Welcome to the Wild and Free Podcast, episode 72. I'm Ainsley Arment, and this week we're talking with the author of Mere Motherhood, Cindy Rollins, about upholding the ideals of Charlotte Mason homeschooling in the messy midst of everyday life.

I believe that you have this desperate need for children to have stories and from all over the

place fairy tales, true Bible stories, all of these things contribute to the child and make them

you're building a very strong foundation so that when you start to build up you have a foundation.

Plus, we've released a new print collection called Nature that's available wherever books are

sold. We'll tell you all about it. So grab a cup of coffee and join us on the front porch.

Let's get started.

Thank you. and join us on the front porch. Let's get started. I grew up in West Point, New York, a tight-knit military community nestled along the grassy western bank of the Hudson River. For a few memorable years,

home for me was a modest townhome with a small side yard and a wooded hill across the back alley.

I was a strongly introverted child, so nature brought me tremendous peace and comfort when I was

little. When ordinary life was too much, I went outdoors and found a friend in solitude.

In the wild, life made sense to me.

It was up on the hill behind my house among the spruce and fir trees

that I figured out who I was.

When I was alone, no matter that civilization was just a stones throw away, sitting atop a

giant rock perched on the sloping landscape, I discovered a safe space where I could think,

dream, and simply be.

As I look back over my life, I realize that I've always felt most at home when I'm a little

lost.

In the wilderness, in the crowd, or in my thoughts.

I've seen it with my own kids, too, over the years. When they light up as they're bounding down

the trail or making their own path through the trees. They delight in the discovery of a bug they've

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