Same as with the other Lite Years, some priority books and historical documents were swapped out, and page counts were used to even out the terms.

Year 10 is a hefty year, as so many classics were written during this period, and there was a lot going on historically. But I think Year 10 Lite achieves a nice balance of including the most necessary texts while still being manageable.

At the top of the Year 10 Lite schedule page, there's a link to access the old schedules.

That completes changes to the Lite Years. There are no immediate plans to work on Year 11 Lite.

Having new improved Years 7, 8 and 9 Lite schedules means everything needed was available to make some improvements to "Years 7-8-9 in Two Years." The three improvements:

Higher priority books from each year were used so the schedules are more solid.

More books were kept in their own timeframe -- spread out within their own historical era, but there's less bleeding over across the schedules.

Access to page counts! These combo schedules are a little more reading than if you took the full three years to do year 7, 8 and 9, but they're still on the light side as compared with what Charlotte Mason's students were doing.


The old schedules are still available for the 2017-2018 year since some are already using them. There's a link at the top of the page of the new schedule -- it will take you to the old schedule, which is linked to the old charts.

Years 7 and 8's Lite schedules were recently spruced up a bit to even out the readings over the terms.

Year 9 Lite had more of an overhaul. The books that were considered integral to the year were added in, some other books were removed to make room for them, all while keeping to a strict page count of 1900 pages per term. Speeches and historical documents were lined up more accurately to where they belong historically, and many books were spread out to take them more slowly and reflectively.

Just like Years 7 and 8 Lite, the old schedules are still available by clicking a link at the top of the page.

Yes, we plan to do the same for Years 10 and 11 Lite, but I can't say when that will be. I can't even say that it will be before September (sorry!)

New weekly schedules for Year 8 Lite and Year 7 Lite have been uploaded.

The page counts for planning AO 2.0 helped to configure the weekly schedule so that the terms are more evenly balanced.

The old schedules are still available for the 2017-2018 year since some are already using them. There's a link at the top of the page of the new schedule -- it will take you to the old schedule, which is linked to the old charts.

Year 9 Lite will be next.

   

The AO Advisory is happy to introduce AO for Groups, a curriculum plan that translates the rigor and beauty of AmblesideOnline into a new format, streamlined specifically for use in group settings.

Lots of our AO friends have been dreaming out loud, and we've been listening. Many of you dream of the camaraderie and organization of a homeschool co-op-- but only a Charlotte Mason co-op will do. Others have a vision for starting a cottage school that uses Charlotte Mason methods and materials. And so many of you use AmblesideOnline with large families and long for a way to group similar ages together.

AO for Groups groups students in Form 1 (grades 1-3), Form 2 (grades 4-6), and Form 3 (grades 7-9). (High school is still in the planning stages.) With its deep roots in the tried-and-true AmblesideOnline curriculum, which has been used by thousands of students around the globe for almost twenty years, AO for Groups preserves the high standards and rich feast of ideas you've come to expect with AO. And in keeping with our passion for making a Charlotte Mason education possible for every child, the AmblesideOnline Education Foundation provides the AO curriculum plan and the AO for Groups curriculum plan online free of charge.*

For details, click here:
http://www.amblesideonline.org/Groups.shtml

*AO and AO for Groups are available for use according to the terms of our License Agreement. Free curriculum plans do not include books and materials.

Coming Soon: AmblesideOnline is putting the final touches on a streamlined version of AO that can be done with groups of students in Form I (grades 1-3), Form II (grades 4-6) and Form III (grades 7-8 or 9). Are you thinking of doing AO in a co-op setting? Are you hoping to start a CM cottage school? Perhaps you need a way to streamline a large family into a couple of Years? AO 2.0 may be just what you're looking for!

Hold your questions while we get to work settling a few last details and getting this into a presentable format. We can share this much: this plan uses many of the same high quality books that AO is known for, with weekly schedules to help pace your year. AO 2.0 will have the same high standards and rich ideas that AmblesideOnline has always had, in a pared down, simplified version designed especially for groups . . . all of it true to Charlotte Mason's principles, and like AO's regular curriculum, all free for groups to use (you still have to buy your own books!)

Year 7 now includes Beowulf as a scheduled read instead of a free read.

Also, the Basic or Lite version of Year 7 now includes Watership Down and Once and Future King.

Napoleon's Buttons has been removed from the Year 8 booklist and the schedule.  It was one of two options, so Marvels of the Molecule replaces it.

Over the years AO volunteers have made many CM texts available online. If you're new here, you might not know that we're still working on that here in the forum. Or maybe you've been here for a while, but have forgotten about it. The Parents' Review was a publication that Charlotte Mason sent out. Many articles from it are already available on AO's site, and we're typing more and more to add to that treasury. If you would like to help, please come on over to the Typing area of the forum.

THANK YOU!

ARE YOU NEW to AO and/or CM? Would you like to help us test a new project by taking a crash course in CM?

1. WHO CAN DO THIS? All AO moms are welcome. This is specifically for new moms, but any of our friends are welcome to check it out and give us feedback.

2. WHAT'S REQUIRED? For this part of the project, you need to join the AO Forum, since the beta testing will only be happening there.

3. HOW DOES IT WORK? Every couple of days, a new topic will be posted in a specific area of the forum. It will be brief.

4. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO? All you have to do is read it. That's all. If you want to give feedback, ask questions, talk about it, that is more than welcome, but you are only obligated to read the new posts as they get posted.

5. WHEN IS THIS HAPPENING? The very first topic will be posted tomorrow -- Monday! But you can catch up if you join after it's already been posted.

5. CAN YOU TELL ME MORE? There are 36 of these topics -- the eventual plan is to email these out once a week to moms who are in their first year of using AO. We know homeschooling can be overwhelming, learning about CM can be an intimidating prospect, and AO itself can seem daunting. We're hoping to ease a new mom's first year with some encouragement and a very basic but gentle introduction to CM.

6. HOW DO I GET IN ON THIS? Check out the newest part of the AO forum -- we're calling it "The Patio," because it's a comfortable place for brand new AO users who are unsure where to go in the regular forum, hesitant to post for fear of posting in the wrong place, wondering if their question will seem dumb. We're inviting them to our Patio, where they can check things out without committing to come all the way in to the rest of "the house."
The Patio area of our forum is at https://amblesideonline.org/forum/forumd...hp?fid=100

We added two resources to Years 4, 5 and 6 for geography:

Material World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel (amazon link)

What the World Eats by Faith D'Aluisio and Peter Menzel (amazon link) or Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio (amazon link)

These are listed as resources to supplement geography, and they have not been added to the weekly schedules.

How to use these books:
Leave them laying out, preferably near a globe or world map, and browse through them together from time to time.
Leave them laying out, browse through them and maybe once a month pick a country that especially interests your child. Look it up (briefly) on Wikipedia or in a good Atlas. Read a little bit more about it. Find it on a map or globe.
If your child is interested, he can pursue additional research in his free time and learn more about countries that particularly interest him, but this should be his own delight directed study or hobby.
How not to use these books: as the basis of a unit study or a burdensome checklist of additional tasks to fulfill.

We made a few changes to our schedules for Year 4, 5 and 6:

In Year 4:
Ocean of Truth/Isaac Newton was added (this is where he fits historically)

In Year 5:
Halliburton (or Hillyer) was scheduled at one chapter per week instead of two.
Passion for the Impossible was moved to free reading, and
Of Courage Undaunted and Carry a Big Stick were spaced out more slowly to fill in that extra term.
Alexander Graham Bell and GW Carver were spaced out slower to fill the term Isaac Newton vacated.

In Year 6:
Missionary Travels was removed except as an option for those who can't get Halliburton/Hillyer
Halliburton/Hillyer still starts in Year 5, but continues into Year 6, terms 1 and 2
Vautier Golding's David Livingstone book is scheduled in Term 3
School of the Woods was moved to free reading;
The Sea Around Us was spaced out over the whole year.
The Iliad moved to Term 2 so that The Odyssey could be added to Term 3.
We scheduled a retelling of the Iliad/Odyssey rather than the original.

The old schedules are still linked, and no new books were added (except The Odyssey, which has a free ebook option). It's more of a slight shuffling than a real change.

The grid chart schedules haven't been updated yet, but should be updated in the next day or two (thanks to Kathy!) Even after that happens, you'll still be able to access the old weekly schedules and their grid charts. The link will be at the top of the current (newer) 36-week schedule.

Would you check your email address in UserCP? If your address is incorrect, you will not be able to receive email notifications from the forum.

Dear AmblesideOnline members,

This is a VERY important announcement, so please read!

The AO Forum and Facebook group will take a restful Holiday Break beginning on Saturday, December 17. We'll re-open the forum again on Charlotte Mason's birthday, Sunday, January 1, and re-open our Facebook chat group on Epiphany, January 7. Thus, the forum will be closed to posting for two weeks, and the Facebook group will be closed for a three week period.

Why are we taking this break? The CM method is about more than homeschooling; it's about life and relationships. We would like our AmblesideOnline family of members, moderators, Auxiliary and Advisory to step back from lessons and computers, and take time to savor the holidays with their loved ones.

Should you need AO information during the break, existing threads will remain available at the forum, and of course the AmblesideOnline website will remain up and running.

We encourage you all to explore AO's special Holiday pages during the break!

The Advisory's Favorite Holiday Stories and Poems:
http://www.amblesideonline.org/HolidaySt...oems.shtml

Holiday Carols and favorite CDs:
http://www.amblesideonline.org/HolidayCarols.shtml

May you find time to reflect on the meaning of Christmas, enjoy time with those you love, and be refreshed as you anticipate the coming year.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Disappearing Spoon has been removed from the Year 7 free read list.

AO Year 9 Science

We are so sorry, but a full version of the new science for AO Year 9 isn't going to be ready for a debut when we had hoped. We have hit a few glitches. However, do not despair, we have some ideas for you! (Links for the suggested resources are on our website) 

Option 1:
While a full new science for AO year 9 would be ideal, sometimes we have to settle for 'good enough.' We formerly recommended Apologia, and using a standard biology text this year is still a viable option. Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology, CK-12 (which is free for Kindle) are two choices. Using a biology text and doing the labs is a traditional school approach which is 'good enough.'

Option 2: Help us by providing feedback on Year 9's science and reviewing other science books:
Illustrated Guide to Home Biology by Thompson: For a more living science approach, plan to use a standard biology text along with The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments and spread it out over the next four years. On the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology website, the authors have kindly provided a key matching up experiments to the corresponding pages in several popular biology texts, including Apologia, CK-12, and Bob Jones:
"The lab sessions in Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments are easy to coordinate with the lecture material in any standard homeschool biology text, including the two texts we recommend, Miller and Levine Biology and CK-12 Biology."
Miller and Levine Biology correlation (pdf)
CK-12 Biology correlation (pdf)
Biology, 4th edition (Bob Jones University Press) correlation
Exploring Creation with Biology, 2nd edition (Apologia) correlation" (pdf)

You, the parent, will definitely want to read the introduction to the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology, and happily if you go to Amazon and read the free sample provided, the intro is included (if you have younger children, say, years 7-8 especially, you should read the intro in the free sample as well. It will help you overall).

Other books:
Signs and Seasons by Jay Ryan - continue from previous years, Ch 6-Epilogue, and do the observations.
Great Astronomers by R.S. Ball - continue from previous years, reading the chapters on Flamsteed and Laplace where they fit historically.
The Microbe Hunters, by Paul de Kruif only the chapter on Spallanzani this year where he fits historically.

Body by Design: An Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Body by Alan L. Gillen we suggest scheduling this for Term 1.

First Studies of Plant Life, by George Francis Atkinson - Continue from last year (pages and experiments to be announced)

Longitude by Dava Sobel - assign as Geography; we suggest term one. There is also a movie which some of us have enjoyed. We don't ordinarily recommend movies, but the upper years can be hard and crunched for time.

The Periodic Kingdom by P.W. Atkins
Reactions: The Private Life of Atoms by Peter Atkins - If you want a Lite year, just use The Periodic Kingdom. Key experiments to the material in these books (see below).

The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry by Thompson, with experiments matched to topics in the chapters of the Atkins books OR Chemistry for the Logic Stage. Link These books may or may not be in our final line-up later, but if they are, Chemistry for the Logic Stage would probably be used just for Year 9, as a transitional book, and the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry would be spread out over at least 2 of the higher years.

Optional: The Biology Coloring Book by Robert Griffin and Cinthea Vadala
Gray's Anatomy Coloring Book by Freddy Stark

Keeping a lab book for high school science is truly not optional. See the free foreword samples provided at Amazon for the Home Biology and Home Chemistry books for more information on lab-books for science.

If we use Illustrated Home Chemistry, for most students we would plan the following experiments (and corresponding chapters in a basic chemistry text) over 2-4 years
Illustrated home chemistry:

separating mixtures
solubility and solutions
colligative properties of solutions
intro to chemical reactions and stoichiometry
reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions
acid-base chemistry
chemical kinetics
chemical equilibrium and le chatelier's principle
gas chemistry
thermochemistry and calorimetry
electrochemistry
photochemistry
colloids and suspensions
qualitative analysis
quantitative analysis
synthesis of useful compounds
forensic chemistry

Your young scholars who want an AP course, or are interested in science fields will want to do more.

Those using the Illustrated Home Biology book for this year will want to do these 15 experiments (and read the corresponding chapters in a text):

building and observing microcosms
observing succession in aquarium microcosms
observing the effects of pollution on microcosms
acids, bases, and buffers
carbohydrates and lipids
proteins, enzymes, and vitamins
coacervates
extracting, isolating, and visualizing dna
build a gel electrophoresis apparatus
simulated dna separation by gel electrophoresis
chlorophyll and photosynthesis
investigating osmosis
investigating cell division
sampling plant populations in a community
observing the effect of rhizobia on plant growth
air pollution testing
soil and water pollution testing
exploring mendelian genetics
observing specialized eukaryotic cells
preparing culturing media
culturing bacteria
investigating bacterial antibiotic sensitivity
investigating protista
investigating fungi
investigating simple plants: mosses and ferns
investigating seed plants
investigating porifera and cnidaria
investigating platyhelminthes, nematoda, and annelida
investigating arthropods
investigating vertebrate tissues

If you are working with us on testing year 9's living science program, we would be spreading the above labs over 3 or 4 years, recommending additional labs for those who want AP science or are interested in science fields.

We regret a settled year 9 is not ready for release, but we have an invitation which may also help. We need to test the above year, as well as read and preview some other books for consideration. We invite those willing to use the above living science program this year and test it out together, asking questions, sharing ideas, problems you discover, offering support, suggestions, advice and so on. We could also use a few people who would not be using year 9, but are willing to help us preview books and offer suggestions in a private subforum. If you are part of a curriculum creation team for another curriculum, please understand that is a conflict of interest. We'd love to hear your ideas about a great science book, but we'd prefer you shared them here in the open area of the forum.

If you would be interested, please let us know you would like to join us in a private forum for this purpose, and explain why ('I'm testing year 9 with my students; I love science and AO and want to help and I have time to read and review. . .' 'I have a degree in a science field and want to help. . .' ).

This will be a working group. Our purpose is to support members trying out year 9's science and to build the living science program for AO, so we will be periodically removing inactive members from the private science group. We understand (believe me, we really understand) that sometimes real life means we cannot complete what we wanted to complete, so if something urgent arises that prevents your participation, we will understand and lift you and your family up in prayer during one of our Advisory prayer meetings.

Thanks for reading!

This page can be accessed on our website at http://www.amblesideonline.org/Year9Science.shtml

Everyone needs to hear this! Lynn Bruce made us all laugh and cry as she talked about the heart of AO. Get your copy fast, while the price is low, or if you come by later, it's worth the cost.

Would you like to hear Karen Glass talk about narration and synthetic thinking? Come get her talk from the TX conference! AO's birthday month is over, but we'll say that the jubilee year continues. Plus, we just have a tradition now. The download will cost $.99 for the first 24 hours after release, and then the price will go up.

We're going out of order and offering Anne White's plenary next in honor of a big event: Minds More Awake, one of Anne's books, is a year old! And remember? July is AO's birthday month. So, this weekend we have two deals for you: the Kindle version of Anne's book is free and her talk is available for $.99.

Wendi's inspiring talk about "The Riches" is available now! Again, as we celebrate AO's birthday month, the price will be 99 cents during the first 24 hours, and then it will go up.