Ambleside Online yr 6+7 a reflection

As we wind down our year 6 and 7 with Ambleside Online I thought I would reflect on our year, what worked and did not work, changes made, and just a general overview of how our year went.

Overall, it was a really good year. It was our second year schooling after our major move, and we started the school year with the greater part of phase 1 of renovations completed. About 1/4 of the way through the school year we got floors put in, which was a major accomplishment and morale builder. It is really hard adjusting to change, but I feel like we our finding our way now.

In PA they require a year end evaluation and portfolio showcasing the years work, but given the pandemic the evaluations have been cancelled and the portfolios are only for personal records this year.

Organizing and Scheduling the Year

For the organization and scheduling for year 6 and 7 I printed off the 36 week schedule for each year from Ambleside Online. I have done this every year and it makes scheduling things SO easy. I make notes in the margins if there is anything I need to keep track of (especially if there is something I want to remember for my younger son when he approaches this grade!), and use a highlighter to check off what has been completed.

This year for the boys I made a simple blank template for each term, sized to fit on half label sheets.
The label sheets made things very easy – I updated the template each term with the new books, and then printed enough for each term. Then I would fill out the weekly assignments and peel and stick into their notebook.
You can purchase the label sheets here.

I created a binder for each boy, labeled on the spine with which year it was intended for, and each of them had a notebook.
My year 6 had one spiral notebook which I had bound for him as I specially made it with both blank, grid, and lined paper. (Paper was purchased at Walmart, bound for a few dollars at Staples.)
My year 7 had what is called a Traveller’s Notebook. (as seen below)

On Sunday afternoon I would sit down with their binder and their notebook. I would review previous weeks work to ensure it was complete and that the written work reflected the standard that was expected of them (though, this was also done through the week.) I would then lay out their daily schedule for the week based off of the Ambleside weekly schedule.
Sometimes this would look like literally saying how many pages to read per day in a specific book, other times it looked like saying how much was to have been read by Friday. This year, especially for my year 7, was a year of giving him a bit more freedom with how he chose to organize and execute his work.

Ambleside Online makes the organization of the books REALLY easy to follow and turn into a daily schedule. Closer to the end of the year my year 7 was doing a lot of his own organizing of his schedule.

Each boy had books for us to read and discuss together, and so they were each given a day of the week for us to read together. It took a bit of time to get into a good routine for that as it really just takes doing something to see if it would work. Originally, I thought spending time reading with my younger one would work well while his brother was at a writing class, but it turned out to be better for the two of us to play games together and I moved his reading time with me to a different day.

Notebooks

Earlier this year I shared the covers I made for my year 7’s notebooks. You can find those covers here. They were printed on the same labels as their weekly schedule. I still need to make my tutorial on making your own travellers notebook, but it has worked SO well for my year 7 this year!

He appreciated having a notebook dedicated to each subject, seeing all his related work in one book, and being able to switch out the specific notebook as it filled up.

I had an assortment of the A5 notebooks on hand, and then I bought these notebooks from Amazon and keep a stack of the blanks on our shelf for him to grab as needed. The combo of lined and blank are helpful as each have a place.

My year 6 son had the one thick spiral notebook I mentioned above with the lined, blank, and graph paper (filled and replaced once thus far) and I would put his schedule in on the next blank page and he would then do all his work for the week in the following pages and the next week I would put the schedule in on the next blank. He liked having just one book and seeing it fill up so quickly. He has also requested this same format for next year, so I am going to let him continue on in this manner. For him especially I have found it is important that things be approached uniquely instead of a cookie cutter to his brother.

My year 7 has said I may share his notebook pages, so below you will find pictures of his notebook cover and some samples from inside.
I have also included additional relevant information for both year 6 and year 7 under each notebook subject.

Narration

I require three written narrations from my year 7 and two from my year 6. The rest of their narrations are still oral.
As you’ll note throughout the notebook pages he is still struggling to remember to date his pages.
Both boys do a better job with oral narration rather than written. It is going to be a slow and steady habit to turn them into good written narrations, but I thoroughly believe worthwhile!

Copywork

My year 6 does a lot of scripture (primarily, verses he is memorizing) for his copywork or favorite passages he has read.
And while a notebook was provided for my year 7 for copywork we found that with all his other writing it wasn’t necessary. He moved from copywork to his commonplace book this year.

Commonplace

Tolkien’s writing, or his translations, are quite popular with my year 7. I leave him to choose what he wants to put in his Commonplace book,
Next year I am going to require he do one entry a week. This year he did not do many entries as he took a writing class and did a lot more writing for that. (more on it later!)

Math

For math this year we switched to Saxon math and used the online Dive videos. Both boys have liked this and we will stick with it for next year.
They also both requested to keep math going through the summer break (!!) so we will keep it a part of their regular routine.

Nature

On Friday’s I schedule less reading in order that they can spend more time on their drawings, which includes their nature journals, timelines, maps, etc.
Both boys have been in art lessons this year and I can see the benefit of the formal instructions in their drawings!
If I could go back and do one thing over again in their younger years I would make the nature journals a more prominent part. We read a lot, played outside a lot, talked a lot … but I really failed at keeping those nature journals and encouraging them to do entries in it.

Maps

My year 7 hasn’t done much map drawing through this year, but this one, complete with a charming sea serpent, made it into his notebook.
My year 6 is currently mapping out David Livingstone’s travels as he reads through the book. He drew a map of Africa and adds locations that are mentioned in each weeks reading to the map.

Current Events

Current events for my year 7 has been SUCH a wonderful addition this year. I bought a subscription to World magazine, which presents current events from a Christian worldview. He has surprised me by LOVING the magazine and reading through it cover to cover.
I did purchase some “newspaper” washi tape to fancy up the pages and make them look more like a newspaper.
It’s been an absolute delight to see the things that catch his attention, and also to see his mind engage in current events and how he has become more thoughtful and reflective.
I would highly encourage you to not miss out on the exercise of spreading current events before your child for them to feast upon.

Science

The science notebook was the most challenging for my year 7 and I to determine how it should be done. I don’t know why, given that he has drawn nature observations and narrated readings with frequency during the duration of his education. But it really was so hard to wrap our minds around.
Now it is one our favorite things for the two of us. He has added his humor to some of his entries, and discusses throughout the week what he thinks he will add to his science journal.
In case you are in the same boat of wondering what goes in a Charlotte Mason science notebook I have included a number of pictures from his notebook. Not because we have it right, but because this was what we most wanted to see samples of before he started his own!

Morning Readings

There were a few things the boys and I did together in the mornings. We did not perfectly execute it, we did not do these daily, and there is much room for improvement. Apart from my own shortcomings, the house renovations, my husband traveling a lot, and a surgery for myself resulted in things being a bit scattered in terms of our regular morning routine.

Most Monday mornings we managed to read A Liturgy for Students and Scholars by Douglas Mcklevey. It was a beautiful prayer to start our week. Having never before done a liturgy I found it to be quite humbling and enjoyable to come back over and over to the same words and realize the truth they held over the duration of three terms.
In the mornings we also looked at our art work and discussed it, read Plutarch and Shakespeare and translated the Old English poems (while intended for year 7, it was far more fun to do all together than for him to do it alone.)

On Friday we do dictation test. This approach to spelling (as well as punctuation!) has been magnificent and all we have ever done for spelling. I appreciate it so much! If you don’t currently use dictation I highly recommend looking further into it.
At the beginning of the week the boys alternate selecting a passage (they must run it by me for approval!) They spend the week studying it, and Friday I test them on it. We started this a few years ago (I think perhaps year 4? 5? I can’t recall when it is recommended to start.) and within a couple months saw massive changes in their spelling.

I keep a playlist of the hymns and folk songs and the boys are free to listen as they please. We play a lot of hymns so we don’t specifically set aside time to listen to the chosen hymn of the month.
One of my boys favorite things are the folk songs – they listen to them often on their own, and several times a month we will listen to it together in the morning. Earlier this year I wrote about a really fun connection we were able to make with the Arkansas Traveller, there is a video of my son singing the song in front of a fireplace that was designed in its honor.

Handicrafts

The boys had a variety of opportunities for handicrafts this year. They did woodworking, drawing, and Lego stop motion.
We also gave them each a section of our yard for them to tend and care for, and they were given the responsibility of demoing our second level – knocking out, carrying out, and cleaning up the plaster and lath so we can update the wiring, and insulate. I’m not sure that it counts as a handicraft, but it is a useful life skill to know how to do major projects in ones home and there wasn’t much they could do wrong in demolishing an entire room. They did an excellent job with the work and we are so proud of their growing work ethic!

The Books

I don’t have much to say about the books – we stick very closely to what is recommended by Ambleside Online each year. My year seven LOVES the books. He loves all books, so this comes as no surprise. Although, I will say he struggled with Ivanhoe for the first few chapters and given how much other books do not cause him to struggle I almost subbed out the book – but having read through others similar struggles I asked him to continue on, and he ended up loving the book! (I have consistently seen this as the answer! Struggle on!)

My year 6 does not love books, but, in his words regarding his books; “For the most part they aren’t bad. Some are challenging. Some are boring.”
That is about as good as it will get from him, so I’m not too bothered. He does his readings and narrations with a good attitude, and his readings are starting to emerge organically in his conversations which has been fun to see.

For year 6 we did do weekly videos from The Sea Around Us, and I have shared them here. I have seen people share concerns about 1. the evolutionary approach in this book or 2. the outdated science in this book. Exposing our children to faulty information is good. They will most certainly come across ideas that do not line up with their world view and they must learn how to discern and think through what is presented to them. We want our children to engage, to think, to reason – this book has opened up SO many excellent conversations. In fact, much of year 6 books has done this. I saw it with my eldest and see it now with my youngest – a shift from regurgitating information to actually considering where the information falls within what -and why – they believe to be true. This is one of my favorite things about educating my children at home, the first hand view of them learning and discovering!

We also made a video companion for Richard Haliburton’s Book of Marvels and you can see the ones that line up with year 6 readings here.

The one change we did make to our Ambleside year is to enroll our year 7 in a formal writing class. It has been SO good for him. I found a local place that has been an excellent fit, and whose vision and standards match our own desires for our son. He has thrived in this community and with the encouragement of his teacher.

While we are still determining precisely what will happen for our year 6 son next school year, I don’t think he will be doing the writing class. His needs, interests, and skills are very different and for now we will develop his writing (grammar and vocabulary) at home through the recommended books Ambleside provides.

I do want to add that the decision to put our eldest into a class was not out of fear that what is offered in AO wasn’t enough. There are many factors that went into the decision, not the least of which was prayer and a clear guiding from the Lord that this was the right decision. But also, our son loves books and words and we see this gift he has and wanted to put him with peers that love the same thing. There were several other factors that went into this, which I’m happy to share further but bottom line; don’t make decisions in fear.

Our Feast for the Famous is still very popular and thus far has been what I have instituted in place of the end of term exams. The boys review the books they have read, choose an assortment of men and women and then build a menu for a feast in celebration of these people. We have company over to enjoy the feast with us and the boys share about the historical characters with our guests.

We do follow whatever the local state mandates are for testing. I know some feel this is impeding on their homeschool freedoms, but I think it is important for them to know how to write a test under the formalities that the state testing requires. Neither of them fall in a grade that requires testing by our state this year so we are not doing it this year.

I haven’t started the planning for our next school year, but I don’t think there will be much that changes apart from refining processes.

As we wind down our year 6 and year 7 I am ever so thankful for those that have lovingly labored to put AO together (and keep it updated!) It has been such a treasure to just rest in the work they have done and put my energies towards other things (haha. like surviving the stress of military life!)