I can’t believe it is almost time for school again. This summer has flown by, faster than any summer I can remember. I usually like to do some kind of curriculum round up, because I know I love these kinds of blog posts the most.
This year I will have a 6th grader, 4th grader and 2nd grader. Wish me luck with my first junior high student. I feel like we just started homeschooling! Where does the time go? 
WHAT'S DIFFERENT THIS YEAR
This year I’m navigating away from Ambleside Online slightly, mainly with our history. I found last year (my first year having all three in their own AO year) it was way too much to be in three different time periods. So this year we’re going to be doing more together as a family than ever before and I’m really looking forward to that.
To get my head around all of our plans and subjects, I’ve divided our day into three parts. I call them: individual work, morning time and weekly subjects.
Each day my children will have to complete their individual work (4-5 subjects), then we will do morning time together (7 subjects) and then their weekly subjects as assigned (there will be around 5 total that need to be completed each day, so 1-2 per student).
INDIVIDUAL DAILY WORK
Copywork/Typing or Dictation: For copywork we’re using a combination of Handwriting without Tears and the copywork in their grammar books. My older two are doing dictation using The Dictation Spelling Book by Mary Blanche Rossman and Mary Wilda Mills (I found this book in the public domain). My older two are doing typing with typing.com.
Grammar or Reading Lesson: My older two students are using Fix it Grammar and my youngest will continue her phonics/reading lessons with me, as she’s still an emerging reader. 
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Math: We’ve used Math U See now for years and are sticking with it. It’s been a good fit for us. Typically it requires me to teach the new lesson for the week on Mondays and then my kids practice the lesson the rest of the week and I hop in as needed.
Quiet Reading: Every day my kids are required to read for 20 minutes. This can be a free read, something they checked out from the library. Sometimes I will let this be something from their “weekly subjects” list if we have a busy week. If the morning is busy they might save this to do before bed.
Music Practice: Each of my kids are taking music lessons this year and will be required to practice every school day. This is assigned by their instructor.
MORNING TIME
Bible Reading & Prayer: We are using the book Beginning: Family Worship in Genesis a few days a week and then reading from Scripture the other days.
Bible Memory Work: We’re working on Fighter Verses from our church each week and the memory work from New City Catechism each week.
Poetry & Recitation: Each of my children has assigned recitations for each term from Ambleside Online so they’ll be working on that. We’re also using various poetry books like I am the Seed that Grew the Tree and Bells and Grass by Walter De La Mare.
Music & Art: For folk songs, hymns, composer study and artist study we follow the Ambleside Online schedule and utilize the links they have on the website. On Friday’s my kids will get to select a vinyl record from our collection to listen to while we finish lessons.
Family Study: The “family study” section of our morning time has a bunch of various topics including:
Vocabulary: We’re using 100 Vocabulary Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know and The Weighty Word Book as a fun way to engage with vocabulary. We also will be working on some vocabulary in our history curriculum. 
Spelling: For the first time we’re using a family spelling curriculum. We’re going to try the Phonetic Zoo by IEW.
Family Read Aloud: Each term we’ll read a different chapter book. This year I’ve selected The Door in the Wall, Otto of the Silver Hand and Sword in the Tree. I bet you can guess what time period we’re studying…
Special Study: I’ve selected three different topics I wanted to cover this year for our “special study”. It’s essentially a collect-all to make space for things I don’t want to forget.
In term 1, my 4th grader and I are going through some study on health and puberty. I haven’t nailed down a resource for this yet so if you have suggestions let me know! I have a few books picked out but it looks like I’ll have to do some editing on the fly. It’s hard to find a book on this topic for girls that isn’t giving them a complex about their body or that’s too graphic.
In term 2 we’re studying money management. We’re going through a couple of books including A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money, Teach a Kid to Save and The Heart of a Steward from Kids Cash Academy.
In term 3 we are studying manners. I think I am going to use a combination of Connoisseur Kids and 52 Modern Manners for Kids.
Shakespeare: For Shakespeare we follow the AO schedule and I usually read a summary of the play from Nesbit or Lambs and then we listen to the dramatized version from Arkangel Shakespeare. I found a few of the plays for very little on sale on Chirp and the other on Amazon.
Family “Table Work”: Table work is essentially the part of our morning time that takes the longest and that my kids need to be “at” the table for (vs floor, trampoline etc).
1. Nature Journaling: we will continue our weekly nature walk and journaling. I usually pull resources on the fly from the library or from what’s on our bookshelf but I’m also planning to use How to Teach Nature Journaling.
2. Timeline: My oldest is adding to his own timeline with our history curriculum (see below). My Year 2 will also be working on a personal timeline since we didn’t get to that in Year 1. And my Year 4 will be finishing her personal timeline that we started in Year 1 and never finished!
3.Handicraft: Each term we have a different handicraft. Term 1 is Paper Sloyd, Term 2 is watercoloring and Term 3 is going to be a “choose your own”. Last year in Term 3 each of my kids chose something to work on to get ready for a craft fair and we had so much fun with that I think that’s what we will do again this year.
4. States & Capitols: My 4th grader will be working on learning her states just by drilling with printed paper maps and some flash cards we have. My oldest is working on states and capitol review and they’re all working on Drawing the USA.
5. Map Work: My kids will be working on mapping out things from our history curriculum (see below).
Wrap Up: We will be working on memorizing The Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles Creed, the Preamble, some Civics Questions and other memory work from Cindy Rollins’ book Morning Time.
Year 6 Weekly Subjects
WEEKLY SUBJECTS
Form II Student Lessons: My two oldest students will be doing Latin and Plutarch together. We follow Ambleside Online’s Plutarch rotations and use Anne White’s guides found on the AO website.
History/Geography: I’m excited to do most of our history together this year. We’re using Beautiful Feet Books Medieval History (5-8) and I’m pulling a lot of books from AO Year 2 that are in the medieval history cycle and a few that cross over with Year 4 (like King Arthur).We’re using BFB with a few other families and making a history club out of it! BFB includes timelining and map work too.
The books my Year 2 will be following from Ambleside Online are selections from Our Island Story, The Little Duke and some from Norse Myths (this isn’t AO but I love this book and wanted to incorporate it).
My Year 6 is reading a few books from medieval history from AO’s Year 7 because they coincided, such as, The Once and Future King, The Birth of Britain, The Story of David Livingston, Joan of Arc, The Age of Chivalry.
My Year 4 student is reading Viking Adventure, Minn of the Mississippi, and selections from Asgard to Athens.
Science: My youngest is reading The Burgess Animal Book. My 4th grader is reading selections from The Story Book of Science and A Walk Through the Glen.
My 6th grader is reading The Mystery of the Periodic Table, Ordinary Genius, Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy, The Elements, It Couldn’t Just Happen and Archimedes and the Door of Science. 
Year 4 Weekly Subjects
Literature: We’ll be reading with all my kids The Wind in the WIllows and Little Pilgrims Progress. My youngest is reading Understood Betsy, and Parables from Nature.
My 4th grader is independently reading Castle Diary, Girls of Many Lands-Isabel (an American Girl adjacent book), and Juliet, A Girl Takes Flight. My oldest is also reading Animal Farm.
Year 2 Weekly Subjects
DAILY RHYTHMS
I always feel a bit overwhelmed when I look at all of our books for a year because it seems like too much. But with a Charlotte Mason education our lessons are always short. I have to remember that these books will take us until May of 2027 to complete (we have time). Here is what a typical day will look like:
7:00am-9:30am: We’re all waking up and getting ready for the day. Getting dressed, making breakfast independently, and working on a chore.
Once this is all finished my kids will begin on their individual work. Some get done with it all during this time and some only finish one subject and will have to come back to it later.
9:30am -11:00am: This will roughly be our morning time where we sit down and work together on all of these subjects and have a little snack or tea at the end.
11:00am-12:00pm: We’ll work on our weekly subjects (primarily any that have crossover between 2 or more students) and finish up any individual work that didn’t get finished. 
12:00pm : Lunch Time—It’s not unusual for me to read something or play an audio during lunch time if we need to.
12:30pm-2:00pm: Working on the rest of individual subjects. This will likely only pertain to my two oldest students (and maybe only my Year 6), as my youngest has less work to complete throughout the day.
In the afternoon we will run errands, meet up with friends or play outside. But often I’ll use travel time in the car to play audiobooks, composer study, hymns or folk songs. School is always going on!
It’s my hope that getting a deep dive glimpse into another homeschool has given you some ideas and has been helpful as you plan your year. Wishing you a great year ahead!
