I’m so excited to share our homeschool plans for the upcoming year. I’ve been planning things since February but alas I am slow to blog or make a YouTube video about this because any moment baby girl could make her appearance and I’ve used all my free time to nap. 

I’ll chat about Kindergarten in another post/ video. But of course we are doing Ambleside Online again as our main curriculum. I just love it and it works well for us! I do add things in or take things out as I see fit. Below I’ll lay out my plans…

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Here are the subjects I picked:

Bible

I’m deep in pre-reading mode and we will be using AO’s bible rotation this year. I’ll be implementing BSF one morning a week for the girls and me, as well as Awanas for the older girls but we will be mainly focusing on AO’s schedule. Joshua, Judges and Ruth for the Old Testament and Matthew for the New Testament. While I read directly from my bible and any readers will follow along in their own bible, I will also be using a devotional twice a week or so. My picks for this year are The Wisdom Of God, Leading Little Ones to God and Big Truth Bible Story Book. I like getting my younger ones involved with the illustrations. I’ve got a few other books I’d like to get to in our morning time like Heroes of History and a series of Apologetics for kids by the good book company.

Morning Time

Technically the Bible is part of our Morning Time but this is how I start the Homeschool lessons each day. We do Hymns and Folksongs following the AO rotation. Along with different beauty subjects that loop weekly. I have binders for my oldest and myself and most likely making one for my Kinder too this year. Daily we do Bible, Recitation (switching up the Bible verses & poetry every other day), rotating every other day between our Hymns and Folksong, Bible Memory Verses, and Poetry. I will put a picture book (or 3) in for my toddler but I try to do one on one time with her before we begin. I’ll add in games, relevant things to that day’s lessons, etc.

Then we loop these subjects weekly: 

Artist & Composer Study- Following the AO rotation we do each of these once a week on different days, we focus on one artist per term. I print out the free high quality prints myself from A Humble Place.

Handicrafts

Shakespeare

Foreign Language (once a week for morning time and once a week given it’s own place in the timetable)

History

We will be studying the late 1400s-1600s Renaissance and Reformation and I might try to go through the Little House book series or Little Britches book series to focus on American History for my Kinder. I’m still thinking this over. We will be continuing with a bunch of the books that we’ve been reading since Y1 & Y2 (part of AO’s plans to read some books over a few years). We’ll also be reading longer picture book biographies about Davinci & Marco Polo for term 1, Shakespeare and Queen Bess for term 2, and about Pilgrims for term 3.

Geography & Mapping

We will continue with the two Charlotte Mason geography books recommended by CM, Home Geography and Elementary Geography for geography and pulling out maps with our bible study and history studies. I found a great resource in the AO group with lots of maps for Y3. But I’m also adding in a really neat looking resource by ARTK12 called Draw The USA & Draw The Natural Wonders of the USA. They look like fun resources for learning how to draw maps.

Math

We will be continuing on with Beast Academy Level 1 C & D (although I might have my oldest finish during the summer book C. I haven’t decided if I will be purchases level 2 books. They are really challenging but they also work well with their comic book style instructions. I might add a math notebook to show work because my daughter fills up all the empty space on the pages.

I will though be switching off with Beast Academy every other day with Simply Charlotte Mason Math Book 2. I really enjoy that this is very tailored to the CM methods and encourages doing math mentally a lot. 

Gameschooling

One of my favorite things to add in our learning is board games. But these fell by the wayside this year so my upcoming plans will include being more intentional about using our Math & Reading board games.

Handicrafts

There are so many Handicrafts I’d like to get to but I’ve found focusing on one new skill per term helpful and not overwhelming. This year I’m hoping to do Crocheting for Term 1 & 2  (I have all the supplies anyway and have been wanting to learn more myself so why not learn alongside my daughter.). I might add in Sewing for Term 2 as well. Term 3 will be Soapstone and Wood Carving.

Art

Watercolor/ Brush Drawing We will be continuing with Lily and Thistle which we have a lifetime membership with. It’s been great to learning about Watercoloring. I hope to get it in weekly or twice a week.

I also have various drawing books and YouTube videos for drawing and sketching practice as well as making lots of time for art especially in the afternoons.

Typing

I really like to keep technology limited in our homeschool, that may change as my children get older but for now I want to keep it limited. I will however be introducing typing to my Y3 once a week for maybe a 10-15 minute lessons. We will be using the free version of Typing.com.

P.E/ Swedish Drill & Play Breaks

I’m using the Swedish Drill guides still from The School Yard. I found this helpful to schedule this into the time table in the middle of lessons and it’s great for physical activity when the weather is too cold or stormy to be outside very long. Otherwise I let all the kiddos have play breaks in the middle of lessons to have that much needed break for their attention not to wander. I encourage outdoor time during these breaks but I’m happy if they are all playing nicely together. 

Nature Study & Natural History

For Term 1 Nature Study our focus will be on local seasonal nature as well as reptiles, Term 2 will be brooks, rivers and oceans along with more seasonal local nature, and finally in Term 3 garden flowers, weeds and more seasonal nature. That way we are sure to get outside and observe the nature around us while also having specific things to focus on each term. I focus on Comstocks Handbook of Nature Study, Picture Books and Nature Journaling while at the table or on hikes. Hopefully getting this in twice a week.

I’ll be adding in a podcast I’m quite taken with called Nat Theo possibly during meals or snack times.

For Natural History we will be reading another Holling book Pagoo, I plan on looking up YouTube videos and any picture books that will help deepen our studies. And will be learning about the woods through a classic book and also begin a more scientific focused book too. Sad not to be doing a Burgess Book this year.

Literature & Reading

We will be studying American Tall Tales, Shakespeare and many great books, one classic at least per term. I will continue using Audiobooks for these when I can and have my Y3 follow along in the books. Followed by narration and discussion. This worked well for us in Y2. We will be reading The Heroes together though.

For Poetry I’ve got some great picture books that are about the three/four poets we’ll be focusing on and I just use the AO Poetry book for all the readings. I will continue Poetry Tea Time weekly because it’s our favorite.

Language Arts & Handwriting

While nothing extra is really needed for LA I will be adding in Learning Language Arts Through Literature Yellow Book. I’ve never used it before but I came across it while searching for a cursive curriculum. It looked very well done when I watched a flip through on Youtube so I’m excited to check it out. While cursive isn’t the main focus it will be teaching the basics along with lots of other things that felt went well with the CM style with just a little more structure for spelling. 

I will be having my Y3 do daily Copywork (you can make your own through here or you can find already made ones in the AO FB group which is what I did this year). I’m stepping away from Explode the Code, I just have mixed feelings about it but I also have two unused books so I might throw them in a place where she can use them for extra practice for independent work. My focus is on continuing good habits for print and learning cursive this year.

Free Reads

With free reads it becomes really clear that you need to use audiobooks and have your kiddo read some independently if you want to get through them all after Y1. We are still working our way through Y2 but I will be assigning some as independent reads and some will be audiobooks/family reads we will do daily. 

Reading Practice

I require my daughter to read books I assign daily in our lessons on her own. But I also require her to read aloud to me for 10-15 minutes daily. I have a bunch of leveled books that go from beginner reader to high school like the My Book House Series (1st- High School), Pathway Readers (Kinder- 8th grade) Treadwell Readers (Kinder-4th) and many more. Her independent readers are usually a classic book or free read book from the AO list and a few chapter book series at her level. I have her finish them all by the Term’s end then narrate to me as she finishes each one. 

Foreign Language

What’s frustrating is how much I ignore this subject. My husband is fluent and a native speaker in Japanese and I speak it conversationally (maybe not as much anymore lol) but we have books from the Japanese Government to help us teach our children it just gets pushed on the back burner a lot. My hope is we can do this more formally as my children are very eager to learn Japanese. I’m still searching for a curriculum I’ll like because I’d also like to add in some French and German too. But for now we will continue to use textbooks that I used and books from the Japanese Government we receive each year.

I’m excited to start all the new things soon. My plan is July and to take June as our summer break of sorts with a Summer Rhythm I’ll be sharing soon. We homeschool year round because I prefer lots of little breaks especially when we need or want them rather than one big break in summer. But who knows we might begin in August if I feel we need more time to adjust to having our newest little one!