Anyone using Ambleside Online next year?

[Medieval Mom]

We are taking the leap and doing Ambleside Year 2 next year (beginning in July for second grade). Anyone with us? :bigear:

 

(Okay. We are planning AO 2 + extra WTM/CLE/LCC here and there.;) But we WILL be following the AO schedule!! :))

[crimsonkelley]

I love their website - I've found lots of great books from their reading list. However, we've never actually followed their program. Best of luck!! Keep us posted!

[MicheleinMN]

Ds, age 11 - 12 in July, will be doing Year 4 in the fall.

 

Ds, age 13 - 14 in July, will be doing parts of Year 9.

 

Dd, age 10, and ds, age 8 - 9 in August, will be doing ancient history again. (Dd requested a return to ancient history. Sounds good to me.)

 

Dd, age 16, will finish her American History studies fall semester.

[Jami]

We'll be doing Year 3 and Year 1 here. We've used elements from AO the past couple of years, but will be following it more closely next year. :)

[Guest Cindie2dds]

We will be doing AO Year 1 (along with Oak Meadow for our nature studies/art/science) with my oldest. I am so excited. I read their website almost every day. I can't believe what a treasure of information there is for free! I am actually going to follow their 36 week schedule to see how it goes. We are leaving out two books because OM uses them next year (Just So Stories and James Herriot's Treasury for Children). :D

[Medieval Mom]

We will be doing AO Year 1 (along with Oak Meadow for our nature studies/art/science) with my oldest. I am so excited. I read their website almost every day. I can't believe what a treasure of information there is for free! I am actually going to follow their 36 week schedule to see how it goes. We are leaving out two books because OM uses them next year (Just So Stories and James Herriot's Treasury for Children). :D

 

Oh! My advice, which you did NOT ask for ;), is to read James Herriot's Treasury both years :) It is SO charming, that it never becomes tiring IMO! We've read it dozens of times! :D

[stormy weather]

We will be doing year 1 and 3 next year. I found the AO site through this board and have been trying it out to finish up this year. We have been loving it.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Oh! My advice, which you did NOT ask for ;), is to read James Herriot's Treasury both years :) It is SO charming, that it never becomes tiring IMO! We've read it dozens of times! :D

 

I won't leave it out then. I'm glad to hear it. I will be reading it at least four times between two kids and using AO and OM. It's nice to hear you wouldn't mind reading it that much! :D. How about Just So Stories?

[prairiegirl]

We have used AO from the very beginning sans the history suggestions and the schedule.

 

Next year, we will be using AO Yr. 6, Yr. 3 and Yr. 1.

[DaffodilDreams]

We will begin AO Yr 2 along with Living Books Year 2 sometime in the next few months. We'll follow both reading lists/schedules, but I'll use LBC's TM as a guide for structuring our days. Dd is 6, and we did AO Yr 1 this year. She loved it. We added SL and Earthschooling to the mix, though, and they will tag along this next year, too.

 

Cindie, Just So Stories has been fun for S, but she seems to be a Kipling fan. She also loved The Jungle Book. You could easily use Waldorf storytelling methods with Just So Stories if you feel you want or need to do so. The stories aren't long and appeal to the imagination.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Thanks, Kimmie. :)

[AK_Homesteaders]

I can't believe what a treasure of information there is for free! . . . . We are leaving out two books because OM uses them next year (Just So Stories and James Herriot's Treasury for Children). :D

 

I just wanted to recommend that you get James Herriot's Treasury for Children now, even though it's covered next year in OM. My boys LOVE that book. It's one of their favorites and ask me to read stories from it several times a week ---- for the last 2 years! It's the kind of book with stories children want to hear over and over.

[pageta]

For second grade I would recommend doing AO year 1. Also, join the yahoo groups - there is a wealth of information there. We started AO year 1 in January (ds will be 7 in July) and we certainly could have waited until now to do it. We are enjoying it, but it is very challenging, and they really recommend staring year 1 at age 7. The years aren't necessarily written to correlate with grades. We love AO and plan to do it through high school.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Modified a bit, I can never do anything without making it work for me. :)

[Mommyfaithe]

We will be doing AO Year 1 (along with Oak Meadow for our nature studies/art/science) with my oldest. I am so excited. I read their website almost every day. I can't believe what a treasure of information there is for free! I am actually going to follow their 36 week schedule to see how it goes. We are leaving out two books because OM uses them next year (Just So Stories and James Herriot's Treasury for Children). :D

 

Oh! My advice, which you did NOT ask for ;), is to read James Herriot's Treasury both years :) It is SO charming, that it never becomes tiring IMO! We've read it dozens of times! :D

 

I won't leave it out then. I'm glad to hear it. I will be reading it at least four times between two kids and using AO and OM. It's nice to hear you wouldn't mind reading it that much! :D. How about Just So Stories?

 

:iagree: My kids ask me to read these over...and over...and over....These books are wonderful...

 

As to the next question, I have used AO in one form or another for the last 10 or more years...back when it wasn't Ambleside yet. I love it! I am able to tweak without guilt because it is free!!!!

 

I do use SOTW...but so sloooowwwwllly...we hit about Year 5 this year with my younger crowd.

 

Ds is fluctuating between Year 11 and doing Omnibus 4....so we will see. I already have the books for AO 11...so that just may be our route....

 

Hmmmmmmm........

 

Faithe

[Another Lynn]

We are taking the leap and doing Ambleside Year 2 next year (beginning in July for second grade). Anyone with us? :bigear:

 

(Okay. We are planning AO 2 + extra WTM/CLE/LCC here and there.;) But we WILL be following the AO schedule!! :))

 

:hurray: :thumbup:

 

ME! My (will be) 2nd and 3rd graders will be doing Yr 2 and my (will be ) 6th grader will do some selections from Yr 7. (Actually Diana Waring's RRR will drive his history, but I'd like to do some Yr7 books slowly with him - we'll see!)

 

We started with AO when my oldest was half way through first grade. Later we sped up our history to get on the 4-year cycle. I've been struggling to get back what we lost ever since! I'm very excited to go back to AO for my younger ones!

[woolybear]

I just wanted to recommend that you get James Herriot's Treasury for Children now, even though it's covered next year in OM. My boys LOVE that book. It's one of their favorites and ask me to read stories from it several times a week ---- for the last 2 years! It's the kind of book with stories children want to hear over and over.

 

And for the grown ups---I recommend The Best of James Herriot. It is all about his life and the areas in England where the stories take place. It has many beautiful pictures. I love it. I showed it the kids but they seem less thrilled. I guess because they just like his stories. They did get a kick out of seeing farms that look just like ones in his stories. I picked it up at a used book sale, but you may be able to find it at the library. And yes, my boys love his stories too. I think I may read one today now that you all have reminded me.

[HollyBee]

Not trying to hijack (let me know if I should move this to its own thread, though), but can I get encouragement from those of you who have done Ambleside successfully? Here's my story: I was all prepared for this year (the one that's almost over now :tongue_smilie:) for dd11 (5th grade) to do year 4 and ds 9 (3rd grade) to do year 2. I bought all the books. The first week, I gave them their first assignments. They started reading and FREAKED out. The books were too hard and boring (their words). So, like the good, persevering mother that I am, I bailed. :glare:

 

So what SHOULD I have done? Any of you Ambleside vets have suggestions? Did I pick the wrong years? They are both very strong readers, but of course, the books were unlike anything they have read on their own.

 

Not to mention, I have a hard time letting go of the 4 year history cycle. (I know, I know.)

 

:bigear:

[Chloe]

We have used AO from the very beginning sans the history suggestions and the schedule.

 

Next year, we will be using AO Yr. 6, Yr. 3 and Yr. 1.

 

Julia,

 

I'd love to hear more about how you do this. We tried AO years 3 and 4 last year, but my dd could not stand This Country of Ours. My ds like OIS though. They both really like SOTW, so I was wondering if maybe we could substitute the history somehow. Also, my dd hated the schedule. She loves the satisfaction she gets of finishing a book. With AO, the books are drawn out so much that she rarely gets that. Anyway, could you explain a bit about how you follow certain AO years without the history and schedule? What do you use for history?

 

Thanks!

[mystika1]

Hi,

I will be using year 1 for our dd's 2nd grade. I tried it at the beginning of this school year and the history titles were a bit over the top for her. I waited and tried it again for the last two weeks to test the waters and it has been much better. Someone on the yr 1 yahoo group suggested that I have my daughter make an illustration page for each history story(she was used to picture books and likes atleast one picture to go along with a story.) It worked great! She really likes to do history now. She waits until I am about half way through the story and starts drawing. We also use the Burgess Picture cards(linked somewhere in the group files)and hang each card on a tree branch(we put in our livingroom to represent a tree) as we read each chapter of the Burgess Bird Book. It is a really cute idea. I used the copywork pdf in the files section and created copywork sheets with the Donna Young free cursive font. They came out so nice that I think I will have it spiral bound for ease of use. I love all of the wonderful things I found on the AO site and yahoo groups. It is wonderful to have it for free!

 

OOPS! I could go on and on......

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Penny

[mama25angels]

I will be using the literature selections, but SCM will be driving my history.

[Testimony]

Not trying to hijack (let me know if I should move this to its own thread, though), but can I get encouragement from those of you who have done Ambleside successfully? Here's my story: I was all prepared for this year (the one that's almost over now :tongue_smilie:) for dd11 (5th grade) to do year 4 and ds 9 (3rd grade) to do year 2. I bought all the books. The first week, I gave them their first assignments. They started reading and FREAKED out. The books were too hard and boring (their words). So, like the good, persevering mother that I am, I bailed. :glare:

 

So what SHOULD I have done? Any of you Ambleside vets have suggestions? Did I pick the wrong years? They are both very strong readers, but of course, the books were unlike anything they have read on their own.

 

Not to mention, I have a hard time letting go of the 4 year history cycle. (I know, I know.)

 

:bigear:

 

Hi, there!

 

I know one of the moderators of Ambleside Online. Her eldest daughter graduated from the program and is studying nursing and is doing well in the nursing program due to her Ambleside Online lessons. So, be encouraged!

 

You know Ambleside (or AO) is suppose to be "a free and affordable education." I am quoting from what one of the moderators said to me exactly. A lot of the books can be found online. I have only purchased a few books. I started in Year 4 full blown with the program. However, my older son loved Story of the World. So, we stuck with the 4 year history cycle. My children loved this program.

 

Just a suggestions, what I have done in the past is this:

 

1. when the readings were too hard, I went very slowly. I would only go two paragraphs at a time.

2. I would look up words they did not know. That becomes their vocabulary words for the week.

3. They narrate their paragraphs to me. If they struggle, we go over what they might not have understood.

4. I work with them slowly throughout the week. They usually catch on by the end of the year. The following year some of the books they can read entire chapters on their own. Some we still have to go one or two paragraphs at a time.

 

It is a slow process, but they start to understand more and more and they are getting great literature.

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey.

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[AngelaNYC]

We did Year 1 for 2nd grade and we're half-way through Year 2 (3rd grade). We're continuing through the summer and I figure we'll be done with Year 2 before October. Then we'll go right into Year 3.

 

We LOVE it. We'll be finishing up TT5 and move onto LoF Fractions during Year 3. We also follow the AO schedules for the poets, nature, artist, & composer study. We throw in science experiments, art projects, and tons of field trips & classes. We also try to incorporate many CM methods, like: short lessons, afternoons free, nature notebooks, copywork, history timeline, and handicrafts.

 

 

 

Not trying to hijack (let me know if I should move this to its own thread, though), but can I get encouragement from those of you who have done Ambleside successfully? Here's my story: I was all prepared for this year (the one that's almost over now :tongue_smilie:) for dd11 (5th grade) to do year 4 and ds 9 (3rd grade) to do year 2. I bought all the books. The first week, I gave them their first assignments. They started reading and FREAKED out. The books were too hard and boring (their words). So, like the good, persevering mother that I am, I bailed. :glare:

 

So what SHOULD I have done? Any of you Ambleside vets have suggestions? Did I pick the wrong years? They are both very strong readers, but of course, the books were unlike anything they have read on their own.:bigear:

 

You have to read as much as you can on the AO website before you begin. What I've learned is that because AO is such a challenging curriculum, the selections should be read to the child up to about Year 4 and the child gives an oral narration (does not have to be a full summary. If it's difficult, then have them tell you a few things they remember. Read on the AO site about narration. It explains so much). Starting in Year 4, the child can read some things on their own and try a few written narrations.

 

BUT...if you're just starting AO with an older child, reading the selections to them is a better idea. Many children aren't used to these types of books and older language, so they need to ease into it gently. Also, Year 4 is a huge jump from Year 3 - they even made a "Year 3.5" to help children new to AO ease into Year 4.

 

Year 3.5 booklist

Year 3.5 36-week schedule

 

So it may not be that you picked the wrong Years, its that you went about it the wrong way. Pull up the "site map" page on the AO site and just start reading everything you can below the booklists and schedules. Maybe you can give it another try! :001_smile:

Edited May 18, 2010 by Abkjw01

[prairiegirl]

Julia,

 

I'd love to hear more about how you do this. We tried AO years 3 and 4 last year, but my dd could not stand This Country of Ours. My ds like OIS though. They both really like SOTW, so I was wondering if maybe we could substitute the history somehow. Also, my dd hated the schedule. She loves the satisfaction she gets of finishing a book. With AO, the books are drawn out so much that she rarely gets that. Anyway, could you explain a bit about how you follow certain AO years without the history and schedule? What do you use for history?

 

Thanks!

 

Chloe, when my oldest was in Gr. 2, we tried combining AO's history with SOTW and it drove me insane. It was just too much work for both my dd and myself. Now we stay with the 4 yr. history cycle and I use SOTW with my youngers. My oldest will be starting Ancients again using TruthQuest and Kingfisher Enc. a la WTM.

 

I have tried using AO's schedule and it was just too stifling for me. I don't follow schedules very well. We are slow readers anyway so I felt like we would still be getting a relationship from the book as CM talks about. All we do is read through the list for literature and free reads. My dd now reads most on her own. I have her read two or three chapters a day (depending on the book.) We have a 4-day week so it usually takes her a month to get through a book. Sometimes, instead of her reading a lit book she will read a natural history book that is on the list or a science book, biography, etc. (it doesn't matter to me if the bio is not in that year's history year.) We are very relaxed in how we do AO. I do have her write out narrations for her reading. This year, though, I have had her write out the main idea for each chapter like WEM suggests.

 

With the youngers, I read all of their book selections as they both have dyslexia. We go slower through these lists. I read their lit. selections to them individually but their other selections ( science, geo. etc.) gets read during our Morning Time (this is how we start off our day with Bible reading, read aloud and reading a bit out of an AO book.) Every one hears these books but I don't see the harm in that.

 

I have tried to be as detailed as I can be. If you have more questions, ask away.

[prairiegirl]

Holly, because your children are not used to the type of AO suggests, I would read them to your children, if I were you. They may be great readers but in reading books like AO suggests, they are reading words and writing style that they are not used to. So when they read they have to focus on the strange words, the strange style, then they are expected to have to remember what they have read. That is alot to process in the beginning. My kids have used AO from the beginning but I still read the books to them. With my oldest, I read the harder ones (like Oliver Twist) but she is now able to read the rest on her own.

 

I would try it again, maybe just going through the lists, rather than following the schedule and read the books to them and talking through their narrations with them a la WTM with asking questions to prompt them. I know this is against CM philosophy but to just get them in the swing of things is not going to hurt, imo. :D It will take awhile to get them used to the AO-type books but I encourage you to keep plugging along. The benefits are enormous.

[anewday]

Yes - we're using it for our history and science bios (Terms 2 and 3 of AO5 and Term 1 of AO6).

 

Our co-op follows the AO recommendations for artists and composers also.

[HollyBee]

Just a suggestions, what I have done in the past is this:

 

1. when the readings were too hard, I went very slowly. I would only go two paragraphs at a time.

2. I would look up words they did not know. That becomes their vocabulary words for the week.

3. They narrate their paragraphs to me. If they struggle, we go over what they might not have understood.

4. I work with them slowly throughout the week. They usually catch on by the end of the year. The following year some of the books they can read entire chapters on their own. Some we still have to go one or two paragraphs at a time.

 

It is a slow process, but they start to understand more and more and they are getting great literature.

 

BUT...if you're just starting AO with an older child, reading the selections to them is a better idea. Many children aren't used to these types of books and older language, so they need to ease into it gently. Also, Year 4 is a huge jump from Year 3 - they even made a "Year 3.5" to help children new to AO ease into Year 4.

 

Year 3.5 booklist

Year 3.5 36-week schedule

 

So it may not be that you picked the wrong Years, its that you went about it the wrong way. Pull up the "site map" page on the AO site and just start reading everything you can below the booklists and schedules. Maybe you can give it another try! :001_smile:

 

Holly, because your children are not used to the type of AO suggests, I would read them to your children, if I were you. They may be great readers but in reading books like AO suggests, they are reading words and writing style that they are not used to. So when they read they have to focus on the strange words, the strange style, then they are expected to have to remember what they have read. That is alot to process in the beginning. My kids have used AO from the beginning but I still read the books to them. With my oldest, I read the harder ones (like Oliver Twist) but she is now able to read the rest on her own.

 

I would try it again, maybe just going through the lists, rather than following the schedule and read the books to them and talking through their narrations with them a la WTM with asking questions to prompt them. I know this is against CM philosophy but to just get them in the swing of things is not going to hurt, imo. :D It will take awhile to get them used to the AO-type books but I encourage you to keep plugging along. The benefits are enormous.

 

Thank you all for the input. I agree with everything. I think the idea of reading it to them is the way for us to go for a while. We do love the 4 year chronological history cycle, so it may be that we stick with that, then add in the literature, etc., from AO.

 

Definitely food for thought. And it's so much more fun to contemplate NEXT year than to actually finish up this year's work. Blech. :tongue_smilie:

[Moniksca]

We did a modified version of year 1 and year 2 this year and I had to do all the reading for my ds. It was hard in the beginning and but he enjoyed it. I'm planning on going with year 3 this year except for history, we pretty much follow everything else and I pick and choose literature selections I know will work for my ds. I love that almost all the books can be found online, I'm all for free.

[Medieval Mom]

I won't leave it out then. I'm glad to hear it. I will be reading it at least four times between two kids and using AO and OM. It's nice to hear you wouldn't mind reading it that much! :D. How about Just So Stories?

 

Well, ds LOVES Just So Stories, but it is one of those few read-alouds that I do not particularly enjoy. :confused: I think it is the language. Like Winnie the Pooh, is uses quite a few nonsense words. Don't get me wrong-- I like both books, but I don't like reading them aloud. (And I LOVE reading aloud!) YMMV. :)

[Medieval Mom]

For second grade I would recommend doing AO year 1. Also, join the yahoo groups - there is a wealth of information there. We started AO year 1 in January (ds will be 7 in July) and we certainly could have waited until now to do it. We are enjoying it, but it is very challenging, and they really recommend staring year 1 at age 7. The years aren't necessarily written to correlate with grades. We love AO and plan to do it through high school.

 

We have already covered the Yr 1 books this year. Ds likes to read many of them independently, which helped me make the decision to do AO this year. :) Repeating the same books for another year would be frustrating to us!

 

I see where you are coming from, though, and appreciate the advice. If we hadn't already covered AO1 , I would definitely start there. ;). If we find the need to slow down, we'll do it :)

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Oh! My advice, which you did NOT ask for ;), is to read James Herriot's Treasury both years :) It is SO charming, that it never becomes tiring IMO! We've read it dozens of times! :D

 

I just wanted to recommend that you get James Herriot's Treasury for Children now, even though it's covered next year in OM. My boys LOVE that book. It's one of their favorites and ask me to read stories from it several times a week ---- for the last 2 years! It's the kind of book with stories children want to hear over and over.

 

:iagree: My kids ask me to read these over...and over...and over....These books are wonderful...

Faithe

 

Well, ds LOVES Just So Stories, but it is one of those few read-alouds that I do not particularly enjoy. :confused: I think it is the language. Like Winnie the Pooh, is uses quite a few nonsense words. Don't get me wrong-- I like both books, but I don't like reading them aloud. (And I LOVE reading aloud!) YMMV. :)

 

Seems to be a recurring theme. :D I actually have both of these books already. I had planned on doing AO Year 1 after OM K and dropping OM completely, but we have had so much fun with the art, nature study and structure that I'm going to keep doing OM. OM is light in the early grades, so using it alongside AO Year 1 will be quite doable. I am going to use the composer study and artist study from AO also. Basically we are leaving out science, art and handicrafts and letting OM take over there where it shines.

 

Thanks for the advice, ladies! They are back on the AO Year 1 shelf.

[Kfamily]

We adapt the AO years but my younger dd (1st) will be doing AO Year 3 and my older dd (7th) will be using AO Year 8. We have no problem moving books around or substituting them as needed.

 

My younger dd(Year 3) will be using these books:

 

(this is subject to some change of course...:D)

 

Our Island Story

A Child's History of the World

This Country of Ours

 

Bard of Avon

Good Queen Bess

Peter the Great

Michelangelo

all of these are by Diane Stanley

 

also, Leonardo's Horse, William Shakespeare and the Globe

The Renaissance The Invention of Perspective

she will also listen to I, Juan de Pareja and we will study Velazquez as our artist of the year

maybe something else for the pilgrims

 

For Geography we will do Paddle to the Sea + the map from BF

 

Science will include the Among the ....People series from Yesterday's Classics and Burgess Animal Book

 

Literature will include

American Tall Tales

Tales from Shakespeare

a Don Quixote retelling (from K12)

The Heroes

maybe Parables from Nature

A Garden of Verse

selections from Longfellow (Hiawatha)

 

for reading

Mighty Men

A Little Princess

Heidi

The Saturdays

Five Little Peppers and How they Grew

probably more here

still working on all of this

 

 

Dd Year 8

 

Different spines (saving Churchill books for later years of high school...my dd wasn't ready for them yet)

The Story of England

The Story of France

Renaissance & Reformation (Dorothy Mills)

 

Saints and Heroes vol. 2

all of the speeches

A Man for all Seasons (movie)

Life of Sir Francis Bacon

Galileo

Issac Newton

 

 

Utopia

Francis Bacon Essays

 

English Lit. for Boys and Girls

S. American Literature

Everyman

Diary of Samuel Pepys

Don Quixote retelling (K12)

Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves

Shakespeare's Sonnets

Milton's poems

maybe Lorna Doone (we watched the movie and dd loved it)

maybe a Jane Austen

 

We can't do all of Year 8 since we are adding books to match Classical Writing such as Julius Ceasar and Merchant of Venice (but these count as our Shakespeares for the year) plus we will read The Hobbit and Autobiography of Ben Franklin

 

 

How to Read a Book (I will read and discuss this with her) and will add other books for literary analysis such as Figuratively Speaking and Poetry and Prose

[Homemama2]

We will be doing Yr 3 w/ my then 3rd grader and yr. 1 w/ my then first grader. We are joining a co-op this fall that meets 1 day a week, so I am trying to get a workable 4 day schedule figured out. We might not do all the books (in fact, I'm sure we won't), and you can see from my sig. from this year we don't use AO exclusively...this year our days were pretty long adding AO on top of a pretty full schedule, so I want to work out a better plan for the fall. I love copywork, dictation etc....yet can't let go of an actual spelling curriculum, for example. Ok...I'm just rambling now! But it's nice to see all the other AO users out there!

[mommyofthree]

I used some of the literature selections for grade three. Overall, it was an educational and fun experience for dd. I plan on using both the literature and poetry selections for grade 4.

[musicianmom]

One more year before we can start Ambleside, and it's hard to wait! We have nearly all the Year 1 books, and I'm trying to work my way through Year 7 when I have time.

[woolybear]

Not trying to hijack (let me know if I should move this to its own thread, though), but can I get encouragement from those of you who have done Ambleside successfully? Here's my story: I was all prepared for this year (the one that's almost over now :tongue_smilie:) for dd11 (5th grade) to do year 4 and ds 9 (3rd grade) to do year 2. I bought all the books. The first week, I gave them their first assignments. They started reading and FREAKED out. The books were too hard and boring (their words). So, like the good, persevering mother that I am, I bailed. :glare:

 

So what SHOULD I have done? Any of you Ambleside vets have suggestions? Did I pick the wrong years? They are both very strong readers, but of course, the books were unlike anything they have read on their own.

 

Not to mention, I have a hard time letting go of the 4 year history cycle. (I know, I know.)

 

:bigear:

 

I put ds, age 9, in Year 1 this year. I think it was a pretty good fit. I would suggest starting slowly. Reading a lot aloud. Getting them and you used to the rhythm and approach of Ambleside. I would not try to have the dc get everything in the schedule done at first. Not every book needs to be done. Maybe pick one history book for each and start with you reading aloud, then, slowly let dd take over some of the reading. Maybe just start with dd on the readings. Do the other work jointly (picture study, composers, nature walks, pick one good book to read aloud). Then I would pick up slowly with ds too. I would even consider putting him in Year 1 now. Let him learn the CM way of narrating, etc.

 

I could imagine Years 4 and 2 could be overwhelming at first and yes, even boring, if they are not used to this approach and this kind of literature.

 

I'm not suggesting you go back and try again. You really need to evaluate for yourself if you think this will be a good fit for your family. My feeling for us was it was a wonderful fit for my older ds and so so for my younger. I do love AO though and I think it takes some getting used to and maturity.

[woolybear]

We are still stumbling through Year 1 here. I plan to try to get to Year 2 by the fall for older ds (age 10 then) and am debating whether I will do any Year 1 with younger ds at that point. We will have a lot of other stuff going on and he did sit in on quite a bit of older ds' readings, though I would hardly say he "did year 1".

 

We are also using Oak Meadow for Language Arts, Math, Arts, and a bit of miscellaneous other things. I am adding in a VERY light version of Tapestry of Grace as well. So, most likely, Ambleside will be quite light for us this year. We'll be using TOG year 2, unit 1 (Middle Ages) so the history period lines up nicely with AO Year 2.

[KS_]

We will be on Year 4 this fall. I've combined my dc into one year because when we started Year 1, dd was always there, sitting and listening (very much wanting to be involved), and so although I know she didn't retain as much as her brother, I just couldn't see going through the same books again in the next year or so.

 

However, because of combining them, I ended up putting in Year 3.5 and stretching it over 2 years so dd wouldn't be way too young for Year 4. She turns 9 this summer, so we'll see how things go.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

We will be on Year 4 this fall. I've combined my dc into one year because when we started Year 1, dd was always there, sitting and listening (very much wanting to be involved), and so although I know she didn't retain as much as her brother, I just couldn't see going through the same books again in the next year or so.

 

However, because of combining them, I ended up putting in Year 3.5 and stretching it over 2 years so dd wouldn't be way too young for Year 4. She turns 9 this summer, so we'll see how things go.

 

This is a very interesting observation. I am wondering how much my youngest will absorb with what we are doing now, and how much of it she needs us to do over for just her. My girls are 2 grades apart in age, it's too early to tell how close in academic ability they will actually be. I'm thinking out loud, but this has always been in the back of my mind as well.

[Mama2two]

We are going to be doing AO yr 1 next year for first grade.

 

We are going to tweak their history but follow their literature exactly.

[Mama2two]

This is a very interesting observation. I am wondering how much my youngest will absorb with what we are doing now, and how much of it she needs us to do over for just her. My girls are 2 grades apart in age, it's too early to tell how close in academic ability they will actually be. I'm thinking out loud, but this has always been in the back of my mind as well.

 

I've been thinking the same thing. I am starting Yr 1 for my DS 6, next year. But my daughter is only 20 months younger.

[KS_]

I've been thinking the same thing. I am starting Yr 1 for my DS 6, next year. But my daughter is only 20 months younger.

 

It really depends on the family (and if you're able to handle 2 separate years easily or not - I couldn't, ds is a very challenging child and that has taken up a lot of our school time and energy, which is another reason I combined), but if you're thinking of combining, I'd hold off on starting Year 1 til your ds is 7. I believe I started Year 1 when my ds was 6 (and dd is 2 grades younger), and if we would have held off one more year, she would have gotten more out of it, and then adding Year 3.5 as a single year would have worked out fine.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

It really depends on the family (and if you're able to handle 2 separate years easily or not - I couldn't, ds is a very challenging child and that has taken up a lot of our school time and energy, which is another reason I combined), but if you're thinking of combining, I'd hold off on starting Year 1 til your ds is 7. I believe I started Year 1 when my ds was 6 (and dd is 2 grades younger), and if we would have held off one more year, she would have gotten more out of it, and then adding Year 3.5 as a single year would have worked out fine.

 

Wait another year?:svengo: I've been drooling over Ambleside for two years now. Okay, back to thinking again.

[Chloe]

Not trying to hijack (let me know if I should move this to its own thread, though), but can I get encouragement from those of you who have done Ambleside successfully? Here's my story: I was all prepared for this year (the one that's almost over now :tongue_smilie:) for dd11 (5th grade) to do year 4 and ds 9 (3rd grade) to do year 2. I bought all the books. The first week, I gave them their first assignments. They started reading and FREAKED out. The books were too hard and boring (their words). So, like the good, persevering mother that I am, I bailed. :glare:

 

So what SHOULD I have done? Any of you Ambleside vets have suggestions? Did I pick the wrong years? They are both very strong readers, but of course, the books were unlike anything they have read on their own.

 

Not to mention, I have a hard time letting go of the 4 year history cycle. (I know, I know.)

 

:bigear:

 

No advice, but just know that you are not alone. I started this school year out the same way. We made it through maybe 5 or 6 weeks. Then I had to start dropping books because they were either too hard or terribly boring for my dc. I substituted some and just plain dropped others. It got to the point that what we were doing was so modified, it wasn't AO anymore. And my dd, in particular, hated reading from SO MANY books at one time, but never finishing any of them since they are read over such a long period of time. We ended up just reading some of the AO books, but not with a schedule. There's still part of me that wants to make AO work though. I don't particularly care about hanging on to the 4 year history cycle. I do have a problem, though, with my dc being in different parts of the history cycle. I don't know why.

[KS_]

Wait another year?:svengo: I've been drooling over Ambleside for two years now.

 

I know! I was so anxious to start, and don't get me wrong, it hasn't been bad, but it took a little tweaking and thought as to how we were going to end up at Year 4. I believe I've read that 9 is really the very youngest recommended for that Year, and I *think* dd will do fine. However, in hindsight, she would have had a deeper experience with the books and understood more had I waited.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

I know! I was so anxious to start, and don't get me wrong, it hasn't been bad, but it took a little tweaking and thought as to how we were going to end up at Year 4. I believe I've read that 9 is really the very youngest recommended for that Year, and I *think* dd will do fine. However, in hindsight, she would have had a deeper experience with the books and understood more had I waited.

 

What you are saying makes a lot of sense. I'm just going to have to think about it. The thought of waiting is so hard, even if it ends up being the best for us.

[Mama2two]

Wait another year?:svengo: I've been drooling over Ambleside for two years now. Okay, back to thinking again.

 

lol!

I thought the same thing.

 

I will think on it....

Maybe planning on a year 3.5 and stretching out year 1 is a good idea.

 

We can always re-do some of the year 1 literature books in a few years when my daughter is older

[FO4UR]

We've done most of Year 1, and I'm thinking about Year 2.

 

I am just very tempted to drop the history portions...but for what? (I know there are 10000000 options for history and that is my exact problem.:confused:)

 

ETA: Aesop, Holling's books, Just So Stories and James Herriot are ALL incredibly popular in this house! We have already re-read several of those and the year is not up. (Milo Winter's Aesop plays in our van on audiobook...the kids remember several verbatim.)

Edited May 18, 2010 by 3blessingmom

[KIN]

Could someone tell me how to do what I have in my head, but can't figure out how to do? :confused: I want to do Ambleside with my 1st, 3rd and 5th graders next year. However, I want my oldest to do WTM history and I like the structure of SOTW with the AG (narration questions and maps) for my youngers.

 

How can I do this? We are ready to do Ancients again next year. I'm just torn, torn, torn between giving up my history cycle and just doing AO with each child on their own level. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, the books for 5th and 3rd won't be "ancients" books.

[Another Lynn]

Could someone tell me how to do what I have in my head, but can't figure out how to do? :confused: I want to do Ambleside with my 1st, 3rd and 5th graders next year. However, I want my oldest to do WTM history and I like the structure of SOTW with the AG (narration questions and maps) for my youngers.

 

How can I do this? We are ready to do Ancients again next year. I'm just torn, torn, torn between giving up my history cycle and just doing AO with each child on their own level. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, the books for 5th and 3rd won't be "ancients" books.

 

Kathy,

I can't satisfy your every desire.... but I can tell you generally what I did this past year with a 5th, 2nd, and 1st grader. We did ancients - which of course AO doesn't do at those grades. I used Miller's Story of the Ancient World as our spine most of the year. My 5th grader read a ton of additional books (including Story of the Greeks and Story of the Romans, biographies, historical fiction) on his own. SAW ends with Alexander the Great - so at this point we switched over to Hillyer as our spine. We also read some 50 Famous Stories and some AO Yr. 1 literature. We still have some chapters of Island Story to read over the summer to get us where we need to be to start Yr. 2. For a month or two my oldest and I tried doing WTM history with the Red Kingfisher - listing facts, picking a topic, doing further research. I think this is most difficult during the ancient year because of a lack of info on many topics. Besides that, it got old fast. He enjoyed everything he read after we abandoned WTM method, but we weren't always faithful to narrate, etc. (As a side note, I'm trying Diana Waring's Romans, Reformers, and Revolutionaries with him next year to give us more ideas for thinking about and expressing what he learns.)

 

By the way, I also bought the SOTW AG to have ready made coloring pages and maps for my AO Yr 2 kids. I'm sure there's a lot in there we won't use, but I think it will be worth the convenience to have it on hand.

 

Not sure that helps you any, but I sympathize with the decision you have to make! Even now I'm torn between wanting to have everyone in the same time period vs. slowing down my dd (1st grader this year) so she's not doing the same thing as her older brother (18 mos apart). She would almost make a better pairing with her younger brother even though they are 2 years apart. But I digress!

 

Blessings as you figure out what's best for your family :)