Mae has been well prepared by MFW for a more challenging second-grade year after learning with MFW Kindergarten and First Grade. We have adored MFW, but the next two years will be a transition time for us. I do not want to put Mae in Exploring Countries and Cultures (ECC) until fourth grade due to some of the more mature topics, and my middle two children will be at a better age for jumping into the cycle when they are in second grade (and one of my middle two is far less sensitive than Mae, so I think ECC will suit her well at that time). This also sets up my youngest to jump in the family cycle when they reach Explorers to 1850 and I like this starting point for him. So ...
all that considered, I'm going to redirect our homeschool to my first love, a purer Charlotte Mason education. We are going to use Ambleside Online as our guide.
Mae will be in Year 2, with a few modifications since I must incorporate Angela O'Dell's beautiful Living History of Our World. I still love many of MFW's suggestions for Language Arts and for Math, so we will blend some of those foundations as well. This will also keep us "on track" with MFW should we jump back in with ECC in two years.
My plan is under the tab 2011-2012 Curriculum. We will have lessons four days per week, with Nature on our light Fridays, along with Reading and Math. On "paper" this curriculum looks like a lot, but taught in the spirit of CM, it is a balanced blend of short, thoughtful lessons and rigor steeped in some of the best literature.
Now, to start planning ... my favorite part!
all that considered, I'm going to redirect our homeschool to my first love, a purer Charlotte Mason education. We are going to use Ambleside Online as our guide.
Mae will be in Year 2, with a few modifications since I must incorporate Angela O'Dell's beautiful Living History of Our World. I still love many of MFW's suggestions for Language Arts and for Math, so we will blend some of those foundations as well. This will also keep us "on track" with MFW should we jump back in with ECC in two years.
My plan is under the tab 2011-2012 Curriculum. We will have lessons four days per week, with Nature on our light Fridays, along with Reading and Math. On "paper" this curriculum looks like a lot, but taught in the spirit of CM, it is a balanced blend of short, thoughtful lessons and rigor steeped in some of the best literature.
Now, to start planning ... my favorite part!
In Him.
I loved the Charlotte Mason approach and used Ambleside as a guide early on. Unfortunately--it didn't quite fit for all of us at one time--but I love the book choices and her style. ( I still get excited when I see one of my kids sitting in a tree reading!)
ReplyDeleteAnd...to encourage you...Iam still switching things up and finding new things I love or things that worked with one but not the other....it's all a journey and the curriculum that fits great is a treasure at the end!! And sometimes I find that I throw in one thing from one 'style' and another from another 'style' :)
PS...I loved Beautiful Feet Literature approach for a couple of things. I don't know that we'd do it every year--but I love the books it recommends for reading to get history and other things. They have younger and older versions. We've done the science one and Bekah (10th grader) is doing a the history from Civil War to Vietnam and she has learned so much from the books she has read ---with thoughtful questions. It will take us about 1 1/2 years to complete it though.
Wow. I wrote a book on your blog. Sorry! Didn't mean to. Can you tell I need some adult conversation today??
Well ... I can always use some adult conversation! :) We'll have lots to chat about in mere weeks over coffee in AfRiCa! Very true about pulling different styles together ... I think I lean toward Classical, as well, in its chronological approach to history. I've not used Ambleside before, though I've tinkered with using it for a very long time. I love BF. Can't say enough about how much I respect Rea Berg and her vision with Beautiful Feet! I hope to sprinkle in a little BF all along the way. I'd love to learn more about what you are using with your crew.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, Erin Kate? I'm just glad that you ordered it and were able to decide for yourself that it wasn't going to be a good fit. There's nothing worse that living in a state of uncertainty, especially when your uncertainty is because you haven't been able to get your hands on the books to look at them! Now you KNOW, and I hope your mind can have peace at last! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd FWIW, no, you haven't lost this bloggy friend! You have excellent, excellent literature choices for the upcoming year, plus you just really seem to love your kiddos and homeschooling, too, which makes for one. delightful. bloggy friend! :)
You're so wonderful! Too bad you are not local ... we could co-op and have coffee, or just have coffee and playtime for the kids. I appreciate when others can see past their favorite things and allow others to find paths that work a little better for them (or maybe I'll fail miserably, but at least I gave my all, right? :)). I am really glad that I bought Adv and held it and read it and tried it in my head ... it was well worth the shipping costs to decide where I wanted to be next year. I am eager to keep reading your homeschool journey as well ... I enjoy it SO very much!
ReplyDeleteErinKate ~
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel. I wanted so bad for MFW Adv to work for us, but sometimes even something great isn't a great fit. I am so glad I tried MFW because there are so many aspects of it that are truly wonderful. I have learned so much from our experience with Adv this spring. I can't wait to see what you do with Ambleside. I've poured over it, even used it for a couple of months, but never seemed to make it "fit" us. Look forward to your chronicles!
Cindie
It is really so hard. I don't know why I'm struggling so much with our impending second grade ... are you going back to OM? I think I read that on the board today. I think that at the end of the day, as much as I love the open-and-go, it makes me crazy because I always feel behind when life takes unexpected turns or when the girls really get curious about something but we just can't go off on that rabbit trail for fear of falling behind. Ambleside is completely daunting. Aah. All the groups. All the scheduling. But in some ways it is peaceful knowing that I can sort of follow our own path and slow down when we need to, skip when we want to, and follow the kids' interests too. I love unit studies but I don't want to push the connections and make them artificial. I love the consistency of MFW but I don't want to be tied down. I love the Bible in MFW but I want to focus still on the Bible cohesively alongside a study of one idea, ie Proverbs 31. I love the ease of MFW but I feel that it is lacking in the depth to the history that I want and I do not like supplementing after spending $$ on a boxed program. :) I think with Ambleside I am still considering adding science ... not sure. I only have a few weeks to get this scheduled and ready to go Aug 1 since much of our time will be spent in Africa and then with our new one. So much to think about.
ReplyDeleteErinKate ~
ReplyDeleteI am going to use OM for art/crafts/science. OM K is mostly Beatrix Potter and nature study, really Charlotte Mason style. We are going to use Singapore Math (thanks to MFW) and a few other things from Queen's. I don't feel obligated to use the entire guide from OM like others, probably because there are no boxes I feel I have to check off! Anyway, we miss the poetry, art, science and handicrafts, all the things I let fall away if I don't have them in front of me.
You'll be fine. I still drool at Ambleside! I'll be looking for ideas from you.
Blessings,
Cindie
The artsy side to OM is fabulous! If I had the money for it I'd snatch it up. Mabye I can find a used guide. I'm also toying with using BFIAR twice per week as a "literature study" ... some of the selections fall right in with what we'll be studying. We have used FIAR off and on for several years and I love it. I love everything about it except that it lacks the linear-ness to the history ... a bit too scattered for my taste ... but I can plug in the BFIAR selections and enjoy the breadth of subjects from there. I'm rambling. Sorry. :) Happy Weekend!
ReplyDelete