Ambleside Online - Year 4 Booklist

If you're planning to use Ambleside Online, your first stop should be the the FAQ for some information about the curriculum and basic instructions. It is not advisable to attempt this curriculum without first reading the FAQ. Homeschoolers hoping to raise their children to be readers, as Charlotte Mason urged, owe it to themselves to take the first step in reading by looking over the instructions for the curriculum they plan to use. The FAQ has all the questions that people routinely ask, with detailed answers and explanations collected from two years of responses to user questions.

Asterisks refer to which term the book is used.
* the book is used in term 1
** the book is used in term 2
*** the book is used in term 3

Formatted etexts for year 4 can be accessed by joining the etext email list

Note: If your child has completed Year 3 and is not quite ready for Year 4, you might consider Year 3.5 as a transitional course of study between Year 3 and 4. It has been designed so that it can be started at any week during the first term, so if you get started on Year 4 and find that your child is struggling, you can switch mid-term. A 36-week schedule is also provided.

In order to complete the curriculum additional instruction should be provided in the following areas.

Daily Lessons:

Penmanship or Copywork
Math
Foreign language
Latin
Musical Instrument Practice

Weekly Lessons:

Art Appreciation
Art
Grammar (AO's Language Arts Scope and Sequence for this level is here.)
Correspond history readings with a timeline or century book and map
Handicrafts
Music Appreciation, including folksongs and hymns
Nature Study
One Life from Plutarch
A Shakespeare play

Bible

This site has many versions; it is preferable for a child to become accustomed to the language and flow of the KJV, as a familiarity with King James English will make other literature more accessible. Please read Lynn Bruce's article on the King James Version. Penny Gardner has a list of Old and New Testament stories to read straight from the Bible that may be useful for Bible time. | Bible timeline | Study questions with nice maps |

History

This Country of Ours by HE Marshall Charles I-George III [Be aware: The edition from Wilder Publications has no table of contents, or chapter numbers.]
** ***George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster 349 pages OR The Story of Mankind by Hendrick Van Loon (read Charlotte Mason's review of this book) (for younger readers, A Child's History of the World chapters covering the same time period are shown)
(optional extra) ***An Island Story ch 95 and 96, 1760-1820, George III; Free Audio at Librivox Part 1, Part 2. Kings and Queen timeline figures here.

TERM 1
This Country of Ours ch 29-40 (Charles I-Charles II (Anne), 1636-1680) Note -- This time period is covered briefly in: Story of Mankind by Van Loon ch 44-45 Religious Warfare, 1535-1648; English Revolution 1714 and A Child's History of the World ch 71-72 {ch 67-68 in 1st ed} Charles I, Louis XIV, -1620?

TERM 2
This Country of Ours ch 41-50 (George I-George III 1723-1766)
George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster and, First Half, 180 pages in the Expanded Edition by Joanna Foster (170 pages in older edition) Note -- This time period is covered briefly in: Story of Mankind by Van Loon ch 46-49 Balance of Power (Louis XIV), Peter 1698; Frederick William I, Prussia, (1740-1886) OR A Child's History of the World ch 73-74 (ch 69-70 in 1st ed) Peter the Great, Frederick the Great, 1750)

TERM 3
This Country of Ours ch 51-63, p 344-418, 74 pages (George III, 1765-1782)
George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster, Second Half (parts 4, 5, 6) Note -- This time period is covered briefly in: Story of Mankind by Van Loon ch 50-52, Mercantile System, American Revolution; French Revolution, 1789-99 OR A Child's History of the World 75-76 (ch. 71-72 in 1st edition) American Revolution, French Revolution, 1789)
(optional extra: An Island Story, ch. 95-96, 1760-1820, George III)

History Tales and/or Biography

Trial and Triumph (Church history from a definite Protestant perspective) by Richard Hannula (selected chapters) Read a sample excerpt or purchase the book. Now online Descriptions of some trials of the Christians may be intense; parents should preview chapters to determine suitablity based on their children's sensitivities. If you prefer, you can cover church history in Years 7-9 with a different book, Saints and Heroes.
* Poor Richard by James Daugherty
** *** Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober (note).

Geography

Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling (Mississippi River Page) (map or map) Beautiful Feet sells a set of maps for the Holling books, do a search for Holling Maps

Natural History

The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (a 1911 version is online in various formats here)
Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley (see links to images and info on some chapters below) OR Explore His Earth by Ann Voskamp, available here.

Science

It Couldn't Just Happen by Lawrence Richards
Physics Lab in the Home by Robert Friedhoffer (another Friedhoffer book, or even another book of science experiments can be substitued if the book is hard to find - this book isn't worth paying inflated prices!)
OR, if you prefer, you can use any of the Exploring Creation With . . . series by Jeannie Fulbright for science in Years 3-6, available here. A support group is available.

Mathematics

Choose one; these are just a few suggestions; more help here.
Developmental Mathematics
Making Math Meaningful
Math U See
Miquon Math
Ray's Arithmetic
Singapore Math
Right Start Mathematics

Foreign Language

Latin

Poetry

* Alfred Lord Tennyson
** Emily Dickinson
*** William Wordsworth

Literature

The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch preface to 14 (Minerva-Niobe)
* ** The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Book II, The Further Adventures, is not scheduled and is not included in most versions) This will be difficult for most students; we recommend that it be read aloud. An audio book might help; this podcast is free. The book starts slow, but most students end up loving it.
** *** Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
*** The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
short works:
*** The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (listen to it on librivox.org)
*** Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (listen to it on librivox; scroll down)
*** Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving (listen to it on librivox.org; scroll down)

Additional Books for Free Reading - these are books that no child should miss, but rather than overloading school time, these can be read during free time. No narrations need be required from these books. Parents should explain to students that historical fiction, while often well-researched, is still fiction, and contains the author's ideas of how things might have happened.
(Books with asterisks pertain to that term's historical studies)
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
A Book of Golden Deeds by Charlotte Yonge
Bambi by Felix Salten
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Little Britches series by Ralph Moody
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
Return To Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia Hale; 22 chapters; The Complete Peterkin Papers has a few additional chapters, but each chapter can stand alone. These were originally printed as serials in a magazine.
** Calico Captive (girl interest) or The Sign of the Beaver (boy interest) by Elizabeth George Speare
*** Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
*** The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery (British view of revolution)
Justin Morgan had a Horse by Marguerite Henry

For those on a strict budget, recommended purchases are:

Year 4
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (to be used for all 6 years)
Trial and Triumph (Church History) by Richard Hannula (avail at http://www.canonpress.org/pages/church.asp)
a math program
George Washington by Genevieve Foster (check library)
Poor Richard by James Daugherty
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober
Minn of the Mississippi if your library doesn't have it
It Couldn't Just Happen by Lawrence Richards
Physics Lab in the Home by Friedhoffer
a Latin/foreign language program
The Incredible Jouney by Sheila Burnford if your library doesn't have it
Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis if your library doesn't have them
Elizabeth Enright books are nice if you can find them cheap (but not worth high collector prices)
Other books can be read online or borrowed from the library.

MADAME HOW AND LADY WHY LINKS

Chapter 2 Earthquakes
http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/ics/outreach/understanding/
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ls/pathfinders/earthquakes/
http://www.scecdc.scec.org/recenteqs/ - has a map with current and recent earthquakes in CA & NV.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/4kids/ - lots of fun stuff for kids
http://www.suzy.co.nz/SuzysWorld/Factpage.asp?FactSheet=30
http://www.thirteen.org/savageearth/animations/hellscrust/main.html
http://ology.amnh.org/earth/plates/index.html

Chapter 3 Volcanoes
http://kids.discovery.com/games/pompeii/pompeii.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/0312/main.html
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0405/quickflicks/
http://www.suzy.co.nz/SuzysWorld/Factpage.asp?FactSheet=196

Chapter 5 The Ice-Plough (glaciers and the ice age)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/earth/glacier.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/warnings/
http://www.pbs.org/edens/patagonia/tglacier.htm#Instructional%20Objectives: http://nsidc.org/glaciers/
Also, another book that goes along well with this topic is Life in the Great Ice Age sold by Answers in Genesis
http://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/product/Life-in-the-Great-Ice-Age,4327,185.aspx
and has lesson plans available http://www.answersingenesis.org/cec/archive.asp (scroll down to the bottom of the page for lesson plans for this book)

(Thanks to Cindy Gould for many of these Madame How and Lady Why resources)

Last update Mar. 16, 2007