100%. I joke constantly about how I need my governess, gardener, cook, and nursery maid to lead my Mason life!

Isn’t it awful not to go and enjoy nature without having to think through these things? But I’m grateful Rick came on to share his wisdom and will be retuning soon with part 2!

First, you're definitely not behind! Formal education starts *around* six, so you're right at the start! Second, I'd start with Vol. 6 and read something like The Liberal Arts Tradition or Beauty in the Word. One of those along with Vol. 6 will give you both philosophy and practical application!

Doesn't it? I would charge hot coffee and snacks.

Typically, Year 1 is a 6 year old but Mason does say some children will be ready a little before and after that age. We read LOTS before formal school. Stories form the mythic and moral imaginations from the start, helping children form metaphors to understand their own worlds. Children deserve the best stories from the start! John Senior's "One Thousand Good Books" is a great list to follow; it has the "nursery years" for the pre-six crowd! Also, I'm not sure what the wonder pages are. Amanda hosts The Wonder Years podcast with her husband!

I think Mason does protect the poetic mode! I think, with any solid Mason curriculum, the mother can protect or pull from the poetic in how she instructs/introduces the material, types of questions she asks, etc. I loved our first two years with the CMEC and believe they were wonderful for our start. I've never been a Mason purist (preferring the larger tradition and loving Mason in that context), so there were certain Mason-purist-book-selections that were not my top picks but we left the CMEC for logistical reasons. (Our co-op was no longer using their common subjects, our scout group doesn't use their natural history; I made novel swaps each year anyway, etc. So it didn't make sense to pay for 1/4 of a curriculum.) I was trying to pull my own thing together and then learned Amanda had done it for me! Ha! As for instruction concern: there are certain ways of narrating that might pull a child into the analytic (like asking for an oral narration for sensory-rich material like artist study; it might be more poetic to ask for a drawn/painted narration instead). Some comprehensive history spines (common in CM circles) may pull into the analytic, but you could buffer that with great biographies and historical fiction!

Hey there! I can't speak to the Alveary (as I've never used it) but I do not think the CMEC is too overwhelming for a new CM mom. Not at all. Any program you choose will have a learning curve but that's true no matter how long you've been homeschooling. It took me weeks (months?) to plan for our first year of school because I was getting used to the program, resources, online organisation, etc. It took me a week for the second year because I knew how it all worked. Every thing takes longer the first time through, but that's not because you're doing anything wrong. You're just doing something new! Enjoy it!

Mason is full of wisdom at every turn!

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I just put apart the next paper bag for the next edition of The Wouldbegoods. It's been such fun!

The middle way!

Books/stories are powerful!

Always helpful to remember we don't know everything!

I appreciate the comment! I've been working on my pacing throughout my time on KZbin and do think it's better in more recent videos. It's difficult to unlearn one's normal way of speaking but I do hear your concern and will keep trying!

I think she's talking about my narration comments in this Mother Academia video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/in_WYYqHjNh-idE

@@thecommonplacehomeschool excellent! Thank you!

Ah! Big kids already. I hear that happens quickly. The 1000 good books list is a path to the Great Books, so, in some respects, they're necessary before the Greats and shouldn't be skipped!

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Joy Clarkson did a series of interviews discussing Piranesi with others and it's fantastic. Highly recommend (Speaking with Joy)!

@@thecommonplacehomeschool oh thank you! I was hoping you'd have a suggestion for that! :)

My apologies. I have worked on speaking (a little more) slowly over the years on KZbin. Newer videos are better, I hope!

Thank you! Happy to have you here! I have another video on "The Literary Life" which is more about planning your course of reading throughout the year (with less of an intentional academic tone to it). This helps you stay the course in a way that's reasonable for your season of life. Like I said in this video, Mother Academia is not for every season (and maybe not even for the full year!). But reading good books (or listening to them) is for every season. I'd make a list of a handful of books you'd like to enjoy this year, note when you will read (early mornings, pre-bedtime, at kids' soccer, etc.), and try to stick to that!

Ooh, this is a fun encouragement!

Ah, I don't know this one! Thank you!

You're quite welcome!

I think it mostly comes down to: 1. I'm hard to reach/inaccessible. 2. I'm not able to be part of group texts when I really need to be. (Hike group, co-op, etc.) 3. I'm making my life harder for no reason. ;)

Hey Melinda_Sue! Happy to have you here! I'm so glad you were able to listen to Dr. Baxter. He's fascinating! I don't think I have any resources on hierarchies explicitly but I think the idea is probably woven throughout my work. Sorry I don't have something more direct for you!

Not a silly question! I actually made a video about how I built our library: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5zcYWOBrdanaZY

There is! Allow me to introduce you to the annual literary life plan making: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpSodIKsjJ6gbaM I also recommend googling "John Senior's 1000 Good Books List" and finding wherever you are on that list and reading from there!

I haven't yet! I'm a little behind on videos but do plan to get to it one of these days!

Ah, I'm generally not a fan of showing the movie after the book (but there are times when I will!). 1. I think showing the movie does ruin the world within the mind of the child as they perceived it in the story. 2. Movies do not usually stick to the books, and I think the changes they make are for the worse. (Ie. Swallows and Amazons. In the newest film, they make the siblings look like average, squabbling, nasty-at-times kids when that isn't the spirit of their relationships in the books!) 3. Movies ruin the book in some cases. (Ie. Pinnochio. The real Pinnochio is amazing. The Disney-fied version is terrible. Same with Peter Pan!) Reading requires active participation even though the child sits still. Entertainment trains a passive reception and I think that's a poor habit for children to begin to cultivate!

Oh, Hannah! YES. I was having a similar conversation with a friend while reading into IA Richards' "close reading" (for our reading of The Abolition of Man). There is a strain of treating the Bible like a text without any external reference to tradition, history, art, socio-cultural conditions, etc. We're tracking!

Is this about the Master Library list? It is. Mainly because I don't have anywhere else to host it!

So happy to have you here!

Well, I didn't. To put it plainly. I didn't mind how "slow" it was since I was coming from a flip phone. My issue was regular tech troubles. For instance, when someone would call, it would ring but it wouldn't display a name or allow me to "open" the phone to answer. After the call ended, it wouldn't record a missed call or who called. I had NO idea who was calling me. And it's a phone! I reached out to Light and they asked me if I had tried turning it off and on (Yes, of course; I'm a millennial so that's how I solve all my tech woes.). They don't offer returns/refunds, so I sold it. I'm back to the flip phone.

Ah, thank you for THIS. I recently thought that it's time for me to re-examine my childhood beliefs that academia belongs on a high pedestal. It did at one point, but I don't think, generally, American higher education is a pinnacle of thought and virtue anymore. But thankfully self-education is always available.

​@@thecommonplacehomeschool It was also a dream of mine from childhood that was perhaps too greatly influenced by the Oxford crowd. I highly recommend reading Saint John Henry Newman's The Idea of a University, if you have not already. Always gives me great hope for a traditional revival.

Bethany is such a source of wisdom! I highly recommend Cloistered Away (her writing) on the old blog and new Substack!

I mean, not ALL at once! * cries a wee American cry *

I’d pick from the “nursery years” of John Senior’s “One Thousand Good Books” list (just Google it!) and cuddle up and read aloud!

@@thecommonplacehomeschool thank you!

We agree. Lewis was very, very wrong.

Woo! I love that. We have some women in Common House who are Notion whizzes. They make truly remarkable things!

Adam Taylor, might you be James Taylor's son? I'm in my first read of it along with a few others I've gathered since meeting John Senior last year. It has been a fascinating read and one I will need to return to many times!

@@thecommonplacehomeschool Yes, in fact. Happy to hear that you've enjoyed the read and that it's bearing good fruit for you and your fellow teachers.

Welcome, you are in good company.

I need you guys to swing by here and get some shelves up that speedily for me!

@@thecommonplacehomeschoolI can get one of those shelves up in under 2 hours!

You know, I also thought it impossible to trademark something you did not come up with, but, alas, you can!

Ah, I think it's important to write it as it is. Part of the writing is a way of embodying the idea or stepping into the mind that wrote it. It's an act of humility to say "this is worth my time and attention" even if it's a paragraph or two of copying.