There is a reason that my blog is called Heritage Mom. When I first started writing in this space, I was just coming out of a period of confusion. I wasn’t sure if the homeschooling path I was on was right for my family. I knew God had called me to home educate my children, but was I supposed to be following the principles of Charlotte Mason?
It just didn’t feel right. We were surrounded by all of these lovely books, and yet something was missing.
I was missing.
And when I found my way back to our homeschool table, everything began falling into place.
“The word “heritage” brings to mind different ideas for different people—and it should. Heritage is a person’s unique, inherited sense of family identity: the values, traditions, culture, and artifacts handed down by previous generations. We absorb a sense of our heritage throughout our lives as we observe and experience the things that make our family unique. Although not every inherited trait, tendency, or tradition is positive, we generally consider heritage to be the positive and meaningful elements of our family’s identity that we incorporate into our own lives and pass along to succeeding generations.”
– Sunny Morton from FamilySearch.org
I had the opportunity this week to unpack all of this and more with Art Middlekauff on the Charlotte Mason Poetry podcast where we discussed the relevance and application of Charlotte Mason’s ideas for mothers and families today.
Listen in on our conversation here: Charlotte Mason and Your Heritage
I can’t wait to hear what you think!
And you can find me on Instagram @heritagemomblog
Amber, I found your blog a couple of months ago… I’m not even sure how. But I’ve been so grateful for your perspective on topics that I have struggled with in my two years of homeschooling with Charlotte Mason. I cannot thank you enough for all that I’ve learned from you and for the new books that my children have enjoyed because of your recommendations! I even shared your blog with my homeschool group. Imagine my delight at seeing your name on the Charlotte Mason Poetry email in my inbox this morning. It was so nice to hear your voice!
Hi Katherine, I love that you’ve been around for a bit and then were able to listen to my chat with Art Middlekauff at Charlotte Mason Poetry. It was truly the highlight of my week. Thank you for letting me know that the posts and book recommendations have been helpful for your family!
Words can’t express what in invaluable source you have become for making sure my family is exposed to books within which they can see themselves and relate. And as I prepare for my journey into our budding Charlotte Mason based homeschool year, I find myself a bit weary. Going through the rich book lists suggested for such a philosophy, I happen across many books with racist undertones. And while I know the typical response is, “Better to expose them to that now and in the safety of your home than out in the real world,” is it wrong that I don’t find that comforting? Is it wrong that I want to hold the suggestion of books to a higher standard and have my children not grow up to be disappointed to find that the books of their childhood were mocking the color of their skin, as my husband and I have? Hoping you might have a perspective to share that might help me make peace with this reality…..
Hi Tricia, I understand your disappointment as I’ve had to contend with those books and those feelings as well. It’s been a journey for me, but at this point, my goal is not to use books like that. That doesn’t mean that nothing ever gets by me because it does. And those are the times that I have a conversation with my kids, but they know and understand now, so I don’t see the need to keep rehashing that same conversation as a result of school books again and again. We do continue to explore these things within the framework of historical fiction because I think that helps set the thoughts of the time period in a way that’s different than presenting it as fact in a non-fiction book. I also flood our school room with books that tell other sides of the story so a single narrative is not what they come to believe. I know this isn’t a perfect answer to this messy situation, but I do hope that it helps!
Thank you! You certainly have been a great help. I at one point considered doing away with following Charlotte Mason based philosophy altogether and then of course remembered this is a systemic issue, so any philosophy recommending classic literature would have such concerns. So as you said, I will simply skip those books! Because it is very true, the “opportunity” to discuss race occurs so frequently, I do not need to bombard my children with it every week we open a book. So with that said, do you happen to have a list of books you realized were racially insensitive that you would be comfortable sharing to help me sift through such material? My children are very young, so my experience with all this is just beginning….
I regret that I didn’t keep a running list from the beginning, but I do point out the types of things to look out for in this post: https://heritagemom.com/2019/01/10/when-really-good-books-hurt/
I feel like you took my feelings and put them into the best words possible to be able to clearly illustrate the feelings I get when I come across some of these recommended living books, they truly are like “good food with a little bit of vomit!” I have read every one of your posts and somehow missed this one! Thank you! Thank you!
Oh, you’re definitely welcome. I wrote that post in a fit of frustration when I felt like I just couldn’t take it anymore. I’m glad you can relate. Well, I wish we didn’t have to relate on this particular thing, but you know what I mean!