Ambleside School

Students love their weekly visits to our library of living books!
Time spent among our thoughtfully curated collection helps them develop a deep appreciation for living books filled with high and noble ideas. In addition, they enjoy daily classes in literature, Bible study, poetry, and read-aloud sessions. They're surrounded by great stories every single day!

Over their 9 years at Ambleside, this immersion in beautifully written words instills a lifelong love for the treasures of the liberal arts.
Interested in giving your child a Christ-centered education that guides them to love books? See for yourself: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/AcZssZ3uRq8-IfrVrNrj6tFao90WIvLmY8AOAepY4iY=

"Save the worms!" Amidst the wet weather, 1st Graders worked together as a team to carefully transport worms off the parking lot to the safety of the grass. They enthusiastically noticed details such as worm size and condition, found pieces of wood for carrying, and even gave their charges names. Students' imaginations and compassionate hearts are a delight to behold, even with something as simple as saving worms. They care for the smallest parts of God's creation.

"In proportion to the range of living relationships we put in his way, he will have wide and vital interests, fulness of joy in living."

-Charlotte M. Mason

This week our students took their annual field study to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.! They viewed in person the works of the great artists they've been studying this year, and got a chance to reproduce the works in person.

One of the docents contacted us afterward to share how impressed she and her colleagues were with the students' attention and thoughtful questions!

"All three docents enjoyed sharing our wonderful collection with them. We found them to be respectful, inquisitive, responsive and full of thought provoking and insightful comments. In fact, it was the best school tour I have ever given!"

Here are some photos from the trips! We are blessed to have such great original works of art right in our backyard for children to appreciate and enjoy.

Recently, students discovered worms emerging from the ground with the warmer weather. Kindergarten and 1st Grade made "worm nests" and "fairy houses" with nature's materials they gathered themselves, such as twigs, rocks, grass and mud. The children also treated the worms with gentle care and worked together to build beautiful habitats, complete with separate rooms and imaginative stories.

Free nature play at Ambleside gives birth to ingenuity just like this! Children don't need artificial methods to coax them to creativity or outdoor enjoyment. Just let them roam and discover God's world for themselves...and they will surprise you!

On March 6, our Middle Schoolers enjoyed a night of snacks and Shakespeare for their March First Friday! They watched the 1980 adaptation of "The Taming of the Shrew," the play that 7th and 8th Grade will perform on May 29 for our annual Shakespeare Festival.

Last Friday, we had a wonderful Grandparents Day celebration! Visitors got to sit in on classrooms and view their grandchildren's work, even participating in activities such as math or handwork. It was a delightful time!

A 2nd Grader's creativity, ingenuity and love of the outdoors led the student to take a "play silk" during recess and, using only scattered sticks, turn it into a well-constructed "tent", which several other students enjoyed in their outdoor play! This kind of creativity with the most rudimentary resources is one of the delightful aspects of the ample outdoor playtime Ambleside students receive each day.

"The object of literary studies is not to give children precise information as to who wrote what, but to give them a sense of the spaciousness of all those times of which poets, historians and the makers of tales have left us living pictures."

-Charlotte M. Mason

3rd Grade has been enjoying their study of small mammals. Lately, they've finished up learning about bats of various kinds! Science lessons always trigger lively class discussions about the characteristics of all the different creatures in God's creation.

In Art class, 4th Grade has been working carefully on their koala pieces using colored pencil on dark paper.

All the grades, from Kindergarten to 8th, have been doing careful and beautiful work in Nature Study with their pencil and watercolors!