We are close to half way through our homeschool year and I'm excited to share a review of everything we've been using after completing term 1 and being midway through term 2. If you want to see my initial thought-process when choosing everything we are using this year you can read this blog post.
I filmed a detailed video of me discussing these all and showing what they look like, so if you would rather see these in video form, watch the video here:
My three daughters are 10 (5th grade), 8 (2nd grade), 5 (preschool), and my little boy just turned 1. I am doing a few formal things with my 5 year old, but overall, she's learning through play. But, I am doing full school days (about 3 hours of formal lesson/reading time four days a week) with my oldest daughters.
We are Charlotte Mason homeschoolers through and through, but I'm sure there are some things we use/do that don't fully align with CM's principles. We also really enjoy family-style learning as much as possible, so whenever I can group my kids in subjects, we do.
Let's start with all the family-style subjects!
MORNING MENUS
We've been using our Morning Menus for over two years now and still going strong! I love changing them out for each child. We all fill out the month and then each of my girls has one of two versions of the date pages to fill out the date. We all talk about the weather and moon phase. Then my preschooler practices either shapes, letter, or number recognition and traces letters and numbers. My 2nd grader practices writing her address out (it's a lot of difficult words to spell) and days of the week. My oldest daughter practices writing the days and months in cursive and her times tables. We spend 5-10 minutes each day but it adds up over time!
HANDWRITING
I changed what we are using for handwriting this year only because my oldest learned cursive so easily with The Good and the Beautiful's Handwriting books and my 2nd grader was struggling picking it up with what I originally bought. Plus, I already had the PDF version so I just had to print it out. I bought the PDF version for my 5th grader so I care reuse for my other girls when they get to that level without paying anymore money. I just like how they teach cursive through following rainbow-ordered dots to learn the letters. It has worked so well for both girls. We also practice handwriting in the next subject as well . . .
RICHES
For Chalotte Mason homeschoolers, the riches includes things like learning hymns, folk songs, picture study, composer study, etc. I created my Daily Riches: Volume 1 when I found it very overwhelming to put together the riches, even when using something that spells it out for me like Ambleside's options, because that still required a lot of work on my end to track everything down, schedule it, etc. So, Daily Riches includes poetry, hymns, folk songs, composer study, picture study, virtue readings, Bible study, Scripture memory, handicraft, copywork, and written/illustrated narration for the entire family (pre-k through 12th grade). It's and open-and-go curriculum with 36 weeks of four-day-a-week lessons. This year we are working our way through Daily Riches: Volume 2 and again just loving it! For term 1, we studied William Blake as our poet, Raphael as our artist, and Bach as our composer. We learned some beautiful hymns and folk songs, and read some amazing stories for our virtue readings. My girls also use the copywork twice a week to practice handwriting, grammar, and spelling through copying down our poem and Scripture verse from that week. And they do illustrated/written narration twice a week based on the picture study and composer study. It's a resource so near and dear to my heart (I'm working on Volume 3 currently) and something our whole family has really grown from using!
HISTORY, BIBLE & GEOGRAPHY
This is our first year using any of Simply Charlotte Mason's resources, and let me just say, we have LOVED them! The main one we are using as a spine for a lot of our learning is Genesis-Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt. This is a 5-day a week (but we lump it together to make it into 4 days), 36-week, open-and-go, family-style Charlotte Mason curriculum (so right up our alley). I will say that they are launching a new format for these guides in the spring, so this is now discontinued, but we plan to use the new ones in the future. I did decide to buy the Joshua-Malachi & Ancient Greece resource for next year since Egypt and Greece will be combined in their new resources and I didn't want to skip Greece or relearn about Egypt, so for now I plan to move to the new 4-year history cycle (transitioning from it being a 6-year history cycle) after next school year.
The way it works is that we read the Bible as a family usually 3 days a week, and then we have 1 geography lesson a week and 2 history lessons a week. There are books for geography and history we read as a family and then my oldest daughter has a book she reads on her own (sometimes I read with her) that's more difficult. I really love the way SCM makes this family-style while still stretching the older children. We get to learn together, have amazing conversations, go down rabbit holes together, but each of my children are also stretched to their own capabilities which I appreciate.
SCIENCE
Last summer we started using my Buds, Blooms & Bees botany science resource and we have continued using it once-ish a week this school year. We have absolutely LOVED learning about flowers and plants through living books, notebooking, and hands-on experiments (many using real flowers). My kids know so much more about plants than I ever did at their ages and the learning has carried into things like our time spent outdoors, on hikes, and even learning other subjects when flowers are named and we know what they are! We will continue this through the rest of the school year and cannot wait!
CHRISTMAS RICHES
We added in my newest Christmas resource, Wonders of His Love, to replace Daily Riches for the month of December. I am so proud of this resource and it brought tears to my eyes almost daily that I did it with my kids. We learned about the history of 8 different Christmas carols, read Little Christmas Carol, read many beautiful new-to-them picture books that focused on 4 different virtues we learned about and discussed, we did 4 biblically-focused crafts, made baked goods that fit with what we were learning, and did our copywork, writing prompts, and written narration based on what we were learning. It was such a sweet time together that we will look back on with fond memories!
NATURE JOURNALING
My goal this school year was to keep up with nature journaling much better than I have other years. And, thankfully, overall we have succeeded at that! We have observed and drawn our maple tree in our front yard (right outside our dining room where we homeschool, so it's pretty hard to forget) every season. I hope to add some other types of plants and locations to draw throughout the year in the future as well. We had 21 newly-hatched snapping turtles in our yard this fall a mama had apparently laid along our driveway, so the girls drew them before we let them go. It's so fun that now whenever they see anything interesting in nature they will immediately turn to me and say, "I want to draw this in my nature journal!" I also have made a few entries in my own nature journal, but I will say that they often will draw in them when I'm making lunch, tending to the baby, or during their quiet time when I'm working on things like writing this blog post!
ART
I have not been great about keeping up with art in our homeschool. My 8 year old especially is incredibly crafty and artistic, so she's constantly creating all kinds of different things (drawings, clay sculptures, sewing, etc.) but I want to be more intentional about teaching them art, which is hard because I'm not very talented in this arena. I searched for some kind of subscription box or online platform that would help us and discovered Classy Artist Box (use code HomeschoolGlue for 20% off your first box in a subscription order). We've now done about four different boxes and are hooked! It's so easy! We are sent a box filled with new supplies each month. We pull up the video on the website and it walks the kids through everything they have to do, even scaffolding it for the different ages/levels which is great with kids very different ages. We've learned new techniques, used different tools and materials, and learned so much about art! We love it!
SHAKESPEARE
I had every intention of using Shakespeare in Three Steps from Simply Charlotte Mason to teach A Midsummer Night's Dream, but every year 1-2 things end up getting dropped. We didn't even start. My oldest is taking a Shakespeare class in our co-op (more on that later in this post), so I decided to wait on doing it at home.
HABIT TRAINING
We started the year incorporating Laying Down the Rails every week, however this isn't just a curriculum where you do the lessons, check it off, and move on. As a family, we are all supposed to be actively working on each habit. I think it's an amazing program and it's something I do want to continue, but I found that over time, I just couldn't focus on that throughout the day on top of all the other parts of motherhood, homeschooling, business, and other hats I wear. We work a lot on many habits in our home, but adding this on top of everything was just too much for me, so we stopped. I do hope to use it again (maybe starting in the summer when we don't have so many extra obligations and we aren't homeschooling to the same extent as we are during the school year) will work better? We shall see!
AMBLESIDE ONLINE FAMILY PICKS
While I love Ambleside Online's choices and have many friends in real life and online following AO, I just don't want to let go of our family-style subjects. My girls are also not close enough for it to make sense to combine them to do AO for groups, so instead, I am planning to read a couple of the AO books family-style and then I chose three AO books (well technically 5 for my 2nd grader because some are read only part of the year) so three days a week we read one AO pick each individually. However, the girls often sit in on the others' books. The two books we are reading as a family are Trial and Triumph and Parables from Nature. Trial and Triumph is normally read, one chapter (or one biography of 46 figures of faith in church history) every few weeks for years 1-6. Because we are jumping in in 2nd and 5th grade, we are reading one each week until we finish next year. I could've spread it out every other week I suppose, but this has worked well for us. The stories are often incredibly sad but also so inspiring and moving as many died for their faith. Parables from Nature is normally read during years 1-3 but we are reading the entire book this year, one parable each week. It's definitely not the easiest book, but I have cried almost every week at the descriptions of life, faith, God, salvation, Heaven, and so many other Biblical/faith topics told through nature stories.
FAMILY READ ALOUDS
With us doing so much now and adding some Ambleside Online books as well, I decided to move our family read aloud to over lunch as an audiobook. Because of this, we are moving slower through the books and won't read as many, but I'm okay with that because it means my kids get more time outside and doing their own individual playing/creating/learning in the afternoons. So far we have read Angel Orphan, Little Christmas Carol, and Ballet shoes. All of which we absolutely loved!
And now for the individual subjects . . .
AMBLESIDE ONLINE INDIVIDUAL PICKS
The three books we have been reading so far of the five AO picks for my 2nd grader are The Little Duke, Burgess Animal Book, and Tree in the Trail. The Little Duke has been difficult for her, but now that we've gotten into it, we both have been pretty rivetted! We already love all books by Thornton Burgess we've read (so much that I've based two science resources based on two of his books - one based on the Flower Book and one on the Seashore Book). We've loved learning about different animals through a living book. Tree in the Trail has been an interesting read about geography and history along the Santa Fe Trail while following the happenings around a single cottonwood tree. The other books we will be reading this year when we finish The Little Duke and Tree in the Trail are Understood Betsy and Seabird.
My fifth grader and I have been reading Great Inventors and their Inventions, Wild Animals I Have Known, and Age of Fable. Overall, we have enjoyed all three! The inventions book has been a little hard for both of us since our brain doesn't work like inventors' brains, but I usually look up a quick Youtube video to show whatever they are describing so we can see it in action, which has helped. Wild Animals I Have Known is one of our favorites about real observations of animals in the wild. It's been absolutely fascinating! And I like Greek mythology, so I've enjoyed sharing the gods and stories with my daughter. We've seen lots of connections all over the place in real life and other books!
PHONICS + SPELLING (PRESCHOOL + 2ND GRADE)
For phonics and spelling for both my preschooler and 2nd grader we are using Explode the Code. My 2nd grader is just about through book 7 and will finish the entire set of books before the end of the year. She is fluently reading and spells really well overall, too. We didn't use Explode the Code with my oldest and I think if we had, she would've read fluently a lot sooner and would spell better too. I love that they don't spend a ton of time explaining tons of rules and exceptions. It's straight to the point with tons of reading and spelling practice. I have found that they learn the exceptions and rules better through reading and writing as they age than having to memorize a million rules. My preschooler is in book 1 and slowly going through it. I only started this year because she was begging to and knows all her letter sounds, but I never force her to do it and we usually just do a page or two a day when she is wanting to do them. I plan to use this for my son as well once he is a few years older!
GRAMMAR + SPELLING (5TH GRADE)
This year we switched to Simply Charlotte Mason's Using Language Well. We are using an older version of it since they updated it right after we purchased it, but it's basically the same idea. My daughter receives an excerpt from piece of literature with rich language a couple times a week. She practices any words she has trouble spelling. She tries to picture it in her mind and practices writing it many times until she believes she can write the entire thing with me dictating it to her. Then, she writes it in her notebook. If she makes any errors, I immediately have her erase it and we correct it. Her spelling has improved SO much with this method! For grammar, we use the same excerpt and learn about parts of speech and grammar rules within the text twice a week. It's so much simpler and also so much more effective than anything else we've used!
WRITTEN NARRATION
In addition to the copywork in Daily Riches and the formal grammar and spelling I do with my oldest, she also does a written narration currently once a week based on one of her readings. Narrations are when a person tells back what they have read/listened to/watched/etc. I won't go into it in great detail here, but it's a major component of a Charlotte Mason education. It's a very complex but simple process that eventually leads to quality writing and thinking as they age just by practicing it over and over and over again for years. We switch up what reading she does her narration on each week. We will be moving this to twice a week soon and then work up to at least one a day as she improves. I usually set a timer for 5 minutes for her to write, which I will also increase over time. My kids already do oral narrations after every single thing we read, but adding in written narrations has stretched her academically and been so good for her!
MATH
We have been using The Good and the Beautiful Math since my oldest started homeschooling in 1st grade. While I would like to eventually switch to something else, we truly have loved it. Both my daughters learn so well with it, it encompasses so many real-world applications, and it can be really fun and hands-on at times as well. Both girls are using their grade-level books and doing really well.
TYPING
I can't remember if this is my oldest's second or third year using TypingClub for typing, but it's been going really well! It's free which I love. She does 1-2 of the lessons a day and has been getting more accurate and faster since she started. I may start having her type one written narration and hand-write the other.
PIANO
My older girls both take piano lessons and practice every day during quiet time (in the afternoon). To give them extra practice and as an incentive for practicing, after they practice their songs for their piano teacher, they can play the app Simply Piano for 5-10 minutes on our iPad. I love this app (and actually have been using it myself to brush up on my piano skills) because most of the work takes place off the app on the piano. The app hears them play and they get feedback immediately. It's even helping my 5 year old learn to play while I wait for her to be able to get lessons. The makers have a few different apps (we love Simply Draw as well) and you can save 40% off a family plan for all their apps with this link.
PLANNERS
This is our first year using any student or teacher planners for our homeschool. I always tie our subjects to certain days so I don't have to do a lot of planning, but I wanted to have a place to write down the schedule for the Ambleside Online books and a place to record everything we've done just in case the government ever comes knocking. I have loved having everything in one place to reference for myself in my planner. My girls have enjoyed checking off each subject and it's definitely helping to train them to be responsible for their own education as they get older. We did get a little off the plan that I had typed in at the start of the year because we paused Daily Riches to include Wonders of His Love, but I'm just writing in the changes rather than printing new pages (which I could easily do if I wanted to). We will definitely be using these again next year!
SILENT READING/FREE READS
To make time for me to fit in more reading that my kids can see (since they don't see me sitting down and reading for pleasure much during the day) and to fit in some of the Ambleside Online free reads, we now do a daily silent reading after I lay our baby down for his afternoon nap after lunch. I set a timer for 15-20 minutes and we all cuddle up on the couch and read until the timer goes off. I have enjoyed this break in the day and the girls have liked being able to fit in more reading without it feeling like it's cutting into their free time.
PRESCHOOL
Due to the Christian preschool in our area closing and the other preschool only offering more days of preschool than we would like (2 days is all we wanted), we decided not to have our 5 year old go to preschool this year like she did last year. We mainly were having her go to make friends and to allow us to have a little more time for things that were harder to do with her home (science experiments, art lessons, etc.), but now that she is a bit older, she actually joins in on all of those things or chooses to go play on her own really well. She does miss friends, but our kids play with neighborhood friends every day, go to American Heritage Girls, play at parks, have friends at church, and have co-op every other week, so they are getting plenty of socialization! The main things I'm doing with her this year are Explode the Code for phonics, I read a few picture books with her before we start our formal lesson time (and others throughout the day), and she chooses to take part in many of our lessons on her own. She learns a ton through play, especially through the activity bins I make which I have outlined my system (plus lots of advice and 60 activity ideas) for homeschooling with littles underfoot in Lessons with Littles.
CO-OP
We attend a Charlotte Mason co-op we've been going to for a few years now since it started with some friends. It's grown this year and it's amazing to watch something we've started as just a few moms meeting to discuss books to now having a wonderful co-op that's flourishing! My oldest daughter takes geography, a movement class (similar to physical education), Shakespeare, composer study, handicraft, and nature study. My younger two take a narration class, composer study, handicraft, nature study, and Swedish Drill. We all start together with recitation, prayer, and a hymn, and we end with a folk song.
Whew! That was a lot! It doesn't feel like that much on the day to day, but writing it all out always makes me feel confident that we are doing more than enough! I've been amazed by how much my children understand of pretty difficult books due to the power of narration, and how wonderful their minds think after being stretched by so many amazing living ideas. Plus, the connections they are able to make between all of their subjects always inspires me!
I hope this was helpful! I also made a video where I went much more in-depth about each one if you are interested!