Motherculture…a term that has now become famous in Charlotte Mason circles, mostly with thanks to the wonderful thoughts on it shared by Karen Andreola over the last 20ish years. Karen has even written a most wonderful book, ‘Motherculture for a Happy Homeschool’ on the topic, which I own and love.

Everything about the idea of Motherculture speaks deeply to my soul. To be able to do for myself, what I am doing for my children, seems very obvious, but sadly, rarely happens. Burnout often comes first for a lot of homeschooling Moms and Dads; before they learn to prioritize not just rest, but also to spend time doing the things that fill their own love tanks. Things that are good, true and beautiful that not only feed, but nurture their minds and hearts.

If mothers could learn to do for themselves what they do for their children when these are overdone, we should have happier households. Let the mother go out to play! If she would only have courage to let everything go when life becomes too tense, and just take a day, or half a day, out in the fields, or with a favourite book, or in a picture gallery looking long and well at just two or three pictures, or in bed, without the children, life would go on far more happily for both children and parents. (Charlotte Mason Vol. 3 pp. 33-34)

I just love this little excerpt from a 1892 article from “The Parents’ Review,” (a magazine that went out to members of the Parents’ National Education Union aka PNEU…in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries). The PNEU was co-founded by Charlotte Mason, a leading figure in educational reform in England. Over the course of her career, Miss Mason established the PNEU, a teacher training college, several schools, and various periodicals—all aimed at transforming education. Drawing on her years of teaching experience, she wrote a series of books (now referred to as her ‘Volumes’) to share her educational philosophy. From these works, she distilled 20 key principles that encapsulate her approach to learning. After all of that background info, let me get back to the excerpt that I want to share:

It is written somewhere, "A mother is only a woman, but she needs the love of Jacob, the patience of Job, the wisdom of Moses, the foresight of Joseph, and the firmness of Daniel." But a mother has not only to have all these things; she must have them all at once, often when she is quite young, and too often when she has had no previous training of any kind of the marvellously varied duties she has to perform.

In light of the above, the idea of mother culture clearly is not just a nice to have, but a necessity. To carve out some time (even just a few minutes can be sanity saving!) during the day to do something that brings you absolute joy and you’re allowed to be selfish with this!).

What we need is a habit of taking our minds out of what one is tempted to call ‘the domestic rag-bag’ of perplexities, and giving it a good airing in something which keeps it ‘growing.’ A brisk walk will help. But, if we would do our best for our children, grow we must; and on our power of growth surely depends, not only our future happiness, but our future usefulness… Is there not some need for “mother culture” A., PARENTS’ REVIEW VOLUME 3, NO. 2, 1892/93, PP. 92-95

There is so much that has been written on the above; from quiet cups of tea to walks outside in nature, walking barefoot, feeding/tending to plants & pets…but something that Miss Mason always recommended was to “Never be without a good book on hand”.

In her chapter on Mother Culture in A Charlotte Mason Companion (pg. 346) Karen Andreola recommends:

A Stiff Book (ie, a challenging one)
A Moderately easy book (ie a biography)
A Novel (preferably good ones – not twaddle. examples included George Eliot, Charles Dickens, etc)

You then pick up the one you “feel fit for” at that time. I personally have about 15 books on the go all at the same time (please let me know I’m not the only one????) and while that’s probably 14 too many and I should just stop getting distracted (haha 3 young children will do that to you!) and finish them one at a time, I like being able to switch my brain on and off, and pick up a book that suits my current mood.

I want to share some of the things that ‘fill up my cup’ in the hopes that they might inspire you to try them. You probably already do some (if not all of these things) so please do let me know in the comments what you enjoy doing and what makes up your own version of mother culture.

Listening to Classical music.

Classical music used to irritate me (ghasp! is this even something I’m allowed to say out loud as a CM/Classical education mom??) especially when I would turn the radio on when borrowing my mom’s car and out would blast something from the middle of a Beethoven concerto and I’d just about have a heart attack while reversing the car. We’ve dipped our toes into the world of Classical music over the last two years since starting our homeschool journey with AmblesideOnline; in the form of Composer study which makes up ‘the Riches’ within the curriculum. I am learning right along with my children, as I knew nothing apart from a handful of famous names before & definitely I wouldn’t have been able to tell you who had composed what. Now I find myself listening to classical music while reading, while writing and while working on my computer. I still can’t tell you who has composed what, but I can tell you that I so enjoy the relaxing atmosphere it brings to my home. My oldest child, Everly (about to turn 8) has a CD player with a box of old CD’s I found second hand, and she can often be found dancing in her room or reading with classical concertos playing quietly in the background. It’s just wonderful to hear.

b6aac495-6bea-466c-8401-1013609365c4 2.JPG

Getting stuck into (and getting my hands dirty!) in the Garden

Weeding, watering, dead heading, mowing the lawn…these are all things that bring me great joy; not at the actual time of doing the activity (apart rom mowing the lawn with my ride on mower…I could do this ALL DAY everyday, it’s my favourite thing to do) but in the weeks that follow when new flowers start budding and you can visually see the rewards of your efforts. Home educating is a lot like gardening, where you don’t often get to see the fruits of your labor until weeks, months, sometimes only years later. But you know that each weed you pull, each book you read together, each time you water (both metaphorically and physically) you are slowly gorwing those seeds until they bear their own fruit.

Lighting a candle first thing to sip my morning coffee by

Such a simple activity, but I find waking up to candleight is so much gentler on my mind than a harsh fluorescent light. I even walk into the kitchen to light a candle for my husband to make our morning coffee by (he isn’t such a fan as he can’t actually see what he’s doing…haha). I have started listening to the Lectio360 app, which is a free daily devotional app that helps you pray the Bible every day. They have a morning, midday and evening devotion and each one is only between 5 - 12 minutes long. It’s a nice way to have some quiet time, it’s long enough to enjoy a hot cup of something while listening, and if my headphones are in, my kiddies know not to disturb mom, and then I (*usually) get to listen to the entire thing quietly. I try and do this every morning, but realistically it’s about 3 times a week.

Walking my dogs (without kids!)

When my kids were still in a pram or carrier, I did this every day (sometimes multiple times a day just to get out of the house!) as it was a wonderful way to change up the mood of our home and it was good for all of us. Now days, I find I get more frustrated having my young kids with me as they are so.slow! We do still take lot of walks as a family, but I try to get my exercise (ie hard & fast walking/pounding to electro music!!!) done first thing in the morning before breakfast while the kiddies are listening to stories and genrally happy to just play before we get started with school in the morning. Our staff come in to work at 7 am, so I will head out from 7-8am and then I am back home and get things ready to begin our school mornings right after breakfast.

The above are a few of the things that I am currently doing, but on my ‘list’ are things like (more) painting, hand embroidery and more crocheting (more handicrafts!) as I love how they help me turn my brain off and allow my mind to either go blank and or somehow help me formluate my thoughts without overwhelm. Click here for a great explanation by the Simply Charlotte Mason website on the benefits of handicrafts.

If you have some more tips, please pop me a comment below…I’d love to hear from you.

Happy ‘mother culturing’ everyone.

Roxy