In my last post I set out the weekly timetable that we are currently aspiring to (with varying degrees of success!) Now I'd like to share with you some of the specific curriculum choices I've made for each subject. Please note that the images are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to click and buy then I get a small percentage towards our homeschooling budget :-)
As you know, we follow the Ambleside Online Curriculum, which I'm really enjoying. The website is super helpful, it's free, there's an online forum for discussing all your questions and connecting with other Amblesiders all over the world, the curriculum is broken down into weekly reading suggestions for you, the book list is wonderful - so many interesting, living books - oh, and did I mention that it was free? As a Brit, I've also found it very easy to tweak the curriculum to our specific cultural needs, and make substitutions where appropriate, although Sophie, my 8 year old, and I are loving the set history book: 'Our Island Story' by H.E. Marshall, which is taking us through the history of England. One of the great things about homeschooling is that I'm learning so much, whether or not my kids are!
Ambleside Online leaves you free to make choices in certain areas, so here's what we do:
I have to admit that I haven't tried many different approaches to teaching reading, so I can only comment on what works for us. Once the child is familiar with the letters of the alphabet and the accompanying sounds, we spend some time blending three letter words (sometimes using the Charlotte Mason approach too). Then, sometime after their 5th birthday, we start with a mixture of Peter and Jane books and Explode the Code. This has worked really well for us. Many of the Peter and Jane books were mine when I was learning to read! The children love the pictures in Explode the Code, and it's helpful having the two side by side. By the time my eldest finished level 12 of Peter and Jane she was off reading her own books happily.
At the moment I use a mixture of Singapore Maths and MEP. I love the Kindergarten books for Singapore, although it feels like a bit of a waste of money sometimes because the pages are so colourful that the child only needs to write one number on some of them! We used MEP for Year 1, and I love that it's free and all online. I just print off the next 30 or so lessons and download the teacher's guide to my Kindle and away we go. I find it very rigorous, but sometimes there are a lot of sums that the child has to do in one lesson. Just for a change I ordered the Level 2 of Singapore Maths 'My Pals Are Here'. (For the UK I order from Ichthus Resources) Immediately I realised why it's helpful just to stick to one maths curriculum if you can help it, as we weren't ready for adding 3-digit numbers yet, but once I remembered I didn't need to do everything in order, I started a bit later in the book with simple multiplying. We're now using both, as I find that one reinforces what is learned in the other, but I think ultimately I'll go back to MEP.
Mapwork - Being a globe-trotting family we want our kids to have a firm grasp of Geography right from the word 'go'. This term we're looking at Europe. We have the Geo-puzzle of Europe, and once a week we look at a different country in our Children's Atlas and try to remember the capital city. Later we'll also learn the flags.
Mission - This is close to our hearts also. Once a week we read about one of the people groups in Window on the World and pray for them. Since our focus is on Europe this term, I'm currently choosing people groups in Europe.
Astronomy - I know this is covered later in Ambleside Online, but I already bought the book and it looked so much fun. The plan is just to very slowly get started with it, so that we have a head start when the time comes.
Character - This book was recommended over at Simply Charlotte Mason. I choose three character qualities we'd like to work on each term, and we read one of the stories each week. If they want to, I'll photocopy the accompanying picture and they can colour it while we talk about it.
Scripture Memory - I love this approach over at Simply Charlotte Mason! It's very quick and simple, and we enjoy doing it as a family each morning. It's amazing how quickly it sinks in without too much effort. Even my 3 year old is quoting along with some of them.
Bible - In the afternoons I read the Year 2 selection from the 'actual' Bible, but in the mornings, in our family Bible time, we read from a Children's Bible, to keep all ages interested. I cannot recommend highly enough The Jesus Storybook Bible, but we also rotate a few others.
Piano - We'd love for each child to grow up knowing how to play at least one instrument, and the piano seemed a good place to start since we have one at home. We tried paying for a professional teacher to come to our home once a week, but Sophie didn't take to that very well, so for now I know just enough to help her through the John Thompson books that were mine when I was her age. She's loving it, and I don't need to nag her to practise. These books have a 'living book' feel to them because she gets to play actual tunes rather than go through lots of drills.
Dance - Other than having them run around the back yard or join in with my morning DVD workouts, I wasn't doing any proper 'physical education' with them, so we chose to send the girls to a local dance class. It's called 'sporty ballroom dancing', and it gets them moving with a bit of 'cha cha cha' thrown in! They go twice a week and enjoy it. When Nathaniel (3) is a bit older I plan to send him to gymnastics.
Art - The girls also attend an art class in town twice a week. Sophie showed a real flair for art at a young age and I wanted to find a way to encourage her and develop her talent without her having to rely soley on her creatively-challenged mother. Charis is in the same class and has also developed a love of art. Ordinarily, driving into town four times a week for extra classes would be a bit much, but we decided they were important a) for developing these special skills b) for interacting with other children in the local culture and the local language and c) for learning to be under the authority of another grown-up other than their parents in a classroom setting.
So, there you have it! I hope that was useful for some of you.
Qu: Do you use any of these materials?
Qu: Do you have any particular suggestions that I haven't mentioned that you love?
Qu: How do you do extra-curricular activities in your homeschool?
Abide in Him!
As you know, we follow the Ambleside Online Curriculum, which I'm really enjoying. The website is super helpful, it's free, there's an online forum for discussing all your questions and connecting with other Amblesiders all over the world, the curriculum is broken down into weekly reading suggestions for you, the book list is wonderful - so many interesting, living books - oh, and did I mention that it was free? As a Brit, I've also found it very easy to tweak the curriculum to our specific cultural needs, and make substitutions where appropriate, although Sophie, my 8 year old, and I are loving the set history book: 'Our Island Story' by H.E. Marshall, which is taking us through the history of England. One of the great things about homeschooling is that I'm learning so much, whether or not my kids are!
Ambleside Online leaves you free to make choices in certain areas, so here's what we do:
Phonics and Reading
I have to admit that I haven't tried many different approaches to teaching reading, so I can only comment on what works for us. Once the child is familiar with the letters of the alphabet and the accompanying sounds, we spend some time blending three letter words (sometimes using the Charlotte Mason approach too). Then, sometime after their 5th birthday, we start with a mixture of Peter and Jane books and Explode the Code. This has worked really well for us. Many of the Peter and Jane books were mine when I was learning to read! The children love the pictures in Explode the Code, and it's helpful having the two side by side. By the time my eldest finished level 12 of Peter and Jane she was off reading her own books happily.Maths
At the moment I use a mixture of Singapore Maths and MEP. I love the Kindergarten books for Singapore, although it feels like a bit of a waste of money sometimes because the pages are so colourful that the child only needs to write one number on some of them! We used MEP for Year 1, and I love that it's free and all online. I just print off the next 30 or so lessons and download the teacher's guide to my Kindle and away we go. I find it very rigorous, but sometimes there are a lot of sums that the child has to do in one lesson. Just for a change I ordered the Level 2 of Singapore Maths 'My Pals Are Here'. (For the UK I order from Ichthus Resources) Immediately I realised why it's helpful just to stick to one maths curriculum if you can help it, as we weren't ready for adding 3-digit numbers yet, but once I remembered I didn't need to do everything in order, I started a bit later in the book with simple multiplying. We're now using both, as I find that one reinforces what is learned in the other, but I think ultimately I'll go back to MEP.Foreign Language
See this post here which explains what we do with Foreign Language. Since I wrote the post, though, a friend helped us to get set up with Rosetta Stone, so I currently have Charis (5) doing Rosetta Stone Russian and Sophie (8) doing Rosetta Stone French. So far I like it, although it's frustrating when the microphone doesn't always recognise what they're saying. Sophie also has a 30-minute Russian lesson once a week with our nanny.Extras
You may have noticed some subjects in our timetable that are not on the Ambleside curriculum. They're weekly optional extras that reflect some of our own family values.Mapwork - Being a globe-trotting family we want our kids to have a firm grasp of Geography right from the word 'go'. This term we're looking at Europe. We have the Geo-puzzle of Europe, and once a week we look at a different country in our Children's Atlas and try to remember the capital city. Later we'll also learn the flags.Mission - This is close to our hearts also. Once a week we read about one of the people groups in Window on the World and pray for them. Since our focus is on Europe this term, I'm currently choosing people groups in Europe.
Astronomy - I know this is covered later in Ambleside Online, but I already bought the book and it looked so much fun. The plan is just to very slowly get started with it, so that we have a head start when the time comes.
Character - This book was recommended over at Simply Charlotte Mason. I choose three character qualities we'd like to work on each term, and we read one of the stories each week. If they want to, I'll photocopy the accompanying picture and they can colour it while we talk about it.
Scripture Memory - I love this approach over at Simply Charlotte Mason! It's very quick and simple, and we enjoy doing it as a family each morning. It's amazing how quickly it sinks in without too much effort. Even my 3 year old is quoting along with some of them.
Bible - In the afternoons I read the Year 2 selection from the 'actual' Bible, but in the mornings, in our family Bible time, we read from a Children's Bible, to keep all ages interested. I cannot recommend highly enough The Jesus Storybook Bible, but we also rotate a few others.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Piano - We'd love for each child to grow up knowing how to play at least one instrument, and the piano seemed a good place to start since we have one at home. We tried paying for a professional teacher to come to our home once a week, but Sophie didn't take to that very well, so for now I know just enough to help her through the John Thompson books that were mine when I was her age. She's loving it, and I don't need to nag her to practise. These books have a 'living book' feel to them because she gets to play actual tunes rather than go through lots of drills.Dance - Other than having them run around the back yard or join in with my morning DVD workouts, I wasn't doing any proper 'physical education' with them, so we chose to send the girls to a local dance class. It's called 'sporty ballroom dancing', and it gets them moving with a bit of 'cha cha cha' thrown in! They go twice a week and enjoy it. When Nathaniel (3) is a bit older I plan to send him to gymnastics.
Art - The girls also attend an art class in town twice a week. Sophie showed a real flair for art at a young age and I wanted to find a way to encourage her and develop her talent without her having to rely soley on her creatively-challenged mother. Charis is in the same class and has also developed a love of art. Ordinarily, driving into town four times a week for extra classes would be a bit much, but we decided they were important a) for developing these special skills b) for interacting with other children in the local culture and the local language and c) for learning to be under the authority of another grown-up other than their parents in a classroom setting.
So, there you have it! I hope that was useful for some of you.
Qu: Do you use any of these materials?
Qu: Do you have any particular suggestions that I haven't mentioned that you love?
Qu: How do you do extra-curricular activities in your homeschool?
Abide in Him!
