Ambleside of the Ozarks Group

04/06/2026

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"It is very difficult for us, when we watch the behavior of dandelions, not to attribute to them thinking power, they have so many ways of getting ahead of us.

I always look at a dandelion and talk to it as if it were a real person.

One spring when all the vegetables in my garden were callow weaklings, I found there, in their midst, a dandelion rosette with ten great leaves spreading out and completely shading a circle ten inches in diameter;

I said, 'Look here, Madam, this is my garden!'

But I could not help paying admiring tribute to the taproot, which lacked only an inch of being a foot in length.

It was smooth, whitish, and fleshy, and, when cut, bled a milky juice; it was strong from the endpull as a whipcord; it also had a bunch of fine rootlets about an inch below the surface of the soil and an occasional rootlet farther down;

and then I said, 'Madam, I beg your pardon; I think this was your garden and not mine!'"

- The Handbook of Nature Study
(Anna Botsford Comstock"

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03/25/2026

It's a beautiful day to make pinecone bird feeders!

As we study wildflowers and weeds this term, we are also learning about different pollinators. This includes butterflies, bees, wasps, and even birds, wind and humans 🌻 🐦

03/18/2026

Today was a beautiful day to be outdoors!

We spent our afternoon outside studying flower parts by dissecting daffodils, hiking, and playing in the water.

We saw signs of spring all around us and captured several turtles in the sun today 🐢☀️

03/14/2026

We had a field trip today to Kansas City to see the Freedom Plane National Tour of Founding Documents from the National Archive at the National WWI Museum and Memorial.

Below is an excerpt from a letter Charlotte Mason wrote during WW1, to children attending a P.N.E.U. Conference:

"Do not think that history and sums and so on are ridiculous in these days of the Great War, that children are of no consequence, and that it is only fathers, uncles, and grown up brothers that matter.

These do matter a great deal; they are to the rest of us a shelter in a storm, a shield in battle, a life-buoy in a storm at sea, a tower of defence for us who are weak and helpless, and never can we think too much and too gratefully of our heroes at the front!

But I know you are rather sad sometimes that you cannot be doing something to serve England.

I know of a little girl who thought that because she was small she could run between the legs of the German soldiers and trip them up; and we all envy that girl whose “voices” told her how she should save France.

I believe if all the castles in the air that you build were suddenly to appear we should see many a lovely scheme for helping England and putting an end to the war.

I have to tell you very earnestly that two of the greatest tasks before us are in the hands of children.

First, because the English people of the future must not be ignorant and proud and greedy of money, it rests with the children of the present to read wise books, to learn to think wise thoughts, in order that they may be gentle and dutiful and of a sound understanding. These things you do in your School.

The second is even a greater task, and all we older people will have reason to be grateful to you if you perform it steadily. You must say your prayers, such wise-hearted loving prayers, so earnestly offered, that God will certainly hear and answer them generously and wonderfully; in this way a single child may bring down blessings on the whole nation."

03/12/2026

It's that time of year where families are finalizing plans for the 26-27 school year and we've had a lot of emails from new families asking about our co-op.

We are just a month and a half away from completing our first school year at maximum capacity with 20 families. It has been a very successful year and for that, we give all glory to God and have so much gratitude for our amazing families.

🌱 Where We Started
This co-op started the year as the vision of Diana and Catey Nelson. Over the course of the past 8 months, has grown into a beautiful community that belongs to all of its members. For this reason, we have invited all of our current families to a Vision Meeting where we will collaborate together on the upcoming school year.

🌿 Where We're Headed
Once our group has solidified our plans for next year, we will give families time to reenroll before we begin contacting people on the waitlist. We won't know what space is available until we close reenrollment for our current families. We will have our numbers finalized before the end of April.

🌻 Next Steps
During this time, we will also update our Information Packet and Handbook. We'll send the new Information Packet to families that we contact from the waitlist. If interested, we will schedule a family interview.

When selecting new families for the co-op, it is our priority to ensure each form is as balanced as possible. This means we will contact families based on the availability we have in each form.

For example, if we only have one spot open in Form 3 (7th-9th) and no space in Forms 1 (1st-3rd) or 2 (4th-6th), then we would contact a family with a Form 3 student because that is the only spot available.

❤️ We serve the following demographics:

Early Explorers: Newborn to Kindergarten
Form 1: 1st - 3rd grade
Form 2: 4th - 6th grade
Form 3: 7th - 9th grade
Form 4: 10th - 12th grade

If you are interested in getting on the waitlist, please email [email protected] with your name and ages/grades of students.

📖 We would also like to invite you to a local Charlotte Mason book club that is hosted by co-op founder Diana Nelson. She has faithfully led this group for about a decade and this is an excellent resource open to anyone who is interested in the Charlotte Mason method of education, whether you homeschool or not:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1195674083829647

03/10/2026

We are so thankful to the Springfield Symphony Orchestra for another wonderful performance at the Annual Young People's Concert.

Students all over the area were invited to attend this annual performance at no cost to families or schools thanks to generous sponsors of the event.

Students were treated to the following music, many of which sounded familiar!

F1 Theme ... Brian Tyler
William Tell ... Gioachino Rossini
Super Mario ... Koji Kondo / arr. Tyler Llona
Top Gun ... Harold Faltermeyer
Chariots of Fire ... Vangelis / arr. Ayers
Carmen Overture ... Georges Bizet
Final Countdown ... Europe / arr. Mortimer
Beethoven 5 ... Ludwig van Betthoven
1812 Overture ... Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Route 66 ... Bobby Troup

03/01/2026

02/11/2026

Our families really showed up today for our Community Service Project 🎁

We made care packages for the local hospitals pediatric floors and the students wrote encouraging notes for the patients. This project was inspired by Washington Middle School in St. Louis, where students provided baggies like these to the St. Louis Children's Hospital.

We ended the day with a Valentines Day party and art projects!

02/04/2026

Today, we visited the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery as part of our study on rivers, brooks and streams.

We love partnering with the Missouri Dept. of Conservation for field trips because they're always incredibly informative and exciting!

We learned about the history and work of the Hatchery, studied the differences between rainbow trout and brown trout at the aquarium, and fed the fish outside. We also saw Tiger Lily, their two headed black rat snake.

Thank you to the volunteers and Conservation agents for investing in our students!

01/20/2026

This term, our focus for nature study is water - specifically, rivers, brooks and streams 💦

❓️Did you know.....

🐟 The Missouri River is the longest river in North America, which begins in Montana and joins the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri.

🐟 It is also the 4th-longest River system in the entire world.

🐟 The Missouri River watershed covers almost 1/4 of U.S. agricultural land and is often called the "Center of Life" for the Great Plains.

🐟 The Mississippi River is the 2nd-longest River in North America, and flows from Minnesota down into the Gulf of America (formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico).

🐟 The Mississippi River watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, covering over 40% of the continental U.S.

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"Most likely the stream does not go to the sea by itself; it may pour its waters into another larger river; but one way or other, to the sea it goes at last.

If you stand on a bridge which goes across a wide river and watch the waters rushing along, fast and strong and never stopping, you wonder where all the water comes from; and why it is never emptied away, when such great riverfuls are being always poured into the sea.

How that is, and how a river begins, and how it grows, and how it is that a river blesses the land it flows through and makes it fertile, are things you will understand when you know more geography.

Only think of this now; when you see no wavy river marks upon the map of any country, be sorry for its people; for that is not a land of green fields, or forest trees, of corn or fruit."

- Charlotte Mason, Elementary Geography

Image: The Mississippi River and its tributaries