CMP Review 2023-01-17

CMP Review 2023-01-17

January 17, 2023

2023 is an important year for the Charlotte Mason community: it is the centennial of Miss Mason’s death. Her legacy will be celebrated by Mason enthusiasts around the world, with special events in Ambleside.

But as we celebrate this anniversary, it is important to pause and think why we remember Mason today. After all, her PNEU has passed away, and by the 1980s few parents or teachers knew her name. But then a handful of pioneer homeschool mothers discovered her treasury of ideas. Without support groups or Internet resources, these mothers found in Miss Mason a companion and a light for an otherwise lonely and challenging journey.

One of those mothers is Karen Andreola. Thirty years ago — in 1993 — Andreola discovered a Parents’ Review article by an anonymous author in a set of volumes delivered to her from Ambleside. The article was called “Mother Culture,” and the idea captured her imagination and set the course of her own legacy.

Andreola edited her own homespun Parents’ Review in the years 1991 to 1996. In the spring issue that year, she included the original “Mother Culture” article, later to become the title of her most recent book.

Today we begin this year of celebration with our transcription and recording of the original Parents’ Review article that so inspired Karen Andreola. And as a special treat, we have her exclusive editor’s note co-written and recorded by her husband Dean. Find it here.

@artmiddlekauff