You might say that Matt Wilcox has been a student of Charlotte Mason all his life.   

 

Homeschooled in his earliest years according to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy; educated at an Ambleside school from 2nd through 8th grade; brought up by a mother and father who served as Ambleside Principal and School Chaplain, respectively; and now teaching 9th grade in an Ambleside classroom — Charlotte Mason is part of Matt’s DNA.  

 

Matt remembers, “My mom [Ginnie Wilcox] was an avid student of Charlotte Mason, so much so that whenever she was demoralized by the challenges of life raising five children, my dad would say, ‘Go read Charlotte Mason.’ And this rejuvenated her.”  

 

For Matt, the most enduring fruit of this immersion in Mason’s worldview was the belief in his own innate value as a person. He remembers having this conviction even as a child. Because the discussions in his Ambleside classrooms were always student-driven, Matt internalized the idea — “They want to hear my thoughts, therefore my ideas must be valuable, therefore I must be valuable.” 

 

 “I had an immense respect for people,” Matt declares. “When something impinged on the respect of persons, I noticed and saw it as a significant problem.”   

 

After graduating from Ambleside School in McLean, Matt entered a traditional Christian high school. In his classes, he perceived that his thoughts and ideas were not valued. This was a very different atmosphere from that in which he had been brought up.  

 

“I got the message that what mattered most was what the teacher thought about the literature, history, or ethics being studied,” he said. “Lack of interest in student thought made me angry. I perceived the expectation to be, ‘Listen and regurgitate. Don’t think. Listen and memorize.’ There was little freedom to engage with the ideas that authors presented.”  

 

While Matt recognized that his teachers had only good intentions, even as a ninth grader, he found this treatment demeaning. And he admits he didn’t respond well at first. In due time, he learned to play the game, as was expected of him. He also became more keenly aware of the gift he had been given in an Ambleside education. 

 

Matt’s decision to become a teacher was a “slow burn,” as he named it.  

 

Having inherited his parents’ passion for education, while in college, he pondered all his parents had shared about teaching and leading an Ambleside community. Still, his only plan after graduating from George Mason University was to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, starting in Mexico and ending in Canada. He would figure out the rest of his life from there.  

 

Providentially, mid-hike, Maryellen St. Cyr emailed him about an open teaching role at an Ambleside school. She wrote, “You can learn how to ski. And I hear there’s some attractive single women on staff.”  

 

He decided to try it for a year.  

 

“Each year I asked myself, ‘Should I do this for one more year?’ And then after three or four years, it became clear that teaching is my calling.”   

 

Now that Matt is discipling students in his own classroom, he wants to impart to them love for a vast array of relationships with diverse persons and things. Mason says that one of the best indicators of intelligence is the number of things about which one is curious. That’s what he wants for his students.  

 

“In a utilitarian, secular view of education,” Matt explains, “the implicit assumption is that the purpose of education is essentially to make me of use for my career. Charlotte Mason would disagree with that. And I think Scripture disagrees. The purpose of education is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and strength…   

 

“And that applies to all areas that He has created.”  

 

Matt is now in his eighth year of teaching in Ambleside schools. He shares his passion for a living education with his wife, Frances, a former Ambleside teacher whom Matt met during college when she joined the Ambleside McLean teaching staff. She was hired by Matt’s mom.  

 

“When I started teaching full-time at Ambleside, I would call Frances and pretend I was asking for teaching tips,” Matt admitted, laughing.  

 

After six years and “a couple of dates that weren’t dates,” he asked her out on a real date. It went well. They now have two young daughters, Mary and Virginia, and Matt considers this season one of the best of his life.  

 

“I think we have a tendency to yearn for the future … whatever it is, there’s always something. But I think when I’m retired, I’m going to be thinking back longingly on these moments. It’s a very sweet and special time right now.”  

 

About Matt Wilcox

 

Matt Wilcox studied Economics at George Mason University, where he received a Bachelor of Science, and he has since completed Ambleside Schools International’s Master Teacher Training Program. Matt was homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods before entering an Ambleside school in Virginia from 2nd through 8th grade. His childhood memories include nature painting in the woods behind his home and reading and narrating Treasure Island in the living room. Those early years fostered a deep love of the outdoors, so after college, Matt worked as a backpacking guide in New York before hiking the Pacific Crest Trail with a friend. He’s been an Ambleside teacher since 2016 and loves the Ambleside mission that proclaims education is a life.