Mother Culture
"Mother Culture" is an original trademark of Karen Andreola.
Karen offers Mother Culture seminars and workshops, along with six years of timeless back issues available of the Parents' Review Magazine, an excellent Mother Culture resource. Mother Culture is also an original, copyrighted chapter in Karen’s book (link below for details), and a regular book review feature in the CDB Homeschool Catalog.
During years of research Karen revived Mother Culture, an obscure term from the past, and has coined the phrase for today’s busy hardworking homeschooling mom. This is her favorite message to give, as the joys and advantages of Mother Culture overflow into the family circle.
Although she never used the term Mother Culture, Charlotte Mason noticed that "the old painters, however diverse their ideas in other matters, all fixed upon one quality as proper to the pattern of Mother. The Madonna, [mother with her children], no matter out of whose canvas she looks at you, is always serene. . . . we should do well to hang our walls with the Madonnas of all the early Masters [of art] if the lessons, taught through the eye, would reach with calming influence to the heart."
Charlotte believed that this countenance of contentment, of serenity, can come about even during stressful times when a mother learns to occasionally do for herself what she does for her children - go out to play. Charlotte tells us we would have happier households if we mothers "would only have courage to let everything go when life becomes too tense, and just take a day, or a half a day, out in the fields, or with a favorite book, or in a picture gallery. . ." For a mother to allow herself a bit of leisure to rest and refresh herself by exploring her own interests, to find a little time for herself, especially when so many others depend on her, is a what Karen calls, "Mother Culture."
When a busy homeschooling mother takes part in Mother Culture she safeguards her enthusiasm, so she will be better able to cope with her responsibilities. To partake in Mother Culture is to feed herself with the Word of God, with ideas from books, nature, art, music, etc., thus taking care to keep growing spiritually and mentally. If there such is a thing as the joy of childhood, there is also such a thing as the joy of motherhood, and Karen admonishes mothers to recognize and live within such a blessing.
These links will take you to the Charlotte Mason Research & Supply website.
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The phrase "Mother Culture" is an original trademark of Karen Andreola.