The New Mason Jar with Cindy Rollins

First Colony Homeschool Ensembles

Bethany's Website

...a classical education does more, turns out men with intellects cultivated and trained, who are awake to every refinement of thought, and yet ready for action. But the press and hurry of our times and the clamour for useful knowledge are driving classical culture out of the field; and parents will have to make up their minds, not only that they must supplement the moral training of the school, but must supply the intellectual culture, without which knowledge may be power, but is not pleasure, nor the means of pleasure.

Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, p. 213

S5E72: "Six Voices, One Story" with Donna-Jean Breckenridge Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

It is not the friends of our election who have exclusive claims upon us; the friends brought to us here and there by the circumstances of life all claim our loyalty, and from these we get…kindness for kindness, service for service, loyalty for loyalty, full measure, heaped together and running over.

Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, Book 2, p. 32 Show Summary:

Today on The New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn welcome back Donna-Jean Breckenridge, veteran homeschool mom, grandmother and member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory
Donna-Jean shares a little about how the Advisory met and went on to work together to create AmblesideOnline and a grew to have deep friendships along the way
Donna-Jean talk about how this book came to be and some of the challenges along the way
What do you see as the future of the Advisory and AO?

Books and Links Mentioned:

Six Voices, One Story by the AmblesideOnline Advisory

Archipelago, The AO Advisory Blog

Find Cindy and Donna-Jean:

Episode 40: Donna-Jean Breckenridge on Updating This Country of Ours

Donna-Jean's Facebook

Donna-Jean's Instagram

Donna-Jean on MeWe

S5E71: Reprise of "Christmas Memories with Lynn and Donna-Jean", Ep. 47 Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

Our flesh the Word became, and dwelt with us, And we beheld His glory, as, of God, The only-begotten Son: we who believed Knew glory when we saw it, by the signs— Not of the pomp and majesty of Kings— But Grace, the touch of God, showed sweet in Him; And Truth, discerning all things, made Him simple, His glory saw we—full of grace and truth.

Charlotte Mason, from "Savior of the World," Prologue to the Gospel according to St. John

Show Summary:

On this episode of The New Mason Jar, we bring you a replay of a special episode with Cindy's friends Donna-Jean Breckenridge and Lynn Bruce, who has now gone to be with the Lord.
What did homeschooling look like around the Christmas holidays?
Why it is okay to take time off from your normal school work for Christmas celebrations
Why traditions are so important, possibly even more so as children grow older
What are some traditions that your family keeps from previous generations?
Handling changes and trauma as the years go by and still keep Christmas with courage
What are some Christmas "fails" that happened in your family?

Books and Links Mentioned:

Saviour of the World, Volume 1 by Charlotte Mason

This Country of Ours: Annotated, Expanded and Updated, Vol. 1 by Donna-Jean Breckenridge

Hallelujah: Cultivating Advent Traditions with Handel's Messiah by Cindy Rollins

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

Find Cindyand Donna-Jean:

Donna-Jean's Facebook

Donna-Jean's Instagram

Donna-Jean on MeWe

S5E70: A Casual Chat with Cindy and Dawn Nov 23, 2023

Show notes

Education is a life. That life is sustained on ideas. Ideas are of spiritual origin, and God has made us so that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another, whether by word of mouth, written page, Scripture word, musical symphony; but we must sustain a child's inner life with ideas as we sustain his body with food.

Charlotte Mason, Toward a Philosophy of Education Show Summary:

Cindy and Dawn take some time for a more informal chat about some ideas that have been on their minds and hearts lately
The danger of "windows and mirrors" and trying to see ourselves instead of looking to God
Some thoughts on narration and attention
The value of listening to the experience of older homeschool moms

Books and Links Mentioned:

The Lord Bless You and Keep You by Michael J. Glodo

Six Voices, One Story by the Ambleside Education Foundation

Education, like faith, is "the evidence of things not seen."

Charlotte Mason, from Toward a Philosophy of Education Find Cindy and Dawn:

Dawn's Swedish Drill Website

Dawn's Articles on Afterthoughtsblog.net

S5E69: A Question of Culture with Erin Kunkle Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

Mentally he must be developed so that as he grows older he may have the capacity to grasp the true meaning of social and political questions of the day. His mind should be so trained that he will be able to detect and reject fallacious statements, and quick to discover the claptrap of which our newspapers are so full.

E. A. Smith, "Citizenship: Our Responsibility as Teachers", June 1911 L'Umile Pianta Show Summary:

Today's guest on The New Mason Jar is Erin Kunkle, a veteran homeschool mom, speaker and co-host of the MAVEN parent podcast
How Erin first heard about Charlotte Mason
What is Maven all about?
What do we mean when we say "culture" and why it is important to stay engaged with it?
Does teaching apologetics and Christian worldview align with a Charlotte Mason education?
How can we talk about cultural issues in a way that encourages kids to learn to think for themselves?
Erin's advice for talking with kids about difficult topics

Books and Links Mentioned:

Affiliate links are included below.

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch

More Than a Carpenter by Josh MacDowell with Sean MacDowell

A Practical Guide to Culture by Brett Kunkle and John Stonestreet

Questioning the Bible by Jonathan Morrow

The Story of Reality by Greg Koukl

[We] must listen and consider, being sure that one of the purposes we are in the world for is, to form right opinions about all matters that come in our way.

Charlotte Mason, Ourselves Find Cindy and Erin:

S5E68: The Beauty of Mathematics with Melissa Bair Oct 19, 2023

Show notes

We take strong ground when we appeal to the beauty and truth of Mathematics; that, as Ruskin points out, two and two make four and cannot conceivably make five, is an inevitable law. It is a great thing to be brought into the presence of a law, of a whole system of laws, that exist without our concurrence,––that two straight lines cannot enclose a space is a fact which we can perceive, state, and act upon but cannot in any wise alter, should give to children the sense of limitation which is wholesome for all of us, and inspire that sursum corda which we should hear in all natural law.

Charlotte Mason, Philosophy of Education, p. 230-231 Show Summary:

Today's guest on The New Mason Jar is Melissa Bair, a homeschooling mother of 4 who loves math and has degrees in mathematics and computer sciences
How Melissa first discovered Charlotte Mason's philosophy
How Melissa came to love mathematics and what impact her teachers had on her
What kinds of activities and materials Melissa uses to teach math in a more beautiful way
The building blocks of math: notice, wonder, and discover
Is math a language or an art?
Does seeking to find the beauty in math put too much pressure on homeschool parents?

Books and Links Mentioned:

Affiliate links are included below.

John Holt

Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor

Leisure: the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Real Learning by Elizabeth Voss

A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart

Caleb Gattegno

Chasing Rabbits by Sunil Singh

Mater Amabilis

The Mandelbrot Set

In a word our point is that Mathematics are to be studied for their own sake and not as they make for general intelligence and grasp of mind.

Charlotte Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education Find Cindy:

S5E67: Science in the Charlotte Mason Homeschool with Jeanne Webb Oct 05, 2023

Show notes

Again, we have made a rather strange discovery, that the mind refuses to know anything except what reaches it in more or less literary form. Persons can 'get up' the driest of pulverised text-books and enough mathematics for some public examination; but these attainments do not appear to touch the region of mind. Of Natural Science, too, we have to learn that the way into the secrets of nature is not through the barbed wire entanglements of science as she is taught but through field work or other immediate channel, illustrated and illuminated by books of literary value.

Charlotte Mason, Philosophy of Education Show Summary:

Today's guest on The New Mason Jar is Jeanne Webb, veteran homeschool of one daughter and former member of the AmblesideOnline Auxilliary, and her whole family are involved in the sciences
How Jeanne first heard about the Charlotte Mason philosophy
What make Charlotte Mason's approach to science different from that of typical American science education?
What is the relationship of nature study to other areas of scientific study?
How do nature study and nature lore prepare children for the more formal study of science?
What Jeanne and her family did for nature study
Does a Charlotte Mason approach to science do enough to prepare students for higher education?

Books and Links Mentioned:

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

The Burgess Bird Book by Thornton W. Burgess

Napoleon's Buttons by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

Gulp by Mary Roach

It Couldn't Just Happen by Lawrence O. Richards

The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson

Darwin's Black Box by Michael Behe

A Meaningful World by Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt

Who Made the Moon? by Sigmund Brouwer

The Language of God by Francis Collins

But the object of the Parents' Review School is not merely to raise the standard of work in the home schoolroom. Our chief wish is that the pupils of the School should find knowledge delightful in itself and for its own sake, without thought of marks, place, prize or other reward; that they should develop an intelligent curiosity about whatever is on the earth or in the heavens, about the past and the present. The children respond and take to their lessons with keen pleasure, if they get even tolerably good teaching, and the want of marks, companionship, or other stimulus is not felt in those home schoolrooms where the interest of knowledge is allowed free play.

attributed to Charlotte Mason, from "Parents' Review School", The Parents' Review, Vol. 12, No. 9 (1901) Find Cindy:

S5E66: Q&A No. 7, On the Building Blocks of Story Sep 21, 2023

Show notes

"There can be no great art without great fable. Great art can only exist where great men brood intensely on something upon which all men brood a little. Without a popular body of fable there can be no unselfish art in any country. Shakespeare's art was selfish till he turned to the great tales in the four most popular books of his time…"

James Masefield, as Quoted by Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6, Toward a Philosophy of Education Show Summary:

Today on the New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn welcome back previous guests Angelina Stanford and Timilyn Downey to cover some questions listeners had about Episode 60: The Building Blocks of Story
Is there an objective answer to the question "What is art?"
What do we mean when we say literature is art?
Why do we say fairy tales are the building blocks of story?
What is the danger of not giving children a foundation in myths, fairy tales and the Bible?
Is it ever too late to develop a taste for these stories?
What is the difference between historical fiction and literature?
How does a wide and varied literary education add to our understanding of story?

Let us take it to ourselves that great character comes out of great thoughts, and that great thought must be initiated by great thinkers; then we shall have a definite aim in education. Thinking and not doing is the source of character.

Charlotte Mason, Toward a Philosophy of Education Books Mentioned:

Northrop Frye

C. S. Lewis

J. R. R. Tolkien

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

Beowulf trans. by Burton Raffel

English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall

Find Cindy, Angelina, and Timilyn:

The Literary Life Online Conference 2023

House of Humane Letters

Angelina's Facebook

Angelina's Instagram

S5E65: Building a Home Library with Jeannette Tulis and Sherry Early Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

As for Literature–to introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it from the very first. A child's intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find.

Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6, Philosophy of Education, p. 51 Show Summary:

Our guests on The New Mason Jar podcast today are Jeannette Tulis and Sherry Early
How Sherry first heard about Charlotte Mason
How Jeannette started her own home library that then turned into a lending library
How did Sherry and Jeannette learn what books to collect and what not to bring home?
Where are the best, budget-friendly places to look for good books to buy?
How Sherry and Jeannette run their lending libraries
What are a few of our guests' favorite books?

Books and Links Mentioned:

Episode 12: Charlotte Mason Study Groups with Jeannette Tulis

Picture Book Preschool

Thrift Store Shopping Without Leaving Your House – Bibioguides

Private Lending Libraries List – Biblioguides

The Card Catalogue – Plumfield and Paideia

Jeannette's Books About Books List

Jeannette's Favorite Books by Category List

Jeannette's Favorite Picture Book Authors List

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Let the Authors Speak by Carolyn Hatcher

All Through the Ages by Christine Miller

Who Should We Then Read, Vols. 1 & 2 by Jan Bloom

Anatole Series by Eve Titus

Henry the Explorer from Purple House Press

The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward

David McPhail

Don Freeman

Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban

Obadiah Trio by Brinton Turkle

Deep in the Forest by Brinton Turkle

Charlotte Zolotow

Jan Wahl

Little Bear Books by Else Holmelund Minarik

Frog and Toad Books by Arnold Lobel

Millicent Selsam

Animals Do the Strangest Things by Arthur and Leonora Hornblow

Carolyn Haywood

The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook by Joyce Brisley

Sugar Creek Gang Original Series by Paul Hutchens

Clementine Books by Sarah Pennypacker

The Cobble Street Cousins by Cynthia Rylant

Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers

Mothering by the Book by Jennifer Pepito

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

You Are Not Your Own by Alan Noble

Find Cindy and Sherry:

Sherry Early's Blog, Semicolon

When I get a little money, I buy books, and if any is left, I buy food. My luggage is my library. My home is where my books are.

Erasmus

S5E64: A Charlotte Mason Sunday School with Emily Raible and Tracy Fast Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

All our teaching of children should be given reverently, with the humble sense that we are invited in this matter to co-operate with the Holy Spirit; but it should be given dutifully and diligently.

Charlotte Mason, Vol. 2, Parents and Children Show Summary:

Our guests on The New Mason Jar podcast this week are Emily Raible and Tracy Fast
How Tracy was homeschooled and came to learn about Charlotte Mason
How Emily first heard about Charlotte Mason
How Tracy got started using Charlotte Mason's principles in teaching Sunday school
How Emily began creating a Sunday school curriculum using Miss Mason's principles
What differences have been noticeable since implementing the new methods?
What a typical Sunday school class looks like in Tracy's church
What Emily's Sunday school class typically looks like
Some more benefits of a Charlotte Mason Sunday school

Books and Links Mentioned:

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

The Bible Story Handbook by John and Kim Walton

The Burgess Bird Book by Thornton W. Burgess

House of Humane Letters

Simply Charlotte Mason

AmblesideOnline

Blue Sky Daisies publishing

Example of nature coloring pages Emily mentioned

Find Cindy: