Learning
For the next few weeks azaleas will put on a marvelous display of color ranging from solid white, light pink, and lavender to bright oranges, pinks, and purples… Take a walk around your yard (if you have some) or your neighborhood and see how many different colors of this flowering shrub you can find.
Choose your favorite.
What do you notice about the leaves’ color and edges?
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Tomorrow, we will post the Passover Chapel video, where Deb Perry and Kate Perry guide us through the liturgy of a Passover meal.
But there is more to the feast than the moment of the meal itself. Kate Perry explains here how she and her family prepare the elements of the Passover meal and how the act of preparation can be spiritually instructive for both adults and children.
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Every year, Ambleside holds a special chapel service near the beginning of Holy Week to teach our students about Passover, the Jewish festival to commemorate God’s deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt [Exodus 12]. The Passover meal is doubly significant for Christians, as the last moment Jesus shared with his disciples before his trial and crucifixion [Mark 14]. One way we prepare to enter Holy Week at Ambleside, which is structured to help us remember events from Christ’s life, is to corporately engage the liturgy of the Passover.
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O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and
rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be
our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee,
to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou
art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dear Parents,
The greatest challenge for parents of multiple children during At Home Learning is managing all of their individual needs. What follows is an outline of how the work may be coordinated and accomplished with multiple children at once. Remember, more important than book-learning is maintaining an atmosphere of peace and joy in the home…
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We have entered the season of Advent in the church calendar, the time when we all look forward to Christ's coming. At Ambleside, we look for ways to turn our students' attention to the significance of this time. In assembly, we sing carols and retell the story of the thread of redemption through the Jesse Tree. In our classrooms, we create an atmosphere of expectation by reading classic Christmas stories, and decorating with a wreath, a crèche, or Christmas lights. We practice music and readings for our Candlelight Lessons and Carols Christmas Service…
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This week we enter our time of exams- a time of gaining a window into our students' minds. This is an opportunity for us to see how your students are organizing knowledge, synthesizing ideas, and mastering skills. We can also gain valuable insight into the habits of learning that are formed or lacking in the young scholar.
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At Ambleside, we aim to inspire our students to servant leadership. Our Veterans Day Chapel is one way we do this by exposing our students to men and women veterans who have served our country in times of war and in times of peace. These individuals have chosen of their own accord to put their lives in a position where at any moment they may be called upon to stand in harm's way in order to protect others. For our students, veterans are excellent examples of sacrificial servant leaders.
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I have been fascinated re-reading Masons' ideas on the mind of a child in the context of recent discoveries in neuroscience. Leading psychiatrists (Jeffrey Schwartz, Dan Siegel, Curt Thompson, and Karl Lehman) have been exploring the power of "mindsight" over the function of the brain. Such research has led to transformed living in persons who have long been held captive to addictions, compulsions, depression, and other unhealthy psychological maladies.
Mason, a "psychiatrist" in her own right, draws the same clear distinction between mind and brain….
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We are aware of the middle school years, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, as significant years as students move from childhood toward adulthood. This season in a young person's life is rich with opportunities for connection with their parents and understanding of themselves.
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Partnering with parents in the education of their children is one of the unique guiding principles of Ambleside School.
Charlotte Mason, whose educational principles inspire our classrooms, began her work over one hundred years ago with parents…
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Some of us are spontaneous and function best in crisis mode. Some of us thrive on routine and plan our calendars weeks in advance. Regardless, I imagine that as each of us made the transition into parenthood, we moved a little closer to routines to make our busy lives work. September seems to be the natural month for "New Year's Resolutions," and now is the time for home routines to set a tone for your student's education.
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Do you feel you are always nagging your children? Charlotte Mason's ideas about building character in our children through habit are fresh approaches for parents. Interestingly enough, some of her suggestions are validated by modern brain research.
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Charlotte Mason discussed curriculum not as an end in itself, but as the overflow of a philosophy. Consider the foundation of this philosophy--children are persons, bearers of God's image--and the educational tools to which it directs us: atmosphere of environment, discipline of habit, and inspirational ideas from a banquet of thought.
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"We (as parents and teachers) 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...Our endeavors become fussy and restless. 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." -Charlotte Mason
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