Year 5 in Our Home :: Overview

We're more than halfway through our first term of Year 5 and it's all going smoothly, so I thought I'd share what Vincent and Gianna's school year looks like for the 2016-2017 year.

As always, we draw heavily from AmblesideOnline's wonderful bookslists -- this year, we're using their Year 5 programme.  Their site has weekly breakdowns, as well as exams and study guides for some of the scheduled books, so be sure to take a look!  (My booklist here is posted with permission from AmblesideOnline.)  

I have marked the portions of our schedule that are directly from AO in regular type.  The bolded bits are my own selections.  Portions marked with "NN" are are not narrated, either because they are additional readings I have added to the AO schedule (and thus I treat them more like free reading) or because they are part of our Morning Basket and done as a family.  (More about that below.)  

Affiliate links are below for books I have added to our schedule.  Any books scheduled by AO are unlinked -- please click over to their site and purchase through their affiliate links! ;)

Religion	New Testament - Gospel of St. Matthew (Term 1 and 2), biblical Lenten devotional (Term 3) Old Testament - Schuster's Bible History (one chapter weekly) with illustrations from the Dore Bible, Rumer Godden's The Raphael Bible, and Stories from the Old Testament accompanying chapters from Knecht's Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture Saints and Catholic History - Bartleme's Simon Brute and the Western Adventure (Term 1), Garnett's Florence Nightingale's Nuns (Term 2), Heagney's Chaplain in Gray (Term 3)  *NN Catechism (reading aloud to Cate) -  My Path to Heaven (Term 1),  Fr. Francis' Keep My Commandments (Term 2),  The Secret of Mary Explained to Children (Term 3)  *NN Stories - Father Lovasik's The Catechism in Stories Also: The Catechism in Pictures (all year) *NN
History	World - Abraham Lincoln's World, Story of the World Vol. 4 National - Marshall's This Country of Ours Biographies - Daugherty's Of Courage Undaunted (Term 1), The Autobiography of Hellen Keller (Term 2), choice of biography -- more on that below! (Term 3) California/Westward Expansion - This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon (Term 1), Higgins' Jessie Benton Fremont: California Pioneer (Term 2), The Wild Muir (Term 3) Keeping of History Notebook, including timeline and century chart
Natural History and Science	Kingsley's Madam How and Lady Why (using Anne White's study guide) Christian Liberty Nature Reader Vol. 5 The Story of Inventions Keeping of Science Notebook
Geography	Halliburton's Book of Marvels Weekly mapwork - formal Keeping of maps of the United States (charting Lewis and Clark, Audubon, Fremont), Civil War Battlefields (This Country of Ours), and the world (Book of Marvels) Map drills - countries of Central America, provinces of Canada, cities of California
Literature	Shakespeare - Comedy of Errors (Term 1), TBD (Term 2), Macbeth (Term 3) Plutarch / Citizenship - Pyrrhus (Term 1),  Nicias (Term 2),  Crassus (Term 3) using Anne White's study guides Pyle's King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (Term 1), Oliver Twist (Term 2), Kim (Term 3)
Poetry	Kipling (Term 1), Longfellow (Term 2), Whittier and Dunbar (Term 3)
Music Study	Children's Classics (Term 1), Tchaikovsky (Term 2), Dvorak (Term 3) Biographical sketches for each composer *NN
Art Study	David (Term 1), Giotto (Term 2),  Winslow Homer (Term 3) Readings from Hillyer's A Child's History of Art  *NN
Art	Weekly art lesson with instructor Twice-weekly use of McIntyre's Drawing Textbook
Music	Weekly piano lesson and daily practice
Nature Study	Weekly nature study outing and journal entry Twice-monthly object lesson and in-the-field sketching session focusing on birds with our nature study group Weekly reading + challenge from The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling Keeping a Calendar of Firsts as a family
Italian	Daily work, one unit each month, including songs, games, rhymes, picture narration, conversation and review Written work including translation and copywork twice a week
Latin	Lesson twice a week from Getting Started with Latin (Term 1) and Henle: First Year (Terms 2 and 3)
Handicrafts	Paper crafts (Term 1), Christmas gifts (Term 2), needle felting (Term 3)
Language Arts	Copywork - daily cursive practice of dictation passage, weekly print entry in Prose and Poetry Copybook Dictation - one studied dictation passage weekly Grammar - one lesson from Winston Grammar (much cheaper here) weekly (continued from last year)
Math	Daily lesson - Jacobs' Algebra / Jacobs' Geometry (three times weekly) Weekly lesson - from RightStart Level G Math supplement - problem from Challenge Math, Math Olympiad, or Penrose the Mathematical Cat twice weekly
Free Reading	AmblesideOnline's Year 5 free reading list, with lots of additions for my book-loving kids
Scheduled Free Reading	Together -  Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Term 1), A Christmas Carol (Term 2), Treasure Island (Term 3)  *NN Independent -  Little Women (Term 1), Across Five Aprils (Term 2), Tom Sawyer (Term 3)  *NN
Other Assignments and Projects	Reading Log Physical Education - Memory Work and Movement, weekly 3-mile run with Mommy, workouts using Fitness Blender Typing - once weekly using Typing Club
Memory Work	Bible - The Parable of the Good Shepherd, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14), Jesus and the Children (Luke 18:15-17), Psalm 1, Words of Consecration in English and Latin Poetry - from each term's poets Hymns - Bring Flowers of the Fairest, Fairest Lord Jesus, On This Day, Good Christian Men Rejoice, O Holy Night, Jesus My Lord My God My All, Jesus The Very Thought of Thee, Love Divine All Loves Excelling Folk Songs - Blow the Man Down, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Jamaica Farewell, Ol' Dan Tucker, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Battle Cry of Freedom, Goober Pees, Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me, Shenandoah (Starting in Term 2, we're doing mostly Civil War-era songs using the fabulous 2nd South Carolina String Band versions -- so fun!) Shakespeare - selections from plays read for group performance Prayers - Acts of Faith, Hope, and Love; TBD

Some notes about our Year 5 plans:

:: First, Not-Narrated Readings.  As I mentioned, the selections marked "NN" are not narrated, either because they are part of our Morning Basket (even though they're geared toward the older kids) or because they are Sunday reading or evening reading for my older two.  They are eager bookworms, and I like to direct their plentiful free reading a bit each week.  All other readings are narrated either orally or in writing.

:: Foreign Language.  I haven't done a proper post detailing how our Italian plans have grown over the years since I wrote this series.  We are still educating in the same way, but our assignments are more robust now that Vincent and Gianna are responsible for a bit of reading and writing in Italian.  That means we're doing copywork, translations, short oral and written narrations, and even some textbook exercises.  I'm trying to stick to CM's methods in our foreign language studies, but as the students get older, her suggestions grow as well and include traditional grammar work.  And since we do Italian mostly as a family, that means I have a couple extra slots in my schedule for those more challenging kinds of assignments with just my Bigs while keeping the family-friendly activities in our usual daily slot.  And I moved Italian memory work back to our Morning Basket this year so my littles can join in.  Lots more to say on this topic, and let's hope I get around to actually putting it into a post some time this year! ;)

As for Latin: we did Getting Started with Latin a couple times a week last year and are continuing our twice-weekly schedule with the last few lessons in the book.  After we finish that (in the next couple months), we'll probably move straight on to Henle.  I haven't decided for sure.  Right now Latin is an independent subject, but if we move on to Henle, I'll probably take it back to do together.  Still figuring that out as well!

:: Language Arts.  Last year we started dictation, grammar, and written narrations in language arts.  This year we're continuing dictation with longer passages, grammar with our regular weekly lessons, and written narrations twice-weekly.  They are doing copywork in cursive three days a week (of their dictation passage, without a model) and in print once a week (in their Prose and Poetry book -- free choice of selection).  I am very happy with Winston Grammar (linked above) and we are almost done with the Basic level program.  I'm not planning to move on to the Advanced level yet -- we'll save that for a couple years from now.  We'll just continue to practice what we've learned periodically using our dictation sentences, which we have already been doing.  Written narrations are fifteen minutes each and are on one science reading (in their science notebook) and one history reading (in their history notebook).  They are free to work on them for longer, adding more drawings and illustrations if they choose, during their free time -- which they sometimes do now that they are keeping formal notebooks!  More on that below.

:: Math.  Vincent is about to finish up Jacobs' Algebra and Gianna is just beginning it.  So she will be working through that this year, and he will be taking a detour for a month or so to do some more Challenge Math and Olympiad problems while I figure out what he's going to do next -- I'm pretty sure it will be Jacobs' Geometry, but I want to do some more research first. In the meantime, they're doing one lesson from RightStart Level G each week (hands-on geometry with drawing tools) and some kind of brain twister twice weekly.  Right now, they're reading through Penrose the Mathematical Cat, and after that it will be back to Olympiad for a little while, I think.  Fun!  

We break math into three parts here: one 20-minute session first thing in the morning, one 20-minute session in the afternoon to finish up any leftover work from morning if needed, and then 5 minutes twice a week at naptime to do a challenge of some sort.  This structure is working out great for us.

:: Religion.  I have scheduled readings in various categories again: Old Testament, New Testament, saints/history, catechism/devotional.  The first two are in Morning Basket so are read and narrated as a family.  The other two are not narrated because they are "Sunday reading," including that last one, which the Big Kids read to Cate as well. We are cycling back through Schuster's Old Testament again this year, and I chose a Gospel to work through beginning to end (last year we did Acts and a couple epistles).  I left Lent free so I could pop some relevant Bible readings into that slot.  I chose their saints books based on this year's history cycle, one focused on Europe (Catholic nurses in the Crimean War) and two on America (missionary bishop to the West and Civil War chaplain).  And Xavier will be doing sacramental prep this year, so the family is following along in their own catechism, which I will be reading during our Morning Basket this spring.  (Cate received her First Communion just last year, so it's all still pretty fresh, but we'll review anyway.)

By the way, I'd love to find some good WWI-era saints to add to their free reading shelf, so if you have suggestions, please let me know!

:: Literature.  As usual, I have pulled all our literature selections from AmblesideOnline, except for our choice of Shakespeare plays, which I base on local productions.  Our family study format is to read the play in Lambs' (which my Form I students narrate) for the first couple weeks of the term, then read along as we listen to the original as an Arkangel Shakespeare recording (these are just wonderful but pricey -- we check them out from the library) for the next few weeks, then watch the play on stage.  In the meantime, we also choose passages to memorize, and this year, the kids will be performing a short piece together from our play of choice for a Shakespeare Festival I'm organizing with friends.  It's a rich, layered progression through each play and we are so enjoying it.  I think it's my kids' favorite subject (and probably mine too!).

:: Biographies.  I love biographies, I do.  But I had too many biography options this year!  AmblesideOnline schedules one science biography and one history biography each term.  I usually add to that a saints' biography each term, and I also wanted to do a couple California history biographies. I also had a few other books on my shelf that I wanted to use.  So I made some hard cuts, moved some of the options to free reads, and wound up with this:

Term 1:
Of Courage Undaunted (history biography as scheduled by AO)
This Strange Wilderness (science/natural history biography of Audubon)
Simon Brute and the Western Adventure (religious biography about a missionary that becomes the first bishop of Vicennes, Indiana in the 1800s)

Term 2:
Jessie Benton Fremont (CA historical biography suggested by Brandy)
Florence Nightingale's Nuns (religious biography about the Catholic nuns who worked with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War)
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (historical autobiography - taken from the AO free read suggestions for Year 5)

Term 3:
biography of choice**
The Wild Muir (CA historical autobiography suggested by Brandy)
Chaplain in Gray (history/religious biography about a chaplain in the Civil War)

Added to the Free Read Shelf:
All of the science biographies recommended by AO
The Palace Wagon Family (about the Donner party)
Jed Smith (recommended by Brandy)
Whichever biographies they don't choose for their Term 3 reading

**Since I had such a wide selection of wonderful options, I decided to let them choose among a few options for their Term 3 biography: The Tale of Beatrix Potter, Invincible Louisa (Louisa May Alcott), Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the American Spirit, The Story of Madame Curie.  I'll let you know what they pick!  My guess: Gianna will pick Invincible Louisa and Vincent will pick Teddy.  But the rest will go on the free reading shelf, so I'm sure they will all be eventually devoured! :)

:: Notebooks. This year my kids are keeping History Notebooks and Science Notebooks.  The Science Notebook is straightforward for now: it holds their weekly written narrations from Christian Liberty Nature Reader as well as accompanying diagrams and illustrations as desired. In future years, this notebook will grow to contain the write-ups of their scientific experiments and observations, so this is a good start.

The History Notebook is more robust -- it houses all their mapwork, their century chart, their written narrations, and other student-directed history keeping.  I require one map entry, one century chart entry, and one written narration weekly, but they often choose to do a bit of extra keeping in their free time in other areas: lists, charts, timelines, additional maps, sketches, and so on.  They are taking a lot of pride in their work and I think it's going to be a great segue for when they begin a proper Book of Centuries when the history cycle re-begins in Year 6.  (I even wrote a cover letter for their History Notebook with encouragement and ideas, which made the project feel really special.  And I shared last year's maps and century charts here if you'd like to take a peek.)

:: Nature Study.  This year our weekly nature study group is growing.  Instead of having a planned activity once a month, we'll be doing a focused lesson twice a month: one week topical (we're studying birds this year) and one week method-based (we'll be using John Muir Laws' free curriculum).  The other two weeks of the month will be for free play and exploration.  We'll continue to do one nature journal entry per week as always.  (I haven't missed a week yet this year so I am very motivated to keep up my streak! LOL)  I will write more about this year's nature study group another time, so let me know if you have questions.

:: Outside Lessons. I am very picky about our outside time since I know too many activities are draining to me.  So once again, our extracurriculars are limited to these weekly lessons: art and piano (the teacher come to our house!), nature study outing with friends, and park day with friends.  We will also add swimming later this fall for the older four.  This year we're also organizing a Shakespeare Festival with friends once a semester, but we'll be practicing for that at home and only getting together for the event itself.  That's it -- and more than enough for me! ;)

:: Organization.  As a quick list (since I know people are going to ask! LOL), here's what is on my Year 5 kids' shelves in addition to our scheduled books...

History Notebook and Science Notebook (we like these blank notebooks)
Reading Log (same as above, but lined)
Prose and Poetry Notebook (we use a hardcover composition book from Walmart, but the one I linked above would be perfect)
Nature Journal
Math notebook - not a keepsake, just for working problems and math puzzles
Foreign language notebook - not a keepsake, just for translation exercises and copywork for Latin + Italian
Drawing sketchbook - not a keepsake, just for their twice-weekly drawing practice
Winston Grammar workbook
Form II Binder - for term schedule for reference, dictation passages, reference maps, their binder timeline, memory work passages, map drill pages, etc.

They also each have a pencil box, where they keep a set of colored pencils, a mechanical pencil, erasable pens in blue and black, a drawing marker, sketching pencils (one hard lead, one soft lead), scissors, eraser, and their current weekly checklist.

Their school books are all on one shelf:

And I have supplemental books for their studies on another shelf.  These are for when I want to show them a relevant picture or they need one to copy for a history narration or century chart entry.  There is also an atlas in there, a book with body illustrations, a book of kings and queens...a whole bunch of stuff.  (I'll have to do a Year 5 supplement cheat sheet soon!)

there are their history + sciece notebooks on the right

Their current free reads are also on one shelf:

And extra free reads to replenish their shelf with on another.

I'll share about how we're actually scheduling out all these assignments and readings in my upcoming post about this year's weekly checklist.

~~~

I think that about covers it!  I've tried to anticipate some of the questions I usually get about our schedule, so I apologize for the length. ;)  If you have other questions, let me know!

Coming up soon: my Form I plans, this year's checklist and schedule sheets, our Morning Basket plans for Term 1, and a look at my Weekly Planning session and our Weekly Meeting..am I missing anything?! :)

(And just as a last note: I'm sure this is obvious, but please remember that our plans are specific to our family's personality and needs.  I share them because I know many of you are looking for examples of different ways to live out the AmblesideOnline curriculum, or to deal with eager and early learners within that setting, or to make Catholic additions or substitutions to the curriculum.  This is one way in one home and isn't meant to work for all families or all children.  So take what you want and ignore the rest!  Another place to look for the ways other families live out Year 5 is the AmblesideOnline forums -- lots of diverse examples there!)