Wayfarers: My Pick for a Charlotte Mason Homeschool Curriculum

Sep 5, 2016

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Oh my goodness, this turned into a MONSTER post and I keep adding things that I forgot! Like humour, which apparently didn’t come easily to me at 2:00 am when I published this beast.

Unless you’re one of the grandparents who is secretly panicking about my children’s education, I don’t expect you to read the entire post. To help the rest of you out, I’ve added some quick links to each page so you can skip right to the subjects that interest you.

Please note that I have purchased all of these books and programs myself. I have not been compensated for this post, though I should probably disclose that I am a National Geographic Kids Insider, given that I link to their site at one point. But I’m not sure if that’s official disclosure or me just bragging. Probably a bit of both… 😉

QUICK LINKS: Our Curriculum Pick for 2016/2017

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

About a year and a half ago, I gave up on Charlotte Mason.

Well, not quite.

It’s more that I gave up on finding a Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum because none of the popular choices were working for my family. And they were confusing. I wanted something that was more “open-and-go” than what I was using at the time, you know what I mean? Of course it makes total sense — I had a newborn baby at home and I had very little brain power to devote to organization.

I did my best though. For awhile, we plodded determinedly through some books, even when they didn’t interest me or my daughter. Finally though, I decided that we’d be better off scrapping the official curriculums and creating our own living book list based on our own interests, using a variety of literature-based curriculums as a guide.

So I got started. I remember sitting at the counter for hours with our laptop and a notebook. I made lists and more lists. I wrote down book names, I made sure they were in our library. For the first time in a long time, I was excited about my daughter’s school work.

And then, in the middle of my searching, I stumbled across the Wayfarers history curriculum. Wayfarers? I’d never heard of it, but I was surprised to see that many of the book titles I had just written down in my notebook were also in the Wayfarers book lists. And then when I downloaded the curriculum samples, I discovered that the curriculum was more than just history; it was science, geography, composer study, art, literature, Bible and more — all conveniently scheduled in a day-by-day planner.

It was the open-and-go Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum that I was looking for. Cue church bells and angel choirs.

So what is this amazing curriculum?

#charlottemason

Comments

5 responses to “Wayfarers: My Pick for a Charlotte Mason Homeschool Curriculum”

Beauty full Slow

September 5, 2016

First off, LOVE your tag line! I’ve never heard of Wayfarers…something to look into 🙂 You’ve made some wonderful choices. Hopping over from the “Back-to-School” Blog Hop.

Happy Homeschooling!

Reply
Ashlea

February 16, 2017

I’m quite pleased to find a review of Wayfarers and you are very thorough. My kids are older. I have one 7th grader and one 3rd grader, as well as a 3 year old. Have you looked at the curriculum with thoughts about what it will be like in the upper grammar and dialectic stages? I ask because it looks as though there is a lot of reading scheduled for one day and I’m a little concerned it would overwhelm my kids. Your blog is beautiful!

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Tamara

February 17, 2017

I haven’t looked through the upper levels much, given that we aren’t there yet. That being said, there is a LOT of reading in the first stage and at first we were overwhelmed. And my child is a bookworm too! I can’t imagine plugging through it all with a child who doesn’t love to read. Like my second. Oh man, that’s going to be fun LOL.

However, the author stresses at the beginning that she has included so much because she wants parents to be able to pick and choose as they go — and I’ve really taken that to heart. We don’t use her science books because the chapters are LONG and my daughter prefers hands-on combined with online learning. We use audiobooks regularly, often in the car – particularly for history. I LOVE the Story of the World audiobooks. I get the suggested history picture books from the library, but I don’t require my daughter to read them — I just kind of leave them around ha ha.

For the life of me, I can’t find my book right now. :\ Once I do, I’ll take a peek at the older levels and let you know what I think. Also, if you’re on Facebook and haven’t done so, check out the Barefoot Ragamuffins group for more thoughts and opinions! https://www.facebook.com/groups/barefootragamuffinhomeschoolers/

Reply
Ashlea

February 17, 2017

Thanks! I found that group this morning. 🙂

Reply
Allison

April 25, 2018

So glad to have found your blog. With Laying Down the Rails… I see they have “for children” and also a myriad of other options… which LDR product were you referencing? Are all needed as shown in the bundle on Simply Charlotte Mason? Thanks a bunch in advance for any advice on this selection. I’m working on curriculum and choices for next year currently!

Reply