Stories From the Storehouse by Anne White
Charlotte Mason wrote, “Once more, we know that there is a storehouse of thought wherein we may find all the great ideas that have moved the world…We read [a child] his Tanglewood Tales, and when he is a little older his Plutarch….” (Parents and Children, pp. 231-232) We may have figured out already why Plutarch matters, but what is Tanglewood Tales doing in there? What is unique about Charlotte Mason’s approach to mythology? (We may sneak in a little Plutarch as well.)
Profound and Practical by Melanie Walker-Malone
“Lost and found! How beautiful are those two words when one hears them both together.” My eyes smarted with tears when I read this sentence recently. “How true!” I thought, and added internally, “and the word lost is so sad when alone.” L’HaRMaS participant – you have 6 months to locate the origin of these words. Could it be Shakespeare, or Plutarch, or Jesus? Or George Eliot, or E.O Wilson, or Helen Keller? Hmmm. Time will tell. Mason’s school practices are designed to nourish and enliven the whole self, even regions that might be lost, hidden, or unbidden. This offering will reflect on this truth, reminding us that PNEU principles are as profound as they are practical.”
The Personhood of Our Neighbours by Shelly Suzuki
In School Education, Charlotte Mason tells us that “there seems good reason to believe that the limit to human intelligence arises largely from the limit to human interests, that is, from the failure to establish personal relations on a wide scale with the persons who make up humanity –– relations of love, duty, responsibility, and, above all, of interest, living interest, with the near and the far-off, in time and in place.“ I look forward to examining this idea with you. If, as Charlotte Mason says, “It rests with us to give the awakening idea (of the great human relationships) and then to form the habit of thought and of life.”, how do we live this out in our school days? How do we choose books that do justice to the personhood of our neighbors in time and place? When studying conflict between groups, what is my duty to those on different sides? What do I do when I discover that I have made a caricature of a complex people?
As we explore this idea together, I hope you will share in the joy and interest that has transformed my family.
Wired for Connection: Attachment, Technology, and the Mental Health of Our Children by Lana Doan
In today’s fast-paced digital world, many parents and caregivers are feeling overwhelmed — navigating how to raise emotionally healthy children while living in a culture of constant distraction. In this talk, we’ll explore the foundational principles of attachment theory, how the four attachment styles shape a child’s emotional development, and why small, everyday interactions are more powerful than perfection.
We’ll then turn to the impact of modern technology — not just social media, but the rapid-fire pace of digital content — and how it’s reshaping our children’s brains, attention spans, and ability to stay grounded and connected. Drawing on neuroscience, mental health research, and real-life parenting moments, we’ll unpack how phones are contributing to rising anxiety in children and youth — and what we can do about it.
This session ends by linking these two critical topics — attachment and digital wellness — with practical, encouraging takeaways. Whether you’re a parent, educator, therapist, or caregiver, you’ll leave with clarity, hope, and three simple tools you can start using right away to support the mental health and emotional security of the young people in your life.
“Was it Charlotte?” by Emily Coupland
Education is an atmosphere, a discipline and a life. When we immerse ourselves intentionally in the world of ideas through books and things we begin to understand the “science of relations”, as Charlotte Mason says. “We consider that education is the science of relations, or, more fully, that education considers what relations are proper to a human being, and in what ways these several relations can best be established; that a human being comes into the world with capacity for many relations; and that we, for our part, have two chief concerns–first, to put him in the way of forming these relations by presenting the right idea at the right time, and by forming the right habit upon the right idea; and, secondly, by not getting in the way and so preventing the establishment of the very relations we seek to form.”
When we start to read Charlotte Mason’s volumes we realize just how relevant, revolutionary and ahead-of-her-times she was. “Was it Charlotte?” is simply a sampling of ideas and we get to discover if the idea is from a modern source, historic source or Mason.
