New Daily Schedule...

Ambleside Online Year 7

(When you click on the image, it opens up in a new window)

This only applies to my daughter, my 16yo sons schedule is completely different.

AO Year 3 - Aussie Schedule

Hey beautiful blogger's,

How are you? 

This week we started back our home schooling and it's been a nice easy beginning. I have given myself two weeks to complete a couple of readings from Ambleside Y2 before we start Y3 which has worked out to be a very gentle way to ease back into the very full and rich curriculum that Ambleside online bestows.

I began this year by having a personal talk with my children on why their parents decided to homeschool them. I believe it is important for them to understand our reasons and values behind our choices. 

Our reason is very basic - because God said to and above all else we obey and trust Him for He is the Lord of our lives and nothing satisfies more that doing what the Lord Jesus says to. We did discuss other great benefits of homeschooling which was just wonderful.

I then read the Father's love letter to my Son & Daughter and they were both very touched by this and if you have some spare time I encourage you to read this beautiful letter yourself, all scriptural! It is sensational.

For anybody interested here is our schedule for the whole year - 

Ambleside Year 3 schedule 

This is pretty much Ambleside's year 3 schedule, I have only omitted some books to add an Australian presence in our curriculum with the help from Jeanne's adapted AO curriculum.

Our Aussie literature books are -

Blackie the Brumby by C.K Thompson (Natural Science)
Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner
Storm Boy by Colin Thiele (Joshua's free read)
The Little Black Princess by Aeneas Gunn (Gracie's free read)
The Wonderland of Nature by Nuri Mass ( Natural Science - We have covered the first part of this wonderful Australian nature book, we will cover 'Plants' in term 3 this year)


We are going to be reading 'Robin Hood' instead of The Jungle book for term 3 as I have read (nearly finished) the Jungle book to Joshua and my daughter loves Robin Hood so that suits us. 

Here are our free reads for this year taken from Ambleside Yr2 and Yr3 - 

Ambleside Online Year 3 Free reads 

The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe & The Horse and His Boy by C.S Lewis are our family read aloud's for this year.

So there you have it, our curriculum choices for 2013. I'm pretty excited about it.

I'll leave you with some pictures from a picturesque place we were visiting over the past weekend.

Love Sarah

xxx

p.s I finished Les Miserables last night and tomorrow morning my parents and I are going to our closest cinemas to see the musical, very excited indeed! 

p.s.s I have a few posts coming up on our Arithmetic choices, including Mep, Multiplication and how we are getting on, what books are on my bedside table and others that are on my list to hopefully read this year and some thoughts on Les Miserables and how I was quite disturbed. 

Changes for Term 3

"That is the capital charge against most schools. 

The teachers underrate the tastes and abilities of their pupils. 

In things intellectual, children, even backward children, have extraordinary 'possibilities for good'––possibilities so great that if we had the wit to give them their head they would carry us along like a stream in spate." - Charlotte Mason 

  
After reassessing my home school schedule for a month, I came to a decision to combine my two children in Ambleside year 2. I did have Joshua in y4 and Gracie in y2, but I really was not following history chronologically. 


Firstly I did feel a little concerned about taking my son back, but in the scheme of life and education it really does not matter, and truly after prayer, I could not go past the peace I had about doing this. 


My son is nearly 12 and he has been slower in the academics side, but his comprehension is incredible, his mind is beautiful he has an incredible artistic side, and he loves nothing more than having a really good conversation with people, I love that!
 
My daughter on the other hand simply breezes through her work and also has great comprehension and that is the fruit of narrating from living books.  

"The more of a person we succeed in making a child, the better will he both fulfil his own life and serve society."

- Educator Charlotte Mason

So below is my new schedule and I feel pleased and content in these changes.


Ambleside Year 2 Australian Schedule

Schedule 2012

"The children should have the joy of living in far lands, in other persons, in other times--a delightful double existence; and this joy they will find, for the most part, in their story books." ~ Charlotte Mason
(Vol. 1 Part IV- , p.153)

Daily Instruction & Practice~

Language Arts~

Joshua AO4~

Phonics- Learn to Read, Write & Spell- Complete book 6

Writing Tales  (English, Grammar)

All about Spelling

Modern Cursive Handwriting- Book 5

McGuffey's Readers

Gracie AO2~

Phonics- Learn to Read, Write & Spell- finish book 3 start book 4

Copywork- Mother Goose

Modern cursive Handwriting- finish book 1 start book 2

McGuffey's Readers

Note: Both of my children love to write, so I have provided more writing practice than what a Charlotte Mason Education requires. Every family and child is different and that is what makes home schooling so exceptional.


MEP Maths~
Joshua to complete Yr 3A ready to begin Yr 3B
Gracie to complete Yr 1B ready to begin Yr 2A


Foreign Language~
We continue with Spanish by listening to a lot of Spanish music on our iPods, in the car, you tube and I have just installed some wonderful programs from the APP store for additional practice - very excited indeed.
I plan on introducing Latin slowly this year, hopefully 2-3 days a week.

Musical Instrument Practice~
Joshua to continue Violin and to start the basics for Acoustic guitar
Gracie to begin the basics for Acoustic guitar

Weekly Instruction or Practice~    
*= Term 1 **= Term 2  ***= Term 3


History Tales/ Biography~
*Squanto~ Joshua to read
* ** The Little Duke~ Together
*** Poor Richard~ Joshua


History~
Australasia's Story (All terms)
An Island Story (All terms)
** ***George Washington's World~  Joshua
Finish SOTW 1 and start A Child's History of the World ( All terms)
Use time lines as much as possible (that's my plan anyhow:D)

Geography~
Australasia's Story (All terms) we will follow on our maps
* Tree in the Trail
** Minn of the Mississippi 
I would like to cover Marco Polo sometime this year, I have a lovely book, but we'll see.

Natural History/Science
The Wonderland of Nature (All terms)
C.K Thompson' Australian Animal stories including~
Blackie the Brumby 
Wild Canary
Tiger Cat
Warrigal the Warrior
Red Emperor - Here is a little excerpt-

With gentle fingers, the rosy hand of dawn parted the curtains of night and then withdrew so that the glorious face of the rising sun could dart glances of the softest gold over the silent bushland. For one long instant the world was an open album, filled with priceless etchings and then, in a flash, the heavens were all aglow and the tired old earth, stirring restlessly for a moment, awakened to continue the daily round.

 

It Couldn't just happen

Science lab in a supermarket 

The Story book of Science

Poetry~
*The animals Noah forgot (Banjo Paterson)
** Walter de la Mare 
*** Emily Dickinson


Literature~
Joshua:

*The Jungle Book

**Robinson Crusoe

***Kidnapped

Gracie:

*The Wind in the Willows

**Seven little Australians

***Understood Betsy 

Art & Art Appreciation/ Composer
Finish Artistic Pursuits Book 1
Look at the works of:
*Frederick McCubbin (19th century Australian Artist)
**Emily Kngwarreye (Indigenous Artist)
***Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) 


We will follow Ambleside Online's selection of Composers
for each term. 
Listening to classical in our home and car is just a way of life, we all love this style of music.

Folksongs & Hymns
*Aiken Drum
**The Ash Grove
***The Lion Sleeps tonight
We also have a very large selection of Australian & Spanish folksongs that we play throughout our home, the car and on our iPods.
Everyday in our home we listen to a lot of praise music, I don't like to make it a subject, we follow Ephesians 5:19 -  "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart".

We will try to study one life from Plutarch and A Shakespeare play as Ambleside Online require for Joshua's AO4.


Additional free reading-

Gracie~

The Little Black Princess (Aussie Lit)
The Story of Kurri Kurri the Kookaburra (Aussie Lit)
Heidi
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (currently reading)
Along Came a Dog
Mr. Poppers Penguins
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Around the World in Eighty Days
Pollyanna

Joshua~

Storm boy (Aussie Lit)
A little Bush Maid (Aussie Lit)
Lassie Come Home
Kidnapped
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
The Borrowers
Little House in the big Woods (Currently reading)
Farmer Boy
The Twits

Term 4 schedule 2010

Tonight I have put together our term schedule  if you are interested in having a look. Since this week will be kept pretty low key, I am pretty sure we will not cover all that is on our plan. I love having a schedule to work by, it keeps me in check and helps me to know what we have covered and haven't.

Soon I will blog about our read aloud choices for this term and what books the children are reading at the moment.

You will find the schedule here