Curriculum planning!!!

I have just started planning next school year.  Savannah will be in 3rd grade and Charlotte will be in 1st (according to their ages, not abilities).  I'll be continuing with Math Mammoth and Xtra Math, as well as Phonics Road, which covers phonics, spelling, dictation, and grammar (I'm dropping the literature/writing section).

I have decided to follow Ambleside Online closely this coming year and take a more Charlotte Mason approach. 

Savannah will be doing Year 2 in Ambleside's Curriculum.  Just because it is "Year 2" does not mean it is a 2nd grade curriculum; it is not.  It would be appropriate for even a 4th or 5th grader!  We have read all of the books in Year 1 and some of the books in Year 2 already, so my booklist isn't exactly the same as what is on the site.

I divided Year 1 into two years, adding a few more books to the list to beef it up.  Year 1 is great for 1st and 2nd grades.  Charlotte will be doing part of Year 1.


So here is the plan so far:   *1st term, **2nd term, ***3rd term

Together I will read to them:
* ** ***Parables from Nature - literature
* ** ***Beautiful Tales from Shakespeare - literature
* ** ***Pilgrim's Promise (audio cd) - literature
            *Seabird - geography
          **Burgess Animal Book - natural history/science
        ***Pagoo - natural history/science

Savannah's Books (Year 2) Medieval Times :
(We will tandem-read these, where she reads a paragraph, I read a paragraph.  She will gradually begin reading most of them on her own as the year progresses.  All of these books she will narrate from.  She will also be reading easier books on her own that are not listed.)

  * ** ***Our Island Story - history
     ** ***A Child's History of the World - history
         * **The Little Duke - biography
          ***Joan of Arc (Stanley) - biography
              *The Wind in the Willows - literature
            **Robin Hood (Pyle) - literature
          ***The Door in the Wall - literature

Charlotte's Books (Year 1B):
(These are definitely subject to change!  She will also be reading easier books on her own that are not listed.)

* ** ***Book of Mormon Stories (Petersen) - history
* ** ***Fifty Famous Stories Retold - history tales
            *Benjamin Franklin (d' Aulaire) - biography
          **George Washington (d' Aulaire) - biography
        ***Abraham Lincoln (d' Aulaire) - biography
* ** ***The Blue Fairy Book - literature
* ** ***Just So Stories - literature

        
Missing from this schedule are three artists to study, three composers, three poets, which animals/plants to study, handicrafts, hymns, and scriptures and poems to memorize.  I also need to figure out a system for copywork/dictation and a history timeline. 

Next, I go through each book to see how many chapters (or pages) there are and divide them up into weeks.  For instance, if I have a 23 chapter book that I want to read within 12 weeks, I would schedule 2 chapters from that book/week.

               Week:    1           2           3          4          5            6
Book:
Heidi            Ch. 1&2      3&4      5&6    7&8     9&10   11&12
Little House      p. 1-5      6-8        9-14   15-20   21-24   25-29


Hopefully I can follow through with my plans this time. This year I got way off track from moving twice and having a baby. I think I have a good excuse anyway :)