Over the past two years, we have fell in love with this curriculum. It’s like a warm hug that my heart so needed. It is the Titus 2 sister encouragement I wish I had all those years ago when I was a new homeschool mom. I truly wish I would have had something like this years ago.  My children are all thriving. The morning times have strengthened our bible knowledge and created a routine that my family enjoys so much. My now 3 year old even gets out his bible and tries to learn the memory verses. Our days are filled with the beauty of a painting, a musical composition, the lovely words of poet. We have observed nature and taken the time to sit in creation and fall in love with the discovery of tadpoles in a creek, robin eggs in a nest, and white squirrels visiting our bird feeders. My high schoolers have grown leaps and bounds in their written narrations. They’re well versed in hard topics and show compassions and offer guidance beyond their years. My middle schooler has taken up wood working and learning a musical instrument because his afternoons are free to pursue his interests. My 3rd grader has grown wonderfully in her reading ability and loves her language arts book. She wakes up every morning and loves to write in her cursive book. We’ve enjoyed many wonderful hours reading wonderful literature and I’ve had the pleasure of watching her frolic through the back yard searching for fairies and playing out the stories that fill her heart. She’s taken up embroidery and brushwork.  I’ve seen the most change though, in myself. I no longer dread the start of a new school day. I wake up excited. My days are easy. I lay out the feast and get to watch my family enjoy the bounty I’ve set before them. I am free to just be mom and not some mean teacher. We learn together.

AGF includes so much, in easily accessible formats, including editable digital plans with easy-to-print student pages, too. I especially adore the well-coordinated MT plans & read- aloud suggestions, for all kids together—complete with digital resources, hymn study, Scripture readings, Scripture recitation passages, poetry recitation suggestions (by form), fables/tales, artist, composer, & poet—so much I did not have to choose or research on my own & also (when appropriate) coordinating with the primary history era we’re all in! 🙌🏻

I’ve been using A Gentle Feast for three years now and couldn’t be happier. It is fully Charlotte Mason in method and has similar content to all the other fantastic CM curriculums on the market. However, it has three key points that make it stand out above all the others I’ve used over the years: 

1) The organization of the teacher’s manual and online resources is perfection. Clear. Concise. Easy to navigate. Everything in one place. Family friendly. 

2) They send you digital plans (excel/Google docs) and you are allowed to edit them. This is huge!!!! No more struggling with how to adapt a curriculum to our family’s specific needs. The curriculum itself expects teachers will make book substitutions or rearrange the schedule. They have made this process easy for even the most technostupid moms. (Don’t you like that word I made up?)

3) The author stresses using her curriculum as a tool and not a master. She takes the time to teach the Charlotte Mason method through videos and parent manuals so that each mother feels fully empowered to lead her homeschool in the way that best works for her family. It is so refreshing to see a homeschool curriculum which is heavily focused on freeing mothers from the weight of their fears and an unhealthy relationship with a checklist someone else created.