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Today I want to share with you about my Mother Culture Plans for Spring 2023, with aspirations to keep you updated along the way.
When I first learned about the idea of mother culture, I associated it with self-care, things we mothers do to care for ourselves. However, I’ve experienced mother culture as the exact opposite. Mother culture doesn’t end with self. Rather, it results in a life-giving overflow from the mother to those around her in the atmosphere of her home, the discipline of her time and the life she was called to live richly and fully.
“Is there not need for “mother culture”? But how is the state of things to be altered? So many mothers say, “I simply have no time for myself!” “I never read a book!” Or else, “I don’t think it is right to think of myself!” They not only starve their minds, but they do it deliberately, and with a sense of self-sacrifice which seems to supply ample justification.”
The Parents’ Review: Mother Culture by A.
While Charlotte Mason never mentioned this term, mother culture does fit within her philosophy and principles and was actually first coined in a Parents’ Review (a magazine edited by Charlotte Mason) article written by someone we only know as A.
Even if you don’t follow a Charlotte Mason educational philosophy, mother culture can be a very practical way for any mom to cultivate a habit of reading, feeding her mind with knowledge and living ideas.
Is Mother Culture Only Reading Books?
There are endless resources on how to do mother culture, which is the “right” way, which is not, and everything in between. Some lean into the idea that mother culture is strictly reading books because that’s what was given in the original PR (Parents’ Review) article, while others have branched out and explored the idea that mother culture is actually under the umbrella of an ancient practice known as schole, restful learning or leisure which then widens what a mother can consider as part of her mother culture time such as gardening, crocheting, painting, etc.
No matter which way on the pendulum you swing towards, I think the vital importance is that you do something, especially during the homeschool years. Mother culture can look different from season to season, mother to mother. There should be no judgement on who’s the best or right at mother culturing and there is no CM (Charlotte Mason) police in this corner of the internet. So be encouraged and just jump in however you find fits into your ordinary moments, but whatever you choose to do, do it well!
How Much Time I Commit To Mother Culture
In this season of motherhood, it is almost never quiet, and my children are most always around when I delight in mother culture. Mother culture happens in the ordinary parts of my day, and it may not always look the same as the day before. My goal for mother culture time began as just 30 minutes a day, breaking that time up to even smaller chunks, 10 minutes at a time, 3 times a day. Now that my kids are sleeping through the night, and we have a solid rest time schedule in the afternoon, I have been able to work my time up to 30 minutes, 3x a day, more or less!
However, this took over a year and a half to build the habit, including spending less time on social media scrolling, scheduling my time to plan content for OCN, and continuously habit training my children to respect my time by asking them to let mom read without any questions until I’m finished. It is not ever perfectly executed, but I still make the time to do it.
How I Do Mother Culture
During my 30 minute increments, I mostly dive into books. There are days where I consider a podcast episode, a virtual educational workshop, virtual homeschool conference, or time in a hobby as part of my mother culture time, but it’s mostly spent in books.
I love to grab a drink, usually hot coffee or herbal tea, but on warmer days I love a cold lemonade or iced tea with honey! Drink in hand, I then find myself a place around the house to sit, and announce to my children that I’m reading, and to please hold questions and requests until the timer is up (we use this one for homeschool lessons and a visual timer for moments like rest time and mom’s reading time).
There are days where the timer doesn’t work and my kids will still come with questions, but I try to shorten our interaction during this time (within reason), teaching them also to respect other’s time and to enjoy their own masterly inactivity.
“What we need is a habit of taking our minds out of what one is tempted to call “the domestic rag-bag” of perplexitites, and giving it a good airing in something which keeps it “growing.”…if we would do our best for our children, grow we must; and on our power of growth surely depends, not only our future happiness, but our future usefulness.”
The Parents’ Review: Mother Culture by A.
What’s In My Mother Culture Basket
I actually don’t have a physical basket for my mother culture books. But, you can if that works for you! I keep books throughout my home where I would sit to read and then pick up the book that best fits my mood. I keep 3 types of books going– stiff books, moderately easy books, and novels.
I don’t read on a schedule, meaning that I don’t only read one of each kind of book in a day. I also don’t visit the same book each time I sit to read. Though I might feel like reading novels all day, I will, but I will read 3 different books so that I am keeping my mind more active, afresh with new ideas each time I sit to read. This is just what I’ve chosen to do, and you may choose to do something entirely different!
I usually have a variety of books going at once, but I’ve also had seasons where I only enjoyed novels and easy reads on christian living, and I still felt more nourished than if I didn’t read at all. So if you’re on the fence about if mother culture can only be done with a variety of books, just know I asked the same question, and choosing to read anything was far better than nothing.
NOTE: I don’t plan on finishing these books all at once, or even by the next time I update my mother culture plans here.
My current mother culture books:
- The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- This Country of Ours: The Story of the United States Volume 1 by H.E. Marshall
- Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter
- Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty
- War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles by Paul Tripp
- The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis by Jason Baxter
- Modern Miss Mason by Leah Boden
- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
- On Wings of Song Every Man’s Library Pocket Poets
- How To Read A Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
- Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
Other material I’m reading includes:
- Parents’ Review articles
- Common Place Quarterly Magazines
- Blog articles about the classical, and Charlotte Mason education and philosophy
Other Ways I’m Doing Mother Culture
I have discovered that my mind can be stretched and nourished in other ways than just books.
Nature Study + Journaling
I especially have taken up a greater interest in nature observation as my own, outside of homeschool time which has fed my mind with curiosity, a more thorough attention to detail, and developing my own skill for observation. Currently I’m observing birds more in depth. We spend every day outside atleast a couple hours in a day, and I make an entry in my nature journal 1x-2x a week.
Crochet
This year I would like to make myself a blanket. Anytime I pick up my crochet hooks and yarn, it’s usually to make something for someone else. This time I thought it would be fun to crochet something all for my own. I’m considering a simple granny square style blanket with shades of neutrals, but haven’t committed yet!
Commonplacing
The practice of commonplacing has been a sure way for me to better comprehend what I’ve been reading. I have an entire blog article dedicated to how and what I commonplace if you’d like to check it out! I love commonplacing 2-3x a week.
Bible + Prayer Journaling
Yes, the Bible is a book, but I actually keep it apart from my mother culture as a separate time all in its own. I am usually starting and ending my day in my Bible, and it looks different each day/night. I am working through a more inductive type studies for an Old Testament book and New Testament book. I’m also currently studying the Attributes Of God using Daily Grace Co’s study book. These things are done in a loop, meaning that one day is OT study, the next NT, the following is attributes, and then I repeat. I take my time in my studies, which means I am spending more than half a year or more in some of these studies.
For my prayer journal, I just started keeping one this January and I make a point to add entries to it 3x a week. It has been awesome seeing some of the prayers being answered, some prayers I have been repeating, and how God is working through my heart in those unanswered prayers. TIP: Add dates to your prayers!
That’s the plan for Spring! I hope in someway this blog article was helpful for you as you might be figuring out how you’ll plan your mother culture time. I’d love to hear from you in the comments what you’re currently reading and how you do your own mother culture!
