Those using Ambleside Online......

[Chloe]

Does it bother you or make things more difficult not having all your dc studying the same period of history? My oldest is only 10 so, at this point, I think it seems harder. However, in another year or two when most of her work is done on her own anyway, I can see where it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

 

I love the AO books (I've started year 1 with my two oldest), but having my dc in different years makes me nervous. I recently bought Biblioplan's Middle Ages and Famous Men of the Middle Ages. I love how simple Biblioplan makes it to have all ages studying the same thing, but I don't want to give up AO's great books. I'm tempted to try to schedule Our Island Story and Trial and Triumph into the Biblioplan schedule, but I'm just not sure if I would be making things even harder that way.

 

I'd love any thoughts and opinions on this!

 

Thanks!

[KS_]

Well, I'm not sure I'll be of much help, but I've combined my two dc into one year in Ambleside. My dd was always there listening in anyway, and I didn't want to go back and re-read the same books the next year, so it has worked for us. I think you could easily combine your older two into one year, but I'm not sure what you'd do with the younger two . . .

[Another Lynn]

I will have a 4th grader, 1st grader and K-er in the fall and I've recently decided that I need to combine my 1st and K-er - or else I've never get anything done with the K-er. I'm looking at one of Heart of Dakota's plans - but even if I do it, I'll add many of AO yr.1 readings back in. My oldest is following the 4-yr history cycle - so he's not pure AO either. I think the following year (when I'll have a 5th grader, 2nd grader and 1st grader) I will start everyone over together with ancients (maybe TOG?, maybe Biblioplan?) - but I can't do it next year because my oldest loves history and is dying to do a year of modern history - I just don't want to fold in my youngers to modern history. I think it would be too dry for them (jmho).

 

Anyway - if you decide to use Biblioplan - I would definitely add in Island Story and Trial and Triumph. I think they are worth it! - and since it would be the same reading for everyone it wouldn't be too time consuming.

 

Just my confused .02!

[kjdkek]

We are using Simply Charlotte Mason. I love how I can combine all of my children onto the same year. They make it so easy. I have an 11yr, 9yr, and 5yr. We are starting out with their yr 1. Ambleside seemed like it would be too difficult for me having 3 kids in 3 different years. Not to mention expensive as I like to purchase all of the books that are recommended. I only wish I would have discovered this sooner! =}

[LindaOz]

We are using Simply Charlotte Mason. I love how I can combine all of my children onto the same year. They make it so easy. I have an 11yr, 9yr, and 5yr. We are starting out with their yr 1. Ambleside seemed like it would be too difficult for me having 3 kids in 3 different years. Not to mention expensive as I like to purchase all of the books that are recommended. I only wish I would have discovered this sooner! =}

 

Yes, I second Simply Charlotte Mason. I really like elements of AO too but I don't want to have so many different history periods happening at the same time. I love having us all on the same page as far as time period goes, but also needing to cater for everyone at their level and keep them moving forward. SCM's plan does this and we are using that now, and I love it. We are doing their New History Module 5 and it's working really well.

[Chloe]

I've checked out SCM before, but it's been a while. I don't remember what their book recommendations are like. Are the books as good as AO's? The wonderful books in AO is the main reason I want to do it. I'll take another look at SCM.

[LindaOz]

I still use some of the AO books even though following a more SCM plan for history. I just look at what AO suggests for the time period we are currently doing and incorporate those. I also still use many of AO's selections for literature and science because, I agree, they do have some great books.

[Peela]

I was always attracted to AO but couldn't get over the history thing either. I really like the 4 year history cycle, myself. My two kids are easy to combine in the one year (only 17 months between them) but I didn't want to abandon SOTW and where we were in the cycle. So I can relate to the frustration of AO not being quite right. But now I am at a place where I can fit perfectly into AO/HEO....or rather, AO/HEO happens to fit with what I want to do.

In the end, I always just do what I want to do, and adapt. I would combine your two older ones and have your5yo do Year 0 or Year 1- not a lot of work. Or, Simply Charlotte Mason looks good.

[Donna T.]

Hi,Chloe!

 

No, it doesn't bother me to have my children studying different time periods. With AO, you wouldn't really be a "teacher". You would be a provider. You would provide access to very high quality titles and then you would oversee your child's progression through that level of material. The emphasis is not on activities or notebooking or even discussion. If a child is a fluent reader, he or she would be reading his or her own school books. After they read, they tell it back to you. This is working very well for my family. While my reader is doing his own reading, I am reading to my pre-reader. We love it! My oldest son (9 yrs old doing Yr. 2) is able to concentrate better because he's not distracted by my younger son. And, my younger son is happier because he gets Mommy during this time. You can certainly set this up no matter what curriculum you are using, but the difference with AO compared to other things I've used, is that it is intended that the readers read their own material and so that's just built in for you already. Now, if I were trying to use AO simply as a book list but do it the "Sonlight way" (lots of reading aloud) or the "Biblioplan way" (combining the children) or the whatever way, it would just complicate something that is really very simple. I've decided we don't need unit studies for history or many activities. I just want the best quality history books that I can find and I want my children to be able to read them for themselves in preparation for the books they will be reading when they are older.

 

The main reason that I'm with AO now instead of the other five or six history curriculi that I've tried is the quality of the books. I am happy to let the books have center-stage for history and so I don't think it will be cumbersome to have the children learning from different time periods (I'm not trying to provide related read-alouds or activities). The time periods are not as spread out as with other programs, so even if the children are in, say for example, two different AO Years, the actual years of history that they are studying may not be so very different. Both may fall within the "medieval" period even though the actual years they are reading about are not exactly the same. I hope that makes sense!

 

If you decide to try AO, I'd have the readers doing either their own course or perhaps sharing a course (if buying or printing out the additional books is not an option) and have the non-readers in one course. Then, decide which books you will read out loud. From Yr 2, I will be reading The Pilgrims' Progress, the Bible, and all fairytales, myths and legends. There are many areas of the AO curriculum in which you can combine (nature study, Bible, listening to audio books together, picture studies, music appreciation, acquiring habits, lifeskills and handicrafts - others that I'm not thinking of probably) but you would want to encourage independence in their reading lists as is appropriate for their level of reading. When they tell that back, the younger children would have that exposure and will learn so much just from that experience.

 

Blessings,

Donna T.

http://www.fishfellacademy.blogspot.com

[MelissaMinNC]

This is one reason why I LOVE Tapestry of Grace. Many of the same books Ambleside uses are scheduled in ToG, and all the dc are studying the same period at the same time. It also follows a 4yr history cycle, and you're only doing one strand of history at a time, which I love for me - I don't think the dc actually care about that. At least not at this young age - my dd is only 6.

 

Anyway, I'm not an Ambleside user, so maybe I shouldn't even be answering this, but that is one of the things that has kept me from using it - not having all the kids together. I like taking what I know and love about Charlotte Mason methods and applying them to ToG and the other curricula we use.

 

HTH,

:)

Melissa

[Donna T.]

I like taking what I know and love about Charlotte Mason methods and applying them to ToG and the other curricula we use.

 

HTH,

:)

Melissa

 

I think that is the most amazing thing about CM methods and principles. They can be applied to almost any thing that you want to do with your children. The more I'm "going that way" the more I am understanding how previous curriculi that I have used could have been done in the same general manner. There is no one way to do this. But, I think all that I'm learning from AO is going to help me to more fully implement CM as a way of life. I think it's very important to work with the books that you as the mother truly love. One thing I'm learning is that the curriculi that we work with has to meet my needs as a student.

 

Donna T.

http://www.fishfellacademy.blogspot.com

[farmnwife]

What works for us that I put my oldest in one year and put the younger two in the same year. My oldest does all her own reading. I still do the history reading for the younger two. The other reading they do on their own. As soon as they are able to do the reading on their own it is not hard to keep up with. You know where they are at by oral or written narrations.

 

judi