School Starts

-
On Monday we started our new school year. The summer days have been getting too long and boring for the kids. We needed to do something, so why not start school! This year we are doing something completely different. I'm scheduling the kids' year using Ambleside Online. This is an amazing resource. It is a full, free curriculum based on Charlotte Mason's method of teaching. We are discovering all kinds of wonderful books.

I've also discovered another wonderful resource: LibriVox. It is a collection of free online audio books. The goal of LibriVox is to make all public domain books available as audio books. This has been a great time saver for me. Our curriculum this year is heavy with literature. Much of it would take my oldest son a very, very long time to read on his own. He depends on me to read aloud most of the stories. A couple of the books we are using can be found at LibriVox: Our Island Story (the history of England) and the Burgess Animal Book for Children (an introduction to different animals and their habits through stories).

Another great tool is the CM Organizer found at Simply Charlotte Mason. It allows me to schedule materials for each child and will even print out a report for any time frame I choose in order to keep track of the material we have covered. Great for showing my husband so he can keep up with what the kids are studying. Unfortunately, this resource is not free. I started a 30-day free trial and I'm sure I will keep the subscription. It has been very useful in my planning and record keeping. Now if it could only pay my bills and organize my cupboards.

Comments

mshel333 said…
That is wonderful! Why not start school now if the kids are getting bored and the outside temp is in the 100s! I'll pass your recommended sites along to other homeschoolers. So glad for the emphasis in literature...hopefully the kids will develop a real love for books.
July 27, 2007 at 5:59 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nature Study

-
Image
I feel like we never get to nature study. I have it scheduled for Fridays but by the end of the week, we don't seem to have the time or energy needed for this subject. Not all is lost though. During the week we do spend time outdoors and I found a couple of great picture books that even my two older boys enjoy. The first one is Bedtime in the Southwest. It's a funny look at how southwest critters might behave when Mama and Papa tell them it's time for bed. The second one is Way Out in the Desert. It is new words to the old song Over in the Meadow. It's a great, gentle introduction to ten southwest animals as well as different Sonoran desert plants. The other night, outside our boys' tae kwon do gym, our 4-year-old daughter was inspecting some of the flowers. Suddenly she ran over to me, yelling excitedly, "I saw a bird! It had the long pointy nose for drinking juice from the flowers!" I asked, "A hummingbird?" "YES!" she yell...
Read more

Weekly Report 4

-
Image
I've missed a report so I'll combine two weeks here. I have to say that our school days are fairly boring! I need to come up with some interesting projects for the kids to do. One thing I have done to help day go more smoothly is to make an assignment book for my 9 yo son. He likes knowing before the day starts what is expected of him. He is usually ready to be done with school after two subjects. Now he know before we start what subjects we are covering that day and I don't hear the sighs when I ask him to get his history notebook. I write out that week's schedule on Saturday or Sunday morning. This is our plan for next week. As we finish a task, he crosses it out. I keep track of all our work through the online organizer at Simply Charlotte Mason . Our 9 yo son is reading the book Brighty of the Grand Canyon. After our trip through Oatman back in August, I thought he would be interested in reading about a burro living in the Grand Canyon. Reading is not his...
Read more