Mere Motherhood

[Epicurean]

I enjoy Cindy Rollins' blog, but I'm a little hesitant to buy a copy of Mere Motherhood because it sounds very much like a memoir, and I'm not sure how much I'll get out of it since I'm not religious.

 

Do you think there's enough general wisdom in there that even a secular person would enjoy the book? Or is the heavy focus on putting God at the center of your homeschool peg the book solely for a Christian audience?

 

I think I'm going to order her Morning Time book to have all her ideas about that in one handy place, so I'm considering bundling them together. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Epicurean

[beth83]

I am religous, so I can't really comment on how you might take it. From what I remember, I think you would still enjoy it.

 

I have been reading Cindy's writing for a while and sort of held her up on a pedestal. I just assumed she did everything right and had this mothering/CM/morning time thing down. The book was a memoir of her real life, her messy real life. It was the first time I felt relatable to her.

 

I took away that we are all imperfect a humans here just trying our best at homeschooling and mothering. It made me feel better about all my shortcomings.

[Rachel]

I just finished Mere Motherhood. I've never read her blog, so I can't compare the book to that. It definitely has Christian overtones but I felt like the focus was more on Charlotte Mason's methods of schooling than on religion. As a Christian I didn't think it was preachy, just a Christian being herself. Much like a vegan would talk about what they had for dinner and how they raised their kids to be vegan but not trying to force you to eat meatless meals. It is her story and her telling how she messed up, what she did right, and what she learned from it.

 

I don't think I would recommend the book to non-Christians who have never heard of Cindy Rollins or Charlotte Mason. However if you are a non-Christian who is familiar with both, you may enjoy it.

 

I'm working through the Morning Time Handbook now. It's very short, more than a pamphlet, but not a full book. Each chapter has a lot of lists with a brief explaination of how she did poetry, memorization, etc. It's only what she did during morning time so there isn't math explanations.

 

I hope that helps.

[birchbark]

There are 13 chapters. 1-9 are memoir, 10-13 are more directly related to education. I agree with the pp that there are Christian overtones, but the focus is literature and Charlotte Mason style homeschooling. There is more info on the book in this thread. 

[Noreen Claire]

I don't think I would recommend the book to non-Christians who have never heard of Cindy Rollins or Charlotte Mason. However if you are a non-Christian who is familiar with both, you may enjoy it.

 

 

 

I wasn't familiar with either Cindy Rollins or Charlotte Mason, except by name, when I decided to order the book. I finished it last month. It wasn't what I expected, not really realizing that it was more memoir than homeschool text. That being said, I enjoyed her stories!

[Rachel]

I wasn't familiar with either Cindy Rollins or Charlotte Mason, except by name, when I decided to order the book. I finished it last month. It wasn't what I expected, not really realizing that it was more memoir than homeschool text. That being said, I enjoyed her stories!

That's good to know.

[newhsmom]

I just noticed that Rainbow Resource is now carrying Mere Motherhood.