I’m starting to plan out our 4th (3rd formal year) using Ambleside Online and I think it was time I talk about why our family chose Ambleside Online. Of course this goes without saying but I’m not trying to knock any other CM curriculum but I thought I’d share pros and cons to the other two similar curriculum ‘The Alveary’ and ‘The CMEC’ and why we chose AO over those. There are more CM curriculum out there (some I’ve added into AO) but we’re chatting these 3 since they’re similar.
The Cost: Free
What drew me to Ambleside Online at first was that it was Free. I am the type of person that will change things no matter the curriculum we pick so it was a comfort knowing I could change things, add things in or leave them out without feeling an obligation to do everything since I paid for it. AO can be pretty much free if you read all the books in the public domain but if you’re not a fan of E-books like me you will need to buy the books or check them out from the library. Luckily many of the books I could easily find secondhand from thrift stores and I had a bunch in our home library already so while it wasn’t completely free it was very affordable for us. I could use that money for other curriculum like Math.
I’m not really a fan of membership fees and both the Alveary and The CMEC cost $300 per year. You get a bunch of support and hand holding with those fees so that’s a nice plus but you get limited access to the curriculum for a year unless you make sure to download it, and only get access to future curriculum in the summer. I’ve learned very quickly I need to start planning in February to be done planning in June! We Homeschool year round so it just wouldn’t work well having a limited time to plan before I wanted to begin again. Ambleside Online has a master book list I printed out giving me access to all the years books from Year 0- Year 12 and I take it with me on thrift store outings and can really get as much time as possible to get them second hand on the cheap side which was a bigger plus for me.
Reuse Books for Each Student
I really enjoy homeschooling on a budget, so it’s nice that AO is reusable for each student! I simply buy the books for my oldest and then I’m able to reuse them at least 3 more times (or even more if we are lucky enough to have more kiddos someday lol) but the fact that I can go through them with each student is exciting. I put a lot of effort into each Year that I do the first time but then have all my notes for my next students ready!
Booklists
This might be a con for some but I truly enjoy the encouragement to read older books especially classics, I just did not read those growing up and reading them with my kiddos has been such a joy. I can and do add in newer books too which I don’t find so hard to do, but older books I’ve never heard of or aren’t talked about as much anymore feels like finding a hidden gem! I feel like even those who don’t use AO still check their book lists and say they are pretty well done! I’ve seen some overlap of books as I follow other Homeschooling Moms who use both of the other curriculum so I know those are definitely great books!
Amazing Resources & Community
I do think AO has a ton of great resources and a helpful community but it just requires lots of digging or waiting. All Parent’s Review articles can be found on the AO site but it’s easier to google specific ones that will pop up on AO rather than comb through them all. Their facebook community is for the most part great but can be a place of heated discussions but I chalk this up to a bunch of members don’t actually use AO nor do they really try to fully embrace the Charlotte Mason Method. But there are so many AO families that devote their time to sharing resources they’ve made for free in the Files section that it’s easy to overlook the former. I also really like the Forum which granted is very old school looking but has so much helpful information it’s worth checking out! So you can find the community and help for AO but it just requires a bit more effort.
A big con to AO I always hear is the history cycle. A lot of Americans want to start with US history in Year 1 because of what CM recommends and want all their students on the same cycle. I found a really good solution for our family in that in Year 0 (Kindergarten) we read through the Little House Books series. We were able to learn about US history, I do add in Playful Pioneers from The Peaceful Press and that helped guide me while I tried to keep things less formal. I think that was a great start and I plan on doing that again with each student. For now I’m ok with each of my kiddos being in a different history cycle but I’ve looked into groups for AO on their site and I feel confident I could combine them all if I was struggling with that. It’s just hasn’t become a big deal yet and hopefully won’t every be.
Ambleside Online has been such a great resource for our family and to encourage me to grow deeper in my understanding of the Charlotte Mason Method in teaching and her principles in education. I’ve just been so pleased and comfortable with this curriculum which at first might seem odd teaching a lot of literature but it’s been going so well that I hope we’ll go through it all the way into high school but we’ll see as time moves on. I have so much respect for the fellow Homeschool Moms who put this curriculum together during a time when homeschooling was not easily done and CM was fairly new in the US. I’m thankful for the curriculum and how much it grows my children as well as me.
I hope this post helps you in your researching these 3 curriculum and that you have a wonderful Homeschooling year!!
