Introductions of our Cultivators will be posted as they arrive:
Melanie Walker-Malone
Birmingham, Alabama
Red Mountain Community School
As a child, Melanie Walker-Malone remembers driving to her grandparents house from her suburban home and longing to live in a neighborhood with old trees, cracked sidewalks and city parks nearby. Over the next few decades, Melanie worked to make that a reality and now makes her home only one block away from where her grandparents used to live. Discovering Charlotte Mason and making a commitment to the honor of persons, gracious atmosphere, living ideas, and habit training have steered her in directions that have made all the difference. In Annie Dillard’s words, “How we spend our days is, after all, how we spend our lives.”
After studying Mason and implementing her methods and practices in her own homeschooling years, Melanie and 'a band of merry women' initiated the work of Red Mountain Community School in the fall of 2005. The School has grown from 9 students in grades 1-3 and 2 teachers to a K-12 school with almost 100 students and 12 teachers in Avondale, Alabama. Melanie is most content when her 7 children and pets are nearby, surrounded by beloved books and the natural gifts from her garden and neighborhood.
Birmingham, Alabama
Red Mountain Community School
As a child, Melanie Walker-Malone remembers driving to her grandparents house from her suburban home and longing to live in a neighborhood with old trees, cracked sidewalks and city parks nearby. Over the next few decades, Melanie worked to make that a reality and now makes her home only one block away from where her grandparents used to live. Discovering Charlotte Mason and making a commitment to the honor of persons, gracious atmosphere, living ideas, and habit training have steered her in directions that have made all the difference. In Annie Dillard’s words, “How we spend our days is, after all, how we spend our lives.”
After studying Mason and implementing her methods and practices in her own homeschooling years, Melanie and 'a band of merry women' initiated the work of Red Mountain Community School in the fall of 2005. The School has grown from 9 students in grades 1-3 and 2 teachers to a K-12 school with almost 100 students and 12 teachers in Avondale, Alabama. Melanie is most content when her 7 children and pets are nearby, surrounded by beloved books and the natural gifts from her garden and neighborhood.
Wendi Capehart
Rensselaer, Indiana
Instagram: WendiWanders
Blog: https://wendiwanders.blogspot.com/
Wendi Capehart has been married to Bill since 1982. They have seven children and 14 grandchildren. They began homeschooling their first child in Japan in 1988 and they graduated their seventh child in the Philippines in 2017. Wendi has been on the AmblesideOnline Advisory since before it was the AO Advisory. She edits on online e-zine called Education for all ( https://gumroad.com/wendiwanders )
Bill served in the American Air Force for 20 years, which is one reason the Capeharts have homeschooled less than 200 miles from the Arctic Circle and less than 500 miles from the equator. They have tent-camped with 3 children up the Al-Can highway, and with seven children around the Olympic Peninsula.
Wendi has lived in Canada, multiple U.S. states (including 12 miles from the Mexican border), Japan, and the Philippines. The Capeharts served as missionaries in the Philippines for two years and hope to return. Currently they live in the woods and cornfields of Northwest Indiana with their daughter Angel, over 8,000 books and the ground squirrels, who keep returning no matter how often they are evicted.
Rensselaer, Indiana
Instagram: WendiWanders
Blog: https://wendiwanders.blogspot.com/
Wendi Capehart has been married to Bill since 1982. They have seven children and 14 grandchildren. They began homeschooling their first child in Japan in 1988 and they graduated their seventh child in the Philippines in 2017. Wendi has been on the AmblesideOnline Advisory since before it was the AO Advisory. She edits on online e-zine called Education for all ( https://gumroad.com/wendiwanders )
Bill served in the American Air Force for 20 years, which is one reason the Capeharts have homeschooled less than 200 miles from the Arctic Circle and less than 500 miles from the equator. They have tent-camped with 3 children up the Al-Can highway, and with seven children around the Olympic Peninsula.
Wendi has lived in Canada, multiple U.S. states (including 12 miles from the Mexican border), Japan, and the Philippines. The Capeharts served as missionaries in the Philippines for two years and hope to return. Currently they live in the woods and cornfields of Northwest Indiana with their daughter Angel, over 8,000 books and the ground squirrels, who keep returning no matter how often they are evicted.
Anne White
Kitchener, Ontario
Anne Writes
ArchipelagO
Anne is a retired home educator, and an Advisory member of AmblesideOnline. Her years of interacting with homeschooling parents led her into going back to school as well, working on a degree in Adult Education.
When she is not studying, you can find her sorting books at a local thrift store, listening to jazz with her husband, or watching clouds from their apartment balcony.
Her life goals include updating all the old and half-done Plutarch studies on the AO website, memorizing all the little words you can use in Bananagrams, and seeing the spires of Oxford.
Kitchener, Ontario
Anne Writes
ArchipelagO
Anne is a retired home educator, and an Advisory member of AmblesideOnline. Her years of interacting with homeschooling parents led her into going back to school as well, working on a degree in Adult Education.
When she is not studying, you can find her sorting books at a local thrift store, listening to jazz with her husband, or watching clouds from their apartment balcony.
Her life goals include updating all the old and half-done Plutarch studies on the AO website, memorizing all the little words you can use in Bananagrams, and seeing the spires of Oxford.
Laurie Bestvater
Greater Boston Area, Massachusetts
Book of centuries
prov.en.der.com
Early days her husband’s work had them building bookshelves several times over in three different countries and crossing assorted other borders but the one constant was Charlotte Mason’s wisdom. Importing Mason from the home school into a variety of settings along the way led to the well-traveled conviction that North, South, East or West, in schools, not-for-profits, learning communities, around kitchen tables, and in churches, Mason’s practical incarnational method satisfies the hunger to reunite religion and the arts, education and formation, body and spirit. Co-founding prov.en.der, a North American collective dedicated to sharing “the things supplied” in Mason's method in 2012, Laurie now spends her days preserving the “long thoughts” and “good plays” of children by deepening her understanding of Mason's practices, co-leading prov.en.der weekends, writing and consulting.
Laurie is known for The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte Mason and the recovery of the original Book of Centuries from the Mason archive. Her latest work, Studying To Be Quiet: One Hundred Days of Keeping was released in March 2019.
Greater Boston Area, Massachusetts
Book of centuries
prov.en.der.com
Early days her husband’s work had them building bookshelves several times over in three different countries and crossing assorted other borders but the one constant was Charlotte Mason’s wisdom. Importing Mason from the home school into a variety of settings along the way led to the well-traveled conviction that North, South, East or West, in schools, not-for-profits, learning communities, around kitchen tables, and in churches, Mason’s practical incarnational method satisfies the hunger to reunite religion and the arts, education and formation, body and spirit. Co-founding prov.en.der, a North American collective dedicated to sharing “the things supplied” in Mason's method in 2012, Laurie now spends her days preserving the “long thoughts” and “good plays” of children by deepening her understanding of Mason's practices, co-leading prov.en.der weekends, writing and consulting.
Laurie is known for The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte Mason and the recovery of the original Book of Centuries from the Mason archive. Her latest work, Studying To Be Quiet: One Hundred Days of Keeping was released in March 2019.
Megan Hoyt
Charlotte, North Carolina
Megan Hoyt
Megan first fell in love with reading on a cozy branch of the crabapple tree outside her Texas home. She devoured Carolyn Haywood’s books there, and Marguerite Henry’s “horsey books” still remind her of the loud Texas cicadas at dusk. Her second love is music—the background of every story. She explores Charlotte Mason’s ideas about music in her book, A Touch of the Infinite.
Megan’s debut picture book biography is coming out in early 2021. Her poem, "Thanksgiving by the Lake," will appear in the Millbrook Press anthology Thanku: Poems About Gratitude (2019), and her graded reader, Clara O'Hara, Private Eye (TCM) will also be available in 2019. Her first picture book, Hildegard's Gift, came out in 2014.
Megan has a BA in English and History from Southern Methodist University and an MA in Theology from Regent University in Virginia. She lives in Charlotte, NC, where most days she is surrounded by three furry pups and piles upon piles of picture books.
Charlotte, North Carolina
Megan Hoyt
Megan first fell in love with reading on a cozy branch of the crabapple tree outside her Texas home. She devoured Carolyn Haywood’s books there, and Marguerite Henry’s “horsey books” still remind her of the loud Texas cicadas at dusk. Her second love is music—the background of every story. She explores Charlotte Mason’s ideas about music in her book, A Touch of the Infinite.
Megan’s debut picture book biography is coming out in early 2021. Her poem, "Thanksgiving by the Lake," will appear in the Millbrook Press anthology Thanku: Poems About Gratitude (2019), and her graded reader, Clara O'Hara, Private Eye (TCM) will also be available in 2019. Her first picture book, Hildegard's Gift, came out in 2014.
Megan has a BA in English and History from Southern Methodist University and an MA in Theology from Regent University in Virginia. She lives in Charlotte, NC, where most days she is surrounded by three furry pups and piles upon piles of picture books.
Kathy Wickward
Seattle, Washington
Kathy graduated her daughter from their Ambleside Online homeschool in 2016. Along the way she created a science program without textbooks, passed on a passion for Shakespeare, learned a few things about how autistic learners work best, and pondered how a relational education radically differed from the current model practiced in the public school system. In 2015 she founded CMWest to gather together Charlotte Mason educators west of the Rockies. Her daughter recently earned her AA and is hoping to continue her education, and her son is working as a baker and living nearby. Kathy lives with her husband and daughter, substitute teaches at Seattle Classical Christian School, and works as a church administrator while reading good books and considering her next move.
Seattle, Washington
Kathy graduated her daughter from their Ambleside Online homeschool in 2016. Along the way she created a science program without textbooks, passed on a passion for Shakespeare, learned a few things about how autistic learners work best, and pondered how a relational education radically differed from the current model practiced in the public school system. In 2015 she founded CMWest to gather together Charlotte Mason educators west of the Rockies. Her daughter recently earned her AA and is hoping to continue her education, and her son is working as a baker and living nearby. Kathy lives with her husband and daughter, substitute teaches at Seattle Classical Christian School, and works as a church administrator while reading good books and considering her next move.
Trevor Stanley
Kingsville, Ontario
Trevor has been a passionate educator for over a decade. His teaching and classroom management strategies prepare his students to meet the world with confidence. Most recently, he has developed a strong program around the concepts of accountable talk and student-led learning. Unique experiences, as well as frequently bringing in guests and interesting artifacts, help to engage students and keep the learning environment engaging.
Before his passion for teaching was ignited, a desire to find and acquire treasures of the past was in his blood. As early as 11, Trevor could be found at local sales and auctions looking for a diamond in the rough. In the last 20 years, Trevor has honed his collection to include a few focused categories of interest, one of which is Canadian art. By introducing artists, their life stories, and the stories behind their styles and works, students have been inspired and have become passionate admirers and connoisseurs of Canadian art. Seeing world-class art first-hand is memorable and has a lasting impact. He is hoping that sharing this passion at the Fall 2019 conference in Kingsville will spark an interest in you as well.
Kingsville, Ontario
Trevor has been a passionate educator for over a decade. His teaching and classroom management strategies prepare his students to meet the world with confidence. Most recently, he has developed a strong program around the concepts of accountable talk and student-led learning. Unique experiences, as well as frequently bringing in guests and interesting artifacts, help to engage students and keep the learning environment engaging.
Before his passion for teaching was ignited, a desire to find and acquire treasures of the past was in his blood. As early as 11, Trevor could be found at local sales and auctions looking for a diamond in the rough. In the last 20 years, Trevor has honed his collection to include a few focused categories of interest, one of which is Canadian art. By introducing artists, their life stories, and the stories behind their styles and works, students have been inspired and have become passionate admirers and connoisseurs of Canadian art. Seeing world-class art first-hand is memorable and has a lasting impact. He is hoping that sharing this passion at the Fall 2019 conference in Kingsville will spark an interest in you as well.
Chris Carusone
Scotia, New York
Chris homeschooled her two boys through the eighth grade. She was introduced to Charlotte Mason through For the Children’s Sake when her oldest was just three years old. God graciously planted Chris in the same church that Laurie Bestvater attended. She spent one Thursday evening a month for many years in Laurie’s living room together with other ladies, working their way through the volumes. Chris worked as a bookkeeper at a small retreat house that hosted groups for three of the four prov.en.der weekends. She also attended The Large Room retreat at another location. Although her children are now in public school, Chris still reads the volumes and gathers with others one Thursday a month for the “grand conversation.”
She loves music, poetry, books, and trees, as well as watching her sons’ football and basketball games, and walking. On her most recent walks with her dog, she has been feeling treasured by Him who has strewn the aisles of her neighborhood with freshly fallen petals from the many flowering trees she encounters. She is grateful for and continuously amazed by the “things supplied.” One outcome of Mason’s living education is best said by J.G. Whittier:
…
Forth to thy light and air I come,
To find in all that meets my eyes
The freshness of a glad surprise.
Scotia, New York
Chris homeschooled her two boys through the eighth grade. She was introduced to Charlotte Mason through For the Children’s Sake when her oldest was just three years old. God graciously planted Chris in the same church that Laurie Bestvater attended. She spent one Thursday evening a month for many years in Laurie’s living room together with other ladies, working their way through the volumes. Chris worked as a bookkeeper at a small retreat house that hosted groups for three of the four prov.en.der weekends. She also attended The Large Room retreat at another location. Although her children are now in public school, Chris still reads the volumes and gathers with others one Thursday a month for the “grand conversation.”
She loves music, poetry, books, and trees, as well as watching her sons’ football and basketball games, and walking. On her most recent walks with her dog, she has been feeling treasured by Him who has strewn the aisles of her neighborhood with freshly fallen petals from the many flowering trees she encounters. She is grateful for and continuously amazed by the “things supplied.” One outcome of Mason’s living education is best said by J.G. Whittier:
…
Forth to thy light and air I come,
To find in all that meets my eyes
The freshness of a glad surprise.