The AmblesideOnline Advisory began as a band of mothers who followed God and the vitalizing ideas of Charlotte Mason, and who along the way were blessed with an enduring and extraordinary friendship. Six Voices, One Story: The Heart of AmblesideOnline tells how this free curriculum was created, and shares our heart for "education for all."
Throughout her life, Donna-Jean has sought to follow Christ. Her background is in church ministry, where she served alongside her pastor-father in various capacities. She also focused on educational philosophy. She homeschooled all four of her children and now homeschools some of her grandchildren, and she is one of the Advisory members and founding creators of the AmblesideOnline curriculum.
After being married for 39 years, Donna-Jean became a widow in 2020. She and her family live in a four-generation household in northern New Jersey. Her family and extended family includes children born to her, children who were adopted in the States and internationally, and children adopted from the foster care system. Each of her children and grandchildren is a miracle from God.
Donna-Jean is known for the gift of encouragement in her speaking and for bringing women to see their strength and joy in the Lord, especially in hard times.
Karen Glass is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline. She has four children, ages 13 to 27, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods from beginning to end. She has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years, and has written Consider This to share the most important things she has discovered about the connection between them.
Lynn Bruce grew up on a wheat and cattle farm in Texas, the daughter of a minister. Lynn's mother was a voice major in college and raised her children singing. From her, Lynn learned to love solfa, opera, and traditional hymns sung in acapella four-part harmony. Lynn's interests in her school years included piano, art, and competing at UIL Poetry Interpretation and Drama contests. Through these early exposures, Lynn developed lifelong relationships with fine arts and great literature which continue to enrich her life. Lynn graduated magna cum laude from Texas Tech University with a BS in Education and taught special ed in public school for a time. She began studying Charlotte Mason's writings in 1995.
Wendi Capehart has been a Christian since she was 13. She was baptized at a church camp in the mountains. The baptismal was a horse trough full of ice cold water from the snow run off. She loves traveling, and recently served as a missionary in Davao City, Philippines. Her favourite work there was tutoring English conversation with Korean missionaries.
Having survived childhood trauma herself, Wendi has always shared an interest in the practice of hospitality especially with a focus on the fatherless and survivors of trauma, for those in the margins. She has helped single parents homeschool, she has hosted Ukrainian orphans, she has been involved for over a decade in the lives of two beloved godchildren as well. Wendi's work with AmblesideOnline is an extension of her strong belief that God loves and cares for every child, the whole child, body, spirit, heart, and mind, and this form of education is uniquely healing and brings special blessings to all involved, even broken parents.
Leslie Noelani Laurio lives in the southeast in a semi-rural area near the foothills of the Smoky Mountains with her husband, who is a retired postal clerk, and the youngest of their four children, a daughter who just completed AO's Year 12. She knew she wanted to homeschool from the time her oldest son was a toddler. At a homeschool seminar in California, she was introduced to the various approaches to homeschooling and was drawn to Charlotte Mason's gentle approach and emphasis on literature and culture. She read For the Children's Sake and found that CM's approach resonated with her, but she was nervous about trying it without a curriculum. So when her oldest son started first grade, she used Sonlight. After a year on the cmason email list, she gained the knowledge, confidence and encouragement to rely less on packaged curriculum. She first switched from Sonlight's science text to nature study, then slowly began using more CM-friendly books (with the "less is more" mindset, using more challenging literature, and at a slower pace) and by 1998 was a fully committed CM mom. Her oldest was a guinea pig for the original version of AO, and her youngest son was a guinea pig for AO's Year 12 in 2013.
Anne White found a copy of For the Children's Sake in a church library in 1994. Nature walks and non-twaddle found their way into the preschool Sunday School class she was teaching--and that was prepared the way for the two decades of homeschooling that followed. All three of the Whites' daughters were homeschooled until high school, and the oldest was one of the first students to use the AO curriculum.
Anne became a member of the Advisory during the early days of of the curriculum, and helped develop the upper years. She also discovered an affinity for Plutarch's Lives, and began writing study notes that became one of her favorite AO projects. AO's Canada page is Anne's work as well.
Independently Published
Pub Date: October 16, 2023
0.52" H x 9.0" L x 6.0" W
246 pages
paperback