A Mother’s Personal Curriculum: Introduction & Inaugural Course
Welcome to A Mother’s Thinking Love: Living Ideas, Lovingly Shared! In today’s post, I’m sharing my plan for my own personal curriculum in the new year. I’ll share how the idea of a personal curriculum is part of my mother’s “thinking love”. Plus, I’ll share my inaugural course that I’m currently working through. Join me for: “A Mother’s Personal Curriculum: Introduction & Inaugural Course”!
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A Personal Curriculum as Part of a Thinking Love
On the “About” page of this blog, you will find this quote from Charlotte Mason’s “Home Education”:
“Mothers owe a ‘thinking love’ to their Children.–– ‘The mother is qualified,’ says Pestalozzi, ‘and qualified by the Creator Himself, to become the principal agent in the development of her child; … and what is demanded of her is––a thinking love . . . God has given to the child all the faculties of our nature, but the grand point remains undecided––how shall this heart, this head, these hands be employed? to whose service shall they be dedicated? A question the answer to which involves a futurity of happiness or misery to a life so dear to thee. Maternal love is the first agent in education.'”
In that same volume, Charlotte goes on to say:
“We are waking up to our duties and in proportion as mothers become more highly educated and efficient, they will doubtless feel the more strongly that the education of their children during the first six years of life is an undertaking hardly to be entrusted to any hands but their own. And they will take it up as their profession––that is, with the diligence, regularity, and punctuality which men bestow on their professional labours.
That the mother may know what she is about, may come thoroughly furnished to her work, she should have something more than a hearsay acquaintance with the theory of education, and with those conditions of the child’s nature upon which such theory rests.”
The idea of a mother’s “thinking love” serves as the inspiration for this blog and much of the work of my life. Charlotte’s words taught me about my purpose. I realized, early on in our home education journey, that I could not give what I don’t have. I know that may sound a little clunky, but it’s how it came to me. Essentially I mean, if I want to give my daughter a beautiful, life-giving, God-honoring education, I must pursue one for myself.
On My Avoidance of Grand Plans
I’ve said many, many times that I do best when I avoid Grand Plans. I once tried to map out my entire year of reading in January. It was with one of those clever 5×5 schemes, that I still think are a lovely idea, where you plan five books in each of five categories, totaling 25 books for the year. While I only read a few books from my 5×5 plan, I think I read at least 50 books, mostly off plan, that year.
This is when I realized that Grand Plans were not for me. No matter how beautifully presented or well-organized a Grand Plan may be, I will eventually, often times quickly, find it paralyzing. First, I realized that I generally planned too much for my real life. Then, after cutting back a bit, I found if I got off schedule, I was discouraged from picking it back up again. Finally, I realized that books I found interesting in January were not what I needed in September. Creating a plan so far in advance didn’t leave room for my needs as they came about through the year. Although Grand Plans were not meant to be in my life, I found another path that worked for me: plodding.
Plodding Through the Years
I’m not sure where I first heard the term “plodding”, but I was relieved to know others had to work little bit by little bit like me: five pages here, fifteen minutes there, until the work was complete. I’ve been intentionally plodding for a few years now and although I still stumble, I’m still going. Sometimes I finish a 500 page book in two weeks. Other times, it takes me three months to finish a 200 page book. No matter the pace, no matter how long it takes me to pick up the book again, I just keep plodding.
A Mother’s Personal Curriculum: A New-to-Me Idea
Recently, through a video suggestion on YouTube, I was introduced to the idea of a personal curriculum. After watching several videos, I realized this idea might help bring a little new life to my plodding in 2026. So, I decided to begin my new journey in the last month of 2025! This is not a one-size-fits-all approach, so my idea of a personal curriculum is likely quite different from others. While I still plan to plod and allow space for spontaneity throughout the year, I hope a personal curriculum will help me study a few topics more coherently and more in-depth throughout the year.
I am not planning an entire personal curriculum for the year. I will likely plan topic by topic over the course of the year. Also, I am only planning one course at a time for now. As I mentioned, I want to have space each week for books outside my current course. Other details, like narration, essays, and the like, I will discuss more thoroughly as I go.
A Mother’s Personal Curriculum: My Inaugural Course
To close out today’s post, I want to share my plans for my inaugural course. I began reading Paradise Lost at the beginning of December, so I planned elements to complement that and bring richness to the current season. Although I’m working through this course in December and January, you could do it any time of the year.
A Mother’s Meditation on the Incarnation
Duration: 6-8 weeks *This deadline is not hard-and-fast. It’s just a goal.
Reading Plan: I’m not creating any specific lesson plan at this point. I will simply plod through the works. I may share a bit as I go, if you’re curious as to how it all works out.
Assessment: Obviously I will not have worksheets, quizzes, and tests as part of my course. Instead, I will use narration. It will likely be a combination of oral, silent, and written narrations. I would like to write a short essay of some type each week, but I won’t let perfect be the enemy of good. In our homeschool, we have adopted John Muir Laws’ “I notice…I wonder…It reminds me of…” prompt for all types of narrations, not just nature study, and I want to use that here too. As for silent narrations, I usually do these by narrating in my head while I’m working throughout the day or falling asleep at night.
Readings:
- Paradise Lost by John Milton using this STUNNING edition with illustrations by Gustave Dore (Interesting side note, Dore’s illustrations, featured in Memoria Press’s art cards, inspired me to read this years ago.)
- On the Incarnation by Athanasius
- The Gospel of John
- Genesis chapters 1-3
- Milton’s Paradise Lost by Leland Ryken *This was a last minute decision, it hasn’t been delivered, and I’m not sure how much I will use it. Again, I will try to update.
Other Content:
I may add some videos, articles, or essays throughout, but I’m not sure yet. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself. If I find something of interest, I will try to update it here.
Closing
Thank you for reading: “A Mother’s Personal Curriculum: Introduction & Inaugural Course”! I realize this plan isn’t aesthetically pleasing, I think I’ve said that before, but, again I’m not letting perfect be the enemy of good. Do you have any personal curriculum plans for the new year? Share them in the comments below. I hope to either provide updates as I go, or after I finish the course. I will likely update more frequently on Instagram, so follow me there at @amothersthinkinglove.