Ambleside for High School?

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

Has anyone here used Ambleside Online as a high school teaching guide?  

 

If you would post your experience as well as a general week's routine, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Thanks!

[Clear Creek]

I am going to be using Year 9 with my 9th grader this year. It will be my first year with it, though, so I don't have any experience yet. I heavily modified it and made some book substitutions (and dropped a few subjects like worldview, citizenship, and government)...basically made it our own. For example, she likes science, so I dropped the recommended science reading (there was too little of it, plus she had either read the book or studied the subject last year) and scheduled two books - Letters to a Young Scientist and A Sand County Almanac - to be read over the course of the year.

 

Beginning in 8th grade I let my daughter plan out her own week's work in her planner, so this year she is going to look at the term's weekly schedule and spread the work out through the week based on how she prefers to study it. Before finalizing the year's plan I did plan out a random week in an old planner just so I could see how much work she would have in an average day and make sure she wouldn't have more work in a week than she would be able to complete, lol.

[....]

I thought we were the only ones on this forum using AO!  

 

My 9th grader and 8th grader are about a month into Year 7.  About 2 weeks in, we had to cut down to the "lite" version.   :o   If we continue with it next year, I plan to just start with the Lite version!  As it is, we are schooling 7 days a week now (which is awful, IMO).  I'm wondering if we're all not going to burn out by November.  They said on the forum that anything Year 7 and beyond is fine for high school, so we started where we were in the history cycle.  They also have a Year 9-11 in 2 years option (which we plan to use). 

 

I added to the science, but only because there was an area where my kids had a huge knowledge gap.  AO is completely redoing their sciences for years 7-12 (HEO).  They finished years 7 and 8, but haven't released 9 yet.  On the forum, they said 9 is almost finished.  

 

If you end up trying AO, join their forum, because there are links to printable maps, etc for each year.

 

Overall, I think it is very good.  The people who put it together are parents who are using it with their kids.  So, it's not like a professional curriculum distributor or something.  They're just kinda putting it out there for people to use if they want to.  They use a lot of original sources - like you might read the transcripts from the Salem Witch Trials or one of President Obama's speeches.  About half of the books are free online.  A lot of the classics are free on the Kindle, too.  Everything is very adjustable.  They have a big Free Reading section and footnotes for substitutions, etc.  Even on the forum, they have a substitution section.  

 

The reading can be very dense.  I was looking around at Sonlight and Oak Meadow's high school stuff and AO's readings are on a completely different level (no offense to people who use those - even I'm wishfully thinking about using those if this doesn't work out!).  Just some examples...my kids are reading Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Idylls of the King (OK, I'm reading this with them and it is hard to get through), The Once and Future King (whew!  NOT a kid's book!), Oh and then there's the Winston Churchill books as a spine...   :svengo:  For a kid who doesn't like to read or doesn't like to read difficult texts, this might not be the best curriculum.  I'm still trying to decide if my son is going to be ok using this for high school or not.

 

My daughter is really enjoying doing art/music appreciation again.  We ramped it up a bit, though.  I have them doing art/music every week.  She's also doing some photography, posting her photos on her blog and art projects (once a week).  

 

Both of them are really enjoying the science.  I kinda blew it on experiments/lab work, though.  I need to plan more for our labs and do some googling of high school-level experiments to go with our reading.  Adventures with a Microscope is nearly impossible to implement.  I need to get online and order Daphnia, Hydra, different types of Protozoa, blood samples, etc.  We tried pond water from multiple sources and apparently Texas has the cleanest freaking pond water in the world.  Yesterday, out of an entire beaker of water, we found ONE paramecium...   :toetap05:   Maybe it's too hot for microscopic life to live here?  

 

Anyway, sorry to ramble.  Good luck with your choice!

[Bambam]

I used AO/HEO through year 12 for my just graduated daughter. I changed many things. I really increased the supplemental science reading. I tossed out some of the history - it just took too long, and it wasn't a priority for us. I don't think we read but maybe two of their devotional books. I was picky about what we did, and I did add in a book for 9th grader that covered basic literary terms and analysis. We did Analytical Grammar to cover grammar as well. We used Lively Art of Writing instead of whatever book they recommended. We did read the economics and geography books, but we also used a traditional textbook as well. I thought the living book approach was lacking for today.

 

For my second child, Year 10, I'm seriously condensing the history. I had her do American History last year - reading through a couple of AO years worth of American history (along with some of the supplemental reading). She will do World History this year (using a book not listed on HEO) as well as take a dual credit government class (perfect for an election year!). I still have her reading some of the government selection books - because I do think they are good books. 

 

I take a different approach to writing too. You can write narrations all day if you want, but I think you need to introduce other types of writing. My 9th grader did research papers last year (she loves to write research papers). This year she will concentrate on mastering essays. 

 

 

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

Thanks, ladies!!!  This is very helpful!   

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

Question:  Do you adapt the extensive literature list to TWTM recommendations as far as writing goes?  

 

I'd love to see your week's layout plan for writing.  

 

Thanks!  

[....]

Camy, did you see this thread?   http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/12195-ambleside-online-for-high-school/

 

When I searched, a few more threads came up, too.

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

Camy, did you see this thread?   http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/12195-ambleside-online-for-high-school/

 

When I searched, a few more threads came up, too.

Thanks....will check it out!

[....]

If you would post your experience as well as a general week's routine, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

 

I forgot about this part of your post.  Not sure if this is helpful...  Our schedule is a little weird, because my kids are very busy out of the house.  I also need to add that my oldest two kids are very right-brained/hands-on/art-oriented kids.  If you handed them a textbook, they would probably cry.  They learn more from actually *doing* stuff.

 

Sunday:  Bible studies, Government, Logic

 

Monday:  Geometry, Spelling (I'm still making mine do spelling), Artist Study, Composer Study, Copywork - On Mondays, 9th grader volunteers most of the day helping a physical therapist (she wants to be a PT) and then both 9th grader and 8th grader teach physical fitness classes all evening to children under 8.

 

Tuesday:  Geometry, Spelling, History readings, dictation - On Tuesdays, 9th grader volunteers at a pit bull rescue for half the day and then they both teach physical fitness classes to special needs kids in the evening.

 

Wednesday:  Geometry, Spelling, Geography, Mapwork, Literature readings, Latin, German, Photography project, Art projects

 

Thursday:  Geometry, Spelling, Latin, German, Literature readings, Poetry, Narrations/writings

 

Friday:  Grammar, Latin, German, Science, Literature readings, Narrations/writing

 

Saturday:  Grammar, Science

 

Someone else mentioned a research paper...I'm making my daughter do one this year, too.  We're following the research paper section in TWTM.  She only has to do one a year, though.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Evanthe

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

I forgot about this part of your post.  Not sure if this is helpful...  Our schedule is a little weird, because my kids are very busy out of the house.  I also need to add that my oldest two kids are very right-brained/hands-on/art-oriented kids.  If you handed them a textbook, they would probably cry.  They learn more from actually *doing* stuff.

 

Sunday:  Bible studies, Government, Logic

 

Monday:  Geometry, Spelling (I'm still making mine do spelling), Artist Study, Composer Study, Copywork - On Mondays, 9th grader volunteers most of the day helping a physical therapist (she wants to be a PT) and then both 9th grader and 8th grader teach physical fitness classes all evening to children under 8.

 

Tuesday:  Geometry, Spelling, History readings, dictation - On Tuesdays, 9th grader volunteers at a pit bull rescue for half the day and then they both teach physical fitness classes to special needs kids in the evening.

 

Wednesday:  Geometry, Spelling, Geography, Mapwork, Literature readings, Latin, German, Photography project, Art projects

 

Thursday:  Geometry, Spelling, Latin, German, Literature readings, Poetry, Narrations/writings

 

Friday:  Grammar, Latin, German, Science, Literature readings, Narrations/writing

 

Saturday:  Grammar, Science

 

Someone else mentioned a research paper...I'm making my daughter do one this year, too.  We're following the research paper section in TWTM.  She only has to do one a year, though.

 

Thanks!  We are also busy outside the house...this will help me a lot!  Thank you.