CMER News

I’m excited to announce that our registration is half full.  That is mind boggling, humbling and causes me to reflect back on our growth over the past four years; I praise the Lord for the work he has done in the lives of families.

2016

We started in 2016 at The Hideaway, and we were only CME (Community*Motivation*Education).  We contracted for half the building, our main meeting room being one we now use for break out sessions.  27 women from four states attended, and there were no men.  Every session was a plenary; there were no break-outs.  Jennifer talked me out of buying microwave popcorn.  Almost everyone showed up for Karen’s nature walk, and Sarah L. started our beautiful name tag tradition.  Silvia endlessly helped with the website and created our beautiful CMER logo from Heather’s water color of Garden of the Gods.  I planned to print everything at home, but I woke up the morning of the retreat to the blue screen of death.  A neighbor’s laptop and Tri Lakes Printing came to the rescue.

2017

In 2017, in an effort to save money and reduce registration fees, we moved to the Ponderosa.  We became CMER (Community*Motivation*Education*Reflection).  28 guests, among them one spouse, attended from four different states.  We had our first spouses’ evening with a dads’ panel and dancing, and we had our first book sale.  Christy took over hospitality, which was a great blessing, and Misty joined us as a speaker, figuring out how to do so with her young twins.  While the Ponderosa was beautiful, it didn’t foster well our mission, and we made the decision to return to The Hideaway.

2018

In 2018, we contracted all of The Hideaway.  This was a big step, as it meant we needed to double our numbers.  We praised God as we had 62 guests (including 12 spouses) from 12 different states.  For the first time we invited a speaker from outside the team, and Nancy Kelly shared much wisdom, laughter (her workshop on imagination will never be the same), and tears.  Sarah J. took over hospitality, continuing to fend off the microwave popcorn, and Rebecca took over all the handouts.  Teens volunteered, helping with registration, finding rooms, and carrying luggage.

2019

We are now preparing for 2019.  Jason and Amy Fiedler graciously accepted our invitation to speak.  Rebecca completely redesigned our website, Sarah J. is taking on hospitality again, and Katrina is joining us as our teen volunteer coordinator.  What will we learn?  What stories will we have to share?  We come with so many hopes and expectations.  We look forward to what the Lord has in store for us.

February has a reputation in the homeschooling world for being the month when feelings of wanting to quit are at their peak. It can be a time of year when many families are tired of being trapped indoors (and facing at least a month more of it), moms and kids are sick of the same old routine (which is still not producing results), and many bad habits are solidly ingrained.

This is one of many reasons why the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat is just about perfect for homeschooling moms to get a recharge. It’s always scheduled in the early part of February – just in time for the mid-school-year doldrums. The weekend is a wonderful time of Charlotte Mason goodness, including meeting and getting to know other Charlotte Mason homeschoolers, obtaining tools that help us feel motivated to stay the course or try something new, offering tried-and-true ideas for how we can improve our homeschools, as well as a way for us to reflect on what we really want our homeschools (and families!) to look like.

I’ve attended the last two years and I can honestly say that, especially after last year at The Hideaway, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I have grown as a mom, an educator, and I’ve cultivated friendships during these weekends. I have felt welcomed and loved and have gone back to my family on Sunday night ready to tackle the rest of our school year with renewed energy. If you’d like to read a little more of my thoughts on last year’s retreat, you can find them here.

If this sounds like something in which you might be interested, you can register for the 2019 Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat here! It’s being held at The Hideaway again next February which is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado and provides a wonderful, peaceful, and inviting atmosphere in which to recharge yourself.

All of the sessions look fantastic, especially as there are quite a few new ones. I’m particularly interested in Sarah Lancaster’s talk on Mother Culture, Karen Canon’s brush drawing workshops, Dawn Rhymer’s immersion on Pilgrim’s Progress, and Gary Alan and Jennifer Taylor’s talk on the liturgy of the ordinary.

If you’ve ever thought about attending a Charlotte Mason retreat, please come! You will not regret it!

(This was originally posted at ahumbleplace.com.)

Registration is now open for the 2019 Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat.  Please, visit the CMER 2019 Website to see the speakers, sessions, schedule, and so much more.  We hope you are able to join us.

My family had gone skiing for the day, leaving me alone. My younger son expressed his concern again and again that I might be sad or I might get bored. I assured him again and again I would be okay.

My day started with goodbye hugs and kisses and a leftover burrito no one wanted. Coffee, devotions, and then I headed out to the barn. I did all the barn chores on my own, something I have not done in years. I did not rush to get through them, but I lingered with the animals. I forgot the beauty of the barn and the beauty of being alone, yet not alone, in the stillness of a gentle morning.

In our pragmatic society, beauty is often set to the side, and what a tragedy to our souls.

This quote is written in my notes from the 2016 Living Education Retreat, where I first “met” Jason Fiedler. He was the closing plenary speaker, and I suppose it was a bit of a one-way meeting. I left thinking, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if he would be able to speak at the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat?” He and his wife drove away with my name on the list of attendees everyone received in their folders.

Move toward something and not away.

Jason’s plenary was in part responsible for the second CMER. The first CMER made its debut in February, 2016. But the planning team wasn’t sure what the future would hold. The attendance had been small; we didn’t break even; we were not known names in the Charlotte Mason community.

Your idea is worth a risk.

But we had a mission for the CMER: to build Community through a retreat more accessible to those living in the middle of our country; to provide Motivation by coming alongside parents seeking to use a Charlotte Mason education; to inspire self-Education with diverse topics and speakers; and to encourage Reflection through prayer, the Word, and purposeful times of quiet.

We own the failure, and we have very little to do with our success.

Most of the planning team was actually at the 2016 LER. As we drove home, with the providence of Jason’s words fresh on our minds, we made the decision to take the risk of a second CMER.

Others saw the amazing gift Jason has of speaking and connecting with the Charlotte Mason community, and he was invited to be a plenary speaker at the Charlotte Mason Institute Conference in 2017. Meanwhile, at the CMER, we continued to take risks, inviting Nancy Kelly to be our 2018 Plenary speaker and going under contract for the entire Hideaway Inn and Conference Center. We praise God, we had just enough registrations to cover our costs, and, with the support of our families, we committed to a fourth CMER.

There is nothing more important than the soul of your spouse.

It was my husband’s idea to extend an invitation to Jason to serve as our 2019 plenary speaker. My husband has had the privilege of reading through all of Charlotte Mason’s Volumes with Jason over the past two years as part of Art Middlekauff’s Idyll Challenge.

“Why don’t you ask Jason Fiedler?” was my husband’s simple solution.

“You actually know Jason???” Short of knowing my husband met once a month online with men all across the country to discuss the Volumes, I didn’t know much more about his reading group. I still had a very one-sided relationship with the Fiedlers. I sat next to Jason and his wife Amy during a book give-away at the LER in 2017, and Jason whispered an answer to me, allowing me to win all three Ourselves Volumes from Riverbend Press. It didn’t seem quite fair, but he had already won a book and couldn’t win again. Again, my name was on the list of attendees everyone received in their folders.

I just steal great ideas.

We hope you are able to join us at the 2019 CMER to hear the beauty of the words of Jason Fiedler, a father who is intricately part of his family’s journey of a Charlotte Mason Education, as he blesses our community with wisdom, laughter, and tears through his amazing talent as a speaker and story-teller.

What could be in something beautiful?

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All quotes in italics are from my notes taken during Jason’s plenary at the 2016 LER.