I’ve often been asked, “What exactly do you mean by Charlotte Mason Inspired?” I utterly love this question!

There is so much to Charlotte Mason one could write a book on just one aspect of her education — actually, people have! Charlotte Mason knew that education was not just merely learning things but was so much more! It was a life!

Our core values come from Charlotte Mason’s view of education — we just put a little WP twist to it!

We focus on

• Joy
• Curiosity & Discovery
• Living Books
• Nature Study

Let’s dive in!

Joy!

Joyful learning is essential to any education because joy is an essential part of any childhood.

When children are young their brains are developing faster and more than at any other time in their lives. So, making a positive joyful connection to learning is key to developing a love of learning that carries forward for the rest of their lives. It does not stop there. To instill lifelong learning habits and success learning and education should be infused with joy as much as possible. So many children have an experience in education that is dry, uninteresting, and certainly not joyful. But that is the opposite of what we want for our children to experience with WinterPromise. That does not mean serious effort and hard work are not a part of the process but in as many ways as we can for as long as we can WinterPromise desires joyful learning as a goal in each and every part of what we do.

Curiosity and Discovery

Children are naturally curious and enjoy discovery almost as soon as they are born.

Nothing is more natural to our young children than an inspiration to learn and discover. Too often it is assumed that as children grow older their curiosity will disappear and we need to educate them differently when that happens. This is not the case. The desire to investigate, discover, and be curious will develop and change over the years but education should be fanning the flames of discovery at every turn in education. The best learner is a learner that is self-motivated and excited (joyful) about what they are learning.

WinterPromise is dedicated to offering a variety of exciting learning experiences that students can dive into and enjoy. Not everything in our guides should be done because some of those things will not inspire joy but dry out interest. Fuel curiosity and see it become directed as students become older. This creates meaningful learning while also creating habits of lifelong learning for years to come.

Living Books

Living books are the centerpiece of how we develop our programs here at WinterPromise.

What is a living book? A living book is a book written by an author on a specific topic in a way that communicates their own passion while also being written and published in a way that may inspire others. Textbooks are often the standard in education but because of their delivery and format, they usually discourage excitement about learning. WinterPromise builds our curriculum around offering books that take you places, invite your family into a new experience, inspire interest in a great person of the past, fuel discussion about difficult topics and offers a chance to discover new and exciting people writing about new and exciting topics. This makes your reading together as a family or the reading your child does another avenue for fueling curiosity and discovery while enhancing the desire to read. We could not imagine offering an education devoid of the joy of living books. There is a magic to a good book that we can all sense but can’t quite pinpoint. A living book delivers that magic to your family.

Nature Study

Charlotte Mason believed that nature study was the foundation of all sciences and essential to a child’s education.

Nature study is a vital component of every program we offer because we believe that getting your child outside and observing the world around them is one of the best ways to enhance joyful learning and begin a life of curiosity. Children thrive when they are in the woods, looking at bugs in the garden, learning about plants and animals, observing and journaling what they see, and getting a little dirty in the process. The benefits of nature study are boundless.

Do you see a naturalist in your little boy or girl? Get them outside classifying, ordering, collecting, and seeing all that they can outdoors. Have a child who thrives with art? Get them outside and create what they see with paint, markers, or pencil. Do you have a child who loves music? Have them listen to the birds and the orchestra that is nature. Do you have a child that loves writing and words? Learn new words by talking about names and labels. Learn about metaphor and how nature is used as a metaphor to describe real life. Do you have a child that you want to develop those areas mentioned above? Get them outside!

Nature study is lifestyle and WinterPromise offers a no-prep way of making it a habit to get your children learning, loving, and living outside.