Ambleside Online has made Charlotte Mason's 6 volume set of books available for public use and free download.

You can download the epub files for your e-reader by following these links:

• Volume 1 Home Education
• Volume 2 Parents and Children
• Volume 3 School Education
• Volume 4 Ourselves
• Volume 5 Formation of Character
• Volume 6  Towards a Philosophy of Education

Or you can read the entire series online at Ambleside Online



www.ThielAcademy.blogspot.com

I've posted about the Workbox Approach to scheduling here.  Since then I've had to revamp how we do our daily scheduling.  Not only are we now following the Charlotte Mason approach, but living in tight quarters has prevented us from using the folder system.

Once I made myself a planning page, scheduling our school day was easy (as you will see at the end of this post).   Here is how I did it.

Here is a resource for New and Used homeschool curriculum.  Homeschool Classifieds

To read user reviews on a wide range of homeschool curriculum visit Homeschool Reviews

We love using the Mc Guffey Readers.  I've had several people ask me, "How do you use them?" There are many ways to use these books there are even workbooks to use with them (Although, I find them very expensive!). 

First let me say, if you have advanced readers the Mc Guffey's are a great option for you.  It is extremely difficult to keep advanced readers challenged AND find age appropriate material for them to read.  You will find both in the Mc Guffey's Readers, especially if you are of a Christian persuasion. 

Each lesson starts with a list of vocabulary words, we review the new words (**see update) and then she reads the story aloud to me. I ask her to pause one-count for commas, two-count for periods until she masters it naturally.

Because we already use Spell to Write and Read for our "reading" and spelling, we use the Mc Guffey Readers mostly as oral exercises, teaching our children to read accurately, slowly and to enunciate their words for others to hear and understand.  We do not do the "slate exercises" or writing exercises, we just read these sections as we would any other lesson.  This also gives them practice reading in cursive.  Our entire lesson may only take 10 minutes or less.  (**see update)


Read more to learn about the estimated grade levels of each reader.

Charlotte Mason believed that you couldn't give your child an excellent education unless you had an end in sight.

What do you want for your child? Do you want them to be involved in the family business? Are they gifted in music, maybe a teacher?

You know where your child is gifted, what they desire and what goals you have for them.  If your child has wanted to be a NASA scientist from birth- well then getting them immersed in math and science early will be essential, and that is where planning is key.

Whether you use the Charlotte Mason approach or not, here is a resource that may help you plan your child's education well.

Here is an update on what were doing. Being a Missionary family we have to make a lot of adjustments! I was asked to write up a short summary for other missionary families of what we've done to downsize for the field without compromising our children's education:

The Classical Side of Charlotte Mason

by Karen Glass

EDITOR’S NOTE: Since I’m not a Mason expert, I recruited one: Karen Glass is a homeschooling mother who has been implementing Charlotte Mason’s philosophies for six years. She moderates the CMSeries email list at yahoogroups.com, which focuses on reading through The Original Home Schooling Seriesand discussing Charlotte Mason’s ideas.

Discover your child's learning style is an amazing book, I just can't say enough about it! I have this one in my personal library, adults and children alike can take the enclosed test to learn more about their learning style. This goes beyond the basic "Visual, Auditory & Kinesthetic" learners and pinpoints your child's specific learning profile.

Parents and Homeschooling parents will greatly benefit from "Knowing" how their children learn best, by helping them to find ways to cope with their school environment or adjust home-learning to accommodate their needs, parents can teach their children to succeed when they might feel like they just don't don't understand "what is wrong."




From the Publisher:

It has become widely accepted that not all children learn alike. Some grasp information best by reading, while others learn better through listening or discovering concepts in a hands-on fashion. Two longtime educators--Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle-Hodson--suggest in this guide that there are actually five aspects to a student's learning style beyond the simple modes of visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. Their "learning style profile" takes into account a child's talents, interests, preferred learning environment, and disposition, as well as the three more familiar modes. Written as a workbook, with a series of do-it-yourself assessments, the guide offers parents a chance to diagnose their child's learning style in all five areas. A chart of activities accompanies each style.

This is the program we plan to use for teaching History, we wont be starting for a few years since we are focusing on the Bible curriculum right now, but I am looking forward to reading our way through history. Visit Her website to learn more about how to use her guide. This book is organized Chronologically & by age, then Geographical & by age. With a wide selection of books in each age group, parents can choose the books that best fit their children and style.

"All Through the Ages" by Christine Miller

From the Publisher:
guide for teaching and learning history using literature rather than textbooks. Textbooks make history boring, but history is full of excitement, adventure, and heart-wrenching drama. Bring the “story” back into “history” by using this exhaustive guide to over 7000 of the best in quality historical narratives, historical fiction, literature, and “living books”! With nothing more than a library card, parents or educators can effectively teach their children both World and American history using this guide. It doesn’t matter whether the children are pre-readers or college-bound seniors; books of every reading level are included for every era, from picture books and beginning readers through the great books of Western Civilization.

Here is a great resource for those of you who want to know what your children should be learning and when. It is a great resource if you would like to put your own curriculum together.

"Home Learning Year by Year" by Rebecca Rupp.
From the Publisher:

The integral subjects to be covered within each grade
Standards for knowledge that should be acquired by your child at each level
Recommended books to use as texts for every subject
Guidelines for the importance of each topic: which knowledge is essential and which is best for more expansive study based on your child's personal interests
Suggestions for how to sensitively approach less academic subjects, such as sex education and physical fitness

We've been working with Math manipulatives and working with a great Math program called Singapore Math.

I am loving Singapore Math so far, they focus on using concrete concepts first (manipulatives) followed by pictorial representations (Text book, counting and picture problems) and finally abstract symbols (actual numbers.)

These are photos of Madison's turn, Lydia had already completed "the game" and she was trying soooo hard not to answer the problems!

We've been investigating a new program called "Keepers of the Faith." Its much like Girl Scouts, Heritage Girls or Missionettes, where you can earn badges for learning new skills. Except they also have biblical and educational badges as well as a school curriculum. In addition to that, children can earn badges for developing different character traits.

Other benifits include: They are non-denominational, they are not a nationwide organization- that means no yearly dues, etc. You can use the program for your family alone, homeschool group or just a couple of friends. There are over 500 badges, they are very affordable at $2.50 each and the handbooks (these tell you what the child needs to accomplish to earn thier badges) are also afordable. They start with preschool and go through highschool, programs for both boys and girls.

We haven't decided if we are going to use this program, but maybe you would like to look into it for your children.