The New Mason Jar with Cindy Rollins

Latest Episodes:

S10E133: Presidential Libraries and Biographies with Erin Kunkle Feb 26, 2026

Show notes

Today on The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn are back with their friend Erin Kunkle for another episode in our America250 series, focusing on presidential biographies and libraries
How Erin became interested in US history in general and in the presidential libraries specifically
How a membership to the presidential libraries works
How Erin deals with things she disagrees with from various presidents' lives and work
Notable presidential biographies Erin has read

For the full show notes on this episode, please visit https://thenewmasonjar.com/133.

S10E132: Hosting a Handicraft Fair with Angel Revie Feb 12, 2026

Show notes

On The New Mason Jar Podcast this week, Cindy and Dawn chat with Angel Revie, homeschooling mom of three, about doing handicraft fairs with children
How Angel first learned about Charlotte Mason
What is a handicraft fair, and who participates?
What are some examples of items students bring to handicraft fairs?
How Angel got the idea for starting a handicraft fair for her local homeschool community
What are some of the benefits for students participating in handicraft fairs?
How Angel organizes these fairs annually

Don't forget to visit our website for the full show notes for this episode at https://thenewmasonjar.com/132.

S10E131: The Moral Imagination with Dr. Vigen Guroian Jan 29, 2026

Show notes

Welcome back to The New Mason Jar podcast with Cindy Rollins and Dawn Duran! Today's guest is theologian and author of Tending the Heart of Virtue, Dr. Vigen Guroian.
What is the "moral imagination"?
Why are imaginative stories so important in developing virtue in a child?
Why shouldn't parents be afraid to introduce fairy tales to their children?
What is the new fairy tale project on which Dr. Guroian is currently working?
What does it mean to bowdlerize a story?
What fairy tales would Dr. Guroian have enjoyed most as a child?
What parts of Dr. Guroian's own education does he look back on as the things which mattered most?

For the full show notes for this episode, please visit our website at https://thenewmasonjar.com/131.

S10E130: Celebrating America's 250th in Books with Summer Smith Jan 15, 2026

Show notes

This week on The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn welcome Summer Smith back to the podcast with a fun discussion about her USA's 250th Birthday Book List
What Cindy remembers about the celebrations surrounding America's bicentennial when she was young
How Summer first came up with the idea for creating this book list
Why Summer tried to include a greater number of positive books than those that highlighted negative parts of America's history
Some examples of the types of books that made it onto the list
How Dawn is adding American patriotism resources across Cindy's Patreon and on her own Substack

For the full show notes of this episode, please visit https://thenewmasonjar.com/130.

S10E129: Preparing Students for Life Beyond High School with Lani Siciliano Jan 08, 2026

Show notes

On the first episode of Season 10 of The New Mason Jar, we bring you a conversation Cindy and Dawn had with Lani Siciliano, veteran homeschool mom and a member of the AmblesideOnline Auxiliary
How Lani first learned about homeschooling and Charlotte Mason
What is the difference between the AO Advisory and the Auxiliary?
How did you prepare transcripts for your students to get into the military and college?
Did Lani feel like she had to change a lot of things when she started homeschooling high school?
How the practice of narration prepared Lani's students for higher education
Did Lani encounter any hiccups along the way or have any regrets?
How Lani applies a Charlotte Mason education to her own life as she has graduated most of her children
A few more words of wisdom from moms farther down the road

S9E128: Life-long Learning Through Narration with Sheila Carroll Dec 25, 2025

Show notes

On The New Mason Jar Podcast this week, we bring you a conversation Cindy and Dawn had with Sheila Carroll, founder of Living Books Press
How Sheila first heard about Charlotte Mason's philosophy
How Sheila started developing the curriculum and resources that became Living Books Press
What is narration, and what makes it such a powerful practice?
How do we keep the idea of a child's personhood from steering us toward a child-centered education?
Sheila's advice for beginning narration and dealing with pushback from your child
How to prepare young children who are not yet school age for narrating later
Why is nature study so important for today's children?
How do nature study and living books work together for a full education?
How is composition taught in the Charlotte Mason paradigm?

To view the full show notes for this episode, including resources mentioned, please visit our website at https://thenewmasonjar.com/128.

S9E127: The Charlotte Mason New England Community Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn talk with the women behind the Charlotte Mason New England community--Sarah Beals, Megan Massaro, and Rebekah Anglea
How and why did you get this started in the first place?
What roles do each of you play?
What have some of the past CMNE events looked like?
What are some of the challenges for home school families in New England?
How have you gotten the word out about CMNE?
What are some benefits of having a multi-generational community?

S9E126: Handel's Messiah with Querida Thompson Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

On The New Mason Jar Podcast this week, Cindy and Dawn talk with Querida Thompson about Handel's Messiah
How Querida first heard about Charlotte Mason
Who was George Frederic Handel?
How did Handel come to write the Messiah oratorio?
How should we first approach listening to Messiah?
More historical context for this piece of music
What is the shape of the whole work?
What are some recommendations for recordings of Handel's Messiah?

For links to all the resources mentioned in today's episode, please visit our website at https://thenewmasonjar.com/126.

S9E125: Part of the Great Story with Dr. Wilfred McClay Nov 13, 2025

Show notes

On this week's episode of The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn are pleased to introduced Dr. Wilfred McClay, acclaimed history professor and author of Land of Hope, as part of our Mothers Education Course series
How Dr. McClay fell in love with the study of history
Why we should approach history with a spirit of generosity and gratitude
What are the results of the modern de-bunking, judgmental way in which history is commonly taught today?
How the update and revisions are going on a new edition of his book
Ways Dr. McClay is involved in celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States

Don't forget to head over to our website at https://thenewmasonjar.com/125 for the full show notes for this episode!

S9E124: The AmblesideOnline Advisory on the Work of the Mother Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

This week on The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn are joined by the members of the AmblesideOnline Advisory, which includes Donna-Jean Breckenridge, Anne White, Karen Glass, and Leslie Laurio
How does the education offered through AmblesideOnline apply to mothers and fathers, too, not only to the children?
Why is it so important for moms to take the time to read Charlotte Mason's volumes and learn her method for themselves?
What encouragement would you offer to help the mom do so?
Can you speak to this desire, for homeschool material to be "open and go," specifically with respect to AO?
What can you tell us about the AO 25th anniversary celebration?

Get the full show notes for this episode with links to everything discussed at https://thenewmasonjar.com/124.