How We Create
"Mother Culture"
Our community is not only set up to provide lessons for students. Scale How is also a place where you can find refreshment, encouragement, and inspiration for your homeschool and life through "Mother Culture".
01
Mother Culture Room
Once per term, moms are assigned in teams to host our Mother Culture Room on Structured Days. Hostess Teams will plan a room theme together. Past rooms have included things like simple decor, book recommendations, poetry, drawings, recipes, and always food & drink. It's a lovely way to work together providing refreshment in an inspiring atmosphere for the other moms. Many times when prepping for community days, we don't have time to eat. It's a great feeling to know something delicious is waiting after teaching & assisting!
02
Community Commonplace
Some people call it a Commonplace Book; Charlotte Mason called it a Book of Mottoes. We pass around a Community Commonplace in an effort to establish the habits of keeping and sharing.
Charlotte said, “In the reading of the Bible, of poetry, of the best prose, the culling of mottoes is a delightful and most stimulating occupation, especially if a motto book be kept, perhaps under headings, perhaps not. It would not be a bad idea for children to make their own year-book, with a motto for every day of the year culled from their own reading. What an incentive to a good day it would be to read in the morning as a motto of our very own choice and selection, and not the voice of an outside mentor: ‘Keep ye the law; be swift in all obedience’!”
School Education, p. 135
03
Mother Culture Evenings, Conferences, & Retreats
Mother Culture Evenings are a time to gather with other Charlotte Mason moms for book discussion, craft or activity, appetizers, and to just relax and enjoy each other’s company. Our focus for group gatherings is to better understand Charlotte Mason's philosophy. Reading through the volumes and other books about implementation of her methods help us to do that as a community. We typically meet once a month.
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Each year we host a conference that offers members a one day deep dive into Mason's Philosophy. We also include workshops and presentations. Food, drinks, and time for relax and retreat make the day special.
04
Scale How Literary Society
This optional-participation reading group aims to inspire Scale How Cottage School moms into a deeper reading life by encouraging and supporting one another in long term reading goals. By participating in The Literary Life Reading challenge together, members have an opportunity to organize and strengthen their personal reading life over the course of a year. You may complete the challenge, or it may just encourage you to read a few more books and delve into new genres alongside other moms.
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As you consider the reading of good books, "The wisest woman I ever knew--the best wife, the best mother, the best mistress, the best friend--told me once, when I asked her how, with her weak health and many calls upon her time, she managed to read so much, ‘I always keep three books going--a stiff book, a moderately easy book, and a novel, and I always take up the one I feel fit for!’ That is the secret; always have something ‘going’ to grow by. If we mothers were all ‘growing’ there would be less going astray among our boys, less separation in mind from our girls.” -Miss Mason’s PNEU article titled MOTHER CULTURE
