If you tried Ambleside Y1 ....pros and cons

[FO4UR]

AO is a fantastic template for a CM education. I feel free to pull out a book here and there and replace it with something that fits our family. I use SOTW and Guerber/Miller for history (along with whatever picture books I can find at my library), for ex.

 

It seems that I rarely have all the balls in the air at the same time (I love the army dropping non-essentials visual.:lol:), but I do try to keep the reading varied and deep. We always have a history, a historical fiction, a biography, a nature story, some non-fiction science, fairy tales and myths (LOTS of fairy tales and myths...YUMMY!), and some good wholesome stories that are part of the USA culture (Charlotte's Web comes to mind...).

 

My dc are so close in age...and I can't read aloud to one without the other 2 tagging along...so our days are NOT like a CM schedule. My 8yo is getting some repeats (Herriot and Kipling are beloved LOL), and my 6yo and 5yo are listening in on Tanglewood Tales. Once we started Pagoo, we couldn't simply wait a week for the next chapter. My way is messy if you like box checking and scheduling, but the AO reading/narrating/LIVING our books is the heart of our homeschool and our family. My dc think school is phonics/spelling/handwriting/grammar/math...AO is what we do on our breaks.:tongue_smilie:

 

My 8yo is a struggling reader. I read it all aloud. His listening comprehension is excellent. His ability to narrate, ask intelligent questions, and carry on conversation is excellent! (He's picked out as a HSer at various places b/c he's the one asking "How did...?" and filling in associations with things previously read...that and his super-sized vocabulary.:lol:)

 

AO booklists and CM wisdom together are one thing I've done right on this HSing journey. The booklist is just a booklist without CM's insights, and CM's insights are nothing but ideals without something tangible (AO books/resources) to put them upon. Giving a child real books and living with them...allowing him the space to think through the ideas...that is an education.

[MyFourSons]

Check out http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/p/free-curriculum.html

and the history schedule http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/2009/07/chronological-history-plan.html

 

I have started using this and love it. It is based on AO but with a few changes which she explains on the site. One of the changes is the history schedule which starts with a full year of Ancients and then does another in Year 6. I much prefer this to the AO history schedule. It also puts Parables of Nature and Trial and Triumph at older levels which is another change that I think is very relevant. The site is full of CM helps.

 

I thought my ds7 was struggling with reading and comprehension with the literature based program we were doing, then I started Higher Up Further In with him. Suddenly he is listening to harder material, narrating it successfully, and choosing to read alone (after only two weeks.) I'm suitably impressed. :001_smile:

 

Might be worth a look.

 

I just got done looking at the HUFI booklist and schedules, thanks for the info! I have read her articles on narration, copywork, etc. and found them very helpful, but I never browsed her actual curriculum. For some reason I thought she was using AO more or less as written, I didn't realize how different it was. Her history cycle is very appealing to me as well, maybe next year.... :)

[Joyoflearning]

Check out http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/p/free-curriculum.html

and the history schedule http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/2009/07/chronological-history-plan.html

 

I have started using this and love it. It is based on AO but with a few changes which she explains on the site. One of the changes is the history schedule which starts with a full year of Ancients and then does another in Year 6. I much prefer this to the AO history schedule. It also puts Parables of Nature and Trial and Triumph at older levels which is another change that I think is very relevant. The site is full of CM helps.

 

I thought my ds7 was struggling with reading and comprehension with the literature based program we were doing, then I started Higher Up Further In with him. Suddenly he is listening to harder material, narrating it successfully, and choosing to read alone (after only two weeks.) I'm suitably impressed. :001_smile:

 

Might be worth a look.

 

I love the look, S&S, and book list of Higher Up and Further In and am contemplating using it this next school year. I already utilize their booklist. I've been playing around with some schedules trying to figure out what might work. I love how they follow the history cycle starting with Ancients while still having a focus on American history each year. I will either do this or HOD beyond/SOTW 1 next year (with HUFI as my inspiration) and I will continue to pull from their booklist. If anyone has any feedback regarding using this (with their choice of CHOW) or SOTW 1 for the Ancients portion I would love to hear it. Also if anyone has a preference between their focus on American History/ Geography vs. HOD Beyond I would love any opinions.

[LindaOz]

I love the look, S&S, and book list of Higher Up and Further In and am contemplating using it this next school year. I already utilize their booklist. I've been playing around with some schedules trying to figure out what might work. I love how they follow the history cycle starting with Ancients while still having a focus on American history each year. I will either do this or HOD beyond/SOTW 1 next year (with HUFI as my inspiration) and I will continue to pull from their booklist. If anyone has any feedback regarding using this (with their choice of CHOW) or SOTW 1 for the Ancients portion I would love to hear it. Also if anyone has a preference between their focus on American History/ Geography vs. HOD Beyond I would love any opinions.

 

I'm using SOTW along with the Ancients portion. I'm just adding SOTW to the already suggested selections but trying to roughly correlate the SOTW and CHOW readings using http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/chowsotw.htm

 

It means I have to schedule history a bit more often in a week than the HUFI schedule, but that's OK. I also like the two strands of history running side by side (Ancients AND American - although I'm using Australian history instead.) I have two children doing this, and one doing the Ancients with English history (in the Yr 4 schedule) as she has already covered her Australian history for now. It works really well.

 

The full program is so rich and we are enjoying the additions that we have made to our schedule so far. Somehow, we still manage to fit most of it in. I even did Plutarch with my teens the other day and am planning to make that a weekly study. I've never read Plutarch in my life before now but, wow, it's going to be challenging but good.

 

OK, that was probably way too much info. ;)

[SorrelZG]

At the time I was making the decision between AO and LBC, I already had many of the selections from AO in my library and I had downloaded the rest online, and being able to access free schedules, copywork selections, and support from the yahoo groups also made it seem more "doable." Also, having the librivox recordings was a big plus for me, [..]

 

This is a plus for me, also .. although it doesn't in itself make me stop looking longingly at LBC.

 

AO does not include an in depth history study of the ancients in Y1, but they do have what I would call "classical studies" built in to the schedule each year from the start, although they do not call it that. To my mind their selections are very similar to what LCC lays out (another very appealing approach for me, though not CM). LCC has multiple history schedules each year organized to include classical studies, Christian studies and modern studies, and I find AO to be very similar to this.

 

I am fond of LCC too but I have the second edition which doesn't split up history that way but has a single strand, 5 or 6 year chronological schedule. Being that it's not heavy (intended for one day/week) I've considered adding this to run along side AO, throwing in books that interest us from various lists throughout the year. You mentioned SOTW ..hmm.. that's another good possibility.

 

 

Thank-you so much for taking the time to respond. It has been so helpful for me in thinking this stuff through. :001_smile:

 

I noticed the book recommended earlier in place of Trial and Triumph is one that I have already. That's a bonus!

[Testimony]

I am curious for you AO users. I use AO's History but I noticed someone's comment about reading comprehension with AO. What do most of you do for reading comprehension to go along with their literature list?

 

Just to tell you, I did mostly Story of the World with AO because I had the SOTW books long before I found out about AO. I did not want to start getting new books. However on my second cycle with SOTW, I incorporated more AO books into the mix. SOTW has the Activity Guide and that has comprehension questions. For the AO books, I use the Charlotte Mason jar. I have my child pick a topic or task from the jar and they do it. Most of the time they do oral narrations.

 

For Shakespeare, I would have my sons draw their narrations to me. One year, they got a comic book drawing book for Christmas. My older son used that idea to make some of the characters in the play. We made baseball cards one time as a way to narrate the story.

 

All of the above are ways of tackling reading comprehension. It does not have to be those boring answer these questions things.

 

Just my experience!

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Medieval Mom]

We did AO 1 and AO 2. Ds was able to read almost all of AO2 to himself. Overall, we were pleased with AO 1 & 2.

 

We did, however, we find these spots less than ideal (FOR US):

 

-In AO 1, Viking Tales seems to glorify suicide and death by battle. (Not what my sensitive ds wanted to read at the time...)

-Many books are not read in their entirety. This bugged ds to no end. Just six stories from Burgess? We read the whole book instead. He just about cried when we didn't finish CHOW or OIS at the end of 2nd. He was so upset, we just took a week or two and finished them up. (OIS is never *quite* finished, or is marked as optional for the next few years.... )

-The pacing was overly slow for some books. Reading 1/2 chapter of Little Duke was supremely annoying to ds.

-Too little time in the ancient world (2/3rds of 6th grade).

-We started replacing more and more of the books with better choices for us.

-When I read the original CM series for myself, I was surprised by some of the choices/recommendations AO made. It shook my faith in AO enough that I decided AO may not be *my* best implementation of CM, or of what we want out of our homeschooling years.

-I decided that I'd like to wrap our history rotation in 8th grade, instead of the 1/3 through 6th.

 

I bought everything we needed for AO 3, and then tossed in the towel. Ds is reading for 2 hours daily from the 1000 Good Books list this year, in a variety of subjects, along with our other studies.

 

So, I'm back to the drawing board for fourth. We may decide to begin Ancients with either books from the 1000 Good Books list, OFE, or something else. ;)

[Susie in MS]

 

-When I read the original CM series for myself, I was surprised by some of the choices/recommendations AO made. It shook my faith in AO enough that I decided AO may not be *my* best implementation of CM, or of what we want out of our homeschooling years.

 

 

If you have time I would love you to elaborate on this. If not, I surly understand. I have not be able to read CM series, so I only have to go on what I have read on boards. Thanks for your time!

[Medieval Mom]

If you have time I would love you to elaborate on this. If not, I surly understand. I have not be able to read CM series, so I only have to go on what I have read on boards. Thanks for your time!

 

 

Well, here's a thread I started a while back about CM's lang. arts for the young set.

 

CM also suggested Holden's Sciences for the young crew, and AO has it marked for year 6. (From vol. 1)

Some of the chapters in The Sciences may be beyond children under nine, but they will be able to master a good deal.

 

Hmm... I'll need to think more on this. I filled a notebook, but may have already recycled it. Unfortunately, my sleep-deprived brain often forgets what it's forgotten. :D I do remember discovering Mater Amabilis at the time I was heavily reading CM's works, and thought that they had done a very good job of constructing a CM plan for modern students.

 

Of course, take whatever I write with a POUND of salt. I'm not a CM expert, and don't plan to be one. I agree and disagree with much of what she has to say about education. I rather like aspects of the older classical educational model which she didn't like: spelling books, phonics, teaching cursive first, memorization, longer lessons, etc. (We spend an hour, not 15 min., on math per day, for ex.)

Edited November 11, 2011 by Medieval Mom

[Susie in MS]

Well, here's a thread I started a while back about CM's lang. arts for the young set.

 

CM also suggested Holden's Sciences for the young crew, and AO has it marked for year 6.

(From vol. 1)

 

 

CM suggested much, much more writing than AO implies. Epics and mythology read at an early age...

 

Hmm... I'll need to think more on this. I filled a notebook, but may have already recycled it. Unfortunately, my sleep-deprived brain often forgets what it's forgotten. :D I do remember discovering Mater Amabilis at the time I was heavily reading CM's works, and thought that they had done a very good job of constructing a CM plan for modern students.

 

Of course, take whatever I write with a POUND of salt. I'm not a CM expert, and don't plan to be one. I agree and disagree with much of what she has to say about education. I rather like aspects of the older classical educational model which she didn't like: spelling books, phonics, teaching cursive first, memorization, longer lessons, etc. (We spend an hour, not 15 min., on math per day, for ex.)

 

Thank you very much! I am off to read the thread.

[Medieval Mom]

Tangent question for Susie...

 

I see you're using OFE. How do you like it? I'm seriously considering using OFE 3 for our 4th grade year. (I like the idea of ending our history cycle in 8th.) PM me if you like! :)

[aprilsblessings]

I was wondering why you are choosing not to follow OFE? I have looked at AO and OFE for the future and was curious about your possible change.:)

[Susie in MS]

I was wondering why you are choosing not to follow OFE? I have looked at AO and OFE for the future and was curious about your possible change.:)

 

I am following OFE this year. I have not decided what to do next year. I like that the selections at OFE are more suitable for my dd's maturity than those of AO. I feel AO is better suited for a child with a bit more maturity. At least at level one.

[anabelneri]

But then, what about history with AO? It appears from the scope & sequence I read on the FAQ page that ancients are only studied for one term in Year 6 and then in Year 12. How do others feel about that? I don't think I like it. I think I would have to supplement somehow.

 

I'm adding another year of ancients in Year 1. Partly that was accidental, because we did SOTW in 1st grade and then started AO Year 2 in 2nd grade. But it will also be intentional in a few years, when I do the same thing with my younger daughter. Given my particular spacing it's going to work beautifully, because my (then) 1st grader will be happily submerged in Egypt and the ancients when my 6th grader is covering modern history (which I don't really want my 1st grader listening to). Then my 6th grader will pick up on the ancients with her sister and we'll all have a dandy time being on the same history rotation. :D

 

I actually think the way AO schedules the ancients for 12th grade is brilliant. The level of understanding and potential for dialouge is much greater with a 12th grader than with a 9th grader (which is when we would've encountered ancients for the 3rd time on TWTM schedule).

 

Also, as I think someone else pointed out, there are ties to the ancients in other years. We're doing Year 3 now, and one of the books all year is "The Heroes" by Kingsley, with which we cover the stories of Perseus, Jason and the Argonauts, and Theseus. There are also other free reading assignments that continue the Greek mythology thread through the younger years. So the ancients aren't as limited in AO as it appears at first glance.

 

:)

[SorrelZG]

I'm adding another year of ancients in Year 1. Partly that was accidental, because we did SOTW in 1st grade and then started AO Year 2 in 2nd grade. But it will also be intentional in a few years, when I do the same thing with my younger daughter. Given my particular spacing it's going to work beautifully, because my (then) 1st grader will be happily submerged in Egypt and the ancients when my 6th grader is covering modern history (which I don't really want my 1st grader listening to). Then my 6th grader will pick up on the ancients with her sister and we'll all have a dandy time being on the same history rotation. :D

 

I actually think the way AO schedules the ancients for 12th grade is brilliant. The level of understanding and potential for dialouge is much greater with a 12th grader than with a 9th grader (which is when we would've encountered ancients for the 3rd time on TWTM schedule).

 

Also, as I think someone else pointed out, there are ties to the ancients in other years. We're doing Year 3 now, and one of the books all year is "The Heroes" by Kingsley, with which we cover the stories of Perseus, Jason and the Argonauts, and Theseus. There are also other free reading assignments that continue the Greek mythology thread through the younger years. So the ancients aren't as limited in AO as it appears at first glance.

 

:)

 

Some helpful thoughts to add to my pondering. Thank-you. :001_smile: