It began with two mothers, a shared love of home education, and a vision for something beautiful.
Long before there was Abiding Way, there was friendship.
Bethany and I first became friends as teenagers and young adults. Years later, after we had both become mothers, we reconnected and found ourselves walking through many of the same seasons of motherhood and home education together.
We both knew we wanted to homeschool our children. We loved being home with them and having the freedom to shape their education ourselves. Around the same time, we both discovered Charlotte Mason and fell in love with her vision of an education filled with living books, nature, beauty, and rich ideas.
But we also discovered how abundant that vision really was.
There was art, music, poetry, Shakespeare, handicrafts, foreign language, nature study, movement, and so much more. We wanted our children to experience this generous feast, but we began to realize that some things were even more beautiful when shared with others.
The Seed
So we started with nature.
For three years, Abide Nature Group brought our families together in different places around our community. What began as relaxed nature walks grew into themed lessons, nature journaling, living books, shared meals, and, most importantly, friendship.
The children were growing together.
So were the mothers.
The nature group became the seed of what would eventually become Abiding Way.
A Different Kind of School
As our children approached their school years, our vision became clearer.
We looked for a community that reflected what we were hoping to build, but we couldn’t quite find it. We didn’t want to recreate traditional school in another setting or take the place of the mother. We wanted something that would complement the home: a beautiful addition to the homeschool week where children could experience goodness, beauty, and truth alongside other families who shared the same vision.
We envisioned short, focused lessons in poetry, Shakespeare, art, music, language, movement, handicrafts, and more, while mothers remained their children’s primary educators.
We also wanted mothers to have a place to grow together through friendship, study, conversation, and encouragement.
Most of all, we wanted Christ to be at the center. Not simply as another part of the day, but as the foundation underneath all that we were doing.
A place where Wednesday could feel like a breath of fresh air in the middle of the school week.
Bringing It to Life
During our last year of Abide Nature Group, we began building that vision.
There were countless coffee shop conversations, planning sessions, questions, revisions, and prayers as we worked to create something that felt true to what we had envisioned.
We knew what we wanted to protect: slow childhood, beauty, simplicity, close relationships, the mother’s role, and Christ at the center.
And eventually, we decided to go for it.
The name Abiding Way grew from our desire to build a community rooted in Christ, along with the biblical picture of seeking the ancient paths and walking in the good way.
Cottage School reflects what we hoped the community would feel like: intimate, welcoming, small, and more like a little educational home than an institution.
Where We Are Now
What began as a few mothers walking nature trails together has become a community of families learning, growing, and forming friendships together.
Children are discovering beautiful things side by side. Mothers are encouraging one another in the work of educating their children. Friendships are taking root.
And we are still just beginning.
Our hope is to grow carefully while protecting the things that mattered to us from the very beginning: Christ, beauty, wonder, childhood, motherhood, and community. This is Abiding Way.
Add your family to it.
We remain small on purpose, and there is usually room for one more.