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QUICK LINKS: Our Curriculum Pick for 2016/2017

Introduction: SEVEN PAGES?!?!
Wayfarers by Barefoot Ragamuffin: Our Charlotte Mason Homeschool Curriculum
Language Arts: English Lessons through Literature
Math: RightStart + Prodigy
History: Wayfarers: Revolution History
Geography: Wayfarers: Revolution History
Science: Simply Charlotte Mason’s Nature Studies + MysteryScience
Bible: Telling God’s Truth by Peter Enns (maybe)
Literature: Wayfarers: Revolution History
Jump ahead to our 2017/2018 Curriculum Picks

A Sample Day: Week 1, Day 3 (Grammar Stage)

Activities

Term 1 Composer: Choose between Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini

Serious Charlotte Mason will appreciate the composer suggestions that are scheduled right into your day. Slackers like me just kind of skip over that section each day. This is where you’ll find geography-themed crafts and science experiments scheduled — always optional, of course.

Narration

Oral or written narration; could be a group project. Choose a character from any of your books and interview him. Have 5-10 question which will allow the character to explain his part in the story. Act this out or write it up as a newspaper article.

OK, so Week 1, Day 3 has a FANCY narration assignment. Normally, this section usually just suggests a subject to pick for the narration and reminds you that younger students might prefer to draw their narration instead of do it orally. I like these random little assignments though; it keeps narration interesting without using any of my own brain power to come up with ideas.

Other

Old Story New, Week 1

Old Story New is the Bible study that is scheduled each day — not to be confused with the Bible reading. To be honest, we used a similar book last year, Long Story Short, but it didn’t really resonate with my girls. I haven’t picked an alternative yet, though I’m looking at the Telling God’s Story curriculum created by Peter Enns. It’s advertised as “A new religion curriculum from the team that brought you The Story of the World” — um, that’s quite the selling feature! The website says:

Written for lay readers but incorporating the best scholarly insights, Telling God’s Story avoids sectarian agendas. Instead, Enns suggests beginning with the parables of the Gospels for the youngest students; continuing on with the more complex stories of the Old and New Testaments for middle grade students; and guiding high school students into an understanding of the history and culture of biblical times.

I’m currently reading the Parent’s Guide — If I like his approach (and I suspect I will, given that I like his other books for adults), I’ll go ahead and use this series with my kids. Spoiler alert: Enns doesn’t believe the Old Testament is literal history, so if that’s your worldview, you’re going to want to skip this series.

In addition to the Bible curriculum, I’m planning to read stories of the saints to my girls throughout the week, ideally corresponding with the Anglican Church of Canada’s Calendar of Saints. I’ve been scouring Catholic Charlotte Mason blogs and sites for book suggestions and I have a few that I’m reading through right now. I love hearing the stories of these amazing people and I think that my daughters will enjoy celebrating the different feast days.

Sometimes other subjects pop up in Other, like health. Even with health, Wayfarers offers choices within the curriculum. For example, in discussing nutrition, the book gives you the choice of lessons based on a traditional food pyramid or from a paleo view point with Primal Kids. We’re picking paleo, of course. FERMENT ALL THE THINGS!

Finally: Literature and Lessons for the Little Ones…