A Charlotte Mason Home School

I have been researching the Charlotte Mason approach to schooling for a couple of years now, on and off.  I go through the process of being excited about it and overwhelmed by it.  Part of me just wants a full curriculum that just tells me exactly what to hand my child to ensure he succeeds.  The other part of me wants my children to have a full, rich, deep, and stimulating education.  Next year Little Bear will be of the age to begin  Ambleside Online Year 1.  Ambleside Online is a wonderful free Charlotte Mason based curriculum with book schedules for each year.  Since I am planning on beginning him in this next year, I figured I had better start getting myself ready.  Right now, we are doing some light schooling and we are going to incorporate some of the CM aspects starting now for an easier transition come August (or earlier depending on when we finish up what we have been doing).  I am so excited to start more fully incorporating living books, wonderful literature, and nature study into our current schooling.  I'm trying to pace myself so that I don't become overwhelmed again as there is so much wonderful information and ideas out there.

Our schedule for remainder of the year will look something like this:

Daily:

• Bible:  Bible reading, hymn study, and prayer
• Math:  Calendar Math; kindergarten math workbook; various living math
• Penmanship:  Letters and numbers
• Phonics:  Candy4WAY (check out this AWESOME complete phonics program less than $10)
• Writing/Narration:  Summary of reading we have done for the day
• Literature:  Books chosen from various CM reading lists

Weekly: Daily Themes (I got this idea from a wonderful blog with lots of CM homeschooling ideas)

• Monday:  Main Core (research/lapbook/project)
• Tuesday:  Science
• Wednesday:  Nature study/geography/map work (we will focus on nature study at this time)
• Thursday:  Tea and poetry
• Friday:  Fine art Friday (famous composer and famous artist of the month and Sketch Tuesday)

I envision calm, peaceful days filled with reading and play outdoors, but I know that I tend to get carried away in my expectations.  We'll see what the week ahead brings us.

Love In Christ,

Lizzie