In past years, I have compiled our learning plans in case they're helpful to others using a Charlotte Mason-style of learning with elementary kids, especially those tweaking AmblesideOnline for their Catholic families. You can find them below!
Beginning several years ago, I have been using the CMEC. To read about our curriculum and offerings, please check out our website.
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Our CM Kindergarten:
Food for Thought
The Morning Basket
Nature Study
Art and Music
Free Reading and Listening
Math
and...
Cate's Kindergarten (2014-2015)
Xavier's Kindergarten (2015-2016) and picture booklist
First Grade in Our Home:
Overview
Religion
Italian
Handicrafts, aka Chores:)
Scheduling
Shakespeare
Timelines
Art
Artist Study
Music Study
Memory Work
Free Reading
Exams - Term 1, Term 2, Term 3
and...
Cate's First Grade (2015-2016)
Cate's Exams - Term 1, Term 2, Term 3
The School Year in Review :: Years 4 and 1
Second Grade in Our Home:
Overview
Our Daily Schedule
Italian
Fine Arts
Free Reading
Summer School
Exams - Term 1, Term 2, Term 3
Third Grade in Our Home:
Overview
Our Weekly Schedule
Morning Basket - Term 1, Term 2, Term 3
Exams - Term 1, Term 2, Term 3
Fourth Grade in Our Home:
Overview
Our Weekly Checklist, Daily Schedule, and Chore Routine
Inside Our Form II Binder
Morning Basket - Term 1, Term 2, Term 3
Exams - Term 1, Term 2, Term 3
The School Year in Review :: Years 4 and 1
2016 - 2017 School Year - 5th grade + Form I:
Gianna and Vincent's Year 5
Year 5 Exams
Cate and Xavier's Form I
Form I Exams
Morning Basket :: Term 1, Terms 2 and 3
Our Paper Plans :: Schedules, Checklists, Chore Charts, and More
My Pre-Reading and Planning Session
Our Weekly Meeting
The School Year in Review :: Notebooks
2017-2018 School Year - 6th grade + Form I:
Year 6 + Family Subjects in Review
Form I in Review
You can see peeks at our 2018-2019 School Year and 2019-2020 School Year here.
Hi Celeste! Our kids are almost the same age as your Cate and Xavier I think (dd9 and ds7 going into years 3 and 1)...I would love to see how you are combining them this year! Your blog is so helpful. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Samara! Eventually I hope to get some of my plans for this year up, but it won't be just yet. :) The short answer is that I have them both combined for most of the Year 3 readings, except Xavier is doing history (Our Island Story, Children's History of the World, and The Little Duke) on his own, as is Cate (OIS, CHOW/TCOO, biography, and Children of the New Forest). I did some shifting around here and there, but it's going very smoothly so far. If you remind me via Instagram, I can take a quick snap of my over-arching book breakdown for them and send it to you. ;)
DeleteThanks! I will IG you. but no worries! I mean, new baby and all!!!! :D
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ReplyDeleteHi Jessica! I have a couple suggestions for you. First, we chose to go ahead and read Pilgrim's Progress because it has SUCH a cultural significance -- it comes up in lots and lots of other books. But there is a meaty picture book version of it called Dangerous Journey, which is abridged but still retains the original language. Happily for Catholics, the parts that it abridges are the more theological bits, which we are happy to have excluded. :) I really like that version, and after doing the original with my older kids and DJ with my middles, I will be using DJ from here on out. The format is appealing and the illustrations are wonderfully done. And you get the cultural bits that we didn't want to miss.
Deletehttp://amzn.to/2h17YeV
For a couple other options that are less culturally important but are Catholic allegories (so in the same genre as PP but from a Catholic perspective):
The King of the Golden City by Mother Mary Loyola - http://amzn.to/2xKrdwq (the "boy" edition) and http://staugustineacademypress.com/the-king-of-the-golden-city/ (the original with a girl main character
The Voyage of the Pax - http://amzn.to/2zoUXmT
These are both vintage texts, so are literary in nature. The Voyage of the Pax is very short, and King of the Golden City is more involved. We have used it for First Communion prep, but my kids enjoy re-reading it also. And we used Pax as a Term 1 religion free read this year. They are both lovely and a great addition to any Catholic home, whether you choose to use them in place of PP or alongside.
Hope that helps!
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ReplyDeleteI know you must be immensely busy... But any chance you could pop up year 5 links when you have a chance?! Every year i find your links so useful! Thank you in advance
ReplyDeleteHi there! All my Year 5 links are right at the top, under 2016-2017 School Year.
DeleteWhat I haven't posted yet are my Year 6 links. I am planning on doing that at some point before the school year is over, but I can't make any promises as to when! :)
Hi Celeste,
ReplyDeleteI noticed that religion for Gianna and Vincent, and for Cate looks different. I'm trying to figure out which track to use for my daughter who will be in first grade this fall. Did you like using Amy Steedman's books as a substitute for Trial and Triumph? Did you not use those for Cate?
Thanks for sharing your plans!
Hi there! Our Island Story is a great addition in lieu of Trial and Triumph. I did not use it with Cate or Xavier for several different reasons. First, they are combined in a Form I rotation but they have history separate, so it didn't work to combine them for historically-tied saints; they would be doing different saints as well as different history, and that was just too much reading aloud for me. So the reading they have done in lieu of Trial and Triumph has been Lang's Book of Saints and Heroes -- no historical tie, and I could do it in Morning Basket since my Big Kids hadn't heard it yet. If you have only one student or students doing history together, I think Our Island Saints is a great choice! Hope that helps.
DeleteI'm so sorry -- I meant Our Island Saints, not Our Island Story! I hope that wasn't too confusing.
DeleteI feel like this is a simple question that should be more obvious, but how do you divide up your year? By that, I mean, how do you fit three 12-week terms into your school year? Perhaps you've mentioned this on your blog and I just can't find it. We've done a 6 weeks on/1 week off schedule for a few years but I'm trying to figure out how to simplify by just doing three longer terms. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe start in July or at the beginning of August and just work through three 12-week terms with a break week in between and holidays as they come up (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Holy Week, etc.). We always finish in April or at the beginning of May.
DeleteI read your response to a question about how you divide the school year using the 3 12-wk terms with break weeks and saw you take about 2 months off for the summer. During the summer months do you do any sort of maintenance work or lessons or just take a total break from the school work? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi there! I do it a bit differently each year, depending on ages of kids and the year's schedule. School years during which we have a baby may have summers that look a little more academic to accommodate the breaks during the year. For the past couple years I have had speaking engagements in July that have led to our starting in August now instead. Also, we do school only four days a week, so I will usually do a couple days per week of math during the summer, or a month of math before taking a full break. This year, we finished our school year last week, but we're doing math through May, then taking June and July fully off except for our Italian lessons on Skype anda bit of Latin perhaps. The kids said that was something they wished we had continued last summer because there was a re-learning curve for them in fall. But I really plan year by year!
DeleteYour blog is so inspiring and helpful! I'm wondering if you have any advice from your experience this last school year? My kids this upcoming year will be 12(year 7), 9(year 4), 8(year 3), 5(kinder), 3, and 1. How do you manage all the different years and forms while keeping the littles entertained and staying out of mischief? I can't wait till you're able to post about your current (2018-19) school year!! Thanks for your thoughts and posts!!
ReplyDeleteThis past school year was maybe our best yet. As far as fitting things in, we did still utlize the pre-breakfast slot and the two hours of naptime each day that we always have to manage lessons with littles. I also spent some of the time my littles play outside in the morning with my older two. I am hoping to get a year-in-review post up some time this summer but just haven't had the free time. Hopefully in July or August!
DeleteThis is helpful, thank you so much! I know you are busy planning things that are upcoming. I really appreciate your response. :)
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ReplyDeleteHi Crys, when my oldest two were in Year 7, I switched to using the CMEC. I now help run the CMEC and have been using it for all of our children since then. You can read more about the CMEC here: https://www.thecmec.org/ Thanks for your encouragement! :)
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