“Homeschool moms love planning more than the actual homeschooling.” — I’m not sure who said that, but sometimes it’s true.
Proverbs, Bible, Catechism are for everyone.
Spanish – We use Speaking Spanish with Miss Mason and Francois
Pilgrim’s Progress – we have an old copy. We may be switching to Dangerous Journey soon.
Poetry – We follow Ambleside’s poetry rotation depending on the year my kids are in.
Shakespeare – Ambleside Shakespeare Rotation. (Usually)
Free Read – a book I pick that I want us to read aloud together.
Halliburton – His “Book of Marvels.”
Art Study – Ambleside’s Art Rotation – using a study guide from either Humble Place or Simply Charlotte Mason.
Composer – Reading a book about our composer, chosen from Ambleside’s Composer Study.
Art Instruction – You Tube Videos, usually connected to another topic. More on that later.
Geography – From from both Home Geography for Primary Grades by Long, and/or Elementary Geography by Charlotte Mason
Plutarch – We used Anne White’s Study Guides. This is aimed at my older kids, but the younger one listens, too.
Nature Study – Using Anne Comstock’s book as a guide plus the Ambleside Nature Rotation.
Dictation – For my oldest, we had to add Diction to the list so we would remember to do it.
Morning Time
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“Morning Time,” while not strictly Charlotte Mason, is an essential part of our homeschool. It’s the time that we read the Bible together, do any lessons that all the kids need, and review our day so everyone knows what to expect.
And this week I’m planning for next term.
To keep myself as organized as possible, I make a list of goals for each week. Ambleside runs 12 week terms, so I work in 12 week chunks.
I print one page for each week. Each pages as a “daily” section and a “weekly section.” We do the daily items daily and try to get in 2 weekly items per day.
Daily sample:
Spanish-imperatives
Pilgrim’s Progress (10 pages per week)
Poetry – Whitcomb-Riley and Whittier
Shakespeare – Two Gentlemen – 1 scene per day
Two from weekly list
Weekly sample:
Art Study – Botticelli
Composer – Bach
Art Instruction – TBD
Geography – TBD
Plutarch-Pompey
Nature Study – soil/erosion
Dictation (x3)
Look mysterious? Over the next few months, I’ll be posting more about each of our morning time activities. I hope these ideas may help you on your homeschool journey!
For an excellent podcast about morning time
Check out Cindy Rollins – The New Mason Jar or Pam Barnhill’s Your Morning Basket. Both have seriously influenced my homeschool journey in a big way.
For further reading on Charlotte Mason
You can always read Charlotte’s words herself for free on the web, or check out Susan Schaffer Macauley’s For the Children’s Sake.