A Vibrant and Encouraging Community of Parents and Teachers

We offer a wide range of online and in-person events for our members each year. This includes both ongoing groups, like our Mother’s Education Course and Community Learning Support Group, as well as annual events like our Fall Mini-Retreat and Parents’ Night. We livestream all of our events and offer recordings. We also provide other kinds of online support, including discussions of weekly topics at La Pianta, video messages from the CMEC Team, and a monthly newsletter.

Our offerings grow and adapt from year to year with the development of CMEC families and the express needs of our members in mind. We aim to encourage, provide accountability, educate, equip, and build relationships.

Some of our events throughout the year:

At our Curriculum Launch in the spring, we walk through the books and plans for the year to come.

At our Fall Mini-Retreat, we take on a particular topic workshop-style, providing education and modeling the art of teaching.

Our annual Parents’ Night gives members a chance to reflect on their family culture and educational goals.

Our popular Mother’s Education Course includes online meetings and a carefully-designed set of coursework from the volumes and our private collection of the Parents’ Review.

We offer a Community Learning Support Group for those who are leading or teaching in TBG Groups, co-ops, and other learning programs, including live meetings, a thorough handbook, and email support.

Our Member Corner is dedicated to member-to-member interaction: a discussion space, a bulletin board, member chats, for galleries where you members can view student work -- and upload their own!

Through our Form Meetings and emails to our Form Leaders, members can receive guidance on the curriculum, ask questions, and provide feedback.

The CMEC Team is made up of homeschooling parents who are not just creating the curriculum but also using it in their own homes and with their local communities. Because of this, we are able to bring both experience and sympathy to our community offerings—we consider ourselves working out the ideas right along with our members.

At the same time, all of our support is based not just on personal experience but also on a solid understanding of Mason’s philosophy. We ground our community offerings in active and ongoing research into Mason’s programs, volumes, and archives. For example, our summer interns are engaged in a project of putting all of the PUS programs and exams into a searchable database for our use in creating the curriculum. Other team members are doing topical research in our personal collection of the Parents’ Review, from charting the artist study rotation of the Parents’ Union School to exploring the books recommended for art lessons. This kind of behind-the-scenes research and development gives us firm footing for our work with families.