This school year, we’re going back to me fully planning the year. My home education ideals fall somewhere between Classical and Charlotte Mason. We’ve fully done both, and find that a mix between the two works best for us. I rely heavily on real books, but we don’t rely heavily on narration.

I wanted to share my plans with you because I know this isn’t something everyone likes to do. I know a lot of homeschool moms aren’t comfortable crafting an entire curriculum, or they don’t have the time or energy to do so. It just isn’t everyone’s “thing”. It is my “thing”, so I figured I’d share it, since I have it.

This year, we’re cycling back to Ancient History, which I am very excited about. We’ll have kids in all Classical stages and all Charlotte Mason forms. Essentially, I’ll have kids from elementary school to high school, so the plans for this year are for all grades. For simplicity’s sake, I’ve broken down the curriculum into four posts: Morning Basket, Grammar Stage, Logic Stage, and Rhetoric Stage.

Stages are not a one size fits all. You may notice the Logic Stage plans are too easy for your 8th grader, and you want to challenge them in certain areas. Go for it. You may think the Rhetoric assignments are too difficult for your 9th grade, bump them down in whatever subjects you choose or all of it. Swap out the books you don’t want for ones you do want. There are plenty of options out there, I’m just sharing with you what we’ll be doing.

You may notice I include some books that pure Charlotte Mason enthusiasts would consider twaddle. I try to include plenty of difficult great books for my kids to consume, but also know that I personally read twaddle from time to time for my own enjoyment. I’m just not opposed to letting kids read “fun” books (we’ll call them that instead of twaddle) to give them a break from the intense mental load of some great books. If you don’t like a book choice of mine, cool, don’t use it.

I’m simply putting this out there for anyone who wants to take a peek. Use it for your own curriculum. Use it for ideas to craft your own curriculum. Use it to look over and see options that exist. I’m just sharing.

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Morning basket is just a time that the whole family can be together each day. It is the thread that connects all the various ages together. We spend about an hour each morning together for Morning Basket before we break off into our three groups- rhetoric (high school), logic (middle grades), and grammar (the younger students).

Prayer & Bible Reading

We start morning basket by praying together. I usually ask for one of the kids to volunteer. It gives them an opportunity to practice their praying out loud skills. Then we open our Bibles and take turns reading a passage together. Once my kids learn to read, they are expected to participate in daily Bible reading. This year, we’ll be reading Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Acts together during Morning Basket.

Memory Verse and Poem Memorization

After we’ve read the Bible, we practice our memory tasks. We have a chunk of verses for Scripture Memory each term that everyone learns. We take turns going around and saying these verses. We start with a phrase and add on each week until we have the entire passage memorized. Older kids can read it until the memorize it. Younger kids repeat it after me until they memorize it. You’ll be surprised how easily you memorize something you read and say each day. Even toddlers can memorize Scripture! This year, we’re memorizing Roman 8:1-11 for term 1, John 1:1-5 for Advent, Psalm 100 for term 2, and Matthew 5:13-16 for term 3.

Once we’ve all said our memory verse, we move to poetry memory. Each stage has a different poem, but sometimes the kids will learn everyone’s poem. Our poetry selections for term one (in order of stage from youngest to oldest) are: The Teapot Dragon by Rupert Sargent Holland; Defeat by Edgar A. Guest; and the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. During Advent, all stages will learn Hark! the Herald Angels Sing by Charles Wesley. For term two, our poems are A Pig Tale by James Reeves; A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns; and The Walrus and The Carpenter by Lewis Carroll. For term three, we’ll memorize The Maldive Shark by Herman Melville; The Kraken by Lord Alfred Tennyson; and Sonnet XVIII by William Shakespeare.

Devotional Reading

After our memorization work, we’ll read a devotional type read. This year, we’ll be reading God’s Good News and Wise Words. After that, we’ll read something Biblically interesting– be it a biography, church history, or scientific in nature. This year, those books will be Dragons of the Deep, Dragons: Legends & Lore of Dinosaurs, and Trial and Triumph.

Grammar Fun Time

Three days a week, we’ll do some grammar. Two days a week, that is just doing Mad Libs. My younger kids have all picked up grammar very easily because they had fun playing Mad Libs to learn the parts of speech when they were small. The older kids also love Mad Libs. One day a week we’ll be reading Grammarland.

Manners

One day each week, we focus some time on manners. I find it important to teach kids manners. Yes, they learn the proper fork to use. But it also teaches them how to introduce themselves, how to introduce others, how to involve others in a conversation in a way that makes them comfortable– just a whole host of useful interpersonal skills.

So, one day a week, we pull out Emily Post Etiquette and I read a portion. If it is something we can practice, like shaking hands, we’ll stop and practice, too. (If you aren’t sure you’re up for Emily Post, check out Modern Manners. It is more of a business manners book and is a little easier to tackle than Emily Post.)

Fun Family Literature

Reading books aloud is one of my kids favorite parts of the school day. Even my older kids who could easily read the books on their own find that they love read aloud time. I usually try to pick interesting Middle Grade type books. This year, the read aloud book list includes: The Wild Robot, The Giver, Pax, The Princess and The Goblin, The Westing Game, The Dragon’s Tooth, The Drowned Vault, and the Empire of Bones.

Games

I also add a couple games into our Morning Basket. We usually play them on Fridays instead of doing a read loud. This year, Camelot Jr. and Muchkin Deluxe are our games of choice.

Other Notes From the Parsonage Posts You Might Enjoy

• Medieval History Curriculum for the Rhetoric Stage
• Medieval History Curriculum for the Logic Stage
• Medieval History Curriculum for the Grammar Stage

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*** I buy a ton of my books from ThriftBooks! This is a referral link. If you use it and spend $30, you’ll get a free book and so will I. Not only do they have amazing prices on used books, but you get free shipping over $10.***

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I mentioned in my review of A Gentle Feast that we aren’t going back to it this coming school year. I figured I’d share our full curriculum plans for this coming year, which include all three classical stages or all four Charlotte Mason forms, whichever way you want to look at it. We’ve got a lot of kids spanning a lot of grades around here. Our history cycle this coming year will be Ancient History, which I’m pretty excited to get back into. For the sake of length, I’m splitting the posts on the curriculum up, so be sure to check out the Grammar (K-4/5), Logic (5/6-8), and Rhetoric (9-12) plans, as well.

Morning Basket

I like to start the day with all the kids together. We will add poetry memorization and Bible verse memorization to this book list. I’ll choose one poem per kid/stage and one Bible passage for all the kids for each of the three terms. All weeks are approximate, as sometimes we read faster and sometimes we read slower. I should also note that this is not the entirety the kids will learn in these subjects, just what we are reading together.

Bible

I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God (3 days/week; weeks 1-14)

I Am Devotional: 100 Devotions About the Names of God (3 days/week; weeks 14-36)

Action Bible Guess-It Game (1 day/week; weeks 1-12)

Apples to Apples Bible Edition (1 day/week; weeks 13-36)

Character

I am N (2 days/week; weeks 1-36)

Manners

Emily Post’s Etiquette (1 day/week; weeks 1-36)

History

Unveiling the Kings of Israel (1 day/week; weeks 1-20)

Unwrapping the Pharaohs (1 day/week; weeks 8-36)

Science

The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible (1 day/week; weeks 1-7)

Dinosaurs: Marvels of God’s Design (1 day/week; weeks 8-36)

Read Alouds/ Literature

The Mysterious Benedict Society (4-5 days/week; weeks 1-12)

Nooks and Crannies (4-5 days/week; weeks 13-24)

Wonder (4-5 days/week; weeks 25-36)

Fun

Mad Libs (1 day/week; weeks 1-36) (We usually got through 3-4 Mad Libs books per year. I generally grab ones I think the kids will enjoy, since it is for fun. It does help, especially with the younger ones, to learn the parts of speech.)

Mother Culture

This year, I’m adding the category of Mother Culture to my Morning Basket. These aren’t books I’ll be reading with the kids, they are books I’m assigning myself to read to grow and expand. Your choices for this may vary, and your reading speed may vary. I wanted some homeschool encouragement, but feel like I need a lot of mom encouragment this year. You might find you want something different. Choosing the books ahead of time keeps me from making excuses not to do it and it sets a path forward for me. For me, a book a month is a fairly leisurely speed that will allow for other reading as it comes, as well.

The Brave Learner

The Ministry of Ordinary Places

Theology of Home

Mere Motherhood

The Life-giving Home

Why Motherhood Matters

The Call of the Wild and Free

Mama Bear Apologetics

A Mother’s Rule of Life

Extras

These are extra things I keep on hand for after school play or during reading quiet play for the littler ones.

Imhotep Board Game

Temple Trap Game

Zeus on the Loose Game

Greek Gods and Goddesses Coloring Book

Life in Ancient Egypt Coloring Book

Dinosaur Coloring Book

Ancient Rome Toob

Ancient Egypt Toob

Mythical Realms Toob

Greek Mythology Top Trumps

Ancient Egypt Top Trumps

Heir of Egypt Game

Alphabetimals Coloring Book

Animal Alphabet Coloring Book

Sea Life Alphabet Coloring Book

I set up a chart for each week that looks similar to this. I haven’t chosen the specific poems or memory verses just yet, so I’ll fill that in once I decide. If I’ve already printed it, I’ll just write that in. I’ll print these out and put them in a binder with our Morning Basket of books.

** This post contains affiliate links. Using affiliate links is a great way to support your favorite content creators. **

I encourage you, don’t feel like you have to buy all your school books new! Check out ThriftBooks.com for some great deals on used books. (That link is my referral link!) Also, check out Scribd, which is like Netflix for ebooks and audiobooks. (That link is my referral link!) There are so many great books available through both that will save you money. Also, remember to check your library. Libby is a great app that many library systems use where you can get ebooks and audiobooks through your local library. Of course, you can also max out your library card checking out great books, as well.

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