AO Year 4 - Term 3

We just finished out year 4 of Ambleside Online's online curriculum (our first year tackling everything listed) and I'm so impressed with what an impact it has had on our family.  School is easy and enjoyable, and I can't imagine ever going back to a worksheet-style curriculum.

Here is the link to our Term 3 daily schedule:

AO Year 4 Term 3 Daily Schedule

Because of my husband's work schedule, we chose to school Tuesday through Saturday, and because our flag football season fell during term 3, the schedule was adjusted to give Saturdays a lighter workload.

As with any school curriculum, there were some books we really loved (Ocean of Truth), and some that we just trudged through (looking at you, Abigail), but all in all, it was a great year.

We also left Plutarch behind after term 1.  That's the beauty of AO, you can easily adjust as needed for your family. 

If you're looking for the Year 4 daily schedule in its entirety, I will link to the other terms below:


AO Year 4 - Term1

AO Year 4 - Term 2


To parents just starting out into Ambleside, this can be done and it's so rewarding.  You've got this!! Have a wonderful school year!

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Daily Schedule for AO Year 4 - Term 2

We're nearing the end of Year 4's Term 1 using Ambleside Online's curriculum, and it has been such a refreshing couple of months.  I cannot say enough great things about this curriculum and about implementing the Charlotte Mason method in schooling.  Watching my son make connections and really learn from the living books we're using is such a magical thing.  I've even learned a few things myself!

Term 1 really helped me gauge where Bent is academically, and just how much independent work he's ready for.  I've learned a few things:

1. We weren't ready to read Shakespeare. Part of it I'm sure is that I'm from the camp of "Shakespeare's plays are meant to be watched, not read," but another part was simply that Bent hadn't been exposed to any Shakespeare before, so it was a bit much to take in.  Instead of reading the scheduled play for this year and term, we decided to take it back a notch (AO's year's 1-3 style) and read from Tales from Shakespeare (Puffin Classics) which we will continue to do on Saturdays (our Friday) for Tea Time.

2. Plutarch is NOT our thing.  I see you reaching for your pitchfork, but hear me out.  What works for some does not work for all.  Some people like chocolate, some like vanilla.  Bent was dying of boredom from each passage we read about Caesar, and frankly, I was too.  He just wasn't there yet comprehension-wise.  Language aside, Plutarch read to us like overhearing a conversation about Season 3, Episode 6 of a television program which we had never seen before.  There were no connections being made, no backstory to pull from, no way to remember the names since there were no details or development of any characters.  I felt like if the aim was to learn about Caesar, another book would be a better fit for us, and if the aim was to expose him to Plutarch's writings, well....we've been exposed for now, but we will have to wait a while until we revisit. We will not continue Plutarch next term, but Ambleside Online has a handy, 3 times/week breakdown on their site, which works nicely for a Mon/Wed/Fri schedule if you'd like to add it in.

I've made the schedule available in PDF and Word formats, that way you can edit it to fit your family.

Click HERE to Download the Daily Schedule for AO Year 4 - Term 2 

A few notes:

We've been using Easy Grammar, Grade 2 in our Morning Basket, as that's the copy I had on hand, and this is the first year Grammar is formally introduced.  We have been working through that at a pretty quick pace, so I think we will be moving up to Grade 3 after Christmas break.

We use the version of Madam How and Lady Why pictured below, so the reading breakdown by page number on the schedule has been adjusted for that version. If you are using the other version, use the page numbers listed on the AO site.

Our Morning Basket will stay pretty much the same as Term 1, with the exception of a new Cursive Writing workbook, and the replacement of Khan Academy for Math with Saxon 6/5.
Khan academy didn't work for us at all.  My son made a game of it where his goal was getting points and not actually learning the material. We switched back to Saxon Math mid term, and I'm so glad we did.  It's familiar to him, the spiral method works very well for him, and he understands the material.

George Washington's World will be part of the daily morning basket to be read independently and then narrated.

Kidnapped will be read independently twice a week, while listening along to the audio on Librivox.

I've moved one of the weekly Storybook of Science chapters into the morning basket time slot. The reading is something he can handle independently, and we will read the second chapter in the afternoon the same day, which provides the perfect opportunity for him to "catch me up" by narrating the chapter he read that morning to me before we begin the chapter we read together. 

For Latin, we've been using Getting Started with Latin, and I'm so glad that we chose this program.  It's such an easy program to follow, with just the right amount of new material each lesson.  Bent has really impressed me with his retention!  Other than a little bit of Spanish when he was younger (colors, numbers, etc), this is his first real attempt at foreign language, and I'm really wishing we would have started the recommended language schedule sooner! I'm wondering if it would be ok, to begin Spanish with him after Christmas break, since 2 languages are scheduled for year 4, or if I should hold off until next year.  I'd love opinions from other CM/AO mamas, so please leave me a comment if you have suggestions!

P.S.  I mentioned in the Term 1 post that I was thinking about purchasing Bird Bingo, and I wanted to let you know, it was SUCH a hit! If you're on the fence about it, GET IT!  It's very well made, the whole family can play together, and you can't help but learn all of the birds just from playing.  I definitely recommend it!

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School Room Tour

Our homeschool room has been so many things over the past few years.

When I was working from home full time, it was my office/sewing room.

It's acted as a spare bedroom for when my stepson came to visit in the summer.

Usually though, it's our school room.

My absolute favorite thing in our room is our yellow booth.  My aunt gave it to us, and while we intended to use it as a kitchen table, it has served us SO well as a school table.

Our little fern  may look kinda sad to you, but it was one of my $1 Plant Graveyard saves, so it actually looks amazing compared to the state it was in when we rescued it.  I save plants the way other people save dogs and cats.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who saves the marked down plants at Lowes.  They all look so sad, and just need a little love, I always come home with at least one!

We were gifted the bookshelf on the right from a neighbor (okay, he was throwing it away, and we asked if we could have it), and Jon built the bookshelf on the left when our book collection grew too large. 

Our closet had those old school, sliding doors, and it was so annoying to look for what book we needed, so I asked Jon to take the doors off and hang curtains instead.  Now we can see all the books at once, or just close the curtains if needed. 

I used to keep our games on the top shelf of the closet, but now that Cole is older, and I don't have to worry about lost pieces, we keep them in a more easily accessible spot for the kiddos.

If you've done a homeschool room tour, please feel free to link to your post in the comments!  It's so much fun to check out other people's spaces!!

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Daily Schedule for AO Year 4 - Term 1

We love Ambleside Online, and have been using parts of it in our homeschool for 3 years, but this is the first year that we are really, truly following the entire curriculum.  I'll admit - it's not for the faint of heart.  I'm equal parts scared to death and totally excited.

Bent is 10 years old and a "5th grader" by regular school standards, so we will be working through AO's Year 4 for this school year.

The website provides you with a glorious curriculum that would have Charlotte Mason tap dancing in her grave, but the load is quite heavy for the average "regular schooled" child.  All books are linked to from the site - a great many of which can be found in the public domain.

Ambleside provides us with an extremely helpful weekly schedule for each year's curriculum, but in order to keep my sanity, and stay on top of Bent (whom I don't feel is ready to be given a weekly checklist just yet), I needed to find a way to turn that weekly schedule into a daily schedule.

I've skimmed through all the required reading for the year, and used my own judgement to decide which books I though would be appropriate for him to read independently and narrate to me afterwards, and which I'd like to read with him during our formal "sit down together" school time.

The day will start with Breakfast and Morning Chores, after which he will move to the school room and begin to work on his Morning Basket.

The Morning Basket will contain:

* Easy Grammar (one lesson per day)

* Copywork

* Drawing (I found this really fun book called Oodles of Doodles (Drawing Books) that has a different creative task on each page, so he will do one page per day).

* Math (he will work 20 minutes on Khan Academy)

* A Rotation of either Story Book of Science, Robinson Crusoe, or Poor Richard.
   
          *He will be listening to Robinson Crusoe on Librivox while reading along on his kindle, as I've            heard that Robinson Crusoe can be a bit daunting to read independently.

Since I've gone through and divided the weekly work into daily work, I thought I'd make the schedules available for you as well!  Simply Click on the link to download the PDF for Term 1 (12 weeks).

Download the Daily Schedule for  AO YEAR 4 - TERM 1  HERE

Please note that the page breakdowns for Madam How and Lady Why are different than listed on the AO Site, as I purchased a different edition (the one pictured below).  I went through and marked off the starting and stopping points for the edition that I purchased, and used those in the daily schedule. 

I also thought it would be fun to imagine what the little fairies Madam How and Lady Why might look like, so I made these posters to hang on our school room wall.  Just right click on the image to save if you'd like.

As for Plutarch, I just printed out this school year's first term (Julius Caesar) from the Ambleside website, hole punched it, and added it to a binder.  The version on AO's site is broken down into a easy to follow, 3 parts per lesson, one lesson per week format.  I intend to do this for each term.

Enrichments are not listed on the schedule, as I don't want those to feel like part of school "work." I've printed out the first picture for this term's Artsit: Peter Paul Rubens, and hung it in the school room to be observed and talked about as often as we like.

For Composer Study, Hymns, and Folksongs, I am working on creating a YouTube Playlist for learning the songs and searching the songs on Amazon Music to play in the car.

As for Nature Study, that's something that we incorporate into our lives, rather than schedule on a calendar.  I will be steering our attention towards birds this term, but we will be observing nature as it presents itself to us, and learning all the time.
Something that I've found really helps us pay attention to details and be more mindful of the natural world around us is to keep a nature journal.  We simply use a sketch book, and while we are out, either bring home our specimen (ie. flowers, shells, leaves), or take a picture with our memory or with my phone and draw when we get home.

I'm also hoping to add this wonderful Bird Bingo game that I found on Amazon to our collection to help us increase our Bird Knowledge in a fun way!



Not included in the schedule are Recitation (we will work on that when the opportunities present themselves), and Poetry (we hope to follow the AO Year 4 Poetry on our Kindle and read the scheduled poem a day).


I hope you found this post helpful!!  If you use Ambleside Online, please leave me a comment with any tips you may have, or links to Year 4 related posts!  I'd love to connect with you!

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Goodbye May

I'm not much for Summer time, but I do love me some May.  It's hot, but not stifling, and all the "regular" kids are still in school so we can have all the great swimming spots practically to ourselves.

Our most recent favorite is Alexander Springs.  It's the best we've been to for the little ones because you enter the water at about one foot depth, almost like a beach.

There are tons of picnic tables, grills, a gift shop, and restrooms.  Plus, a couple of hiking trails.

Cole found this "rootbeer leaf" (it smelled like flat soda), and couldn't resist making everyone take a whiff.

Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, all the great swimming spots will undoubtedly be littered with families, busy making memories of their own.

And though I find it wonderful to see them out there, adventuring and enjoying the beauty of this little planet we call home, I can't help but wish for a little bit more May.  When the other families are back in school, and we have the place to ourselves.

There's something so magical that happens when you are out in nature on your own.  It's like the latch is lifted on your imagination and you can be anywhere, anyone, at any time.  I am able to envision more easily the Timucua people who inhabited the land in years long past, and what their life may have been like when the radio of the couple next to me isn't constantly pulling my awareness back to 2017.

We studied Florida history this year, and along with it, read a wonderful book about the Timucua people. They are fresh in our minds, so when Bent spotted a sign at the springs about the Timucua Indians, it was easy for us to imagine how they lived and where they may have hunted and fished.
(I will post an affiliate link to the book below for those of you who may be interested).

This is one thing homeschooling does for him that I very rarely saw during his stint in public school.  It allows him to really explore certain subjects with enough depth that it raises his awareness to the subject in the real world, naturally helping him to make connections.

I really blame the Charlotte Mason method for this, but that is a post for another day.






Cole's Rashguard can be found @ Swim Zip
and Swim Trunks can be found @ Lil Boo Apparel

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Our Homeschool Daily Rhythm

We've been homeschooling off and on since preschool, re-enrolling in public school a couple of times, but the end of January marked exactly 1 whole year of schooling at home.  It has been so incredibly wonderful.
I won't lie, there were quite a few times in the beginning when I questioned whether we were doing the right thing; when my boy seemed so lonely, desperate for companions his own age, but every time I'd bring it up, Jon would just remind me of all the awesome things about homeschooling (no car rider line, no one bringing weapons to school, not having to study useless information, and learning at our own pace to name a few), and I'd settle back into feeling (mostly) like we were doing the right thing.
Not long had passed into our most recent homeschooling journey when one day, the neighborhood kids decided to come out and play, and Bent finally got the nerve to introduce himself.  They been great friends every since, so my motherly worries have vanished.

We follow more of a rhythm than a schedule, so there are no "set times' when we do any particular activity.  A rhythm is more of "first we do this, then we do this, and after that we do this.  We usually never do this before we do that" - type of thing.

Here's a peek into our day:

Wake up.
Breakfast and chill.  I don't believe in making your children start on work while they eat a meal. Meals are for eating and enjoying, not absentmindedly shoveling food into your mouth while your mother sings/reads/hands you work to be done.  The boys eat their breakfast in peace.

After breakfast, they may watch a little television or play together while I shower and get ready for the day.  It usually amounts to 10 minutes of television watching and the rest creative play.

They then get dressed, brush teeth, tidy their rooms, and Bent gets his Morning Work basket.  He has until lunchtime to complete his basket, so if he is struck by a creative thought, or the need to run outside and get some energy out, that's perfectly fine.  This helps him to learn time management, since he is the one in control of his work schedule.  He has a deadline to meet, and consequences if it's not met (no electronics for the remainder of the day if his work isn't completed by lunch time - electronics are the bees knees right now, so if his work is complete, he earns the privilege of electronic time after school).

Lunch.  Again, no school work during meals.  We just enjoy our meal together.

Quiet time.  Unfortunately, my 3 year old has decided he no longer needs to nap, which was when we used to do our main lessons.  Quiet time now consists of my 3 year old quietly laying down and resting while he watches a movie, usually ending with him playing blocks/legos/puzzles independently in his room.  This is when Bent and I work on the parts of his daily schooling that require my guidance - Math and Literature daily, alternating Science and History every other day.

Once our school work is complete, the boys have free time to play for the remainder of the afternoon.

That's our homeschool rhythm.  I'd love it if you tell me about your day in the comments or link to your post for me to read.  It's so interesting and helpful to read about how other homeschool families spend their day.

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Homeschool Independent Work

We've recently started incorporating a new method into our daily 4th grade homeschool routine, and it's been a total hit!

We call it our Morning Work Basket.

Using our basket has freed up so much time in our daily routine, and makes homeschooling feel so much easier because it allows for some of our daily work to be done independently, and at times that are convenient, rather than trying to cram all of our school work into our allotted "alone time" when my toddler is napping.

The night before (or early in the morning If I've slacked), I put everything that Bent should be able to do independently into a basket.

Here's a look at what currently goes into the basket:

His reading for narration
Copywork
Handwriting practice
Math work
Silent reading
Spanish

Right now, we're using Aesop's fables for narration and copywork.  He reads the fable, and then uses the moral of the story for the copywork.  For now, I write out the moral on a piece of handwriting paper, and he copies the words right below.  In a couple of weeks, he will just start copying the moral straight from the book.  Once we finish Aesop's fables, we'll move on to The World's Best Fairy Tales, which has stories that are a bit longer, but still not too overwhelming.

We are working on learning to write in cursive at the moment, so I place a sticky note on the page to be done for the day.
We do silent reading for 20 minutes everyday, so there's a sticky note on the front of whatever book Bent is reading at the time telling him to let me know when he wants to start the timer.
We're also just getting our feet wet with Spanish, so he watches 15-20 minutes of this Spanish dvd a few times a week.

As for Math, we've just started into a new Math book, and it's mostly review for the first part section of lessons, so he's been working independently in Math.  I can't say enough great things about Saxon Math 3, and so far, Saxon Math 5/4 has been great.

Incorporating the Morning Work Basket into our daily routine has changed our homeschool day so much!  We have so much more time to devote to other subjects during school now, and sometimes we just take advantage of not having nearly the workload during our "school hours" and just enjoy our free time!  I only wish I would have thought of it sooner!

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Home School Room Tour

While we were homeschooling, our dining room became the home school room.
I'm of the opinion that formal dining rooms are a complete waste of square footage anyway. They end up being used maybe 3 holidays a year (if it's your turn to host) - so I had no qualms about using the space for something else.

I wanted the space to be cozy and fun, keeping in mind that it was right near our front door, so it couldn't look too much like a "classroom."

Our favorite spot was definitely the teepee.  We used Ambleside Online curriculum, so there were lots of cozy reading sessions in that teepee.

Yep.  I'm definitely going to miss homeschooling....

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Farm Unit Printables

I prepared this unit late last summer, when I was getting things ready for homeschooling Little Guy in Kindergarten.  While combing the web, I realized that there were some really great printables available for preschoolers, but not many for kindergarteners.  I wanted to do a farm unit, and there wasn't much out there, so I thought I'd make my own.

Knowing how scarce free kindergarten material is, I felt a little guilty leaving the files just sitting on my computer when I could be sharing it. So I figured out how to convert these files to pdf format and make them available to you for free!

Here's a peek at some of the pages:

Click HERE for the Farm Unit Printables!  

Hope you like them!

*If you use the printables and blog about them, leave a comment and let me know, and I'll add a link to your post! 

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