Philosophy

ABOUT THIS SITE:

The Appian Way Academy is a registered North Carolina homeschool using victorian-era educator Charlotte Mason's methods to provide a broad liberal education to our children. Noting a lack of rigorous, Catholic, Charlotte Mason curricula available to homeschoolers we have used the free curriculum Ambleside Online, and adapted it to our needs. As per Ambleside, we may not reproduce their curriculum here, so on this site you will only find NOTES about our own use of the Ambleside Curriculum and how we have made it work in our Catholic home.

Dear friends,The BASIS for this curriculum we are using and which I will talk about here comes from the work of the advisory at Ambleside Online.
I initially tried to distinguish my work from theirs in an effort to leave them out of it, because I wasn't following Ambleside-- I was following Charlotte Mason's ideas.
However, what I found is that it is very, very hard to distinguish any modern adaptation worth a darn of Miss Mason's work while at the same time pretending that AO isn't there, because  the reality is that they have done the bulk of the work themselves to facilitate the study of and use of Charlotte Mason's ideas and because of that, it will inevitably form the basis for any CM-curriculum that wants to adhere to her method.

There are a few rogue sources of CM info out there that aren't associated with AO. Some of them were at one point, and left in a disgruntled huff. Others never were, but have worked closely with materials found on the AO site. My intention here is not to "take sides" but to share my own choices and to do so I need to give credit where credit is due!

For those reasons, this curriculum you will read on these pages is essentially a Catholic version of AO, and I strongly recommend and cannot say enough that if you don't look at AO's website you can not know / understand how to use it. As per their copyright, I insist that you go to THEIR website and use THEIR resources, I want you to know that this work is my own interpretation of theirs, and I obviously can not use THEIR work for my profit, which is why I offer this curriculum information free of charge and will consistently link back to their site for an explanation of what I have done.

I initially set out to do this project as a service to the Catholic Charlotte Mason community.
From the instant I discovered I was going to have my first baby, I have spent the majority of my waking time studying, learning about, and discovering the Charlotte Mason method of education.
The Ambleside Online curriculum and Charlotte's own works have been my guides, and I have discovered treasure along the way.
I have blogged most of this journey here at Traces of Heaven and will continue to.
I've learned so much.
Today, homeschooling is growing fast and the number of mothers I meet daily interested in Charlotte Mason's method are many.
I find myself often invited to speak on Charlotte Mason at various events, and because of that I am often asked "what I use."

So before I continue, there are a few trends I've noticed that I hope to address with this project.

First, many parents are homeschooling and have a general idea of what they are looking to achieve, but are unsure of what practical steps to take to get that goal.
The CM method resolves that problem by providing practical means towards progress in academics and character building that really work.
But that's the thing... they require work.
 The difficult thing about choosing a CM education is that no one can do it for you. You must, as the parent, do the work yourself. You must learn Miss Mason's methods, do the work of applying them, even when they seem hard, and work to change your environment, to discipline yourself, and to create a new kind of life.
Then your children must do the work themselves. They must struggle with themselves, and strive, under your tutelage and with your patient guidance.
It is worth it. But anyone who offers you a CM Curriculum in  box is essentially lying to you. This is why you (and I, in the past) have often wrung our hands at the difficulty. Many companies out there, such as Simply Charlotte Mason or Charlotte Mason Help endeavor to make things easier for you. Let me tell you right away: it's OK to shop around and use different things. I encourage you to do your homework. But I also encourage you to try to understand the reasons WHY a certain curriculum provider makes the choices s/he makes.

Second, although Charlotte is gentle, she is firm, and her methods confirm that. I meet women daily who believe that they are using Charlotte's methods just because they enjoy going for nature walks or painting. To be blunt, these are not the only aspects of a CM education worth holding on to.. and even these have a very specific methodology.
The academic treasures to be unwrapped ARE the gift of the CM education........ it brings the mind to life, but not when people pick and choose what to use and call it a day. It is a complete method.
Third, there are always going to be weak points in everyone's homeschool. Some schools are great at art but weak on the sciences. Others have epic science teachers, but lack in the languages.
Whatever your weak spots, Charlotte addresses them.  Learn from her.

When it comes to Catholics and Charlotte Mason, I have a few notes.

First, many Catholics fear using Ambleside Online because it is written and contains a worldview that is in the majority American, Evangelical, and Protestant. And I agree, to some degree. It is obvious to any Catholic looking at the book selections long enough that a certain worldview is espoused, and that said worldview is only half the picture.
I would like to point out that Charlotte HERSELF was not an American and not a protestant evangelical in the sense we think of it over here. I don't believe SHE would have approved some of the selections made by AO, although that may be my personal bias speaking here. This begs the question: Can Catholics use Charlotte Mason?
I answer that with a resounding YES. Her ideas *are* Catholic in nature, though she herself was an anglican.
And it is important to note that her experience in life and liturgy was much more similar to your average Catholic than to your average American evangelical.
We also know, for example, that the Chestertons, loved Charlotte. If she's good enough for GK Chesterton, she's good enough for me. ;)

So how did this page come about?
At first I set about using AO and trying to Catholicize it.... trading or adding books. This worked. Very well.

Then, frustrated with all the work, I set about making my own CM-faithful curriculum, an "end-all, be-all k-12 CM Curriculum that was Catholic in nature," using Charlotte Mason's curriculum suggestions as my guide alone.
This was a delightful experience, as I had to delve into CM's own work and schedules, and at the same time was a very life-affirming task.
I noticed, however, that nearly every time I came back to AO to check how they had done something before I made my final decision, AO had USED the same books I had selected, independently and without my foreknowledge.... many of them being Catholic!
In the end, I had a realization.

I had tried *everything* to make AO more Catholic and Classical in my mind.
I had combined it (successfully) with the Connecting with History program.
I had replaced all the non-Catholic titles with Catholic titles. (Successfully.)
I had read CM's works and tried to add in her book selections (most of them are already IN AO.)
I had looked at Angelicum Academy's booklists and used their booklists as freereads. (Successfully.)
I had used the Catholic Classical Liberal Arts Academy curriculum for the grammar/latin/religion portions (successfully.)
I had used Mater Amabilis. (Successfully.)
I had combined Mater Amabilis with Ambleside Online. (Successfully.)
I had added in Catholic history books (Successfully.)
I had used Norms and Nobility for High School history. And discovered that they already were.
Everytime I made a change or did something, I noticed it was right there, IN AO. And if it wasn't--- it fit right in, like a glove.

So there was that. All this work-- and the "perfect" curriculum was already out there.... it just needed a personal touch. Which was its premise in the first place.
In high school, AO uses what they call the "Salad Bar" approach, meaning that they offer some suggestions or ideas, but ultimately it is up to the parents to make the book decisions, and that requires some parental planning. I noticed that over and over again, the advisory recommended using the right book for YOUR family, supplementing as needed, etc etc.

In the end, what I realized was that the Advisory was basically sending this message to the parents with every year of instruction:
"This is the closest thing we could find or thought of that resembles what CM was doing here. Please study it and see if it works. An alternative to this might be......"
Which meant, well, what I was doing in the first place: studying CM, looking at what others were doing or had done, and selecting books for my family that would amount to a personalized version of what CM believed would work for children. Gasp.

So, with that in mind, I thought about the three biggest gripes I hear about AO from Catholics. How could I help Catholics use Charlotte's ideas in their own homeschools as they were written out in AO without compromising the integrity of the fullness of the Catholic faith?

Here are the top gripes:

1. AO is not Catholic, because it uses protestant books.

To this one I say: you're right. Absolutely.
But it uses MANY Catholic books. It also uses secular books. It uses GOOD books. And if your own Catholic faith is formed well enough, you will instinctively know how to use AO and resolve this problem, either by doing as some families do and discussing the falsehoods that come up as they go (and believe me, there are many resources out there available to you to help)
OR by substituting an appropriate book. Either of which is not only possible, but simple.

2. AO is too confusing.

Which is why I'm sharing how I made it work for me... and why countless others have done the same.

3. AO is too intense.

It uses old books, archaic language, etc etc etc. Yes. And this is why we love it.

There are a LOT of wonderful, strong Catholic families using Ambleside Online. It is worth noting that there are also many secular families using it, mormon families using it, muslim families using it... and this is because it is FLEXIBLE. I encourage Catholics who fear using it to actually sit down and READ the curriculum itself on Ambleside's website, where they will find that they are encouraged to adapt it to suit their particular needs. My aim in publishing how my own family did it is simply to share one way to make AO authentically Catholic and to encourage families to use it themselves. Other families have done it other ways.


PLEASE NOTE that this site is a work in progress.

Our oldest is starting Year 3 so the curriculum is most complete up to that point. We will add and remove items as we discover what works for us.

To read more about Charlotte Mason, please click here.

To read her work in her words, please click here.

To read about our missionary family and experiences, please click here.

Our motto is Charlotte's:
I am, I can, I ought, I will.

"I am, I can, I ought, I will." This was the motto she gave us. I am a human being, one of God's children; I can do right by my fellowmen and by myself; I ought so to do and God help me, I will so do. Is this not a great message she has given us?
(Michael A. E. Franklin, one of Charlotte Mason's students; from In Memoriam)

To join a group of  Catholic users of Ambleside Online, visit Catholic AO.

To learn about CM from a Catholic perspective, visit the 4Real Forums.
To join a group of Catholics using Mater Amabilis (a similar Catholic K-8 curriculum) visit the Mater Amabilis group.

May God richly bless you  as you fulfill your mission to educate your children!