Earlier in the year I wrote about the miraculous provision that allowed me to keep my youngest son schooling at home during what has been one of the most difficult years of my life. This is Part 1 of a two part series. In Part 1 I will share more about the decision to join Mason's Alveary, and explain why I - an educator and home educator with over 15 years experience with Charlotte Mason's educational model - would turn to a paid CM curriculum. In Part 2 I will describe some of our experiences over the first 2 terms of working with the Alveary.
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In 2010 we moved to Uruguay where we served as church planting missionaries, and I continued schooling the kids while participating in full time ministry. By the time we returned to Canada in 2014, I was burned out, and my health was suffering. Our eldest was now done school and looking to her post-secondary career, and I still had two children at home. For 2 years I struggled along, trying to meet their educational needs as my health declined.
Jump to spring of 2016. Because of my health it looked like the educational model I loved was not going to be possible in my home any longer. We were considering all options for our second child, who was to start high school in the fall: online classes, prepackaged curriculum, enrollment in a brick and mortar school. And we were looking at what options we might pursue to keep our youngest, starting Grade 6, home at least until high school.
In June of 2016 I attended my 5th Charlotte Mason Institute conference, and my heart was breaking. Here I was surrounded by a community of people from across the continent who were pursuing a Mason education, plenary speakers and workshop facilitators were inspiring those in attendance to press on, to continue learning, growing, and implementing Mason's work in their school classrooms and home schools, and I was feeling like I just couldn't do it any more.
During one plenary session, Dr. Jennifer Spencer shared about a new project that the CMI was working on: Mason's Alveary, a curriculum and teacher training program complete with year plans, lesson plans, scheduling helps, webinars, video tutorials, and more. My heart began to rise. Could this be the solution that would enable us to keep BOTH our boys home? With all that support, could I make it through another year without completely caving in? I listened intently as the details unfolded.
Then the bad news: The pilot project that was being rolled out would only go through 8th grade. It wouldn't be the high school solution I was looking for after all. But, I wondered, if I was only going to have my youngest with us for a few more years, would it enable me to give him the Mason education I desired for him despite my own weaknesses?
We decided to try it, and enrolled to participate in the pilot project with one student in Form 2a, Grade 6. Mason's Alveary has been the backbone of our school year for 2016-2017.
In Part 2 you can read about our experience with the Alveary over the first two terms. Join me?
(This post has been included in a Blog Carnival about Mason's Alveary. You can find other people's stories about their experience with the Alveary by following the links.)
