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
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!
