Ambleside Homeschool a member of Ambleside Schools International

Why the Nicene Creed?

.. Ours is an age of great confusion, as Bishop Spong’s statement indicates. If a Christian community is to be clear about who this God is that we are committed to following, a clear creed is essential. The Jesus we follow is not merely a good man who taught that we should love one another. Nor is He one of the prophets, the final prophet being Mohammed. Nor is He one of the many incarnations of the Hindu god, Krishna. All of these views have their adherents... Read more on our blog: https://amblesideschools.org/why-the-nicene-creed/

(Image "Old Testament Trinity" icon by Andrey Rublev, 1400)

Charlotte Mason: Education pioneer was 'guiding light'

http://ow.ly/vJRq50HlCs3

Charlotte Mason: Education pioneer was 'guiding light' New Year's Day is the 180th anniversary of the birth of a woman who aimed to reform teaching methods.

Today marks the birthday of Charlotte Mason.

We are deeply grateful for this British educator, author and woman of faith. Ambleside Schools International trains and educates in the principles that Charlotte Mason described in her six-volume series on education. Ambleside teachers and principals consistently engage with these works; hence, their relationships with students and the text exemplify her philosophy and pedagogy in the Ambleside classroom daily.

Read more about Charlotte Mason, her legacy and her educational philosophy on our website at http://ow.ly/FfWf50HbOnl

"Gazing out the window, the matchbox world below seemed small in comparison to its Creator. Small but relevant, for here I am, called to live in His presence and by His sustaining power. I began anew. Almighty God, Benefactor, Comforter, Defender, Eternal, Faithful, God...

In the light of our God, our Father, Savior and King, and the Spirit given to us; may we all begin anew this January first."

Read more of the blog "Meditation in the Air--Beginning Anew" by Maryellen St. Cyr: http://ow.ly/pXpA50HlmXa

God grant through coming years and days
Our beating hearts may be
The harps that celebrate His praise
Who loves eternally!

No ache can be without relief
When Love Himself draws near;
No cup can empty stand, no grief
Embitter God's New Year.

Time's footsteps quickly die away,
Soon emptied is his glass;
We wait for an oncoming Day
Which nevermore shall pass.

Old hopes revive, new hopes are born,
The coming months to cheer;
And phantom-fears and griefs outworn
Die with the dying year.

Oh, all the years and all the days
Our waiting hearts shall be
Harps tremulous with His dear praise
Whose is Eternity!

"New Year's Eve" by Alfred Gurney

"Our hearts are a work in progress, always being formed by the way we individually and corporately give attention. Christmas gifts are good and lovely things, worthy of our attention. If we share joyful appreciation for gifts given, our hearts grow in joy . . ."
To read more of "Our Christmas Stories,' follow the link to our blog: http://ow.ly/TvQ350HhR4l

With gratitude from the Ambleside community, we pray for your family, that this Christmas you will be blessed again by the most wonderful Christmas story!

Preparing for the “coming” of Christ our Savior, Ambleside staff, students and their families have spent the month of December reflecting upon Christmas revelations. With Mary, we have been awestruck by Gabriel’s announcement. With Joseph, we have wrestled with uncertainty, ultimately coming to trust and obey. With Elizabeth, we have been filled with the Holy Spirit and rejoiced. With the shepherds, we have seen the shining star, heard the angel chorus, and knelt before a baby, who is the Savior of the world.

The poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, expresses it well.

"Christmas Prayer"
Moonless darkness stands between.
Past, the Past, no more be seen!
But the Bethlehem star may lead me
To the sight of Him who freed me
From the self that I have been.
Make me pure, Lord: Thou art holy;
Make me meek, Lord: Thou wert lowly;
Now beginning, and always,
Now begin, on Christmas day.

Christmas blessings to you and your families as we celebrate Emmanuel, God with us!

(Image "The Adoration of the Shepherds" by Guido Reni)

With blessings this Thanksgiving Day! May we live in gratitude every day.

"The Gladness of a Grateful Heart.––No other Lord of the Heart should do more to guide us into joyous and happy living than Gratitude. How good and glad it is to be grateful! The joy is not merely that we have received a favour or a little kindness which speaks of goodwill and love, but that a beautiful thing has come out of some other person's beautiful heart for us; and joy in that other's beauty of character gives more delight than any gain or pleasure which can come to us from favours." ~Charlotte Mason, "Ourselves"

Image of "King David in Prayer" by Pieter de Grebber

Ambleside Homeschool a member of Ambleside Schools International updated their address.

Ambleside Homeschool a member of Ambleside Schools International updated their address.

"I say that I want patriotism in the larger sense of the term taught in the schools." ~Charlotte Mason, "A Philosophy of Education"

This week, across the United States from 'sea to shining sea,' our Ambleside School communities are taking a pause to reflect and honor our country's veterans as we do each year. There are moving stories told, memories of adventure and narrow escapes, of valiant rescues, and tears of great loss for comrades and friends. We sing, we listen, we recite, we 'post the colors,’ we admire. We are greatly blessed.

Pictured is a soldier-father at Calvary Schools of Holland who returned home from deployment and surprised his children at school!

We invite you to join us! Visit our Member School website, find a school near you and contact them for details: http://ow.ly/HJxA50GIJvB

Rejuvenated Rosie’s Schoolhouse in midst of first semester back in the classroom

We rejoice with Ambleside School Rocky Mountains as they make their new school building a home and 'good fit.' May you continue to bring beauty and the love of Christ to the community! What a great blessing to all! ...To donate to Ambleside School Rocky Mountains, visit amblesideschoolrockymountain.org

"The building affectionately known as Rosie’s Schoolhouse was dark, dirty and unoccupied. It had become a sore spot for the New Castle community, deemed unusable. Disrepair and neglect had let the historic eastern bookend to the town’s Main Street fall out of good graces.

Now it’s back on its path as a proud piece of New Castle history."

In "Formation of Character," regarding the atmosphere most conducive to learning, Charlotte Mason wrote: "So far as possible, let their surroundings be brought together on a principle of natural selection, not at haphazard, and not in obedience to fashion. Bear in mind, and let them often hear discussed and see applied, the three or four general principles which fit all occasions of building, decorating, furnishing, dressing: the thing must be fit for its purpose, must harmonise with both the persons and the things about it; and, these points considered, must be as lovely as may be in form, texture, and colour; one point more--it is better to have too little than too much."

https://www.postindependent.com/news/rejuvenated-rosies-schoolhouse-in-midst-of-first-semester-back-in-the-classroom/?fbclid=IwAR12YrYy02PuHH1Hi5fFF4aMFuD6DjLmGLlMyy_U26cpq-hRv6q9q5UHj0w

Rejuvenated Rosie’s Schoolhouse in midst of first semester back in the classroom The building affectionately known as Rosie’s Schoolhouse was dark, dirty and unoccupied. It had become a sore spot for the New Castle community, deemed unusable. Disrepair and neglect had let the historic eastern bookend to…

"How often a deep, unperceived fear drives us. Running below awareness and faster than consciousness, the heart says, “I will not feel something like that again.” “I will not have the rejection, the aloneness, the disappointment, the sadness, the sense of futility, the feeling of powerlessness..."

We are grateful that our founder Bill St. Cyr continues to recover well. Read his thoughtful reflections on his recent experience with COVID in "When Striving Ceases:" http://ow.ly/gwlw50GHEAz
(Image "Jesus and Peter on the Water" by Gustave Brion)

Ambleside Homeschool a member of Ambleside Schools International updated their website address.

Ambleside Homeschool a member of Ambleside Schools International updated their website address.

It is with gratitude that we announce our newest member school, the Charlotte Mason Community School in Detroit, Michigan! Welcome!

A 6th grade teacher is experiencing for herself this "twice blessed" education. She shares:

"The curriculum, philosophy, and method of Ambleside Schools International (A Charlotte Mason Education) at Charlotte Mason Community School of Detroit is even more beautiful than this classroom space I and a precious lot of 6th graders call ours. Today we studied DaVinci’s "Annunciation," discussed Whitman’s "A Noiseless Patient Spider," and continued to draw Canada in our geography notebooks, along with much other meaningful work, while Handel’s ‘Rinaldo’ played in the background. If this is a glimpse of Heaven, I could get used to this."

"To be benevolent is to have goodwill towards all men. The wise emperor, Marcus Aurelius, described the lowest form of Benevolence when he said, "Men are born to be serviceable to one another; therefore either reform the world, or bear with it!" The very least we can do for the world is to bear with it; the world, in this case, being the people in it who are, for any reason, disagreeable to us...Perhaps there is nobody whom we should not be able to love if we really knew him." ~Charlotte Mason, "Ourselves"

Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Image "Saint Francis Preaching to the Animals" by Jan Siberechts

The new Ambleside Schools International website is live! Take a moment and tour the redesigned and brand-refreshed site featuring our Member Schools, and our Ambleside Education. https://amblesideschools.org/

Ambleside is Back to School! We are SO grateful for the privilege of this work of educating the children in this beautiful way. We are also grateful that through this work we are all transformed and changed. All are challenged to learn and to grow through the exchange of knowledge and ideas--all partake in the nourishing feast that is a living education. May we be an encouragement to one another. We covet your prayers that we would continue to walk boldly in the midst of many uncertainties and unusual circumstances, with courage and confidence...that God would continue to guide and protect and provide. He has been so faithful. We ask for His vision and wisdom as we set our feet to this path with faith, hope, and love. And we extend our prayers and blessings to those of you who follow us and are faithfully following this vocation.

"Like all great ventures of life this that I propose is a venture of faith, faith in the saving power of knowledge and in the assimilative power of children. Its efficacy depends upon the fact that it is in the nature of things, that is, in the nature of knowledge and in the nature of children. Bring the two together in ways that are sanctioned by the laws of mind and, to use a figure, a chemical combination takes place and a new product appears, a person of character and intelligence, an admirable citizen whose own life is too full and rich for him to be an uneasy member of society.

Education is part and parcel of religion and every enthusiastic teacher knows that he is obeying the precept, 'feed my lambs'––feed with all those things which are good and wholesome for the spirit of a man; and, before all and including all, with the knowledge of God." ~Charlotte Mason, "A Philosophy of Education"

These past weeks, as the summer winds down, Ambleside homeschooling families have been busy preparing for the first day of school, and now it is here! Mother-teachers and father-principals with the guidance of their mentor have thoughtfully purchased their books and materials, prepared a vigorous but achievable daily schedule, and created an atmosphere in their home that invites learning and growing together around informing ideas. They’ve worked diligently to create an atmosphere where the children will flourish...seeking to tell and ask and know. If ever we question God’s will for our children, we can be certain that providing a living education is a true mandate. Pictured is an Ambleside home school room awaiting its guests!

"The days have gone by when the education befitting either a gentleman or an artisan was our aim. Now we must deal with a child of man, who has a natural desire to know the history of his race and of his nation, what men thought in the past and are thinking now; the best thoughts of the best minds taking form as literature, and at its highest as poetry, or, as poetry rendered in the plastic forms of art: as a child of God, whose supreme desire and glory it is to know about and to know his almighty Father: as a person of many parts and passions who must know how to use, care for, and discipline himself, body, mind and soul: as a person of many relationships,––to family, city, church, state, neighbouring states, the world at large: as the inhabitant of a world full of beauty and interest, the features of which he must recognise and know how to name, and a world too, and a universe, whose every function of every part is ordered by laws which he must begin to know.

..Our part is to give a child a vital hold upon as many as possible of those wide relationships proper to him. Shelley offers us the key to education when he speaks of "understanding that grows bright gazing on many truths." ~Charlotte Mason, " Philosophy of Education"

Pandemic Fuels a Home-Schooling Boom

"And first, let us consider where and what the little being is who is entrusted to the care of human parents. A tablet to be written upon? A twig to be bent? Wax to be moulded? Very likely; but he is much more––a being belonging to an altogether higher estate than ours; as it were, a prince committed to the fostering care of peasants." ~Charlotte Mason, "Home Education"

If you or someone you know is considering homeschooling and would like to implement well Charlotte Mason's beautiful and vigorous philosophy of education, we invite you to consider training in the Ambleside Method through our Homeschooling mentor program. Our trained staff has 20+ years of practice in the home and school classroom and we are so grateful for the opportunity to serve you! Visit our website at amblesideschools.com/home-school or contact Shannon Seiberlich at [email protected]

https://www.ncregister.com/features/pandemic-fuels-a-home-schooling-boom?fbclid=IwAR0czYuWl6_g1ZvKKBMMBQ26XXbJQ7uTSjVqHPafFAMv7VVFeD13hQ2oaL8

Pandemic Fuels a Home-Schooling Boom Educating within the domestic church continues to draw Catholic families seeking faith, flexibility and safety.

It’s at this time of year that a kind of ‘cycle of life’ begins again. Like the birth of a child, we approach the first days of the new school year with great anticipation, expectation, and joy. The possibilities are many and new, and that is exciting! We must have a plan and a schedule, yes; we must also allow time to explore and wonder with our children...to spend time outdoors where we will have many opportunities to become well-acquainted with the Giver of life and Lover of our souls. God calls us to Himself in the clouds and the trees...in the song of the bird. Our tendency may be to the tasks. Our schedule will give us the rails to keep us on track for these. We must also make sure to schedule some sitting-time with our children when we observe and listen and wonder at God’s beauty together. As we begin this new year, let us prepare our lessons as well as our hearts and minds for learning and for growing in our love for God. And, like the Luna moth, we will be transformed!

"I make a point, says a judicious mother, of sending my children out, weather permitting, for an hour in the winter, and two hours a day in the summer months. That is well; but it is not enough. In the first place, do not send them; if it is anyway possible, take them; for, although the children should be left much to themselves, there is a great deal to be done and a great deal to be prevented during these long hours in the open air. And long hours they should be; not two, but four, five, or six hours they should have on every tolerably fine day, from April till October. Impossible! Says an overwrought mother who sees her way to no more for her children than a daily hour or so on the pavements of the neighbouring London squares. Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them." ~C. Mason