2015 Homeschool Curriculum

It's curriculum sharing time again! We follow the calendar year rather than the public school year simply because it's easier for me to manage our portfolio in a single year rather than trying to split it across two half years. But...this is the time of year when the curriculum discussion is being held on blogs and facebook pages around the world, and it gives me the opporutnity to prepare well in advance for the upcoming year.

In 2015 we will be following the Ambleside Online curriculum and *attempting* to follow their suggested schedules as well. Thus far we have simply used their curriculum as a guideline and have pieced together other things, but I think I've finally learned that it doesn't really matter what "curriculum" you use, the key is picking something and sticking with it. For us, Ambleside seems to be the right choice.

While I tend to be very eclectic and identify strongly with virtually all the different styles of homeschooling and educational philosophies, the one that most resonates with us is the Charlotte Mason method. Her ideas that small children (especially little boys!) need to be outside most of the day are so true. Children were meant to explore nature, discover how things work on their own and see books as treasures to be discovered. Her ideas that lessons should be short and varied work perfect for little boys and I love using literature as the foundation for a well-rounded education (as people have done since the beginning). Learning spelling and handwriting by copying beautiful poems and passages not only helps my children memorize better, but also eliminates dull lessons and endless worksheets. I am still learning many of the ideas of Charlotte Mason and hope to make my way through her entire series (though probably not all in one year!)

I love the literature selections recommended by Ambleside, they are beautiful classics most of which I was deprived of ever having read before, and am immensely enjoying experiencing them with my children. I love that the selections are not dumbed down in any way and though they were written for children a hundred years ago I think many adults today would struggle with the complexity of the language. Reading this level of literature from the age of six will prepare my children to read the other great works without being intimidated in the least.

Here are what my boys will be studying in 2015 (or as soon as they finish their current reading lists...) With our upcoming move to Virginia we will be making several trips to the Smithsonian museums and are excited to see many of the works of art studied this year which are on display at the National Gallery, we also plan to visit many of the nearby historical sites.

Ethan, Year 3, age 8

• Ambleside Curriculum Year 3 (Bible, History, Biographies, Geography, Natural History, Copywork, Poetry, Literature, Composer and Artist study)
• Math: Math U See Gamma, Singapore Math 2B & 3A, Life of Fred
• English: Rod & Staff Grade 3
• German: Jo-Jo Sprachbuch & Arbeitsheft 3, PetraLingua
• Piano Lessons

Joshua Year 2, age 6 going on 7

• Ambleside Curriculum Year 2 (Bible, History, Biographies, Geography, Natural History, Copywork, Poetry, Literature, Composer and Artist study)
• Math: Math U See Alpha, Singapore Math 1B, Life of Fred
• English: Rod & Staff Grade 2
• German: 1 Schuljahr Übungsheft mit Lösungsheft, PetraLingua
• Piano Lessons

Grant Year 0, age 5

• Ambleside Curriculum Year 0
• Habit Training

I have also updated my Free Homeschool Planner for 2015 and added a few pages specific to organizing the Ambleside Online curriculum.

In case you're wondering why I have so many math books listed up there...here's the skinny on math in this household. My boys loved Math U See at first...but they were very quickly bored to tears. The same thing over and over and over again. I understand that's the idea behind mastery, but we were skipping multiple chapters at a time. It was just too repetitive. We purchased Singapore to try out and my boys instantly loved it. Simple short lessons with a variety of exercises (we don't call them problems in this house). And of course, Life of Fred is just awesome.

Then, I started having them work on Singapore twice a week, Math U See twice a week and LOF once a week. Every time my boys have a MUS day, they say they love it! They just hated the boredom of every. single. day. But I'm a "math needs to be done every single day" kind of girl, so this is what is working for us. I love the combination of visual explanation using pattern blocks with the story exercises and variety of Singapore. And of course, LOF as already established, is awesome. So no more tears!

Guest Post: Homeschooling multiple children!

I'm so excited for this article by Courtney over at Ordinary, Happily Ever After. I have been following her blog for several years now and she doesn't know this, but I was first drawn in by a political article she wrote. I was truly impressed by how well written it was- intelligent, articulate, and right on point. She inspired me to be more involved in educating myself about issues rather than just hiding behind the "I'm just a mother" shield. She seems to be able to write exactly what I am thinking but cannot put to words.

Now that I have a new baby, the thought of teaching four children over the next 18 years is extremely overwhelming. She was the first person I went to to ask HOW can I homeschool more than one child when they are all at different levels??? As a veteran homeschooling mother of five, she has some great words of wisdom. Take it away Courtney!

First of all I want to say a big THANK YOU to Cari for asking me to write today! I've been a fan of hers for a while and now I feel like I'm playin' with the big dogs :)

As a homeschooling mom, one of the questions am often asked (after the obligatory "Oh, I could never do that" comment) is, "How do you teach so many different ages/grades at the same time?" In a five minute conversation it's difficult to convey what homeschooling even IS, let alone how I manage to juggle the educational needs of each of my five children and myself. More often than not I give them my rehearsed answer of how I do A, B, and C; and while I'm sure they can sort of understand what I'm saying, they don't really get it. I'm assuming though, that if you are reading this you are interested in more than the 10 second sound byte. So here it goes...

Nature Study, the Charlotte Mason way

We don't take school off during the summer, but our primary focus is on literature and nature study. We do math as much as they want to, I don't put pressure on them to complete things. One of our favorite discoveries here is a nature park on the military base. It has a dozen or so of these signs with great information about local species of plants, animals, birds, etc. and has them in both German and English.

First sewing lessons

My in-laws are in town for the next few weeks. We are so excited to see them. We're headed for a two week trip to Garmisch, Austria and Switzerland. I have a few scheduled posts while I'm gone and I'll share some pictures of our trip on facebook from time to time.

The other day Ethan's button came off his shorts and provided us with the perfect opportunity to learn to sew on a button! It took a few tries for his needle to find the button hole, but he was so proud of himself when he finally got it.

Choosing a literature based homeschool curriculum

"I'm new to homeschooling (or thinking about homeschooling), how do I choose a curriculum?"

This is THE most common question I get asked about homeschooling, and the most difficult to answer. There are dozens of ways to homeschool, and I am no expert by any means, but I'd like to share how I decide what to teach my children.

Art Appreciation

My boys don't need a whole lot of encouragement when it comes to art, however I also want them to gain an appreciation for fine art from a young age. I was never taught to value fine art and I think pretty sure I'm not alone in this.

Gaining a Charlotte Mason perspective (and free printable quotes!)

I know blog posts are supposed to be short, sweet and to the point, but I have so much to say about two books I just read that I simply can't condense it any further than this. I hope you'll bear with me, and just for doing so I've created a few Charlotte Mason quotes you can print for free!

I’ve been contemplating for a while now the things I’d like to study with my boys this next school year.
This year has gone pretty well considering all the changes we have gone through from moving back to
Kentucky, having daddy come home, moving to Germany, living in a hotel for a month, finally getting a
house and settling in, sending my oldest to German school, etc… However I kept feeling like things were
not running as smoothly as I’d like. It was starting to become more of a chore than a joy and I knew I
needed to make some changes for this next year.