Our Story Began With a Friendship

The Living Education Retreat began with a friendship. In the early 1990s, Nancy Kelly and Karla Taber were both new residents of southwest Minnesota and became friends through their church community.  Around 2001, they were excitedly learning as much as they could about Charlotte Mason. Together they were leading a book discussion on Karen Andreola’s A Charlotte Mason Companion and thought it might be nice to present a little one day gathering for others wanting to learn more. So they contacted Ambleside Schools International and Mary Ellen Marschke (now St. Cyr and founder of Ambleside Schools International) agreed to come and talk to us. She came all the way out to Shalom Hill Farm in Windom, MN, along with her then-colleague Dr. Carroll Smith (founder of the Charlotte Mason Institute). It was a simple gathering of about 40 enthusiastic public, private, and homeschool educators who devoured what was shared about Charlotte Mason's philosophy that day.

Five years later, while attending the first CMI conference in North Carolina, Nancy and Karla looked at each other and said, “We can do this in Minnesota!” In 2006, the first official Living Education Retreat was held out on the prairie at Shalom Hill Farm with Sheila Carroll from Living Books Curriculum as the speaker and 35 people in attendance. The retreat has sold out every year since and has expanded to 150 participants with people attending from all over the world.

As the LER grew and expanded, they prayerfully considered meeting the growing needs of Charlotte Mason educators, incorporating handcrafts, nature study, narration, research, relationships, and more. While the original purpose was to help local educators learn about Charlotte Mason and to build community, God had a bigger plan. All praise and glory to Him as the LER approaches its 20th year of sharing this living philosophy of education!

Living Education Retreat People and Places

    • Nancy Kelly

    • Karla Taber

    • Heidi Jahnke

    • Kristin Spittle

    • Sally Almodovar

    • Art Middlekauff

    • Shawna Hartley

    • Dave Stillwell

    • Jess Swedzinski

    • Anita Carrette

    • Katie Klein

    • 2006 – Shalom Hill Farm, Windom, MN
      Sheila Carroll – Living Books Curriculum

    • 2007 – Business, Arts, and Recreation Center, Windom, MN
      Nancy Kelly – Sage Parnassus

    • 2008 – Windom Evangelical Free Church, Windom, MN
      Art Middlekauff, Donna Johnson, Jan Wright, Nancy Kelly

    • 2009 – Shalom Hill Farm, Windom, MN
      Dr. Carroll Smith

    • 2010 – Shalom Hill Farm, Windom, MN
      Theme: Education is a Life: Ideas That Transcend Time
      Dr. Jack Beckman

    • 2011 – Shalom Hill Farm, Windom, MN
      Theme: Charlotte Mason: The Art of Mindfulness
      Laurie Bestvater

    • 2012 – Shalom Hill Farm, Windom, MN
      Theme: Pursuit and Passion: Charlotte Mason and Science
      Jennifer Gagnon

    • 2013 – Shalom Hill Farm, Windom, MN
      Theme: I am, I can, I ought, I will: A Thoughtful Motto for Life
      Nancy Kelly, Richele Baburina, Tammy Glaser,

    • 2014 – Shalom Hill Farm, Windom, MN
      Theme: L’Umile Pianta: For the Children’s Sake
      Dr. Jennifer Spencer, Gladys Schaefer, Nancy Kelly, Amy Tuttle

    • 2015 – Villa Maria Retreat Center, Frontenac, MN
      Theme: Frontenac Gathering - 10th Anniversary
      Nancy Kelly, Sandy Rusby Bell, Art Middlekauff, Dr. Carroll Smith, Dr. Donna Johnson

    • 2016 – Lakeshore Center, Okoboji, IA
      Theme: Charlotte Mason’s Three-Fold Cord
      Nancy Kelly, Dr. Donna Johnson, Jason Fiedler, Jack Kelly

    • 2017 – Lakeshore Center, Okoboji, IA
      Theme: Simplicity
      Nancy Kelly, Art Middlekauff, Jeannette Tulis

    • 2018 – Buffalo Ridge Resort, Gary, SD
      Theme: Parentcraft
      Nancy Kelly, Jenn Stec, Jason Fiedler, Art Middlekauff

    • 2019 – Buffalo Ridge Resort, Gary, SD
      Richele Baburina, Kent Handfield, Nancy Kelly, Art Middlekauff

    • 2021 – Koronis Ministries, Lake Koronis, Paynesville, MN
      Theme: Meditation: Narration of the Heart
      Nancy Kelly, Jason Fiedler, Art Middlekauff, Shannon Whiteside

    • 2022 – Koronis Ministries, Lake Koronis, Paynesville, MN
      Theme: Joy: Mainstay of a Living Education
      Nancy Kelly, Brittney McGann, Dawn Duran, Art Middlekauff

    • 2023 – Koronis Ministries, Lake Koronis, Paynesville, MN
      Theme: Learning To Live
      Nancy Kelly, Kerri Forney, Don Rhymer, Art Middlekauff

    • 2024 – Koronis Ministries, Lake Koronis, Paynesville, MN
      Theme: Abound In Hope
      Nancy Kelly, Art Middlekauff, Dawn Rhymer, Jason Fiedler

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 Karla and Nancy,

This Living Education Retreat the two of you conceived of, created, and nurtured over these last 15 years has been a true labor of love. The ideas about education that Charlotte Mason was given by the Holy Spirit, the same ones she lived out, penned, and preserved for posterity, were recognized by the two of you many years ago. These ideas sparked into a flame and then He spread it into a raging wildfire through you and this humble retreat. It is impossible to overstate the importance of the ideas, relationships, joy, and fellowship that have grown in dozens, even hundreds, of families because you were willing to follow the call on your lives to lay this feast before parents. Through these parents, countless children have been strengthened, educated, and fortified for the call that God has for their own lives. We have been blessed beyond measure by both the faithful process and the resulting fruit of this retreat, and we want to thank and honor you in this remembrance. To God be all the glory!

In gratitude and love,
Heidi, Sally, and Kristin

July 2021

All other bodies of workers, whether of hand or brain, enjoy the help and profit of association; commonly, of cooperation.
Thus the wisdom, the experience, the information of each is made profitable for all; enthusiasm is generated by the union of many
for the advance of a cause, and every member is cheered by the sympathy of his fellow workers.
~ Charlotte Mason, speaking about one of her conferences, 1888 ~