New to Classical Education with 4th & 1st Graders

[gaz-mom]

Hello,

 

I'm brand-new to Classical Education, although we have been homeschooling since the beginning (I have a soon-to-be 4th grader and soon-to-be 1st grader). I have been learning lots online and on these forums, but I have a few questions I haven't been able to find answers to.

 

1) I have been planning to study American History with my boys this next year (we have spent 3 years on World History--Sonlight), and everything I'm reading says to start with Ancient History. I *really* want to study American History (my favorite) and I've been slowly buying the books we will need. When *do* you study American History in the Classical scheme? Will it mess things up if we go ahead with American and start Ancient later? I was also planning to teach California History the following year.

 

2) I have missed the boat and have ended up not having ever taught phonics, grammar, spelling, or writing (it's a long story!), although both boys read well ahead of their grade level. I'm thinking of using Phonics Pathways and Writing Strands 3 for the 4th grader and Phonics Pathways and Writing Strands 2 for the 1st grader. Does this seem like a good plan? Will it cover everything?

 

3) Is there a boxed curriculum for Classical Education anywhere??? I get very overwhelmed with many choices, and I really don't know where to start with all this. We've been kind of bouncing around with curriculums (would love Sonlight, and started out with it, but it's too expensive). Or, is there a list of subjects that you need to cover with each grade, with options to choose from? (like on Ambleside Online--we tried that last year) I have just ordered The Well-Trained Mind, so I haven't read that yet.

 

Thanks for any advice!

[IATeachingMom]

:lurk5:

[arcara]

Classical education usually integrates US history in the 3rd and 4th years of the cycle. However, many here deviate from the cycle. If I were you, I would probably go ahead with a year of US history next year as you were planning and then start with the Ancients the next year.

 

Have you looked at All About Spelling? It teaches phonics and spelling at the same time. You would need something else for grammar. The books you mentioned don't cover grammar. Good choices for these are First Language Lessons (FLL), Growing with Grammar, or Rod & Staff.

 

As for writing, I like Writing with Ease. It's a great curriculum for beginning writers.

[arcara]

Have you read The Well-Trained Mind? You could probably find it at your library. I learned so much from that book.

[amsunshine]

I love Writing with Ease, as well, but for your 4th grader, WWE4 might be overwhelming with no previous experience. Further, the workbook for that level is not out yet, but will hopefully be out within the next year. WS3 would probably be fine, but I don't think it qualifies as a "classical" writing curriculum (although "classical" can be many different things to different people). If you wanted a more classical approach, there are other writing programs, such as IEW and Classical Writing, and Writing Tales, which all more or less teach according to the progym.

 

For your first grader, WWE 1 would be super.

 

As for history, I think Sonlight's history curricula mesh pretty well with any classical approach.

 

For grammar, I agree with the options mentioned by a previous poster.

 

Other resources to check out are Charlotte Mason and Amblesideonline.org.

 

You might also want to consider poetry memorization, IEW has a book called Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization, but there are others out there, such as Harp and Laurel Wreath.

 

Have fun!

Edited June 9, 2009 by amsunshine
add poetry