A Look Back on Our Year with Ambleside Online

I feel like this year was a big year for me, with having three official students (one of those being in high school) and pre-schooling twins. I'm not sure how the year managed to fly by, but it did and we have closed up the books. There have been so many good books floating on and off the shelves and it makes me sad to think that some of these won't be opened again for a long time. Thankfully, I have some young kids to cycle through all these old friends and I look forward to reading with them in the future. 

Charlotte Mason {in Church} #5

Disciples See Christ Walking on Water, Henry Osawa Tanner

I realized that I haven't posted lesson plans since the beginning of the Sunday school year, so I wanted to update for those who need help or ideas!

We continue to follow a simple structure to our Children's Church time each Sunday. Due to Covid, we are low on kids and teachers/helpers. It's been a struggle to keep it staffed, but we've felt it is still very important to continue teaching the kids and keep it as normal as possible for them, at church. 

Planning 7th grade with Ambleside Online

And now it's time for the 7th grade plans! This was probably the easiest year to plan out of the three girls, because it is a lot of repetition from when Kailyn worked through AO Year 7. Louisa is a bit different, of course, as all our children are and I did adjust a few things because of that. 

Planning 9th Grade with Ambleside Online

We are officially entering the high school years at our house with K! We will be using Year 9 in Ambleside Online, adjusted to meet her needs. It's no joke that there is quite a bit of extra planning needed in preparation for these upper years! I found myself quite overwhelmed at times and am hoping I haven't overdone it with the book load, but we can always cut back and move things around if she finds it too much work. This daughter is a high achiever and loves to learn about such a variety of things that I think she will really enjoy the books and still continue to read in her spare time :). 

Charlotte Mason {in Church} Quarantine Edition

The great thing about Charlotte Mason is that short lessons work well for posting on YouTube! ;) Seriously, though, it has worked well to do video lessons and has been a blessing to many. It's not my favorite thing in the world to see myself in a video every week, but it works to keep the kids learning!

We manage to do ALL the things we normally do over a video... We still pray, read a Bible story, look at a picture, review our verses, sing our hymn and even do nature study with whatever the kids have on hand at home for drawing or painting!

Charlotte Mason Kindergarten in Our Home

Guys, I have an incoming kindergartener! I haven't homeschooled a kindergartener yet (we came late to the homeschooling party) but I am very much looking forward to it, despite feeling quite inadequate. It is humbling to realize that this first year of formal lessons will set the tone for all the other years of school lessons. I think we are off to a good start, though, with having maintained some good habits and expectations. She is excited to learn how to read and to start her very own nature journal and just officially join in on the learning, like her big sisters. :)

Homeschool Quarantine Update

We almost died... thanks to quarantine stress. I kid but not really. 

The beginning of April was rough - the stress was coming from all sides (church ministry, homeschooling and life as a family) and suddenly, I just couldn't handle it anymore so we took a much needed break... it ended up being a two week break and it was definitely worth it. We did a lot of outside playing, spring cleaning, celebrated the twins turning three years old and had hours of reading for fun. The older girls did some drawing, composing and writing, too. Now, we are back at it and just have a few weeks left of our school year!

Charlotte Mason {in Church}

We have begun our second semester of Children's Church. Things are starting to become easier for all involved... the teachers are seeing the benefits of the new routine and the kids are getting used to the structure. The kids are also getting better at narrating, which is encouraging because we have some pretty young kids (ages 4+ but also some 3 year olds come, too)!

Charlotte Mason Reading

Happy New Year!

A new year means new goals and this is one of mine:

I hope to make good progress on my goal of reading through CM's volumes over the next two years. I have read some or all of five volumes but would like to read them all completely. I need to just keep reading to keep it fresh in my mind, especially as I will be starting Julia in Kindergarten next school year (!).

I'm missing Vol 5 because my husband is reading it!

Charlotte Mason {in Church} ADVENT

I promised I would write about the Advent plans for Children's Church, so here goes. I hope this will be helpful to someone looking to add in ideas to their own Children's Church ministry or Sunday School!

{UPDATE: READ ALL THE POSTS IN THIS SERIES.}

Charlotte Mason {in Church}

{ This is the third post in a series about starting a CM program in our church. }

The past six weeks have flown by - probably because I haven't been doing as much of the teaching as I did in the first six weeks! I do love to watch the kids interact with Scripture and engage in nature study and I am so encouraged by their Scripture memory work! The regular attenders are solid in their memory and the newer kids are really trying!

Charlotte Mason {in Church}

I thought I should update regularly on how the children at our church are responding to a Charlotte Mason Sunday School, in case it might help someone else who is looking to start a new approach or are just curious if it is possible in a church setting.

Six Weeks In

We've just closed up 6 weeks of Term 1 for the year! It has gone fast and been very good to get into a routine again, to sharpen our brains and to learn so many great things.

Some highlights around here:

First official nature walk of the year

Sunday Reading Recommendation

We know Charlotte recommended a disciplined, focused Sunday day of "rest" (which kind of sounds like an oxymoron) but I think she was spot on with this.

"Having made the principle of Sunday- keeping plain, make the practice pleasant. Let it be a joyous day- everybody in his best temper and gentlest manners. Put anxious cares aside on Sunday, for the children's sake; and if there be no "vain deluding mirth," let there be gaiety of heart and talk.

Charlotte Mason {in Church}

Exciting news... Charlotte Mason has entered our Children's Church ministry at our church! I was asked to take over the ministry this year as the previous director was burnt out on time and energy. After much thought and prayer, I committed and started looking at curriculum, but quickly got discouraged.

Planning Year 6 (Form II)

And now we are getting to Louisa and all the wonderful books in store for her. When I look at the curriculum lists for my girls, I am kind of in awe of all the learning they get to do! What a privilege to learn with real, living books and ENJOY learning all the while!

So, here are the plans for Year 6 - this is all thanks to Ambleside Online, with a few tweaks here and there specific to Louisa.

Little Ones and School

We have three children who are not technically in school yet. Twin 2 year-olds and a daughter who will be 5 in September. Many moms wouldn't hesitate to start their almost 5 year old in Kindergarten (and ultimately it is a very individual choice) but we are pushing the pause button for one more year. Mainly because, we see no need to hurry up the learning process and because Charlotte Mason firmly encouraged 6 full years of childhood!

Planning Year 8 (Form III)

It's that time of year where the planning is in earnest! How am I typing Year 8?! I really am amazed that we have made it this far... when we very first started homeschooling, my thought was to take it a year at a time and don't commit for the rest of our lives but now I don't see any other way for our family. It really is a blessing despite the challenge of five children and all the work it takes to make it happen smoothly.

Year 5 Planning

So, here are my Year 5 plans for 2016-17! So glad to be finished!!!! It's such a relief to know I have every day planned out and that I don't have to think any more about curriculum!

For Bible, as explained with my last Year 3 post, we are going to finish our Picture Smart Bible survey and then start reading through Bruce Ware's book. We'll also be reading from the OT & NT 4 days of the week. They will also have personal Bible reading/devotional time in the afternoons or evenings.

Math- Horizons Math, book 5

History- Ambleside Year 5

Geography- Ambleside Year 5

Shakespeare- We'll be reading Twelfth Night, As You Like It and Comedy of Errors.

Natural History (Science)- Like I mentioned in the previous post, I have given much consideration and thought to the science approach, and am going to veer away from AO (not completely) and follow what Nicole recommends over on her blog. I am actually using her brand new elementary science (Astronomy) for Term 1. For Term 2, we are going to study Engineering using this book (I think Kailyn will really like this one):

For Term 3, we will be studying Weather, using this great book by Eric Sloane:

 We will also be reading books on our specific special studies and trying to do consistent experiments/object lessons.

I am still keeping the Nature Lore book that AO has chosen (The Christian Nature Science Reader 5) and will have Kailyn still read through Great Inventors and their Inventions. She will also be reading Wild Animals I Have Known during her free reading time.

Bible Memory- Together we will be memorizing 1 John chapter 3, Psalm 8, The Nicene Creed and 1 Peter chapter 1.

Literature- Ambleside Year 5

Grammar- Simply Charlotte Mason's Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well. We'll also be doing regular dictation exercises.

Poetry- Ambleside Year 5

Foreign Language- we used this book for Latin last year and still have quite a few lessons to work through.

 We'll also be learning Spanish together (both girls) during Circle Time. I found this book (Spanish in 10 minutes a day) for $1 at a book sale that I plan to start with and then supplement with other online resources.

 

I am also looking at Speekee-Spanish for kids. It's a rather inexpensive monthly subscription and looks to be decent.

Nature Journaling - we'll be continuing this but more like the suggestions of scientific observation from John Muir Laws book.

 

This is such a cool book. Highly recommend it if you want to get you or your kids started with nature journaling. I am now realizing what a proper nature journal should be and how closely tied to science it is. He offers free lesson plans on his website as well that I want to try and implement once a week or so.

Composer Study- We'll be studying George F. Handel, Amadeus Mozart and Frederic Chopin.

Artist Study- We'll be studying Leonardo da Vinci, John Constable and Edgar Degas.

Hymn Singing- I listed all our hymns for 2016-17 in the previous post. Basically one hymn a month.

Folksong- We'll be going back to our American Folk Song book and continuing to work our way through it. The girls get such a kick out of those old songs. Their personal favorite is "Greensleeves." :)

That wraps up Year 5 planning for 2016-17... we'll be starting soon!

Year 3 Planning

I'm just about done with planning for the 2016-17 school year!!! Yay!!! My girls will be following Ambleside Online's Years 3 and 5 pretty closely. I am making a few minor (and some major) changes and am looking forward to sharing how it has all worked out. If you're not a homeschooling mom... feel free to tune out at this point... no offense will be taken :)

These are my plans for Year 3:

Bible- We are finishing up the Picture Smart Bible survey that we started last year. Then, after we finish, we will read through Big Truths for Young Hearts that we will all read together during our Circle Time every Friday.

Math- Horizons Math . We used it last year and liked it just fine. Lots of repetition.

History- Ambleside Year 3

Geography- Ambleside Year 3 (We chose the Komroff book for our main read and will use the Freedman book as a supplement/resource)

 

 Shakespeare- We will be reading The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night and As You Like It.

Natural History (Science)- I have been listening to A Delectable Education podcast over the summer and am going to be following their suggestions for the sciences. It has caused much weeping and headaches on my part but I think I am finally content and at peace with what I have decided. Anyways, instead of doing one Nature Lore and then a science book, I am having L read two Nature Lore books all year long. If you are really curious which books I picked out, email me... otherwise just go here to pick from Nicole's fabulous list.  :) We are also adding in Special Studies books (changing from term to term and to be read in free time).

Bible Memory- Memorizing Scripture was so good last year! For this next year, I have picked 1 John chapter 3, Psalm 8 and the Nicene Creed, and lastly, 1 Peter chapter 1.  I know the Nicene Creed isn't Bible but Psalm 8 is short and I wanted to fit a creed in. :)

Literature- Ambleside Year 3

Grammar- We'll be using Spelling Wisdom & Using Language Wisely from Simply Charlotte Mason.

 

Poetry- Ambleside Year 3

Foreign Language-  Spanish! Using as many free resources as I can find.

Nature Journal- We are implementing more dry brush drawing and a more scientific approach to Nature Journaling this year. To inspire us, we are going to buy these for each of us:

Winsor Newton Sketchers Pocket Box Set

Composer Study- I've picked different composers for my girls to study than the AO rotation. For what it's worth, we chose Handel, Mozart and Chopin. I mainly picked these because I want to cover the majors before moving to the lesser known composers. I also tried to pick a famous composer from each of their time periods but that also had good, living books for us to read.

Picture Study- I've also chosen different artists for us to study this year, based on our time periods but also I tried to pick artists from the portfolio choices that Simply Charlotte Mason has provided. I chose Leonardo da Vinci, John Constable and Edgar Degas (he was not one of the portfolio options but oh well).

Hymn Singing- I have a list of hymns (different than AO) that I want the girls to learn and put them on a schedule, so the next 8 hymns we'll learn are: A Mighty Fortress is our God, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, O God our Help in Ages Past, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Great is Thy Faithfulness, Praise Him, Praise Him, O Sacred Head Now Wounded, and O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.

Folksong- We have an American Folksong book that we are working our way through and we will just continue with that instead of the AO rotation.

Hope I'm not forgetting anything but I think that's it! Year 5 plans will be posted soon!