Our Curricula

All three of our kids our different. And I’ve gone for a long time using what fellow Loopers call the “by gosh and by golly” method. However, I’m feeling more and more drawn to a Charlotte Mason style. I believe that we are moving towards using a modified version of Ambleside Online. Of course, Charlotte Mason did not promote formal education until at least age 6, and I just can’t do that, for a number of reasons.

Molly and Michael have, in large part, taught themselves letters. Molly is writing her own name now. Michael’s speech therapist believes that his love of letters and numbers are what we need to be using to break through to him in communication. So… he’s basically learning to sight read to an extent. This is making things very interesting. I do believe, though, that CM methods are what will help calm Molly’s… well, let’s just say I’m hoping it’ll soothe the savage beastie! And for Michael, it will be a way to really balance learning with comprehension, bring deeper understanding of subtlety, and continue to assist in his struggle with communication.

The eldest is my hardest sell. Although she is a very advanced reader… she hates to read. There.  I typed it. It makes me cry. But she really does. My baby. The daughter of a woman who constantly has a book around (well, since the twins not so much, but Alan always has at least one book in progress). But it’s okay. She’ll come out on the other side a better person for it. Especially when she learns to understand that more time reading means more time designing (I think she’s our budding graphic artist, or interior decorator, or fashion designer).

I’ll eventually add more here, on additional pages, outlining specifically which resources we’re using with each child. Hopefully. I abandoned this blog 2 years ago and just came back, so yeah, hopefully we can keep up this time!