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How I Scheduled Year 6

This is my fifth time going through AmblesideOnline 's Year 6 with a student, but the first time I've documented the Year 6 scheduling process. Year 6 is substantially different this time than it was the previous times, so I will have some decisions to make. I will mostly be scheduling Term 1 of Year 6 for this post, although if I make additions that affect the other terms I will usually go ahead and put those in so I don't forget them later.  The first thing I do is download the Word format (.doc) chart from the AO website . I then open my Google Drive to the folder where I keep schedules, then choose Upload a File and load this Word document. Then I have to tell Google to save this as a Google Doc. Then I rename it to designate which school year and which child this schedule is for. Then I delete the .doc file from my Google Drive since now I have a Google Docs file instead. Next, I scan down the list of books on the left side of the chart, looking for any title...
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How I Scheduled Year 5 (Another Version)

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  This year is my fifth time scheduling AmblesideOnline's Year 5.  I've  previously blogged about the process I used for one of those instances. When I schedule a year, I don't start with a previous version I've created for another child.  I start with a fresh copy of the latest official schedule chart.  Both the .doc and the .odt versions of the charts, available on the  AmblesideOnline website, allow editing, so I download one of those.  I use OpenOffice on my computer, so I would download the .odt version if I planned to keep it on my computer.  However, I usually store my schedules in Google Drive, and the .doc version converts to Google Docs better than .odt does, so this time I am using the .doc version. My first step is to download the .doc chart from AmblesideOnline.  That's available on the Year 5 Schedule page . Now I log in to Google Drive and upload that chart to my Schedules folder.  When I open that file, Google converts ...
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The Courage of Our Capacity

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  I am, I can, I ought, I will. The motto of Charlotte Mason’s PNEU schools helped students and teachers focus on their own capabilities and responsibilities.  This is not a self-help motto though.  Behind these words lies an understanding of God at work in me and through me to make this possible.   Because of God, I am.  With God’s help, I can.  For God’s glory, I ought. By God’s grace, I will. As homeschool parents, we often feel the weight of responsibility and inadequacy.  How can we possibly nurture, and teach, and civilize these tiny humans so that they reach all the potential God gave them?  Where do we find the courage to keep trying, day after day?  With God’s help, I can. Homeschooling is a ministry to our families.  For some of us, it will be a lifelong ministry.  For others, it will be a season of ministry.  We can’t know in advance which it will be, either.  God has His own plans for us and for our famili...
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Immunity Brew

 I love this recipe from Gwen's Nest for Cold and Flu Brew . When I make it, I adjust a bit. Pour one jar of cranberry juice into the pot. Fill that empty jar with apple cider, then pour into the pot. Do that again. Add a large can of frozen orange juice. Add 5 or 6 sticks of cinnamon. Add some cloves and star anise. Simmer for as long as you're willing to wait.
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How I Scheduled Year 4

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  This is my fifth time scheduling AmblesideOnline's Year 4, but Year 4 is a bit different this time than it was the other four times I've been through it.  Also, it's been several years since I've looked closely at Year 4, so this is almost a fresh look at the year. This particular Year 4 student will be on the older end of the range because of a fall birthday.  Also, this student has great reading and writing, so that will impact some of my scheduling choices.  Other times I have scheduled Year 4 have looked different based on the needs of those students. To begin, I visit the AmblesideOnline website (amblesideonline.org), found Year 4 on the By Year menu, clicked through to the Year 4 schedule, then clicked on DOC in the list next to Choose a Format.  This downloads a chart version of the Year 4 schedule in Microsoft Word (.doc) format.  I think this format loads into Google Drive more smoothly than the Open Office (.odt) format does (although Open Offic...
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How I Use Ray's Primary Arithmetic

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Ray's Arithmetic was one of the first books I bought when I decided to homeschoool.  Really, it's a set of books, and I bought the reprinted box set on ebay, determined to give my kids a good start in math using time-tested materials.  The box set comes with a teacher guide from Ruth Beechick, and that's the guide I used to get an idea how the books should work.  Immediately I ran into difficulties, though, because the prescribed sequence didn't match my child's needs.  I think I was a member of a Yahoo group that discussed Ray's specifically or maybe a broader category that included Ray's, and that's where I found out about the original teacher guide for Ray's .  That changed everything! If you're planning to use Ray's Arithmetic to teach math, sit down and read that teacher guide.  You'll see more clearly how the books are meant to work together.  In fact, you'll see that you don't even need to use a book for quite awhile, sin...
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Scheduling Signs and Seasons

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AmblesideOnline uses Signs and Seasons in Years 7-9.  The official schedules for those years include broad ranges of the book for each term.  It's up to each family to decide how to spread that work across the term.  Here's one way of doing that.  There's no magic to this, so consider this just an example.  You could divide up the work vastly differently and have it still be as good or better as this arrangement. Each column in the table is one week.  In each week, you'll have one passage to read (except where that week has dashes) and two field activities.  Generally, you want to keep a record of the field activities in your field notebook or journal. Sample Signs and Seasons Schedule
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