I have worked hard to get my act together in this homeschooling venture and have felt a calling to share my story and resources with others. My hope is that Loft & Field can be a place where homeschoolers can come together to support, study, live, and learn. It’s a living books library. It’s a cottage school. It’s a farm. It’s a study group for Charlotte Mason aficionados. It’s a place to organize more things like nature walks, art workshops, Spanish classes, or other things that would benefit us or our kids.
“Charlotte Mason has become an absolute inspiration and mentor to me. She is an educational pioneer and I have learned so much, an am only just scraping the surface.”
Charlotte Mason has become an absolute inspiration and mentor to me. She is an educational pioneer and I have learned so much, and am only just scraping the surface. She says things like, “Children are born persons” and, “Education is an atmosphere, a life”. She believes we need to have a philosophy of education before we get into a method. She believes education is more than checking boxes and finishing a set of curricula. I’d like to share some of her ideas on this site, how I have implemented them, and how we can all put her words to good use.
I am also a practicer of farm school. We milk goats, raise our own meat animals, plant & preserve our garden produce, make maple syrup, and lots of that other stuff my great grandmother did. I believe that kids grow strong with regular chores. I believe that if you have a choice between a worksheet or living out a concept in real life – I’m going to go the real-life route every time. Farms are overflowing with real life, and they open up conversation about the value of life, biological systems, the designs of God, and so much more.
Quick blurb about me. I grew up in Forest Lake and attended Bethel University. I studied Studio Art, Education, and Theater. I taught Visual Art and Cultural Crafts in Cupertino, California until my son was born in 2007. I had just finished my M.Ed. in Instructional Technology with a focus on Information Architecture and Design. I was National Board Certified in K-12 and young adult art. I earned certificates in ESL, reading strategies, writing across the curriculum, cultural studies, autism education, disabled integration, reading enrichment, math K-12, technology use in schools, educational museum tours, and probably some other stuff (how to keep track?). As a public school teacher, I was always looking for more depth to how I worked with students and a philosophy of education to undergird what I did. And do you know what? It wasn’t until I started homeschooling my kids and found the works of Charlotte Mason that I knew I had found that philosophy.
I’ve been married to Joshua since 2000. He’s an Apple Computer fanatic, programmer, musically-minded kind of guy. My kids are Caleb, Jack, and Lou. We love the atmosphere and life we have created here. I hope you’ll join in and share it with us.
