Our Story

The Story of Founding Ambleside School of 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 Miss 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 Miss 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 Miss 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 School of Waco.

The idea for a school gained real traction in June 2022, when Leah Caldwell and Justin Perry were introduced by a mutual friend who knew of their common desire to launch a Charlotte Mason school in Waco. Justin, with his two decades of serving in six Christian schools, labored with Leah to bring this to fruition. Their different backgrounds gave our school a well-rounded, strong foundation to launch in 2024, when Ambleside Waco opened with 18 students and four dedicated teachers/administrators. 

In the last few years, Leah has watched in amazement as God’s blessings continue to pour out on this project through likeminded families and educators. She prays consistently, along with the other members of the Ambleside School of Waco Board of Directors, for God’s direction and timing and for the families who will be partnering with us, for unless the Lord builds the house, the workmen labor in vain.

Soli Deo Gloria!