The Winter Gathering 2025

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Registration Closed

Contact Ale Kauffman at ale.kauffman@gmail.com with questions.

The 5th Annual Winter Gathering has been a special part of growing a vibrant community of educators throughout the Upper Willamette Valley.

February 15, 2025
Living Hope Church | Oregon City, Oregon
Doors open at 7:15 am

What to Expect

Everyone has a place at the “feast of ideas” with a Charlotte Mason education. We recognize dads have a unique and ever-so-important role within our families. More than ever before, the seats are also calling for the dads to join us for this special, one-day event!

We’ve invited special guests, Dr. Don and Dawn Rhymer, a seasoned Charlotte Mason homeschooling couple from Georgia, who are coming to share both the challenge and joy of raising their five children. Their vulnerability, paired with their professional backgrounds in the sciences and practical understanding of Charlotte Mason philosophy, will be a gift to bolster our community. Their passionate and poignant sessions will offer fresh insights for our own journeys ahead - especially for fathers looking to meaningfully share in their family’s education in their own way.

April Barker, a local bookseller, will have a collection of rescued, living books for purchase. Together with your spouse, create new, deeper and lasting connections with your CM community and glean ideas that are meant to bring a harvest of peace and unity into your home. There is no childcare at this event. Nursing infants are welcome.

Sessions

Doors open at 7:15 a.m. for this one-day event that includes plenary sessions from each speaker and multiple workshop options. Expect a delicious farm-to-table lunch with GF and DF flexibility. Enjoy ample time to connect with like-minded home educators over a hearty, farm-to-table lunch and healthy snacks between sessions. We will dismiss by 4:30 pm.

This one-day event includes a Charlotte Mason-focused plenary session from each of our speakers and workshop options including: Scheduling, Charlotte Mason & Dads, Middle School & High Science, and Narration & Critical Thinking. Enjoy ample time to connect with a vibrant community of family educators, ask questions and reflect, narrate and digest fresh ideas to grow our homes and the hearts of our children.

Session Details

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Meet the Rhymers

Dr. Don and Dawn Rhymer come from Georgia to mentor us and share their lives and experiences implementing a Charlotte Mason-based education for over a decade with their five children. They both enjoy encouraging parents whether they are beginning or deepening their Charlotte Mason education journey. They’ve both been contributors to Charlotte Mason Quarterly, Charlotte Mason Poetry and the Idyll Challenge. They both also teach in different capacities at a private Christian school where their students who are still at home attend part-time.
Here’s more about each of them.

Dad, Educator, Engineer

Dr. Don Rhymer

Dr. Don Rhymer teaches Bible and Literature at Konos Academy, a 1-day a week Christian School in Tyrone, GA where he also coaches cross-country and track and assists his wife, Dawn, in their family homeschool.

Don has a Master’s of Divinity from Reformed Baptist Seminary, a PhD and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. Half of his 24-year career was teaching mechanical engineering at the United States Air Force Academy. Dr. Rhymer has served as the Head of the Department of Engineering Mechanics and the Academy’s Associate Dean for Research.

Don continually sees CM’s principles resonate with Truth in so many facets of humanity, leadership, home life, and any form of education. He looks forward to sharing these ideas with men and fathers across the country.

Mother, Educator, Scientist

Dawn Rhymer

Dawn has at times wondered what life would have looked like if Charlotte Mason had not found her - a pragmatic scientist seeing beauty frivolous at best. The first six, horrendous, ordinary years of homeschooling were a clue. “Miss Mason’s idea's bore the profound gift of knowing my children as persons . . . the task was indeed impossible for me alone, but a greater Helper was already there - the Holy Spirit.”

The ordinary was replaced with beauty: relationship, art, music, poetry, narration, literature, nature, roadkill, horses, mountain biking, running, Georgia, two high school graduates, laughter, respect.

Dawn delights in helping others begin or deepen their own Charlotte Mason journey. She is the co-founder of the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat, has spoken at the Living Education Retreat and the Weekend of Living Ideas, and led groups through Charlotte Mason Poetry’s Idyll Challenge.

The Winter Gathering 2025

What to Expect​​​

Sessions

Meet the Rhymers

What to Expect