The story of Ambleside School of Waco starts in June 2022 when Justin Perry and Leah Caldwell were introduced by a mutual friend who knew of their common desire to launch a Charlotte Mason school in Waco. Their different backgrounds have given this project a well-rounded, strong foundation that will enable Ambleside Waco to better serve our beautiful and diverse community.

Throughout his decade and a half of serving in six diverse Christian schools, Justin saw many of the same struggles and inconsistencies manifesting themselves in nearly every school in which he worked. He taught hundreds of middle and high school students in a variety of subjects, but there was always something missing from the learning process, a true vibrancy that eluded his efforts to educate the students well. At the heart of the struggles was the lack of a coherent educational philosophy harmonizing and driving forward the efforts within these schools and their classrooms. For years he sought to discover an educational philosophy he trusted to form the foundation upon which everything else would function. After participating in Ambleside School of Fredericksburg’s Three-day Internship in 2021 and witnessing the difference a Mason philosophy made in the school, he found that which had eluded him throughout his career: a unified philosophy of education that honored the Lord, respected the personhood of the student, emphasized the proper role of the teacher, and provided a feast of ideas to nourish the student’s mind in an atmosphere cultivated for rich learning. In short, he had discovered a true living education and is enthusiastic about sharing that living education with the Waco community as Head of School at Ambleside Waco.  

In 2010, when her oldest was eight years old, Leah decided to bring him home from public school and never looked back. After two years of trying to figure out what educational approach would bring the most life and peace into her home, she discovered For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, and her heart resonated with the gentle truth in Charlotte Mason’s ideas. She spent the next 6 years learning how to implement these ideas and methods. It was a long, slow journey, for unfruitful mindsets and habits can be hard to abandon, yet by God’s grace, each passing year found more peace, joy, and love in their home than the year before. In 2019, families began coming to Leah to ask for help in implementing Mason’s principles in their own homeschools, and in 2020, Leah began tutoring some of the older children in language arts subjects. It was during this year that Leah felt God’s call to open a school in Waco so that more children could reap the life-giving benefits of Mason’s philosophy and methods. Toward that end, she decided to finish her bachelor’s degree and was accepted into the Great Texts program at Baylor University. It was around this time that Mason’s ideas began to rapidly gain momentum in the Waco homeschooling community, and the Waco CM Book Study group formed, followed shortly by a nature study group and then a co-op. Leah considers it an honor and privilege to be co-learners and friends with this amazing group of dedicated and passionate moms and their families, and she is looking forward to continuing that relationship while building new ones through Ambleside Waco.  

In the last year, Justin and Leah have watched in amazement as God’s blessings continue to pour out on this project. They pray consistently, along with the other Ambleside Waco trustees, for God’s direction and timing and for the families who will be partnering with us in 2024 and beyond for unless the Lord builds the house, the workmen labor in vain.

Soli Deo Gloria!