So, bit more about Charlotte Mason. As I’m reading her stuff, I’m gleaning bits here and there. There is a lot we already do or things we planned to do but this great website is offering us a more more detailed structure to follow – they have an entire 12 year outline included linked resources. Most of the texts are public domain so you can download them or read on-line. While I like some of their stuff, after reviewing their curriculum we won’t be using Ambleside because there’s too much I wouldn’t want to do (their history texts have gross inaccuracies, big focus on british history and obviously that’s less applicable to us.) But good site to explore if you have time.

Things that are new we’ll be incorporating:
– More time outside. Charlotte Mason (CM) believes kids under 6 years should be outside most of the day. Clearly she did NOT live in Texas, land of 105 degree heatwaves, bizarre backyard flooding, and fire ants. But we are trying to get more time outside in early hours, while Mom runs, after dinner, etc. When in doubt, throw them out (in the yard, that is) and we’re trying to encourage the kids to just go explore. Which means more time in the yard for Mommy, but that’s the subject of another post. We’re also planning to hit the lake at least once a week and a park, take more walks as a family, and make sure everyday we’re getting some time to bond with nature. The kids are starting nature journals and Moira’s is a hoot, I wish I could scan and share the whole thing.
– Nature science for first several years. CM believes kids need time to observe nature and form their own theories & observations as a strong science base. That’s how we become scientists, right? Observing, so give them the chance to do that personally instead of reading about it in a book. The book will come, we’re hoping to purchase The Handbook of Nature Study which is what Ambleside uses for the first six years of science, along with some bird books and such. We’ll be supplementing with our own science books we’ve picked up and our science co-op.
– Music appreciation. We’ve planned on this but their site gives a composer per term (3 per year) to study plus links and key works to listen to – I love it.
– Artists. Same as above, 3 per year and you can download beautiful images they’ve collected of the artists’ work and give ideas for how to incorporate it in your study. Combined with the amazing art history books my family has loaned us, these kids will learn more than I have yet learned about art! And we have the fun art book that has bits of background and art projects in the same style of famous ones, plus a website with more links to their work. I would link you to the book but I cannot remember the name and the book is in sleeping Mo’s room.
– “Handicrafts” since CM thinks students need to learn practical skills. The only one that comes to mind is sewing (good skill) and woodworking. Now realizing this woman was writing in the early 1900s I know these skills aren’t so necessary to life now – but I think they are enriching and worth learning. Yes, they need to learn to type to survive in this world but I know learning to crochet – another great handicraft – has really enriched my life, helped me make new friends, allowed me to make gifts for people I love, improved my fine motor skills. 🙂 I heard they advised alzheimer’s patients to do work like crocheting because it helps your brain. SO, we’re officially adding handicrafts. Which does fit in with our elaborate “Thaden Pierce Plan” but I hadn’t thought to add more artistic things to that list. It’s more practical, I think woodcarving would still be enriching.
– We’re going to learn geography more in the context of history, and we’re doing a timeline. I haven’t yet chosen a history text/curriculum because there is nothing I LOVE, but we’ll keep looking (Edit: We found something we love, we’re doing Story of the World.) I love our blackline maps and we’ve got some great atlases. I like that the classics approach says go to the books written in that time period and read various view points – don’t read a textbook, which is the biased perspective of someone else’s summary. Read the writings and get your own opinions. The Ambleside site on the other hand does list history writings that are overviews and completely and utterly biased and (as I mention at the bottom of this) utterly off the mark in at least one area. I looked up their chapter on “Mormons” in US history and it was so ridiculous and speculative that it discredited the rest of the book to me. So we’ll be looking for writings that are more source and less opinion/overview.
– Literature. CM advises NO grammar until the kids are 10. I think that’s too late, I’m more comfortable with six or seven to at least gently introduce grammar (First Language Lessons.) I think our kids need it because Christopher is asking me about the difference between nouns and pronouns and verbs and he’s happy to learn now. But CM advises reading, reading, reading all the time and letting them learn from the literature, pick up the grammar in context. I like that idea, but I like the grammar instruction, too. We’re using a lot of their free texts, like Parables of Nature and the Shakespeare stories and Oxford Children’s Book of Verse. And I’m really impressed by how the kids are engrossed in texts which I thought were too advanced.

Which is another big CM point. Don’t dumb things down for kids. Expose them to beautiful music and literature and they will understand far more than we imagine possible. She really stresses narration in the early years – read something to the kids and ask them to tell you what they heard. The point isn’t to get it verbatim but for them to summarize their views, what they got from it, and it’s been fascinating to do that with Christopher and Moira! CM says it’s in the teaching that we most learn so by having the kids narrate for you, it’s cementing it in their mind. Even Moira is enjoying narrating and I love hearing the different aspects they picked up on. Then as they get older we’ll have them start writing down their narration (how crucial is that skill in life? Reading, then distilling key points??) We’ve been using “First Language Lessons” which is classical but does include narration, dictation, copywork, memorization, etc. We’ll keep using that. We also will do copy work for the handwriting, like copying down scriptures or poems. Helps them with memorization and the handwriting but it’s not just copying letters that way. In addition to sight word spelling lists we’re having Christopher write down any new word in his “ABC book” – page per letter and it’s not a dictionary (no definitions) but he can figure out the first word and look it up if he forgets the spelling. He’s doing that with his spelling lists – he struggles with “twenty” but he can flip to ‘T’ and check it.

Math will remain the same, and phonics. Ambleside has no curriculum for those.

So really this means I found great resources on-line, tons of free texts (public domain) and a couple new science books we’ll be buying, a beautiful outline for art & music, great literature ideas, and a schedule that is so loose (just says here are your readings for this week) that I’m in love. I can handle that! Just get this done in this week. Just read, read, read to your kids (but it tells me what to read and in what order to make sure we’re covering topics like history & science, which I would not have come up with these texts on my own) and our kids are LOVING it. I’m really, really excited. (Update two years later – I do like Ambleside as a resource but we are NOT following their schedule.)

But, disclaimer – I don’t mean this to be a rousing endorsement of the Ambleside site. There is a lot we like, but there are also some texts that we don’t like and one in particular they use has a section on Mormons that was so blatantly false that I read it aloud to Kit and we about fell off the couch laughing. So we are picking and choosing very carefully what we’ll be using. So far I really like them for literature, artists, composers and the nature study. But even that we’ll be using for a couple years then moving on to other areas because I think chemistry and physics are crucial, too.