I got a late start on our curriculum choices for this new school year due to some major indecision. After some back and forth, I finally made our curriculum choices for this year.
I was really trying to make sure we were following a more Charlotte Mason style approach. Finally I realized with a few modifications we could continue with the curriculum material we were loving so much and still do them in a way that honored the method we were wanting to follow.
Keep in mind, at co-op she will also be getting:
- Hymn Study & Folk Songs
- Artist & Composer Study
- Drawing
- Drama
- Natural History
- Math History
- Shakespeare
- Scouting
- Church History
- Handicrafts
- Plutarch
Bible
Believe it or not, we really don’t need Bible curriculum. I have talked about how I teach Sunday School without curriculum here. This is basically what Sarah and I will be doing this year as we learn about different women in the Bible. We will be starting off the year with Ruth. What an amazing story on faithfulness!
I will read the scripture, she will narrate it back, and then we might have a “grand conversation”, as Charlotte Mason calls it, about what we read. It is easy, engaging, and enriching.
History
For history we will be working through The Good and The Beautiful’s Year 2. Each year covers ancient times to modern history. However, each year stops in different parts of history to go more in depth.
Year 2 includes:
- Ancient Greece/Ancient Asia
- Viking/Exploration/Pre-Columbian America
- Colonial America/The US Constitution
- History of US Education/WWI through the Great Depression
One part Sarah really enjoys about this history curriculum are the audio recordings. They are well done and very engaging. She also enjoys the board game which came with last year’s curriculum set. She will just randomly ask to play it in the evening. I call that a homeschool win! This year’s set includes a card game, so we are looking forward to trying that out after we get started.
As a part of our history, I’ve chosen these read-alouds for each unit:
- Daughter of the Mountains by Louise S. Rankin
- The King’s Fifth by Scott O’Dell
- Calico Bush by Rachel Field
- The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
Language Arts
Again, we are sticking with The Good and The Beautiful’s Language Arts curriculum. I absolutely love it and can see how far Sarah has come in this area since we started.
This year I am switching up how we are doing things just little bit. We will not be doing their spelling since we will be following more closely Charlotte Mason’s model of dictation. I have also picked out other books for her to read independently, rather than purchasing the independent reader. These books will tie in with other subjects we are doing instead of continuing to add on more assignments.
Science and Natural History
I am really excited about science this year. We will be using Beautiful Feet’s History of Science. We will be learning about some of our most famous scientists and their scientific discoveries like Archimedes, Pasteur, Galileo, DaVinci, Carver and more. She will also be doing many hands-on experiments related to those discoveries.
Here is one area where I will be making some adjustments to keep our time in line with Charlotte Mason’s teachings. There is so much included in this curriculum that we could never do it all. I chose a few scientist to leave out for time’s sake. It helped that two were actually part of our history lessons this year! Love it when the subjects cross-over!! We won’t do ALL of the experiments and there are some assignments included that (in the words of Charlotte Mason) are just “twaddle”. We will skip those assignments in order to stick with short, but meaty lessons.
For Natural History we will continue to read some selections from First Lessons in Nature Study and The Burgess Animal Book for Children. She will also be learning about ecosystems, food webs/chains, and mullosks during her time at co-op.
Math
We are sticking with Teaching Textbooks again this year. Finding a program that worked well for her has been a struggle; however, Teaching Textbooks went very well last year.
Citizenship and Economics
Every individual is called on to be a statesman since each person has a say in how the government is run. But being a good statesman requires a mind alive with the kind of imaginative impressions that come from wide reading and some familiarity with historic precedents.
Charlotte Mason, Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 184
Charlotte Mason believed we all needed to be good citizens and one way to do that is to learn from the lives of those who came before us. This is why she had her students study the writings of Plutarch.
In addition to Plutarch through our co-op, we will be reading Charlotte Mason’s Ourselves. This book is included in citizenship because it speaks about our human nature. It helps us understand the possibilities we have within ourselves to make a difference in our world around us.
For Economics, she will be reading What Ever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard Maybury. This book covers the different aspects of money, recession/inflation, investment and business cycles, and the economic behavior of government. It is written in a story format, so I think she will enjoy it while she is learning.
Literature and Poetry
Literature is interwoven throughout all of our subjects, so there is not a lot to do specifically in this subject. We will be reading selections from Young People’s Story of American Literature by Ida Prentice Whitcomb; as well as, poetry selections from Wordsworth, Longfellow, and Dickinson.
I am also having her read some books on her own that tie in to her history such as:
- The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
- Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
She loves for me to read books to her, so I am hoping to include some of these together during our afternoon “Tea Time” or in the evenings:
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Geography
Most of her geography will be included in the Language Arts curriculum; however, we will also be reading selections of Physical Geography by Archibald Geikie. I downloaded this for free here. I love the imagery Geikie invokes while teaching about the physical world around us. As we do some of our reading, we will focus some geography time on the areas we are reading about or the areas where the person is from.
I have several atlases we will be able to use as references and I also purchased 50 States: Every Question Answered. She has been working on learning the state capitals, so this year we will start looking more into some of those states.
Extra Curriculum Choices
I will post more on how we fit in all these different subjects in another post; however, these are some of the extras we will also be including this year:
- Horse Riding Lessons – once a week at a local stables (weather permitting, of course)
- Handwriting – The Good & The Beautiful’s Level 7 has some great copywork and drawing aspects. It also throws in some history and geography with President names and state capitals.
- Typing – Once a week she will spend 10-15 minutes using Typing.com
- Greek Mythology – This was something she specifically asked about including, so we will be looking through various resources throughout the year.
- Architecture – So excited about this one! We won’t be getting to this until Term 3. Someone so gracious shared her lesson plans which include the Young People’s Story of: Architecture 3,000BC-Gothic Period by V.M. Hilyer. We will start this year and then finish it up next year.
- Church History – She will be getting general church history at co-op; however, I had already planned on some Wesleyan history at home. We will be reading about John Wesley and Francis Asbury using the biography series by Janet and Geoff Benge.
- Life skills – Cooking, sewing, gardening, and raising chickens are in the plan for this year. I want her to plan and prepare a meal each week, learn to sew simple projects on the machine such as cloth napkins, and we may also get eggs to incubate and raise chicks. (Our current chickens are at least 3 years old and will most likely be harvested before winter.)
So, these are our curriculum choices for 2019-2020. I’m really excited about this new year and hoping we will be able to enjoying learning about so many things!
I would love to hear what your choices are for your family this year.
As you are making your own curriculum choices, you might find these previous posts helpful.
Charlotte Mason: A Slow Journey Forward
Is My Child Too Old for a Read-Aloud?
Pin 7th Grade Curriculum Choices for later
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