Spencer Village School of Gaffney teacher Jennifer Spencer will spend a week in England this summer studying one of her education mentors.

Spencer will join eight educators from Canada, the United States and United Kingdom from Aug. 1-9 in Ambleside, the town where British educator Charlotte Mason started the House of Education, a training school for governesses and others who work with young children.

Spencer was invited to England by her Gardner- Webb University professor Carroll Smith to help with a grant project funded through Canada's International Opportunities fund. The grant will be used to determine the future agenda and direction of research about Mason over the next decade.

The project is being done in collaboration with Redeemer University education professor Deani Van Pelt in Canada and Jack Beckham, an education professor at Covenant College in England.

"This is a wonderful opportunity. I am really excited to be able to go to England and learn more about Charlotte Mason's life," Spencer said. "We have been granted five days access to the normally inaccessible Charlotte Mason archives at the Armitt."

Spencer became interested in studying Mason when she read a book about the British educator at the recommendation of Village School Director Rosemary Moore in Spartanburg. Moore was instrumental in founding a Village School in Gaffney in 2002.

"I fell in love with the philosophy Charlotte Mason had about educating children," Spencer said. "I did a lot of reading to learn about her ideas and decided to dedicate my life to Charlotte Mason's teaching methods."

Mason believed children from all social classes should be provided a broad education in all academic subjects, Bible study and learn foreign languages. Instead of textbooks, Mason had children study from living books written by people with a passion for a specific area.

Mason's education philosophy and teaching methods still are used by parents who home-school their children and private schools such as the Village School of Gaffney. Many scholars internationally have devoted their academic careers to studying Mason's work.

While working on her master's degree at Gardner-Webb University, Spencer discovered Smith shared her research interest in Mason. This led Smith to invite her to England for further study of Mason's work.

Spencer plans to share the experiences from her England trip with Village School of Gaffney teachers. She is leaving the Village School this fall so she can get her doctorate degree at the University of South Carolina.