Dr. Jessica Peck hosts the Nurse Mama show on American Family Radio
Dr. Jessica Peck Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck. Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of the day, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. I hope that you had a good holiday weekend. And we are so grateful for the opportunity to observe Memorial Day and just be so grateful for those who have given their lives in service of our country. And if that is you or your family, just please accept on, on behalf of a grateful nation, our thanks and for that sacrifice. And, today we are talking about investing in your family and reading bold stories of adventure. We're going to be talking about homeschooling today. We're going to be talking about children today. I've got a lot to cover, so hang in there. But I want to start by sharing with one of my Favorite quotes from C.S. lewis. This quote. It is all over everywhere in my house. I frequently use it and it says this. Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work. And you can imagine as someone who has devoted her life to the health and well being, of children. I love this quote by C.S. lewis. And today we're going to talk to someone who knows a little something about CS Lewis. We're talking today to Leah Boden She's coming to us all the way from across the pond, from England. She is a wife to Dave, she's mother to four children. She has more than two decades of experience in church leadership and she also has devoted herself to youth and children's and family work within the church and for the local education authority. She is a respected speaker, a podcast host and a coach who passionately shares the transformative beauty of the Charlotte Mason approach to childhood, my motherhood and education. She is the Author of Modern Ms. Mason and Lives with her family in west, Midlands England. Leah, we are so grateful to you coming to us all the way from across the pond. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Leah Boden Thank you for having me on, Jessica. I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Dr. Jessica Peck I am too. And Leah, we are big fans of equipping families to choose the best schooling for their kids. And I know there are a lot of families who school is just getting out for the summer and there are some families who are thinking maybe we want to try something different next year. Maybe we want to take that leap of faith. Try homeschooling, try a private school, try Something different. And for homeschooling there are different options. And you are a fan and an expert in the Charlotte Mason method. And so I definitely want to talk about that. But let's just back up to the beginning and just tell us a little bit about you and how you came to be where you are with this ministry and the heart that you have to equip families. Sure.
Leah Boden Yeah. Well, as you've already introduced, I'm Leah, married today for, almost 25 years. Coming up for our 25th anniversary and our four children, I've got two boys, two girls. They range from 22 down to 14. So life, is just. Is full and interesting and as you know, having four children, and it is a real blessing. And we have obviously taken our marriage and parenting journey, as a, is something that has a gift from God, but we have a responsibility for. So very early on in our parenting journey we knew we needed not just to love our kids and do what we could and, but we needed to have a vision for our family. And as part of that process, we began to explore this whole idea of their discipleship and their education and what part we get to play in that. Here in the uk, kids generally start school, they have their little uniforms on and they formally start school around the age of four. And yeah, I, you know, I think we finally decided. I don't know if we're quite ready for that. And that wasn't the journey we wanted. So we began to explore what home education looked like here in the uk. So our. In the midst of life and family and ministry, we were making these big steps and big decisions in what do we want? What do we see for our children, how do we, what do we do today to kind of begin to sow into that? And part of that for us was beginning this exploration into home education. it's not as developed and the community is not as large as it is in the States. You know, I think we, we probably in. In the US 70s and 80s where there was a real resurgence of home education and we're probably a couple of decades behind, you guys in the States. So I was googling stuff like is it legal to home educate? And so I really was starting from the beginning, but really the. As I was doing these, Dave and I were beginning this, this beginnings of research, I came across the revolutionary British Christian educator Charlotte Mason, who was really at the height of her, her ministry and her what she had to give into the educational model here in the UK in the, you know, early 1900s, late 1800s, early 1900s was when she was really moving and shaking, the educational model. And so I, what I say is that I went down that rabbit hole and you know, nearly two decades on I still have not come up and I have just found not only this incredible depth of wisdom and knowledge, but a philosophy of education rooted in God's word that Dave and I have been able to really, not only be students of, but be practitioners of with our four children, which is a huge blessing.
Dr. Jessica Peck Leah, that's that's so such a beautiful journey. And you said that at the very beginning when you started talking about this, you said you were looking at your kids. Discipleship and education. You use those two words together. And I think that's the beauty of what you've been able to do, is to marry the, those two, to, to integrate discipleship into education, not have them as two separate entities. We are discipling them and we're educating them, but you are really discipling them through education. And you also said we thought about what part we wanted to play in that and you moved in this intentional direction and like you said, now two decades later, here you are.
Leah is passionate about parents role in the discipleship of their children
So talk to me a little bit more about that marriage of discipleship and education and how you see those integrated in your children's experience.
Leah Boden I mean I could talk for hours on this stuff. It's, I'm very passionate about the parents role in the discipleship of their children. And our conviction was always that we are the primary disciples of our children. We know that God intended it to be for, intended us to be in family, in community. We're never supposed to do this journey alone. But especially those younger childhood years coming up into their early teens that we were at, we were in the forefront of their life. That we didn't want them to be sent off to some institution for hours and hours and hours where you just catching the kind of fringes of the day with them. We wanted to form a vision for our family and a rhythm for our life that included us all together. And so that discipleship is that emulation, of pattern impartation of life that day to day walking together, and the, the, the fact that we decided that we would home educate then you don't separate those two things. So you know, the beginning of our day together was breakfast, reading the Bible together, praying over my family. And that still hasn't changed. You know, I drive my older teenagers to one of them is left and is doing national exams in school. And we drive and we pray. we call it car chapel. It's great. Oh, I love that. That is, that is how we have always, always topped and tailed our days. And. But then it's woven throughout everything you do. So you can be doing scientific nature study, but talking about God's creation. you know, and that in all our parenting challenges, you put prayer first and you talk about, okay, let's look at what the Bible says about this. So our. We've got that great scripture in Deuteronomy that talks about, as you walk along the way you share scripture and the word of go well with our family. And the, the great thing about when you're home educating is that there becomes this natural rhythm that comes with it, that it's not forced into this kind of. I mean, I absolutely believe in family devotion time. I think discipline, is important. But what our family thrived on is the interwovenness of it, that it was so natural and it was just such a. I, mean, I wasn't home educated, but I grew up in a house where my parents were always in prayer, always had worship music on wherever we go. It was the most, you know, second or first nature really isn't it, that they were talking to us about the things of the Lord, and that's how we want it to be in our household. And so that does then infiltrate everything you do. And, your conversation is, as the Bible says, seasoned with salt, that it's always, part of who you are and what you do. So I'm not saying every math lesson was, you know, counting loaves and fishes, but, you know, we knew the heart of God was in our decision making. It was prayer was in every day. And, and then you, you just trust God then with the fruit of that and what comes out of that.
Dr. Jessica Peck Yeah, that's a beautiful illustration of that, of that verse in Deuteronomy. As you walk, walk along the road or as you drive along in car chapel, I'm completely stealing that. I love that.
Leah Boden Yes, you should.
Dr. Jessica Peck I am. And I think that, Leah, you know, you're two decades into this, and I think when a lot of parents first step out into a homeschooling journey, you're starting to plant seeds that you don't yet see the growth for. You don't really know where it's going to go, how it's going to turn out. But you have the beautiful blessing of being able to look back at two decades now of investment in this, you said Your oldest is 22 and you're driving them to university and, and on they're starting to really start their adult lives. What do you see now as the fruit of those seeds that you planted so long ago? What do you see as the reward of that?
Leah Boden Yeah, great question. sometimes I've gone years even and thinking I don't see anything. It's hard right now. And I think there are seasons, maybe not years, but there have been seasons where I have gone to, I've been going to God in prayer and I often say to the Lord, lord, you have the blueprint on my children. Show me, just give me a little bit, give me, give me a little glimpse into what to do here. And I love that the book of James says, if you need, if you ask for wisdom, I'll give you wisdom. And I think as parents we have to go to God with that every day. And so there have been seasons where I've just thought, wow, I, I, I'm not seeing much comeback here. I'm not getting any great reviews from my kids. And then something will happen, something will happen. Especially as they got into their older teens. And my eldest daughter who's been living abroad for the past year, she's, she's the 22 year old. It, it was almost in the past year that she started to share some things with as a family. And I've asked more direct questions about her home educating journey where we have just seen so not only verbally but seen it in her life. the, the fruit of, of the investment from childhood in great literature, being out in nature, good cultural stuff, music and art and that. Actually, you know, she's been living in France and Italy that she can't get away from, that she can't go through a European city without looking for art and beauty in nature. And through that, she, she'll often send me messages and or postcards and saying this reminded me of my childhood. I saw this today and it reminded me of when you told us this or I heard this music today and it reminded me of that moment when we were homeschooled and this happened and she, she can come up with these beautiful memories also. what I have recognized is as my children have got older and they've, their world has got bigger, it's kind of, you know, as it, as it should and it does, expands beyond your home and your, your little family, your big family and as grown in their friendships and relationships within the church outside of, they've noticed how different families work, how other children have been raised and what they've been exposed to and how they've been educated. And they'll often come back and go, and I'm, hear me, I'm not trying to be arrogant here, but you asked the, you know, a question about the fruit. But they'll say things like, gosh, our family, you really did some very specific things, didn't you? Or thank you for teaching us that, or thank you for always being in prayer. That was the one of the things that my teenage daughter said to me recently. She said, we pray a lot, don't we? And we do that really naturally. And I said, yeah, it's really important. She said, I've been around so many, even Christian children that they don't have that in their life and they don't know that. And that's discipleship. That is that just kind of, this is not forced. This is not some set plan. We haven't bought a particular book to follow. We just know that the overflow of our life in Christ, rooted and grafted in Christ, has to flow out of us and into our family, into our household, into our children. And so I think I love gathering.
Dr. Jessica Peck I'm gonna hold you right there as you're gathering it because we are coming up against our first break and I want to hear more about that. When we come back, we'll talk more about Charlotte Mason and her legacy and what she did, and we'll talk more about Leah's books. If you are looking for some summer reading for your kids, we have got a great recommendation for you in the tales of boldness and Faith. Don't go away. We'll be right back with more from Leah Boden
PreBorn is the greatest threat to the abortion industry
Because of the generous donations provided from listeners like you, PreBorn has rescued over 330,000 babies. But every day, the abortion industry is taking thousands of babies lives. We have to save them. Please donate your best gift to save more babies at preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR. as we celebrate the many pro life victories going forth, we rejoice. Preborn's network of clinics have a unique opportunity to advance even further without political persecution. What does this look like? PreBorn is the greatest threat to the abortion industry. By rescuing on average 200 babies lives a day, they are putting a serious dent into abortion. But there are still thousands of babies who die daily. And Preborn's goal is to rescue them all. With the help of the pro life community, meaning you, we can save so many more. Please join us in saving all of these precious lives. The ultrasound is the game changer. Once a mother hears that precious heartbeat, she is twice as likely to choose life. If you consider yourself pro life, we need your help. One ultrasound is just $28. Five ultrasounds are $140 $5000 Sponsors ultrasounds for the entire PreBorn Network for an entire day. How many lives can you save? Every child is a beautiful gift from God. Please join the cause. To donate Securely, please dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby that's pound 250 baby or visit preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR PreBorn is there for hurting mothers and at risk babies standing strong in the darkest corners of our nation. By sponsoring an ultrasound, you can be there too. One ultrasound is just $28 and doubles a baby's chance at life. Please donate your best gift to Save more babies at preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR.
Made For More by Josh Baldwin I was made for more so why would I make I've been in my shame When a fountain of grace is running my way I know I am yours and I was made for more. I. Know who I am cuz I know who you are the cross of salvation was only the start Now I am chosen free and forgiven I have a future.
Dr. Jessica Peck Welcome back friends. That song is Made For More by Josh Baldwin. And hey, maybe your child's education is made for more. Maybe you are finishing up the school year and you are thinking maybe we need to do something different. If that is you, then today's program is for you. Or maybe you've already made that leap. Maybe you are choosing a different path of education. We are talking today with my guest Leah Boden She's an author and she's a Charlotte Mason homeschooling effort who took that leap of faith more than two decades ago, homeschooled her four children in England, and now has been sharing with us the fruits of that. And Leah, I'm so glad that you shared that because I think there are so many listening who may be newer in a homeschool journey and a home education journey and you don't see those those fruits right away. A lot of times I remember being in a pineapple field in Hawaii. I've shared this story many, but I went out there to see pineapples and all I saw was a giant field of red dirt. I did not see pineapples as far as my eye could see. And yet there were all of These workers who were out there who were tending to the field. And it really convicted me, Leah, because I looked around and I thought, they know what they planted. They have confidence in the seed that they planted and they know it will grow in the appointed time. And that's the kind of confidence that we need to have in our kids if we are faithful to plant in them the seeds that God gives us. If we are intentional about investing in their discipleship journey, they need to see our confidence that we will see the fruit of those labors. And you referenced before the Break James 1, which is one of my favorite passages of Scripture, encouraging us to rejoice in our trials because the testing of our faith produces, a character. And when we look at that, we can know that there can be challenges. Nothing is ever going to be easy but talking about the benefits of the blessings that you've had in this. And of course, that passage in James goes on to say that if any of us lacks wisdom, we can ask God, because he gives freely and abundantly to those who ask. And one of the things I've been looking at, Leah, looking at the world emerging from COVID one of the greatest fears that educators that people who were invested in children had was children are going to be behind. Children who were in school are going to be behind on math and science and all of those things. And what we have learned in the research that's emerged from that says, actually those things are not very difficult to catch up on, but the things that are very difficult to catch up on are character. And this is kind of shifts into the philosophy of Charlotte Mason. So I want you to start, Leah, by telling us who she is, because your book that you've written that I would recommend for summer reading, it's. It looks so great, is a fictionalized account of her life. But she was a real person. So tell us about the legacy of Charlotte Mason.
Leah Boden Jessica, you said so many amazing things there, and I'm just. When you were talking about the, the pineapple field. So my first book is called Modern Ms. Mason, which is basically a 21st century, take really on the Charlotte Mason philosophy. And I talk in there because one of the things that one of the major principles of, of her Charlotte Mason's philosophy is that which is rooted in, in Scripture, is that children are born persons. They're born in the image of God. And part of the educational approach is that we're not spoon feeding our kids what we think they should know. We are facilitating their world and education to draw out of Them who God has made them to be. And so just like that pineapple field, I talk about the seed, just like we're talking about here, which is the theme of our conversation. It seems that the seed that God has already. Already said, this is who your child is. And we, you know, I think often as parents, we think we get to, we use language like shape. And I know it's a nice word, but it almost, it kind of communicates, communicates that we have some control, which I think is hilarious when you've got teenage kids and adult kids like me. Dave and I often say we have no control here. We have influence, but we don't have any. We don't have control here. And I think that's really healthy. And that really is a big part of Charlotte Mason's ideas. She was a, an educator from, from the age of 13. She was an apprentice in Victorian era, an apprentice teacher. And she never married, never had her own children, but she gave her whole life, for the children's sake. And there's a beautiful book named after that, which was written in the 80s, but on brand, almost branded on some of even her furniture, across, the things that she owned, she would often have engraved for the children's sake, because her whole life was given for that. Now she was surrounded by mothers and educators and inspectors. And so she had. She didn't just do this on her own. And what she saw in the Victorian age was that children, one was seen and not heard. That was very common. But secondly, that there was a, A polarization in what they were exposed to educationally, depending on, you know, money basically, depending on how much, what kind of family they were in, where they were living in England and what the expectation of their life was going to be. So if you're born into a mining family or a, you know, a factory family, then you kind of got the basics of education. And then it was expected at a very young age that you would be in the family trade. And then education was kind of shut down. this is generalizing. And then if you were from a wealthier family, I mean, people have watched those great British, history historical documentaries and all sorts of things, but they were just, you know, they'd often have private tutors and governesses, and they were educated to a higher level and given more opportunity. And Charlotte Mason said, we need an education for all. Now, she wasn't saying this is exactly how a child was. You know, it will change the future of Britain. But she said every child, and she used the word liberal, not as we often use it today, but it as in wide and varied and beautiful. And she described education as a feast of education. So she said every child should be, be open to this. They should be able to do this because one, they're made in the image of God. And two, we need to allow children to connect with the world around them with beautiful literature, with art and culture and great maths, great science, so that we can discover who God has made them to be. So rather than dictating with, with test scores and, and tick lists and, you know, that's. Exams come eventually to most people, but for the majority of their childhood we get to expose them to beauty and rich culture and biblical principles that draws out who they are. And it's so, it is so simple, but yet it's very unique in its approach and how it was lining up against the educational voices of that day and today.
Dr. Jessica Peck Well, your book series is called Tales of Boldness and Faith. And the first book is the Angel Orphan Charlotte Mason Finds Her Way Home. It is a fictionalized account of Charlotte Marie Shaw Mason and her and her life. How was it researching that Leah, and bringing her character to life and knowing that, you know, you're telling this story about a girl who became a woman who was a leader in this education movement that changed the course of your family's life and countless other families. What was that like? How did you balance the historical accuracy with bringing her to life on the pages of your book?
Leah Boden Yeah, I mean it was so I. The series so far has three books. Only two have been released. And even though I knew the most about Charlotte Mason initially, it was probably the hardest to write because I knew so much about her and I'd been, you know, I call myself a student, I still do call myself a student of her work. love, you know, reading about her, and I have access, within a few hours I can access her archives, I can even look at her original manuscripts of her books, which is a privilege. So I had to decide what elements of this incredible story do I share with this middle grade audience. And I really think, you know, the series is called Tales of Boldness and Faith and the title, Angel Orphan is because she was, she was orphaned as a teenager. Both, both her parents passed away and. But the, the angel part was how someone described her at the end of her life. they said she had a f. The face of an angel. And everyone said she was warm and so kind. And she just reflected really, did reflect the heart of Jesus, that the way she treated people, the way she attended to her work, and also was faithful to what God had given her to do. She didn't try to go beyond that. She taught governesses and teaches. She teaches. She taught children and she wrote about it as well. And it's almost. She put everything into that and really was a, as an educational leader, a businesswoman, an ah, entrepreneur in her time really. But it all had one focus and and that was, you know, So sorry.
Dr. Jessica Peck That's okay. Are you there?
Leah Boden Is ah, that you? Is that you or me?
Dr. Jessica Peck I don't. I don't hear anything. You sound okay to me, Leah.
Leah Boden I can hear. I'm so sorry.
Dr. Jessica Peck That's okay.
Leah Boden I know this is live.
Dr. Jessica Peck No, that is all right. No, I can't hear anything at all. No, that's okay. This is the joy and adventure of live radio. It's all good. I'm gonna go back to James 1. We going to rejoice in the trials and tribulations of live radio and technology. Are you able to continue, Leah?
Leah Boden I can continue. I don't know what that was. Something has happened.
Dr. Jessica Peck All right, no problem. It is okay.
Leah says Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling offers freedom and flexibility
Well, you were just talking about the, the incredible life of Charlotte Mason. And you know, it reminded me when, when one of my children, when one of my sons was going to kindergarten, he had gone to school for the day and I, when he got home, I asked him, I said, well, what did you learn today? And he said, oh, I learned that when the little hand on the clock is on the 10 and the big hand is on the 6, we get to go outside. That's what he had learned. And you know, I thought, oh, children are brilliant. Yes. But you know, that's one of the freedoms and flexibilities that you have with the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling. Because there is. So there is emphasis on narration instead of testing. There's living books over just reading textbooks and there's nature study, outdoor time. There are things that you've talked about, how you wanted it to be beautiful. You want education to be enjoyable and not something that you have to do. And I think of how many parents are sitting here, you know, fighting over homework and schooling may be a challenge. And you know, I always think about, Leah, that when, however you educate your kids, it's going to be difficult. You just get to choose what that difficult looks like. Is it difficult and learning a new method and, and. But then your children enjoy it or is it difficult? And this is what we have to do. But that. That homework is difficult, but you get to choose that. Talk about some of the freedom and the beauty and the. The contrast that is there that you found in Charlotte Mason.
Leah Boden I think a big thing that I. I learned over the years as often I. I do some coaching as well. And mothers will come to me and they'll use the language if I just feel completely burnt out. And you know, I don't know what to do next. I'm exhausted. And I. And I've Something that I learned very early on is that it as well as not just me, I'm not really educating my children, even though that is my role. If it was my role for many, many years. But I'm This. This coming alongside helped me even visually of that we're doing this journey together. I mean, yes, that they have to, you know, learn the. How to attend to their life and work and you know, the simple things of mathematics and handwriting and reading are really important. but I get to come alongside and do the journey with them, which that had. It just feels there's a more gentle approach to it. It. And I know because I felt like that was a privilege and I also found the delight in doing that then that was really for me, kind of protected me in. In somewhat, from burnout, from feeling that completely. I'm done. And I knew when I had to take a break, I knew when we needed to just, hey, let's just pause and do something different. But that coming alongside that. That picture of that was. Really helped me. I think that also the whole. Being a student of. Of her work of Charlotte Mason says get yourself an educational philosopher. Like, like know why you're doing it. What's your why? And that's also really important that keeps you moving forward. Know your why. And so that in itself I knew one that really got. Guided us to this and that was a huge reason to keep moving forward. But also that I also loved it and enjoyed it. And I wasn't just. Just looking for curriculum. I was daily searching for connection with my children, with God. And that again, that's. That really kept everything very organic and alive. And every day was fresh. And yes, I had a plan and yes I did my work. But still we approached every day being grateful. Like what. Let's see what. How this day unfolds. And we all know as parents, something can happen to one child and it changes the whole day. Or, you know, anything. Anything can just affect that where you. The way your day goes. so those things did it softened the journey. it wasn't easy. you still are dealing, ah, with all the same parenting things and also really desiring your child to progress academically, intellectually. But m, ultimately, if you, you feel, if you carry the 100 responsibility of that as a weight, then it will be a burden, it will be stress, and you'll all end up in tears at the end of the day. But I knew that actually my children are made in the image of God and they are capable of engaging with the world and contributing to it. I just need to draw that stuff out of them.
Dr. Jessica Peck Absolutely. And I have more questions for you. We'll about talk, talk more about the series of books. The second book is actually about C.S. lewis, so don't go away. We'll be right back with more from Leah Boden See you on the other side of this break.
Mark Oss You may have noticed it's become hard to trust the media. Casual observers know it. Newshounds have noticed it. Even members of the media are talking about it. I, I'm very worried about the press, extremely worried about the press.
Mark Ose Seasoned mainstream media pro Leslie Stahl says legacy media credibility is down because of people like Elon Musk and President Trump. If the president of the United States is going to say legacy media is dead, well, I guess Musk said that legacy media is dead.
Mark Oss What she doesn't get is that the media's lack of credibility has followed years of biased reporting. On the other hand, you can trust American Family News. AFN presents the facts in an unbiased way so you can draw your own conclusions. American Family News also provides news of interest to Christians, which you won't hear from the mainstream at the top of the hour or at afn.net you can trust American Family News.
Good Day by Forrest Frank Okay, okay, okay. I'm, about to have a good day no matter what what they say. Sun is shining down on me Birds to sing embrace. I'm about to have a good day in every single way. The God who made the universe knows me by my name. So it's a good day.
Dr. Jessica Peck Welcome back, friends. That is Good Day by Forrest Frank. And I feel like Forrest Frank is playing everywhere I go. And his songs really are so uplifting. And today we're bringing you an uplifting show with an uplifting guest. I'm talking to Leah Boden today about her series of books. There are three books. They are, in a series called Tales of Boldness and Faith. Now, if you're following along on our 52 Habits for Healthy families, our habit this Week and last week in is reading faith based books and watching faith based films. And I will tell you that I have always made it a habit of reading out loud to my kids and if that is not something that you have done before, I encourage you to do it. And it may be awkward and you may get some eye rolls and some groans and some really. But persevere because what happened for me was I would continue to read out loud and then at the end of that chapter I would hear a oh, not. Are you done? Not another one. Can we read one more? And then you would know they would love having that interaction with you. This might be great books for your school age kids. The first one is called Angel Orphan Charlotte Mason Finds her way Home about Charlotte Mason, a woman who lived in 19th century England and she is the founder of the Charlotte Mason homeschooling method. And her second book the Chronicles of Wonder is available now about C.S. lewis and and there is a third book that is forthcoming. And for me as I start to think about the soundtrack of my summer as my four kids are home, I've got high school, college age kids. I'm talking about cars moving in and out of the driveway, laughter at like midnight coming from my kids just having a good time together, the door opening and closing 14 million times as we're going to move the cars in the driveway and. And the reorganizer never closed. Exactly that. See you know this, we're in the the same life phase. I know you know that and I listened to that soundtrack. I hope that parents will listen to the soundtrack of their summer and include some of this with them. Leah, some of these books that you have written. And so I would love to know more just about how this series of books came to be and what was your vision for writing the tales of boldness and faith?
Leah Boden M. Thank you for asking. That's such a great question. I, I love this story because, because this really is rooted. I mean I think the seeds of this series began to grow in me even I would honestly say as a teenager myself I remember reading Just being. I loved Tales of Missionaries and I read Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger on repeat. I used to live reading Nikki Cruz's anything about mission work, the gospel, going out to all the nations. I just would read all those books and as I was began my home educating journey. A big part of our, the rhythm of our days and weeks was reading biographies, children's biographies, we even started with board books and simple books. You can get. And then moved on to chapter versions of that. And my favorite, collection of these were written in the 1940s, 1950s. And I would find them in, in secondhand bookstores and online and buy them whenever I could find them. And they were what I would describe as, fictionalized biographies. That's kind of the. We've. Sometimes I say to my publisher, have we made up the genre? But anyway, that's what we're calling it. And really what it is, it's the, it's the, it's the, the, the foundation of the story in the book is the biography, as much as you can share of that person. But woven through that is storytelling. And just, just imagine if the. So I'll often say to children who are reading my book and they'll say, you know, did this bit happen? I'm like, well, it could have. And we're just, you know, am I. Very soon, especially over the summer, my website will be full of educational resources and curriculum support to help people pick through that and really sort of learn from it. but it, it came from that. And I remember my first book, Modern Ms. Mason, you know, flew. Launched out into the world and had been out, a year or so and sharing, suddenly sharing with my, with my literary agent, you know, wouldn't be amazing to write Charlotte's Story as a biography. Biography for children. So there are two biographies that have been written for adults. One is pretty academic, quite high brow, very good, very thorough. I read it multiple times in my study and she immediately said yes. And she said, and think of 10 more people. Publishing is very excitable. And so, so I said, okay, you know, where should we go with this? And the wonderful people at Moody Publishers jumped right on and said, we want to do this with you. They, they love that kind of series. And honestly, it felt like right from the beginning of the process, it just felt like a gift to be able to write these stories. I haven't, written four children before, but I have read to my children for 22 years and I've read these kind of books on repeat. So these were almost part. They become part of my soul, you know, this style and like communicating what we can learn from the powerful work of God in somebody's life that we can learn from. I, I have grown and been, been discipled and mentored by, through reading. and I have my. You know, there's things that have really impacted me where God has done things in my life through the reading of stories of other people's. Lives. And so my prayer in every page and as I was writing and going through these books was that like, lord, guide me in communicating the right parts of these stories. And so just a huge privilege to be able to, to write these books and get them out into, you know, the hands and homes of, of hopefully people all over the world. And that in itself feels very missional to me of being able to do that. Yeah.
Character and habit formation are central to Charlotte Mason method of home education
Dr. Jessica Peck Well, character and habit formation, habit training are central to Charlotte Mason method of, of home education. How did you pull that through in your book? Because I think that's so important for us to give our children exemplars of that. People who persevered, people who were patient, people who were brave and bold, people who, you know, stepped out in fai, people who endured hardship and yet remained, you know, soft in spirit. Those kinds of real stories are so important to give and you have given us those. And so how do you see that kind of bridge from that character and habit training that's part of your everyday schooling? How did you see that come across the pages of these stories that you're telling?
Leah Boden I think it was important to me that I didn't hide away or was fearful about sharing the real stuff in these people's lives. So in, in Charlotte Mason's story, you know, I took in fact in all three stories, Jessica, I didn't realize until I'd finished them all.
There are various themes that run through that are very dark
There are various themes that run through that are going to sound very dark when I say them. But actually what you see is this, what God does through this. And so there are themes of grief, there are themes of displacement which a lot of children experience. Having to be moved from one country to another, or even one school to another, one school district to another, or one season to any kind of transition can be a huge displacement for children. So there are themes of family grief, of just, you know, relationships, sibling relationships. There are so many similar themes to all these three books that actually then I recognize as I stood back and thought, oh yeah, look at this, this is happening. But we see the work of God, of God's faithfulness, his, that beautiful grace and mercy, just following them all the days of their lives. And you see that coming through. But also you see the decision of each person I write about to you know, continue to step in that direction. And so for CS Lewis, you know, his faith journey, actually his, his salvation story happened a lot later in life.
Leah Boden You know, he was a full on adult man when he decided he was fighting against salvation and gaze God. And he kind of relented, didn't he, later in life. but the Sarah, Sarah Forbes Bonetta story and, and Charlotte story, there really is this, beautiful, simple faith from childhood that grows through. And so what we see in all these books and what I wanted to communicate is that, ah, just because we're following Jesus, just because we have this beautiful call in our lives to do certain things, doesn't mean that we are not going to go through tough stuff. And in Charlotte's story, actually, are you. I talk about her friend, shares the scripture with her, you know, where Jesus says, you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world. And she carries that with her, her. Because she does have trouble, but she understands that she serves a God who has overcome. And so that, that again runs through. So I have the real life, narrative over their lives, but the thread that was woven all the way through is the truth of scripture and them aligning themselves with that. so, you know, it's. And that ultimately leads to fruit and freedom. And so I hope children see that as they read and families see that as they read through them.
Dr. Jessica Peck One of the verses I share with my children all the time, John 15:33, that is exactly it. We want to protect our kids from all of the bad things that happen in the world, but the truth is we can't do that. Leah, we live in a world that's saturated by screens. We live in a world where news moves at the speed of a smartphone. We live in a world where our kids are exposed to things we don't want them to be exposed to. But this is such a great example of a community exposing them to hardship, to the hardship of others in a developmentally appropriate way, in a way that is written for their age, that they can understand, and that's given through the lens of faith. That is such an important illustration. And we look at things that happened in scripture, we see all of those things. There were terrible things that happened in scripture. But God? But God? Those are my two favorite words together in the history of the English language for sure.
How do you hope that these stories of faith will influence a new generation of readers
And that goes back to a little bit more what you were talking about earlier, Leah, about influence versus control. Sharing some of these stories is a way to influence them, to say, hey, there are other people in the world who have experienced some of the emotions, some of the circumstances, some of the tragedies, the trials, the triumphs that you have experienced. And here is how they use their life to glorify God. That's where influence comes from. And if we try to control every little thing that is, that is a fruitless journey for sure. So how do you see that? How do you see the. How do you hope that these stories of faith will influence a new generation of readers?
Leah Boden I, I hope that we don't move away from thinking, you know, this, this idea that we can't learn from, from these people of the past anymore. And I think that, like you just mentioned, we live in an age where, you know, somebody is a, has a lot of followship on Tick Tock or Instagram and they're suddenly deemed as an expert, as someone who has, you know, a voice into our life. And I always say to people, be careful who you give the microphone to, who holds the microphone in your life, who is allowed to have a voice into your life. And so, you know, is it the Instagram expert who's 25 years old and done, you know, or can we still learn from those who have gone before us? I mean, Charlotte Mason was a huge proponent of learning from people like Plutarch, who shared these stories of leaders throughout the years from Julius Caesar. You know, like the, we need to learn from the downfalls and the, the, the, the successes of those that have gone before us. And so that's what I want, I want to do that through these stories is that can we learn from the, the, the challenges and the successes of these people? But more than that is that their, their, their devotion to Jesus and following Jesus and understanding him, no matter how simple or grand their life was, no matter how, much we might know them or might not know them. You know, some people will know CS Lewis very well because of the accolade he has from his writing. some in the right circles will know Charlotte Mason, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the book that's coming out in, in August. She was a West African orphan and, and was kind of taken, taken under the wing of Queen Victoria. It's an incredible story, a really moving story, but I doubt many people will have heard of her. And it's kind of not just picking out the famous few, but saying there are people who have walked along, along side others in, in life, through history and today that we can learn from and that we could, that can point us to Jesus over and over again. So through these books I wanted to retell these beautiful stories of lives that, that should be remembered, but also that all of them would encourage us in our faith and also just, you know, help us find connections in those stories. And like you've just said, there are I mean, as I was writing, I was imagining children. You know, C.S. lewis struggled. He was bullied at school and, and you know, working through that and how he dealt with that and what he held on to. And this is even before he knew he knew how to relationship with Jesus. And so we cover lots and lots of different things through those stories. So hopefully children will see a little bit of themselves in there, see others, but also most of all, see Jesus. And that's my hope for them. Them.
Dr. Jessica Peck Amen to that. I don't know what to add to that, Leah. That is exactly my prayer. my heart echoes that for you. And I go back to the quote that I shared at the beginning of the show from C S Lewis. Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work. How you choose to invest in your children this summer, no matter their age or stage, it doesn't matter if they're little, if they're middle school, school, if they're grown, invest in your children. Leaving them a legacy of faith is the most important work. If you want to know more about Leah's books about modern miss Mason or the Charlotte Mason home education, you can go to leahboden.com L E A H B O D E-N leahboden.com and as you do, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and that he will be gracious to you as you invest in your kids. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow. Jeff Chamblee The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Dr. Jessica Peck hosts the Nurse Mama show on American Family Radio
Dr. Jessica Peck Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck. Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of the day, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. I hope that you had a good holiday weekend. And we are so grateful for the opportunity to observe Memorial Day and just be so grateful for those who have given their lives in service of our country. And if that is you or your family, just please accept on, on behalf of a grateful nation, our thanks and for that sacrifice. And, today we are talking about investing in your family and reading bold stories of adventure. We're going to be talking about homeschooling today. We're going to be talking about children today. I've got a lot to cover, so hang in there. But I want to start by sharing with one of my Favorite quotes from C.S. lewis. This quote. It is all over everywhere in my house. I frequently use it and it says this. Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work. And you can imagine as someone who has devoted her life to the health and well being, of children. I love this quote by C.S. lewis. And today we're going to talk to someone who knows a little something about CS Lewis. We're talking today to Leah Boden She's coming to us all the way from across the pond, from England. She is a wife to Dave, she's mother to four children. She has more than two decades of experience in church leadership and she also has devoted herself to youth and children's and family work within the church and for the local education authority. She is a respected speaker, a podcast host and a coach who passionately shares the transformative beauty of the Charlotte Mason approach to childhood, my motherhood and education. She is the Author of Modern Ms. Mason and Lives with her family in west, Midlands England. Leah, we are so grateful to you coming to us all the way from across the pond. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Leah Boden Thank you for having me on, Jessica. I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Dr. Jessica Peck I am too. And Leah, we are big fans of equipping families to choose the best schooling for their kids. And I know there are a lot of families who school is just getting out for the summer and there are some families who are thinking maybe we want to try something different next year. Maybe we want to take that leap of faith. Try homeschooling, try a private school, try Something different. And for homeschooling there are different options. And you are a fan and an expert in the Charlotte Mason method. And so I definitely want to talk about that. But let's just back up to the beginning and just tell us a little bit about you and how you came to be where you are with this ministry and the heart that you have to equip families. Sure.
Leah Boden Yeah. Well, as you've already introduced, I'm Leah, married today for, almost 25 years. Coming up for our 25th anniversary and our four children, I've got two boys, two girls. They range from 22 down to 14. So life, is just. Is full and interesting and as you know, having four children, and it is a real blessing. And we have obviously taken our marriage and parenting journey, as a, is something that has a gift from God, but we have a responsibility for. So very early on in our parenting journey we knew we needed not just to love our kids and do what we could and, but we needed to have a vision for our family. And as part of that process, we began to explore this whole idea of their discipleship and their education and what part we get to play in that. Here in the uk, kids generally start school, they have their little uniforms on and they formally start school around the age of four. And yeah, I, you know, I think we finally decided. I don't know if we're quite ready for that. And that wasn't the journey we wanted. So we began to explore what home education looked like here in the uk. So our. In the midst of life and family and ministry, we were making these big steps and big decisions in what do we want? What do we see for our children, how do we, what do we do today to kind of begin to sow into that? And part of that for us was beginning this exploration into home education. it's not as developed and the community is not as large as it is in the States. You know, I think we, we probably in. In the US 70s and 80s where there was a real resurgence of home education and we're probably a couple of decades behind, you guys in the States. So I was googling stuff like is it legal to home educate? And so I really was starting from the beginning, but really the. As I was doing these, Dave and I were beginning this, this beginnings of research, I came across the revolutionary British Christian educator Charlotte Mason, who was really at the height of her, her ministry and her what she had to give into the educational model here in the UK in the, you know, early 1900s, late 1800s, early 1900s was when she was really moving and shaking, the educational model. And so I, what I say is that I went down that rabbit hole and you know, nearly two decades on I still have not come up and I have just found not only this incredible depth of wisdom and knowledge, but a philosophy of education rooted in God's word that Dave and I have been able to really, not only be students of, but be practitioners of with our four children, which is a huge blessing.
Dr. Jessica Peck Leah, that's that's so such a beautiful journey. And you said that at the very beginning when you started talking about this, you said you were looking at your kids. Discipleship and education. You use those two words together. And I think that's the beauty of what you've been able to do, is to marry the, those two, to, to integrate discipleship into education, not have them as two separate entities. We are discipling them and we're educating them, but you are really discipling them through education. And you also said we thought about what part we wanted to play in that and you moved in this intentional direction and like you said, now two decades later, here you are.
Leah is passionate about parents role in the discipleship of their children
So talk to me a little bit more about that marriage of discipleship and education and how you see those integrated in your children's experience.
Leah Boden I mean I could talk for hours on this stuff. It's, I'm very passionate about the parents role in the discipleship of their children. And our conviction was always that we are the primary disciples of our children. We know that God intended it to be for, intended us to be in family, in community. We're never supposed to do this journey alone. But especially those younger childhood years coming up into their early teens that we were at, we were in the forefront of their life. That we didn't want them to be sent off to some institution for hours and hours and hours where you just catching the kind of fringes of the day with them. We wanted to form a vision for our family and a rhythm for our life that included us all together. And so that discipleship is that emulation, of pattern impartation of life that day to day walking together, and the, the, the fact that we decided that we would home educate then you don't separate those two things. So you know, the beginning of our day together was breakfast, reading the Bible together, praying over my family. And that still hasn't changed. You know, I drive my older teenagers to one of them is left and is doing national exams in school. And we drive and we pray. we call it car chapel. It's great. Oh, I love that. That is, that is how we have always, always topped and tailed our days. And. But then it's woven throughout everything you do. So you can be doing scientific nature study, but talking about God's creation. you know, and that in all our parenting challenges, you put prayer first and you talk about, okay, let's look at what the Bible says about this. So our. We've got that great scripture in Deuteronomy that talks about, as you walk along the way you share scripture and the word of go well with our family. And the, the great thing about when you're home educating is that there becomes this natural rhythm that comes with it, that it's not forced into this kind of. I mean, I absolutely believe in family devotion time. I think discipline, is important. But what our family thrived on is the interwovenness of it, that it was so natural and it was just such a. I, mean, I wasn't home educated, but I grew up in a house where my parents were always in prayer, always had worship music on wherever we go. It was the most, you know, second or first nature really isn't it, that they were talking to us about the things of the Lord, and that's how we want it to be in our household. And so that does then infiltrate everything you do. And, your conversation is, as the Bible says, seasoned with salt, that it's always, part of who you are and what you do. So I'm not saying every math lesson was, you know, counting loaves and fishes, but, you know, we knew the heart of God was in our decision making. It was prayer was in every day. And, and then you, you just trust God then with the fruit of that and what comes out of that.
Dr. Jessica Peck Yeah, that's a beautiful illustration of that, of that verse in Deuteronomy. As you walk, walk along the road or as you drive along in car chapel, I'm completely stealing that. I love that.
Leah Boden Yes, you should.
Dr. Jessica Peck I am. And I think that, Leah, you know, you're two decades into this, and I think when a lot of parents first step out into a homeschooling journey, you're starting to plant seeds that you don't yet see the growth for. You don't really know where it's going to go, how it's going to turn out. But you have the beautiful blessing of being able to look back at two decades now of investment in this, you said Your oldest is 22 and you're driving them to university and, and on they're starting to really start their adult lives. What do you see now as the fruit of those seeds that you planted so long ago? What do you see as the reward of that?
Leah Boden Yeah, great question. sometimes I've gone years even and thinking I don't see anything. It's hard right now. And I think there are seasons, maybe not years, but there have been seasons where I have gone to, I've been going to God in prayer and I often say to the Lord, lord, you have the blueprint on my children. Show me, just give me a little bit, give me, give me a little glimpse into what to do here. And I love that the book of James says, if you need, if you ask for wisdom, I'll give you wisdom. And I think as parents we have to go to God with that every day. And so there have been seasons where I've just thought, wow, I, I, I'm not seeing much comeback here. I'm not getting any great reviews from my kids. And then something will happen, something will happen. Especially as they got into their older teens. And my eldest daughter who's been living abroad for the past year, she's, she's the 22 year old. It, it was almost in the past year that she started to share some things with as a family. And I've asked more direct questions about her home educating journey where we have just seen so not only verbally but seen it in her life. the, the fruit of, of the investment from childhood in great literature, being out in nature, good cultural stuff, music and art and that. Actually, you know, she's been living in France and Italy that she can't get away from, that she can't go through a European city without looking for art and beauty in nature. And through that, she, she'll often send me messages and or postcards and saying this reminded me of my childhood. I saw this today and it reminded me of when you told us this or I heard this music today and it reminded me of that moment when we were homeschooled and this happened and she, she can come up with these beautiful memories also. what I have recognized is as my children have got older and they've, their world has got bigger, it's kind of, you know, as it, as it should and it does, expands beyond your home and your, your little family, your big family and as grown in their friendships and relationships within the church outside of, they've noticed how different families work, how other children have been raised and what they've been exposed to and how they've been educated. And they'll often come back and go, and I'm, hear me, I'm not trying to be arrogant here, but you asked the, you know, a question about the fruit. But they'll say things like, gosh, our family, you really did some very specific things, didn't you? Or thank you for teaching us that, or thank you for always being in prayer. That was the one of the things that my teenage daughter said to me recently. She said, we pray a lot, don't we? And we do that really naturally. And I said, yeah, it's really important. She said, I've been around so many, even Christian children that they don't have that in their life and they don't know that. And that's discipleship. That is that just kind of, this is not forced. This is not some set plan. We haven't bought a particular book to follow. We just know that the overflow of our life in Christ, rooted and grafted in Christ, has to flow out of us and into our family, into our household, into our children. And so I think I love gathering.
Dr. Jessica Peck I'm gonna hold you right there as you're gathering it because we are coming up against our first break and I want to hear more about that. When we come back, we'll talk more about Charlotte Mason and her legacy and what she did, and we'll talk more about Leah's books. If you are looking for some summer reading for your kids, we have got a great recommendation for you in the tales of boldness and Faith. Don't go away. We'll be right back with more from Leah Boden
PreBorn is the greatest threat to the abortion industry
Because of the generous donations provided from listeners like you, PreBorn has rescued over 330,000 babies. But every day, the abortion industry is taking thousands of babies lives. We have to save them. Please donate your best gift to save more babies at preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR. as we celebrate the many pro life victories going forth, we rejoice. Preborn's network of clinics have a unique opportunity to advance even further without political persecution. What does this look like? PreBorn is the greatest threat to the abortion industry. By rescuing on average 200 babies lives a day, they are putting a serious dent into abortion. But there are still thousands of babies who die daily. And Preborn's goal is to rescue them all. With the help of the pro life community, meaning you, we can save so many more. Please join us in saving all of these precious lives. The ultrasound is the game changer. Once a mother hears that precious heartbeat, she is twice as likely to choose life. If you consider yourself pro life, we need your help. One ultrasound is just $28. Five ultrasounds are $140 $5000 Sponsors ultrasounds for the entire PreBorn Network for an entire day. How many lives can you save? Every child is a beautiful gift from God. Please join the cause. To donate Securely, please dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby that's pound 250 baby or visit preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR PreBorn is there for hurting mothers and at risk babies standing strong in the darkest corners of our nation. By sponsoring an ultrasound, you can be there too. One ultrasound is just $28 and doubles a baby's chance at life. Please donate your best gift to Save more babies at preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR.
Made For More by Josh Baldwin I was made for more so why would I make I've been in my shame When a fountain of grace is running my way I know I am yours and I was made for more. I. Know who I am cuz I know who you are the cross of salvation was only the start Now I am chosen free and forgiven I have a future.
Dr. Jessica Peck Welcome back friends. That song is Made For More by Josh Baldwin. And hey, maybe your child's education is made for more. Maybe you are finishing up the school year and you are thinking maybe we need to do something different. If that is you, then today's program is for you. Or maybe you've already made that leap. Maybe you are choosing a different path of education. We are talking today with my guest Leah Boden She's an author and she's a Charlotte Mason homeschooling effort who took that leap of faith more than two decades ago, homeschooled her four children in England, and now has been sharing with us the fruits of that. And Leah, I'm so glad that you shared that because I think there are so many listening who may be newer in a homeschool journey and a home education journey and you don't see those those fruits right away. A lot of times I remember being in a pineapple field in Hawaii. I've shared this story many, but I went out there to see pineapples and all I saw was a giant field of red dirt. I did not see pineapples as far as my eye could see. And yet there were all of These workers who were out there who were tending to the field. And it really convicted me, Leah, because I looked around and I thought, they know what they planted. They have confidence in the seed that they planted and they know it will grow in the appointed time. And that's the kind of confidence that we need to have in our kids if we are faithful to plant in them the seeds that God gives us. If we are intentional about investing in their discipleship journey, they need to see our confidence that we will see the fruit of those labors. And you referenced before the Break James 1, which is one of my favorite passages of Scripture, encouraging us to rejoice in our trials because the testing of our faith produces, a character. And when we look at that, we can know that there can be challenges. Nothing is ever going to be easy but talking about the benefits of the blessings that you've had in this. And of course, that passage in James goes on to say that if any of us lacks wisdom, we can ask God, because he gives freely and abundantly to those who ask. And one of the things I've been looking at, Leah, looking at the world emerging from COVID one of the greatest fears that educators that people who were invested in children had was children are going to be behind. Children who were in school are going to be behind on math and science and all of those things. And what we have learned in the research that's emerged from that says, actually those things are not very difficult to catch up on, but the things that are very difficult to catch up on are character. And this is kind of shifts into the philosophy of Charlotte Mason. So I want you to start, Leah, by telling us who she is, because your book that you've written that I would recommend for summer reading, it's. It looks so great, is a fictionalized account of her life. But she was a real person. So tell us about the legacy of Charlotte Mason.
Leah Boden Jessica, you said so many amazing things there, and I'm just. When you were talking about the, the pineapple field. So my first book is called Modern Ms. Mason, which is basically a 21st century, take really on the Charlotte Mason philosophy. And I talk in there because one of the things that one of the major principles of, of her Charlotte Mason's philosophy is that which is rooted in, in Scripture, is that children are born persons. They're born in the image of God. And part of the educational approach is that we're not spoon feeding our kids what we think they should know. We are facilitating their world and education to draw out of Them who God has made them to be. And so just like that pineapple field, I talk about the seed, just like we're talking about here, which is the theme of our conversation. It seems that the seed that God has already. Already said, this is who your child is. And we, you know, I think often as parents, we think we get to, we use language like shape. And I know it's a nice word, but it almost, it kind of communicates, communicates that we have some control, which I think is hilarious when you've got teenage kids and adult kids like me. Dave and I often say we have no control here. We have influence, but we don't have any. We don't have control here. And I think that's really healthy. And that really is a big part of Charlotte Mason's ideas. She was a, an educator from, from the age of 13. She was an apprentice in Victorian era, an apprentice teacher. And she never married, never had her own children, but she gave her whole life, for the children's sake. And there's a beautiful book named after that, which was written in the 80s, but on brand, almost branded on some of even her furniture, across, the things that she owned, she would often have engraved for the children's sake, because her whole life was given for that. Now she was surrounded by mothers and educators and inspectors. And so she had. She didn't just do this on her own. And what she saw in the Victorian age was that children, one was seen and not heard. That was very common. But secondly, that there was a, A polarization in what they were exposed to educationally, depending on, you know, money basically, depending on how much, what kind of family they were in, where they were living in England and what the expectation of their life was going to be. So if you're born into a mining family or a, you know, a factory family, then you kind of got the basics of education. And then it was expected at a very young age that you would be in the family trade. And then education was kind of shut down. this is generalizing. And then if you were from a wealthier family, I mean, people have watched those great British, history historical documentaries and all sorts of things, but they were just, you know, they'd often have private tutors and governesses, and they were educated to a higher level and given more opportunity. And Charlotte Mason said, we need an education for all. Now, she wasn't saying this is exactly how a child was. You know, it will change the future of Britain. But she said every child, and she used the word liberal, not as we often use it today, but it as in wide and varied and beautiful. And she described education as a feast of education. So she said every child should be, be open to this. They should be able to do this because one, they're made in the image of God. And two, we need to allow children to connect with the world around them with beautiful literature, with art and culture and great maths, great science, so that we can discover who God has made them to be. So rather than dictating with, with test scores and, and tick lists and, you know, that's. Exams come eventually to most people, but for the majority of their childhood we get to expose them to beauty and rich culture and biblical principles that draws out who they are. And it's so, it is so simple, but yet it's very unique in its approach and how it was lining up against the educational voices of that day and today.
Dr. Jessica Peck Well, your book series is called Tales of Boldness and Faith. And the first book is the Angel Orphan Charlotte Mason Finds Her Way Home. It is a fictionalized account of Charlotte Marie Shaw Mason and her and her life. How was it researching that Leah, and bringing her character to life and knowing that, you know, you're telling this story about a girl who became a woman who was a leader in this education movement that changed the course of your family's life and countless other families. What was that like? How did you balance the historical accuracy with bringing her to life on the pages of your book?
Leah Boden Yeah, I mean it was so I. The series so far has three books. Only two have been released. And even though I knew the most about Charlotte Mason initially, it was probably the hardest to write because I knew so much about her and I'd been, you know, I call myself a student, I still do call myself a student of her work. love, you know, reading about her, and I have access, within a few hours I can access her archives, I can even look at her original manuscripts of her books, which is a privilege. So I had to decide what elements of this incredible story do I share with this middle grade audience. And I really think, you know, the series is called Tales of Boldness and Faith and the title, Angel Orphan is because she was, she was orphaned as a teenager. Both, both her parents passed away and. But the, the angel part was how someone described her at the end of her life. they said she had a f. The face of an angel. And everyone said she was warm and so kind. And she just reflected really, did reflect the heart of Jesus, that the way she treated people, the way she attended to her work, and also was faithful to what God had given her to do. She didn't try to go beyond that. She taught governesses and teaches. She teaches. She taught children and she wrote about it as well. And it's almost. She put everything into that and really was a, as an educational leader, a businesswoman, an ah, entrepreneur in her time really. But it all had one focus and and that was, you know, So sorry.
Dr. Jessica Peck That's okay. Are you there?
Leah Boden Is ah, that you? Is that you or me?
Dr. Jessica Peck I don't. I don't hear anything. You sound okay to me, Leah.
Leah Boden I can hear. I'm so sorry.
Dr. Jessica Peck That's okay.
Leah Boden I know this is live.
Dr. Jessica Peck No, that is all right. No, I can't hear anything at all. No, that's okay. This is the joy and adventure of live radio. It's all good. I'm gonna go back to James 1. We going to rejoice in the trials and tribulations of live radio and technology. Are you able to continue, Leah?
Leah Boden I can continue. I don't know what that was. Something has happened.
Dr. Jessica Peck All right, no problem. It is okay.
Leah says Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling offers freedom and flexibility
Well, you were just talking about the, the incredible life of Charlotte Mason. And you know, it reminded me when, when one of my children, when one of my sons was going to kindergarten, he had gone to school for the day and I, when he got home, I asked him, I said, well, what did you learn today? And he said, oh, I learned that when the little hand on the clock is on the 10 and the big hand is on the 6, we get to go outside. That's what he had learned. And you know, I thought, oh, children are brilliant. Yes. But you know, that's one of the freedoms and flexibilities that you have with the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling. Because there is. So there is emphasis on narration instead of testing. There's living books over just reading textbooks and there's nature study, outdoor time. There are things that you've talked about, how you wanted it to be beautiful. You want education to be enjoyable and not something that you have to do. And I think of how many parents are sitting here, you know, fighting over homework and schooling may be a challenge. And you know, I always think about, Leah, that when, however you educate your kids, it's going to be difficult. You just get to choose what that difficult looks like. Is it difficult and learning a new method and, and. But then your children enjoy it or is it difficult? And this is what we have to do. But that. That homework is difficult, but you get to choose that. Talk about some of the freedom and the beauty and the. The contrast that is there that you found in Charlotte Mason.
Leah Boden I think a big thing that I. I learned over the years as often I. I do some coaching as well. And mothers will come to me and they'll use the language if I just feel completely burnt out. And you know, I don't know what to do next. I'm exhausted. And I. And I've Something that I learned very early on is that it as well as not just me, I'm not really educating my children, even though that is my role. If it was my role for many, many years. But I'm This. This coming alongside helped me even visually of that we're doing this journey together. I mean, yes, that they have to, you know, learn the. How to attend to their life and work and you know, the simple things of mathematics and handwriting and reading are really important. but I get to come alongside and do the journey with them, which that had. It just feels there's a more gentle approach to it. It. And I know because I felt like that was a privilege and I also found the delight in doing that then that was really for me, kind of protected me in. In somewhat, from burnout, from feeling that completely. I'm done. And I knew when I had to take a break, I knew when we needed to just, hey, let's just pause and do something different. But that coming alongside that. That picture of that was. Really helped me. I think that also the whole. Being a student of. Of her work of Charlotte Mason says get yourself an educational philosopher. Like, like know why you're doing it. What's your why? And that's also really important that keeps you moving forward. Know your why. And so that in itself I knew one that really got. Guided us to this and that was a huge reason to keep moving forward. But also that I also loved it and enjoyed it. And I wasn't just. Just looking for curriculum. I was daily searching for connection with my children, with God. And that again, that's. That really kept everything very organic and alive. And every day was fresh. And yes, I had a plan and yes I did my work. But still we approached every day being grateful. Like what. Let's see what. How this day unfolds. And we all know as parents, something can happen to one child and it changes the whole day. Or, you know, anything. Anything can just affect that where you. The way your day goes. so those things did it softened the journey. it wasn't easy. you still are dealing, ah, with all the same parenting things and also really desiring your child to progress academically, intellectually. But m, ultimately, if you, you feel, if you carry the 100 responsibility of that as a weight, then it will be a burden, it will be stress, and you'll all end up in tears at the end of the day. But I knew that actually my children are made in the image of God and they are capable of engaging with the world and contributing to it. I just need to draw that stuff out of them.
Dr. Jessica Peck Absolutely. And I have more questions for you. We'll about talk, talk more about the series of books. The second book is actually about C.S. lewis, so don't go away. We'll be right back with more from Leah Boden See you on the other side of this break.
Mark Oss You may have noticed it's become hard to trust the media. Casual observers know it. Newshounds have noticed it. Even members of the media are talking about it. I, I'm very worried about the press, extremely worried about the press.
Mark Ose Seasoned mainstream media pro Leslie Stahl says legacy media credibility is down because of people like Elon Musk and President Trump. If the president of the United States is going to say legacy media is dead, well, I guess Musk said that legacy media is dead.
Mark Oss What she doesn't get is that the media's lack of credibility has followed years of biased reporting. On the other hand, you can trust American Family News. AFN presents the facts in an unbiased way so you can draw your own conclusions. American Family News also provides news of interest to Christians, which you won't hear from the mainstream at the top of the hour or at afn.net you can trust American Family News.
Good Day by Forrest Frank Okay, okay, okay. I'm, about to have a good day no matter what what they say. Sun is shining down on me Birds to sing embrace. I'm about to have a good day in every single way. The God who made the universe knows me by my name. So it's a good day.
Dr. Jessica Peck Welcome back, friends. That is Good Day by Forrest Frank. And I feel like Forrest Frank is playing everywhere I go. And his songs really are so uplifting. And today we're bringing you an uplifting show with an uplifting guest. I'm talking to Leah Boden today about her series of books. There are three books. They are, in a series called Tales of Boldness and Faith. Now, if you're following along on our 52 Habits for Healthy families, our habit this Week and last week in is reading faith based books and watching faith based films. And I will tell you that I have always made it a habit of reading out loud to my kids and if that is not something that you have done before, I encourage you to do it. And it may be awkward and you may get some eye rolls and some groans and some really. But persevere because what happened for me was I would continue to read out loud and then at the end of that chapter I would hear a oh, not. Are you done? Not another one. Can we read one more? And then you would know they would love having that interaction with you. This might be great books for your school age kids. The first one is called Angel Orphan Charlotte Mason Finds her way Home about Charlotte Mason, a woman who lived in 19th century England and she is the founder of the Charlotte Mason homeschooling method. And her second book the Chronicles of Wonder is available now about C.S. lewis and and there is a third book that is forthcoming. And for me as I start to think about the soundtrack of my summer as my four kids are home, I've got high school, college age kids. I'm talking about cars moving in and out of the driveway, laughter at like midnight coming from my kids just having a good time together, the door opening and closing 14 million times as we're going to move the cars in the driveway and. And the reorganizer never closed. Exactly that. See you know this, we're in the the same life phase. I know you know that and I listened to that soundtrack. I hope that parents will listen to the soundtrack of their summer and include some of this with them. Leah, some of these books that you have written. And so I would love to know more just about how this series of books came to be and what was your vision for writing the tales of boldness and faith?
Leah Boden M. Thank you for asking. That's such a great question. I, I love this story because, because this really is rooted. I mean I think the seeds of this series began to grow in me even I would honestly say as a teenager myself I remember reading Just being. I loved Tales of Missionaries and I read Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger on repeat. I used to live reading Nikki Cruz's anything about mission work, the gospel, going out to all the nations. I just would read all those books and as I was began my home educating journey. A big part of our, the rhythm of our days and weeks was reading biographies, children's biographies, we even started with board books and simple books. You can get. And then moved on to chapter versions of that. And my favorite, collection of these were written in the 1940s, 1950s. And I would find them in, in secondhand bookstores and online and buy them whenever I could find them. And they were what I would describe as, fictionalized biographies. That's kind of the. We've. Sometimes I say to my publisher, have we made up the genre? But anyway, that's what we're calling it. And really what it is, it's the, it's the, it's the, the, the foundation of the story in the book is the biography, as much as you can share of that person. But woven through that is storytelling. And just, just imagine if the. So I'll often say to children who are reading my book and they'll say, you know, did this bit happen? I'm like, well, it could have. And we're just, you know, am I. Very soon, especially over the summer, my website will be full of educational resources and curriculum support to help people pick through that and really sort of learn from it. but it, it came from that. And I remember my first book, Modern Ms. Mason, you know, flew. Launched out into the world and had been out, a year or so and sharing, suddenly sharing with my, with my literary agent, you know, wouldn't be amazing to write Charlotte's Story as a biography. Biography for children. So there are two biographies that have been written for adults. One is pretty academic, quite high brow, very good, very thorough. I read it multiple times in my study and she immediately said yes. And she said, and think of 10 more people. Publishing is very excitable. And so, so I said, okay, you know, where should we go with this? And the wonderful people at Moody Publishers jumped right on and said, we want to do this with you. They, they love that kind of series. And honestly, it felt like right from the beginning of the process, it just felt like a gift to be able to write these stories. I haven't, written four children before, but I have read to my children for 22 years and I've read these kind of books on repeat. So these were almost part. They become part of my soul, you know, this style and like communicating what we can learn from the powerful work of God in somebody's life that we can learn from. I, I have grown and been, been discipled and mentored by, through reading. and I have my. You know, there's things that have really impacted me where God has done things in my life through the reading of stories of other people's. Lives. And so my prayer in every page and as I was writing and going through these books was that like, lord, guide me in communicating the right parts of these stories. And so just a huge privilege to be able to, to write these books and get them out into, you know, the hands and homes of, of hopefully people all over the world. And that in itself feels very missional to me of being able to do that. Yeah.
Character and habit formation are central to Charlotte Mason method of home education
Dr. Jessica Peck Well, character and habit formation, habit training are central to Charlotte Mason method of, of home education. How did you pull that through in your book? Because I think that's so important for us to give our children exemplars of that. People who persevered, people who were patient, people who were brave and bold, people who, you know, stepped out in fai, people who endured hardship and yet remained, you know, soft in spirit. Those kinds of real stories are so important to give and you have given us those. And so how do you see that kind of bridge from that character and habit training that's part of your everyday schooling? How did you see that come across the pages of these stories that you're telling?
Leah Boden I think it was important to me that I didn't hide away or was fearful about sharing the real stuff in these people's lives. So in, in Charlotte Mason's story, you know, I took in fact in all three stories, Jessica, I didn't realize until I'd finished them all.
There are various themes that run through that are very dark
There are various themes that run through that are going to sound very dark when I say them. But actually what you see is this, what God does through this. And so there are themes of grief, there are themes of displacement which a lot of children experience. Having to be moved from one country to another, or even one school to another, one school district to another, or one season to any kind of transition can be a huge displacement for children. So there are themes of family grief, of just, you know, relationships, sibling relationships. There are so many similar themes to all these three books that actually then I recognize as I stood back and thought, oh yeah, look at this, this is happening. But we see the work of God, of God's faithfulness, his, that beautiful grace and mercy, just following them all the days of their lives. And you see that coming through. But also you see the decision of each person I write about to you know, continue to step in that direction. And so for CS Lewis, you know, his faith journey, actually his, his salvation story happened a lot later in life.
Leah Boden You know, he was a full on adult man when he decided he was fighting against salvation and gaze God. And he kind of relented, didn't he, later in life. but the Sarah, Sarah Forbes Bonetta story and, and Charlotte story, there really is this, beautiful, simple faith from childhood that grows through. And so what we see in all these books and what I wanted to communicate is that, ah, just because we're following Jesus, just because we have this beautiful call in our lives to do certain things, doesn't mean that we are not going to go through tough stuff. And in Charlotte's story, actually, are you. I talk about her friend, shares the scripture with her, you know, where Jesus says, you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world. And she carries that with her, her. Because she does have trouble, but she understands that she serves a God who has overcome. And so that, that again runs through. So I have the real life, narrative over their lives, but the thread that was woven all the way through is the truth of scripture and them aligning themselves with that. so, you know, it's. And that ultimately leads to fruit and freedom. And so I hope children see that as they read and families see that as they read through them.
Dr. Jessica Peck One of the verses I share with my children all the time, John 15:33, that is exactly it. We want to protect our kids from all of the bad things that happen in the world, but the truth is we can't do that. Leah, we live in a world that's saturated by screens. We live in a world where news moves at the speed of a smartphone. We live in a world where our kids are exposed to things we don't want them to be exposed to. But this is such a great example of a community exposing them to hardship, to the hardship of others in a developmentally appropriate way, in a way that is written for their age, that they can understand, and that's given through the lens of faith. That is such an important illustration. And we look at things that happened in scripture, we see all of those things. There were terrible things that happened in scripture. But God? But God? Those are my two favorite words together in the history of the English language for sure.
How do you hope that these stories of faith will influence a new generation of readers
And that goes back to a little bit more what you were talking about earlier, Leah, about influence versus control. Sharing some of these stories is a way to influence them, to say, hey, there are other people in the world who have experienced some of the emotions, some of the circumstances, some of the tragedies, the trials, the triumphs that you have experienced. And here is how they use their life to glorify God. That's where influence comes from. And if we try to control every little thing that is, that is a fruitless journey for sure. So how do you see that? How do you see the. How do you hope that these stories of faith will influence a new generation of readers?
Leah Boden I, I hope that we don't move away from thinking, you know, this, this idea that we can't learn from, from these people of the past anymore. And I think that, like you just mentioned, we live in an age where, you know, somebody is a, has a lot of followship on Tick Tock or Instagram and they're suddenly deemed as an expert, as someone who has, you know, a voice into our life. And I always say to people, be careful who you give the microphone to, who holds the microphone in your life, who is allowed to have a voice into your life. And so, you know, is it the Instagram expert who's 25 years old and done, you know, or can we still learn from those who have gone before us? I mean, Charlotte Mason was a huge proponent of learning from people like Plutarch, who shared these stories of leaders throughout the years from Julius Caesar. You know, like the, we need to learn from the downfalls and the, the, the, the successes of those that have gone before us. And so that's what I want, I want to do that through these stories is that can we learn from the, the, the challenges and the successes of these people? But more than that is that their, their, their devotion to Jesus and following Jesus and understanding him, no matter how simple or grand their life was, no matter how, much we might know them or might not know them. You know, some people will know CS Lewis very well because of the accolade he has from his writing. some in the right circles will know Charlotte Mason, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the book that's coming out in, in August. She was a West African orphan and, and was kind of taken, taken under the wing of Queen Victoria. It's an incredible story, a really moving story, but I doubt many people will have heard of her. And it's kind of not just picking out the famous few, but saying there are people who have walked along, along side others in, in life, through history and today that we can learn from and that we could, that can point us to Jesus over and over again. So through these books I wanted to retell these beautiful stories of lives that, that should be remembered, but also that all of them would encourage us in our faith and also just, you know, help us find connections in those stories. And like you've just said, there are I mean, as I was writing, I was imagining children. You know, C.S. lewis struggled. He was bullied at school and, and you know, working through that and how he dealt with that and what he held on to. And this is even before he knew he knew how to relationship with Jesus. And so we cover lots and lots of different things through those stories. So hopefully children will see a little bit of themselves in there, see others, but also most of all, see Jesus. And that's my hope for them. Them.
Dr. Jessica Peck Amen to that. I don't know what to add to that, Leah. That is exactly my prayer. my heart echoes that for you. And I go back to the quote that I shared at the beginning of the show from C S Lewis. Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work. How you choose to invest in your children this summer, no matter their age or stage, it doesn't matter if they're little, if they're middle school, school, if they're grown, invest in your children. Leaving them a legacy of faith is the most important work. If you want to know more about Leah's books about modern miss Mason or the Charlotte Mason home education, you can go to leahboden.com L E A H B O D E-N leahboden.com and as you do, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and that he will be gracious to you as you invest in your kids. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow. Jeff Chamblee The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Author and Educator Leah Boden visits with Jessica about her new book series "Tales of Boldness and Faith"
Rx for Hope: Read Stories of Boldness and Faith with Your Children
Live
Did you know American Family Radio is listener-supported? Your monthly financial support will allow us to continue upholding Godly values through our numerous channels, like American Family Radio, One Million Moms, The Stand magazine, and many more.
Become a Great Commission Partner TODAY to help AFR transform culture by rebuilding the family. When you donate today, you’ll get access to:
