I have been mentoring other moms in the homeschool community for over 25 years. It wasn’t until about 12 years ago that the Lord led me to offer my mentoring services to the world at large. I was seeing that I could offer the encouragement and support to sweet mamas that I was interacting with online or that I met at speaking engagements. I could see that while many are very transparent online, there is nothing like being able to share your full story in all its honesty and vulnerability for getting down to the real issues and finding solutions.
What Surprised Me About Mentoring
What surprised me was the ability to walk alongside others without absorbing all of their issues and pain, staying awake at night worrying about them, or obsessing about solutions to their problems. I know other very knowledgeable and experienced moms who won’t minister in this way because of this. I mean, I’m not trained as a counselor. Yet here I am, going strong for decades in this area. Truly, it is the Holy Spirit in me that makes this possible. There’s no other explanation.
Another thing that has surprised me is that while my area of expertise and experience is firmly in the Charlotte Mason camp, having been reading, researching, and practicing for over 25 years, I have helped others who practice classical, unschooling, and traditional methods, too! Peace in the home is for everyone, not just a specified group of homeschoolers.
Definition of Mentor
I prefer the term mentoring over consulting, but I suppose they could be used interchangeably. The dictionary defines the verb mentor as – “to advise or train someone, especially a younger colleague.” But that falls short for what I do. My favorite definition of the noun mentor is from Vigen Guroian:
“A mentor gives himself over to producing in another essential qualities of character that are not merely private or personal but ultimately crucial to the continuance of a special art or a way of life.”
-Vigen Guroian, Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination, p. 104
And this living education is most definitely a special art and a way of life.
What Delights Me About Mentoring
A main delight is working with families over many years and forming relationships with the whole family. I have been able to see children of the mothers I mentor finish homeschool, graduate, and move on in their lives. Now that’s a joy! Or helping with the child who refuses to narrate or maybe can’t narrate. How does one have a Charlotte Mason homeschool without it? The answer lies in the principles and the long-term vision for that child. Each situation is unique and so is each solution. Sometimes it takes years, but if we keep the eternal perspective on all of this – the satisfaction of the issue as well as the journey is so rewarding.
A gift to me has been the development of deep and lasting friendships – sisters in Christ who I pray for and who pray for me. You know who you are. Helping mothers develop mother culture for themselves has become important, too. Too many homeschool moms set those things aside or view them as selfish. This can result in burnout over the years.
How to Apply
I call this ministry “private mentoring”. You can read more details about it here. There is an application on that page to submit if you are interested in working with me. Also, there are lots of testimonials at the bottom of that page. Here’s one of them:
Thank you so much for the time you took with me yesterday. These consultations are something I so look forward to. Just last night at a church leadership meeting, I was telling a friend about it who homeschooled her children twenty years ago. She just looked at me and said, “Wow…I would have given anything to have a person like that in my life when I was where you are.”
-Amy F.
Teaching from Peace,
Nancy
Your thoughts?