The Commonplace

Every so often, I like to lift the veil a bit to show what happens in Common House (formerly known as Patreon but now significantly better). I hope you enjoy today’s exclusive resource about the power of story and, well, a story. Grab your kids and a cup of coffee and enjoy a tale of fair Bren and faithful Brohen! *Note: I did not name my oldest two children Bren and Brohen. Just to clarify. JOIN...

Everything has a catchphrase, including the classical world. Well, maybe we have two. I bet you think I’m talking about some truth, goodness, and beauty , but no, not yet. I’m talking about the other one . __________ You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here . (I thank you!) --------- Join the 450+ mother-...

Deciding to homeschool is one thing but finding the right method is a whole other thing. When you first start looking at educational philosophies, it can seem like classical education is just one of many options out there. How can you tell if one is better than another? Can one be better than the other? If only there was an objective way to measure an educational option. Might I suggest there is?...

Who knew there was so much Charlotte Mason in the ideas of Plato? If we’re getting our bearings in the classical world, then we need to go all the way back to Plato and get a handle on the Greek vision of education. Actually, we need to go back even further. I told you this was another world. __________ You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can lea...

If I can give you a captain idea for this season, for all that’s to come, it would come from my dear St. Jack, or, as you might know him, C.S. Lewis. He once wrote, “For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality.” This is classical education. And it’s on the other side of the wardrobe. Let’s go. __________ You can find the full episode notes here. You can...

You didn’t think I’d end the season without saying goodbye, did you? __________ You can find the full episode notes here . You can leave the podcast a rating and review here . (I thank you!) --------- Join the 400+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, an...

Do you remember the first episode of the season? I laid out the first morning of formal schooling with its materials galore: alphabet and math manipulatives, nature packs, watercolors, piles of books, cups of tea, and so on. I asked if buying and organizing supplies are what make a ready mother-teacher or if maybe, just maybe, we were missing the main thing. You know, like how to teach. From Janua...

For many of us, education is a thing outside of the sacred. We certainly know God made the world and the things in it, but school is something that’s done…over there. It’s just reading, writing, and arithmetic. If we want a Christian education, we need to add a Bible class and maybe a catechism. But what if I told you education is Christian if it’s true, harmonious, and whole? It’s time for Mason’...

Did you think we were finally finishing Mason’s twenty principles? Not. Just. Yet. My. Friend. While thinking through some angles on educational philosophy and pedagogy I can’t speak to, I knew there was another important one besides the older, wiser mom (Catch Bethany in last week’s interview!): the dad. The good news is that I do know a classical Charlotte Mason homeschooling dad. Today’s guest...

We've spent the whole year getting our pedagogy in place by studying Mason's 20 principles. But sometimes, we need help bringing all that philosophy down to the practical level, down to our commonplace homes. Thankfully, today's guest is here to help. Bethany Douglass, a wife, mother of four, and writer at Cloistered Away , joins me to offer practical homeschooling encouragement on setting rhythms...

Never in my reading life have I found a chapter in a book that mentions such a range of characters. In Chapter IX of Volume Six, Mason manages to pull together Florence Nightingale, Euclid, Pythagoras, Satan, William Shakespeare and Karl Marx in her exploration of the Way of Reason. What point does she make? Reason is a yes man who will try to confirm any idea accepted by the Will. Which is how we...

The world may call a defiant, difficult, and disobedient child “strong-willed”, but we know that’s not so. A strong-willed child can command themselves to choose what’s right even if it’s not what they want. Sounds pretty magical, right? But also, maybe a little difficult. How does a mother-teacher help a child train their will? Let’s talk about it. __________ You can find the full episode notes h...

It’s classic Mason to give such a tidy explanation for such a huge idea. What are the two guides in the moral and intellectual self-management of a child? Oh, just little things called ‘the way of the will’ and ‘the way of the reason’. Consider today your primer on these two ways before we dive in deep in the next two episodes! __________ You can find the full episode notes here . --------- Join t...

Those of us formally schooling are kicking off the new year right around now, so I thought it was the perfect time to share a BONUS episode as a bit of beginning of the year fun. I’m joined today by two dear friends, Amanda Faus and Brooke Johnson, to discuss how to form a classical Charlotte Mason co-op. I asked them my burning questions: how to build a co-op vision, how to share the group’s phil...

It’s narration week! I mean, really, what’s more Mason than talking about narration? (Actually, a lot of things. You have to talk about all the things .) But let’s get to it! What is narration? Why does it happen after a single reading? What if you have a lot of students narrating at once? How do you narrate a piece of music? Is it the same thing as a discussion? …what if the kid’s narration was…s...

You’d think with all our knowledge about Mason’s principles it’d be easy to pick a curriculum. But the options seem endless and while they all claim to be some type of classical Mason curriculum, they’re all doing it a little bit differently. What’s a mom to do? ---------- Come shop at resources at Commonplace Market . ---------- You can find the full episode notes here . --------- Join the 400+ m...

At first take, Mason’s eleventh and twelfth principles seem a little obvious. We’ve been studying hard this season and we know some stuff! We know children need living ideas and to be allowed to make connections on their own, that they need natural relationships with a wide array of things. But today, I want to ask: why . Why does it have to be done this way? Why these living ideas? Let’s figure o...

We’re not fully aware of how deep the children-have-bucket-minds educational philosophy runs in our world today, but Mason knew of its dangers way back at the turn of the 20th century. It’s an appealing philosophy at first take. Why shouldn’t we treat children’s minds like buckets and just toss in pre-packaged ideas to fill them up? Won’t we guarantee ourselves students who know exactly what we wa...

An education for persons should be life- giving . It should nurture and grow the mind, bringing life to it, but it should also form students wholly, leaving them fit for the flourishing life. It’s time for our third and final instrument of education. What does Mason mean when she says, “Education is a life”? ---------- Come shop at resources at Commonplace Market . ---------- You can find the full...

If we habit train, is it even authentic? Modern talk tells us authenticity is a great virtue, possibly even the highest virtue. We should only ever do that which feels most satisfying to us at the moment, and only if it comes to us spontaneously and organically. #liveauthentic #youdoyou #mytruth If we could only be our truest selves, free from internal and external constraints, we’d be happy. Mayb...

When we modern moms think about atmosphere in the homeschool, we usually think about the materials. We have a mental image of what the perfect home or homeschool looks like; what kind of stuff covers the walls, table, and floor. It can really feel like things must look a certain way to be done a certain way. If you don’t believe me, just take a poll of any mom friends you have by asking: What come...

This bonus minisode was first recorded for The Commonplace patrons but is brought to you today by Classical Academic Press . Take 20% off all individual products until April 22nd, which includes our favorite thing: books. If you enjoy today’s bonus minisode, you can find more resources just like this over at Common House . We’d love to have you. ---------- You can find the full episode notes here...

Now, maybe you feel differently, but it can feel like everything you’ve ever known to ‘teach’ in motherhood is off the table after Mason’s fourth principle. It’s a bit jarring to feel stuck in a moment asking yourself, ‘Wait, is that going to manipulate them? Will this? What. Can. I. Do?’ But Mason encourages us to focus on what is possible once we cross the hurdle of the fourth principle. She say...

In the last episode, we learned how authority and docility are natural, necessary, and fundamental for our homes. But in her fourth principle, Mason introduces a limitation to these two things: the respect due to the child’s will. (Okay, so technically she says ‘personality,’ but I’m here to translate that Victorian English for you, and she’s definitely not talking about your kid’s Enneagram type....

Moms know a thing about tension, about holding two things in balance: speaking and silence, instruction and waiting, pizza and broccoli. Understanding the complementary particulars of home life and nurturing children is kind of our job. As we head into the next principle, just remember: you’ve been training for this in so many ways before today. In her third principle, Mason shares two ideas that...