The New Mason Jar with Cindy Rollins

On The New Mason Jar this week, we bring you a special Q&A episode recorded with Kay Pelham and Jami Marstal as a follow-up to our 2025 Back to School Online Conference How can a mom of many finish well with her last few students, implementing more of Mason's methods now that she has more time with fewer children? What is some advice for dealing with disrespect from teens and pre-teens? What are s...

Today on The New Mason Jar, we bring you a conversation Cindy and Dawn had with Anthony Coafield, Australian homeschooling father of three boys and founder of Living Book Press How Anthony and his wife found out about Charlotte Mason's philosophy How stories shaped Anthony's life from a young age Why and how Anthony started Living Books Press How Anthony juggles the publishing work and homeschooli...

On this week's episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn talk with Sue Lee, veteran homeschool mom and French teacher How Sue first learned about Charlotte Mason How art history led Sue to studying French In what ways did Sue's teaching change as she learned about Charlotte Mason's principles? How Sue started teaching French classes for homeschoolers What are some of Sue's tips for teaching a f...

Today's New Mason Jar episode features another episode from our archives with guests are Kay Pelham and Christy Hissong Kay is a veteran homeschooling mom to one son, as well as a piano teacher and literary enthusiast Christy is also a veteran homeschooling mom of one boy, and teaches at a local Charlotte Mason cottage school How did each of our guests learn about Charlotte Mason? What are some of...

Today on The New Mason Jar, we bring you an episode from the vault in which Cindy and Dawn talk with Jami Marstall, veteran homeschooling mom of 4 and a lifelong learner herself How Jami first started learning about Charlotte Mason Why do you think parents are hesitant about using Charlotte Mason through high school? What advice do you have for parents whose students are transitioning into high sc...

On this week's episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn talk with Lauren Fee, homeschooling mom of five with a passion for Charlotte Mason's philosophy, especially as it applies to Bible lessons for children How Lauren came to learn about Charlotte Mason Which of Charlotte's "20 Principles" should be considered by those responsible for teaching the Bible to children? Who was Canon J. Paterson...

This week on The New Mason Jar, Dr. Jason Baxter returns to the podcast to talk with Cindy and Dawn about Dante as part of a new series of Mothers Education Course episodes When Dr. Baxter was first introduced to Dante's Divine Comedy Why Dr. Baxter thinks Dante wrote this work in the form of epic poetry? How this translation is different than other modern English translations Does the language an...

On The New Mason Jar Podcast this week, Cindy and Dawn talk with Anne White, AmblesideOnline Advisory member, about how she continues her own education as a veteran homeschool mom A little more background on how Anne learned about Charlotte Mason What kinds of books Anne remembers reading as a child How Anne realized she needed to continue her own education as an adult What ways Anne seeks to grow...

In this week's episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn talk with Jeannette Tullis about implementing Kindergarten in harmony with Charlotte Mason's methods What was Charlotte Mason's approach to early childhood education? Is the idea of modern early education a myth? What do you do about writing or narration during the kindergarten years? How Jeannette makes reading aloud interactive Do paren...

On this week's episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn share a conversation with Anna Fischer about the homeschool hybrid school, Canyon Creek Christian Academy in Tennessee How Anna first heard about Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy What is a hybrid school? How Anna got involved with CCCA and later became co-director What it is like to run the hybrid school How the school leadership...

Today on The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn have a veteran homeschool mom, Hailey White, and her daughter Vivien on the show to talk about speech and debate from a Charlotte Mason perspective How Hailey first learned about Charlotte Mason and her ideas What were Vivien's impressions of her education? How did the Whites become involved with Christian homeschooling speech and debate? How did particip...

On The New Mason Jar this week, we bring you a replay of a great conversation all about spring nature study with Cindy, Dawn and Cindy's friend Jeannette Tulis How can moms begin nature study when they have never done it before? How to find spring ephemeral wildflowers, and other things to look for at this time of year Ideas for stepping up your nature study game What are some tips for nature jour...

On the New Mason Jar today, we are sharing a conversation Cindy and Dawn had with Zach and Andrea Vaughn. Zach serves as a U.S. Navy chaplain while Andrea homeschools their four children. How Zach and Andrea found out about Charlotte Mason What it is like being an active duty chaplain What are some of the benefits of homeschooling through frequent moves? How have you found homeschooling community...

On this week's episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn are joined by Denise Gaskins, veteran homeschool mom and math coach and tutor What are math logbooks, and why are they a helpful learning tool? Would Charlotte Mason have encouraged math games? How can math games progress as students gain proficiency with them? What is wrong with traditional math curricula, and do we need to change it? De...

Today on The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn talk with Stephanie Russell about studying the Scriptures How Stephanie first learned about Charlotte Mason and her educational philosophy What is a "clew," and how does this apply to studying the Bible? How Stephanie came upon this book along with Charlotte's Mother's Education Course Who was Mary Petrie, and how was she connected with Mason? How is Clew...

This week we are delighted to bring you another conversation between Cindy Rollins and guest Karen Glass, veteran homeschool mom and member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory Karen and Cindy tackle the subject of Charlotte Mason and classical education, refuting some misrepresentations of a Charlotte Mason education Cindy explains why she has a problem with the current neo-classical education movemen...

Today on The New Mason Jar podcast, Dawn moderates a discussion between host Cindy Rollins and guest Karen Glass, veteran homeschool mom and member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory Karen and Cindy talk about narration and composition in the Charlotte Mason paradigm, beginning with a little background on Karen's new book, The Art of Composition Why Cindy has always said that parents don't need a wri...

Welcome back to The New Mason Jar and another episode in our Morning Time for Moms self-education series Today Cindy and Dawn chat with Megan Graham, homeschooling mother of nine, two of whom she has graduated How Megan came to learn about the philosophy of Charlotte Mason What Megan's own education was like and what her perception of learning was as a young person How did your idea of education s...

This week on The New Mason Jar, we bring you another special Q&A episode with Cindy's Patreon members What is the approach to reading a book with a high school student in the Charlotte Mason paradigm? How do you deal with "imperfect" narrations, and how can you make stopping for narrations mid-read less distracting? Should we have students narrate poetry regularly? How can we start out narrations...

This week on The New Mason Jar podcast, we bring you a conversation Cindy and Dawn had with Dr. Jason Baxter about his new book Why Literature Still Matters published by Cassiodorus Press How Jason wrote this book and the style of his writing as if to a specific, live audience Why Jason wrote about the importance of beauty, art, and literature in terms of our current culture Why is there a sense o...

On The New Mason Jar this week, Cindy Rollins and Jeannette Tulis chat about ways to incorporate books into your Advent and Christmas traditions. This was a special video recording for Cindy's Patreon members, with the audio shared here for all our podcast listeners. You can download the full list of books Jeannette and Cindy talk about for your own book buying or borrowing during the holiday seas...

Today on The New Mason Jar, we bring you a special episode just in time for Advent Cindy and Dawn chat with their friend and homeschooling mom of 2, Rebecca Zipp, who writes at ahumbleplace.com How Rebecca first came to learn about Charlotte Mason's philosophy What Rebecca's website A Humble Place is all about What is Advent, and why did Rebecca develop this Advent Art Devotions resource? What oth...

Today on The New Mason Jar podcast, Cindy and Dawn sit down with Jen Sova, homeschooling mother of three boys and former English teacher How Jen discovered the Charlotte Mason philosophy How Jen's sons' learning differences affect their approach to schooling Jen's classroom teaching experience and how it affected her choice to use AmblesideOnline at home Why Jen feels AO's curriculum allows childr...

On The New Mason Jar podcast this week, Cindy and Dawn sit down for another conversation in our Morning Time for Moms series, this time with homeschooling mom Elaine Shutt How Elaine first came to learn about Charlotte Mason and her methods How Elaine was educated herself and what her reading life was like What Elaine's college and early teaching experience was like How she fit in reading about ed...

Today on The New Mason Jar podcast, Cindy and Dawn talk with Karen Glass, veteran homeschool mom, member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory, and author of a number of excellent Charlotte Mason education books Why is Karen's new book, Much May Be Done with Sparrows , different from the other works that she has written? Who is this book for, and how did it come to be? What is a "chap book"? How the ess...