Guiding with Grace

Kerri Forney, like many, was introduced to the life-giving principles of Charlotte Mason through reading For the Children’s Sake. She and her husband, Scott, live in Wake Forest, NC, and are continuing to grow in their ability to live out Mason's principles. She has graduated four children and the last is a senior in high school. Leader of a monthly CM study group in North Raleigh, Kerri enjoys rescuing used books, researching and writing about Charlotte Mason, and mentoring and growing with fellow educators. She holds a B. A. in Sociology and Bible from Wheaton College and has completed additional coursework in biblical counseling. Kerri has presented at numerous conferences, in the US and the UK, and has led workshops on topics such as teaching learning at the high school level, exams and assessment, parenting, teaching history, and narration. Kerri, an Alveary curriculum team member from its inception, has provided leadership as a CMI board director and as a Templeton grant recipient. She is passionate about Charlotte Mason's life-giving principles for education and gifted in the work of bringing them into the 21st century. Beginning in the fall of 2024, Kerri began serving the Charlotte Mason Institute as Executive Director.

“All our happiness, whether in a bright day, or a true friend, or joyous work, must have its complementary expression –the ‘thank God’ ever burning as a duly trimmed lamp in our hearts.” ~ Charlotte Mason, Scale How Meditations, #21

Nancy is eternally grateful to God for bringing Charlotte Mason and her philosophy of education to her attention 30 years ago. She thrills to see others awaken to this way of living and learning where both teacher and taught can find delight and richness through high school and beyond. She has been married to Kent for 38 years and lives in a 3-story, sage-colored Victorian house where she raised six children who have all graduated with a full CM education. She enjoys rescuing and republishing books that are important to the CM community, writing on her website Sage Parnassus, consulting and mentoring, speaking and just generally encouraging others on this journey. You can also find her on IG and FB @nancy_kelly_sage_parnassus.

Amber O’Neal Johnston is the author of A Place to Belong, a guide for families of all backgrounds to celebrate cultural heritage, diversity, and kinship while embracing inclusivity in the home and beyond. She is a regular contributor to the Charlotte Mason homeschooling community, a frequent podcast guest, and a coveted speaker at homeschooling, parenting, and education conferences. 

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Amber lives in Georgia nestled among pine trees, hammocks and ziplines with her husband Scott and their four children. Her happy place is the back porch on a rainy day, preferably with a giant mug of hot tea and a good book. And although she was raised in the air conditioning, somehow the woods is where she feels most at home these days. 

When they have the chance, her family enjoys extended worldschooling trips to immerse themselves in other cultures, so you can often find her researching their next home away from home. Amber enjoys sharing diverse literary mirrors and windows onHeritagemom.com and @heritagemomblog (IG).

Dr. Deani Van Pelt of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, editor of the 2023 Charlotte Mason Centenary Series of 18 monographs, is Board Chair of the Charlotte Mason Institute and the 2024 Scholar-in-Residence in Charlotte Mason Studies at the University of Cumbria. Following the defense of her graduate thesis, Charlotte Mason’s Design for Education, she was enthralled with the opportunity to work with an international group in digitizing the Armitt Museum’s Charlotte Mason Collection. Van Pelt, a former Associate Professor of Education and Director of Teacher Education at Redeemer University, was previously a secondary school math and business teacher and, for more than a decade, home schooled their three children. Deani is currently President of Edvance, an association of almost 100 independent Christian schools in Ontario. She is also Senior Fellow at the think tank Cardus, publisher of Comment, where her recent article on Charlotte Mason, Treasure in the Skip, authored with Elaine Cooper, was featured. You can find her monograph, co-authored with Camille Malucci, Charlotte Mason’s Great Recognition: A Scheme of Magnificent Unity on Amazon. She and her husband are now grandparents to two preschoolers and Deani finds endless joy in their delight at the newness of the world.

After earning her bachelor's and master's degrees in Chemistry, Danielle pursued academic and pharmaceutical research for a number of years. When she and her husband, Jay, began looking for an educational alternative for their children, she stumbled upon Home Education. Due to her spirituality and her own nurturing by many inspired science teachers, the text immediately resonated and it was a natural switch from research chemist to Charlotte Mason educator. She and Jay have established their school on a little homestead in North Carolina. Danielle is the co-founder of CMI’s Blue Orchard Bee initiative which works toward a relational education for neurodivergent students and educators, and she develops science curriculum as part of the Alveary team.

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Carroll Smith was an elementary and middle school teacher in government schools in the USA in eastern North Carolina in the 1970s who later became a school leader.  While a school leader in Roanoke, VA in 1999 he earned his doctorate from Virginia Tech and did his dissertation on Charlotte Mason. In the late 70s Carroll Smith met Charlotte Mason through lectures at a L’Abri Conference given by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. He was thrilled to hear of another way of educating children beyond behaviourism. That began a journey of exploration of not just understanding Mason but understanding children and their educational needs. In 2005 while an assistant professor of education at Gardner-Webb University, he and his wife, Andra began the Charlotte Mason conferences that have continued until today. Then in 2006, with a group of colleagues, he founded the Charlotte Mason Institute.

Ann Kumpf, OTR/L is Outdoor Education Coordinator at Cambridge School. She supports teachers to understand the benefits of outdoor play and learning and helps them connect unit studies with outdoor experiences. In addition, she supports teachers to help children thrive in the classroom. She is also a nature-based occupational therapist with a passion to use the outdoors as a therapeutic tool. Prior to teaching, she operated nature programs for homeschoolers, ran summer nature camps and provided private clinical services to children experiencing challenges at home and school. She has 7 children, 6 grandchildren, and loves to garden, knit, and sew.

Olga Robbins has worked in education: public, private, and homeschool for many years. She started out as a teacher in a private Christian school in Baltimore in 2000 but then transitioned to teaching adult education, working with ESOL students (and worked in colleges for 16 years). After Olga's first child was born, she started exploring Classical education, eventually discovering the writing of Charlotte Mason. Mason's ideas became the guiding light in the way Olga wanted to raise her three children. After several years of homeschooling, Olga transitioned back into the classroom, teaching in a school in Baltimore that was seeking to implement Mason's ideas and pedagogy. In that context, Olga taught 3rd and 4th grades and had the privilege of contributing to teacher training. After several years of teaching, she transitioned back to homeschooling (currently educating her 7th and 11th graders at home) after moving to Connecticut, where her husband serves as a pastor. She is happy to now be bringing her many years of experience in the worlds of education, homeschooling, and co-op to the Charlotte Mason Institute as a Teacher Training Support Specialist.

Heather Dunphy-Nielsen is a Charlotte Mason homeschool mom of two kids (ages 9&6) in Form 1. She learned of Charlotte Mason when her oldest was a baby and followed a Charlotte Mason early years approach through the preschool days. Originally from Canada, Heather lives in Silicon Valley, California, and is forever trying to balance her family’s online and offline life. Heather is passionate about gathering people of all ages around their common interests and has organized many offline groups and gatherings over the years, including Charlotte Mason-inspired preschooler and senior citizen nature walks. Online she is a Facebook moderator for Charlotte Mason - The Early Years Group. In her spare time she writes a blog about living books, homeschooling, and hosting at www.rinkydinkmum.com.

Leah Nicklaus is a Midwestern mama of five boys, ages two to ten. She encountered Mason’s teachings while her children were very young and was immediately captivated by this life-giving, literature-rich, and gospel-centered education. She began studying Mason’s volumes and discovered a passion for educational philosophy. Leah strives to implement a Charlotte Mason education for her sons, currently teaching three in formal lessons while cherishing the early years with her youngest two. She also values her own lifelong learning, especially through studying educational philosophy, theology, and classic literature. Leah is a board member of her local Charlotte Mason co-op and actively participates in her local Charlotte Mason book club. She founded Living Bright Homeschool which seeks to encourage mothers in the Lord and equip them to bring Mason’s principles into their homes. Her greatest hope is that a life-giving education would point parents and their children to the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel.

Sarah Brown has been homeschooling her children (ages 14, 13, and 10) for ten years and has been part of homeschooling co-ops and communities for just as long. The last three years, she has been involved with starting and leading Awaken, an Alveary Community, in Jacksonville, Florida. She especially enjoys teaching and coordinating Handicrafts and Plutarch. She has a love for facilitating the logistics and organization involved in running a life-giving community. She has been married to Scott for 18 years and enjoys serving in their church and local community theatre, reading, rucking, CrossFit, and looking for shark’s teeth, though the elusive megalodon tooth yet remains out of reach.

Nikki Park loves learning, nature, and community. Nikki first fell in love with Shakespeare when she had the opportunity to teach middle school English. A certified teacher, Nikki learned more about the personhood of the child and a philosophy of education through the volumes of Charlotte Mason than through her professional education. A devoted wife and mother, Nikki has been homeschooling her four children in community with dear friends since her now seventeen-year-old daughter was three! In an effort to grown in her knowledge of Miss Mason’s philosophy of education, Nikki has been hosting a Charlotte Mason reading group in her home for almost a decade. From this rich soil and for the children’s sake, a Charlotte Mason academic homeschool community united in Christ was birthed in 2022. Nikki is overjoyed to share her enthusiasm for Charlotte Mason with others.

Angelle Price fell in love with Charlotte Mason after reading For the Children’s Sake when her oldest was just five. The principle of personhood and living ideas resonated strongly with her. She has homeschooled her six children for twenty years and has graduated four of them. Her first love is science and math which led her to get a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering, but she left the profession to raise her family. When she joined a homeschool cooperative fifteen years ago and offered to teach middle school science, she fell in love with teaching. She continues to teach science but also runs a company and teaches math classes to homeschool students in her home. She is passionate about bringing science and math to students of all abilities, especially those who don’t find it easy. Three years ago, she joined a Charlotte Mason academic community, a dream come true, and is currently a leader in that community.

Jeannette Tulis has spent 25 years of studying Mason's philosophy, uses Mason's ideas to home educate 4 children through high school, has spent 20 years leading a local support group, has 8 years of experience providing enrichment to homeschooled kindergarteners, and has presented at various CM conferences on the topics of nature study, nature journaling, art, living books, poetry and handicrafts. Jeannette has worked as a private tutor for CM homeschools for a number of years. In addition, she has run a private lending library of living books out of her home for about 5 years (Green Door Children's Heritage Library).

Nicole Williams is a leading expert in Charlotte Mason homeschooling, authoring the well-loved Living Science Curriculum, a comprehensive 27-book series. She founded Sabbath Mood Homeschool website and newsletter, helping parents and educators for over 15 years. As the host of A Delectable Education Podcast and organizer of the ADE @ Home Conference, Nicole influences and inspires the homeschooling community. With more than two decades of homeschooling experience, including educating children with learning difficulties, she has taught thousands of parents and teachers at prominent conferences. Her role as a board member of the Living Education Academy further cements her role as a trusted and beloved homeschool figure.

Dr. Christy Maher, PSY.D., LPC. is a licensed professional counselor. Christy received her undergraduate degree from Christopher Newport University in Early Childhood Psychology. After completing her bachelor's degree she continued her education, receiving her Masters and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from Regent University. She has worked 19 years with children, adolescents and adults specializing with attachment, trauma and mood regulation issues. Christy resides in central Missouri with her husband, Eric, and homeschools her two children. She enjoys reading, thrifting and crafting.

When exploring educational possibilities for her young children, Cathy Barrington was immediately drawn to CM’s ideas of short lessons, lots of outdoor hours, and living books. Her daughter’s love of nature, curiosity and creative bent aligned with Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and guided her early years of homeschooling. In 2001, as a young mom of two children under 5 years old, Cathy began attending a monthly CM mom’s book group. On her bedside table you could find copies of Home Education, Charlotte Mason Companion and For the Children’s Sake which she read often. Over the past 20+ years, Cathy has served, taught and participated in homeschool, private schools, support groups and co-ops putting the CM philosophy into practice. She taught Kindergarten for 10 years in two Charlotte Mason schools in her city. She was a Lesson Plan Writer for CMI in the early years of the Alveary as well as an assistant to Dr. Spencer in writing Level 2 and 3 Reading Lessons. Over the years, she has given her time as a weekly summer camp Co-Director, Children’s Choir teacher, library volunteer, Women’s Ministry committee member, preschool Sunday school teacher, Nature Club instructor, and a Special Ones Ministry buddy. Cathy carves out time for hiking, swimming, handicrafts, sketching, reading and weekly walks around various trails in her city. Cathy has a B.S. degree from the University of Montevallo and is currently pursuing her master's degree in early childhood special education from the University of Alabama Birmingham. Cathy resides in Birmingham, Alabama where she works as a Paraprofessional in Special Education supporting young students in writing and reading.

Parke Stalcup has been a part of the Charlotte Mason community for over 20 years. She has five sons, ranging in age from 19-26. She has worn many hats in the CM community; a homeschool mom, the head of a co-op, and a CM classroom teacher for 11 years, as well as a curriculum developer at schools and a lesson plan writer for the Alveary. She is currently a 5th and 6th grade teacher at Crestwood Day School, a Charlotte Mason school in Birmingham, Alabama. She and her family spend their summers camping at  National Parks and running a Lego camp. In her spare time, she sews, knits, and crochets…all things she learned as handcrafts through her homeschooling years.

Nicole Cottrell is the founder and curator of Stories of Color, a community of homeschoolers and educators from over 100 countries centered on a love and appreciation of living books and the Charlotte Mason philosophy. As a decade-plus homeschooler of color, Nicole grew dissatisfied with the predominantly white, euro-centric book lists so commonplace among homeschooling communities and curriculums and decided to do something about it. When not homeschooling her three teenage children, she can be found curating diverse living books, laughing at her corgi, or watching true crime shows. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband of 18 years.

Lillian Kim is a Charlotte Mason home educator to her two boys in the SF Bay Area in CA. She came across Charlotte Mason’s principles early on in her homeschool journey starting in 2020, and has been teeming with living ideas ever since then, taking her boys (and husband!) along for the ride. One pivotal moment in her CM journey was realizing that so many of the stories and living ideas she brought into her homeschool from widely-accepted CM curriculum rarely served as “mirrors” for her own family and felt as if they were inadvertently preserving someone else’s storylines, resulting in some relational disconnectedness with the subject matter. Since then, she has been working and reworking how she approaches her homeschool to include more opportunities for her children to see their place in their family’s inherited storylines as part of their education. Currently, her most passionate pursuit is to amplify the diversity of voices and applications of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy to as many people and contexts as possible through her website livingwithcharlotte.com.

SarahRuth Owens first encountered Charlotte Mason's philosophy during her undergraduate studies in teacher education. Tasked with developing a thesis on educational philosophy, she was drawn to explore Miss Mason’s ideas in depth—well before gaining classroom experience or embarking on motherhood. SarahRuth graduated Cum Laude from Lee University with a double major in Education and Special Studies, along with a minor in Biblical Studies. Following her graduation, she taught in public schools, where she subtly integrated Mason’s principles into her teaching pedagogy, earning commendation for her innovative and engaging classroom environment. After transitioning out of the public sector, SarahRuth spent several years tutoring students of families who embraced Mason’s methods, eventually applying these principles to educate her own three sons. Today, she is a published author and serves as the director of an outdoor adventure co-op that aligns with Miss Mason’s educational ideals, blending academic rigor with the rich, life-giving philosophy that continues to shape her personal and professional endeavors.

Shannon Whiteside (PhD University of Illinois at Chicago) is the Program Director for Charlotte Mason’s Alveary, a curriculum and teacher training program for homeschools, co-ops, and schools in the United States and Canada. She began her career as a classroom teacher and then decided to homeschool her own children. She discovered the principles of Charlotte Mason over 13 years ago and wrote her dissertation on the storytelling aspects of narration and how Mason’s educational theories compare to the classical model of education. She lives in northwest Indiana with her husband, Mark, and their three children.

Priscilla Bell was raised on Charlotte Mason's principles and methods, graduated with a Bachelor's in Elementary Education and then taught in various school settings including public and private schools. When her own children entered school age, she became hungry for the education of her roots and dove into the Charlotte Mason philosophy with fresh eyes. In so doing, she rediscovered a unified philosophy that truly meets children at their core in beautiful relationship with our Creator. With this new passion, she founded Blue Willow Tutorial in 2020, a Charlotte Mason hybrid school serving homeschoolers four days a week.

Lisa is a mother of seven and grandmother of twelve. First introduced to Charlotte Mason in the early 1990s, she immediately started incorporating what she learned into her homeschooling. She later participated in the first Charlotte Mason email groups, including the one that became Ambleside Online, led a local CM support group for over a decade, and has regularly attended CMI’s annual conferences since they began. She served four years as Director of Education at Ingleside Tutorial, a four day week program in Chattanooga. She currently serves in Athens, TN as Director of Education for Blue Willow Tutorial, a program based on Ingleside’s model and founded by her daughter. In addition to her work at Blue Willow, Lisa  travels around the country helping others start and manage various models of Mason co-ops, tutorials, and schools.

Russ York was introduced to Charlotte Mason seventeen years ago by his wife, Heather. In 2013, after completing his graduate studies at the University of Dallas, Russ, Heather, and their three daughters moved to Fredericksburg, where Russ assumed the role of Head of School at Ambleside School of Fredericksburg, a K4-12 Charlotte Mason school. Having served for the last twelve years as the Head of School, Russ finds that his passion for generating awareness of the dignity of personhood through Charlotte Mason's approach has only grown stronger. In addition, he is keenly interested in helping the church become more curious about the ways in which Christian education can and should look radically different than the educational models inherited from secular sources, both classical and modern.