Oak Meadow... K or 1st? Ambleside? Put together my own? Help!

[Katydid]

Hi, all. This is my first time posting here, though I've been lurking on and off for months. I could really use some help deciding what to use next year for our first official year of homeschooling.

 

I have a 6 year old son who taught himself to read at age 4 and is now reading at a pretty high level, though could use some more help with comprehension. He is pretty good at the little bit of math we have done this year (about 1/4 of MEP year 1 plus games and such).... I've been pleasantly surprised at how much understanding he has of number relationships. He is quite logical and literal in his thinking, though fairly immature, socially.

 

I also have a 4 year old girl who loves everything fairies, princesses and stories and has a very active imagination. She doesn't really know her letters and couldn't really care less about numbers, which is such a change from my son. She loves drawing elaborate stories and making crafts and has very good story comprehension.

 

I have been planning on homeschooling since my first was born and so have been reading up on different philosophies for years. I am enamored with Charlotte Mason and Ambleside online and I thought I was set on doing that and we have read through almost all off the year 0 selections these past few years. But now that the time to start year 1 is fast approaching, I'm having second thoughts.

 

There are some things I do not like about AO's history rotation and I think many of the readings might be a bit too much for my son. So I have been working on a plan rearranging AO's readings to fit more with SCM's history rotations and stretching out year 1 over two years. I love the idea of combining my children as much as possible in our studies.

 

But then, I'm not a very organized person and I also have a 9 month old baby, so I'm finding myself completely overwhelmed with all this planning. I keep looking at all the various "CM in a box" type curriculum (HOD, LBC, SCM, MFW, sonlight, etc.) and when I look at the book selections/samples, there are always things I just don't like about them.

 

However, I have just started looking at Oak Meadow and I really like what I've been seeing! I'm really drawn to Oak Meadow's way of teaching language arts and math for my daughter, in particular. I like all the stories, nature and craft ideas already integrated. And I could actually see myself teaching from the sample plans they have online, with is more than I can say for all the other programs.

 

But I do have a few reservations. I had planned on starting our school year in mid-July doing 3 weeks on, one week off, but it seems that OM is set up to be used only during the fall, winter and spring seasons.... am I understanding that right? Also, as I mentioned before, I'm really interested in combining my students as much as possible and I didn't know if that was possible with OM without a lot of tweaking (which defeats the purpose of a boxed curriculum, IMO). And the other reservation is I really don't like their history rotations in the older grades. I really would like to do two 5 or six year rotations of chronological history. I could add the history in the younger years quite easily, but I feel it would conflict with the program too much if I try to add to the history that is already written in the syllabus.

 

Which brings me to my final dilemma: should I work on choosing a program now that we can stick with for the long haul or just take one year at a time? The perfectionist in me really wants to do the former, but I don't know how realistic that is....

 

So, all that to say.... I think I might be leaning towards doing OM K with both kids and adding in AO readings, copywork and MEP (which we both love) for my son. I wonder if anyone who has done OM K could tell me whether that sounds like a reasonable plan, based on what I've told you about my kids? Or should I just get OM 1st for my son and have dd tag along and do K with her next year?

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited May 25, 2010 by Katydid

[freeindeed]

I don't have any experience with Oak Meadow, but, if I were you, I'd try Ambleside this year. There are several Yahoo Groups for AO users, one of which even has sample schedules. Oh, and don't try to plan for all the years now. Things change from year to year, children change, you change...:lol: Just take it one year at a time for now.

[Aurelia]

I know Cindie did something similar, her daughter did OM K plus AO and Miquon and she said it worked beautifully. I think she's on a board break now, though, but if you PM her, she will likely respond.

 

I'm still waiting for my first grade syllabus to arrive, but I have been assured that you can do the activities any time, and that the main difference is during the "Winter" segment you do more indoor stuff than in Spring and Autumn. There are several users who combine their kids and it works for them. At this point, I'd take it one year at a time, since the only thing constant is change. ;)

 

You might wish to join the Oak Meadow social group here. The members provided loads of good advice when I was trying to decide if I was going to use it next year or not.

[Katydid]

Thank you both. I am a member of many of the AO yahoo groups and I do find them very helpful. I just feel like I may need a bit more structure when it comes to the nature/handicraft aspect of CM. Plus I love the way OM uses stories to teach the letters and the idea of the main lesson book for narration writing and drawings.

 

Thanks for the tip on the member who combined OM and AO.... I may have to track her down. :001_smile: