Literature & Natural History Yr1 l This Is How We Homeschool

[@YogaNurture]

Thank you for this walk-through. There are several books that I chose not to include in our Year 1 because they seemed a little too hard, or a little too scary, or weird. But as my 2nd child goes through Y1 I'm going to include them and let my Y2 listen in. It takes actually doing a year of Ambleside to realize how much your child is capable of understanding and enjoying. I'm the only person in my circle of homeschool friends doing AO (or anything even close to it for that matter!) and so I just LOVE seeing other mamas delight in it and find it as fulfilling as I do. Loving your videos! Keep up the good work!

[@thisisme_cristi]

Awe thanks! I totally agree that it takes a year of doing AO to see what your kids are capable of. I’m also the only homeschool mama I know of doing Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling so not many know of Ambleside Online. I’m so happy to meet mamas like you here!!

[@farrahshea]

Oh please keep making these!! They have been so helpful! I’m currently in L0. My daughter will be in level 1 in a few months. I look forward to each of these that you make about each subject! Thanks for going through the time to share your experience!

[@thisisme_cristi]

That’s so sweet of you to say! I really appreciate it!! I love making these and now my daughter points out when I should’ve been recording something saying, “that would have been good to show our YT friends, mama.” Lol, so now I have my camera ready all the time just in case. Any suggestions on what subject(s) you’d like me to cover next?

[@farrahshea]

@@thisisme_cristi uee, I would love to know how you did timeline!

[@nataliecrowe2122]

That format on that Parables book would be hard for me to read. :) Parables is easier if I can preread and kind of understand what is going on and then read with all my crazy voices. Some of those stories make me cry so much....I sometimes wonder if its scheduled more for mom than for the kids. Also, we like watching the animated Just so Stories on YT. You’re doing such a good job with your Y1! :)

[@thisisme_cristi]

Oh my goodness I 100% agree! Parables of Nature has got to be more for us parents reading to the child then for the children listening in. We have seen a couple of the Just So Stories on YT, but since they don’t fuss when I read these I hadn’t gotten into the habit of showing them. Books they sort of whine about are the ones that I’ll definitely bring out the YT version for or an audio book. Thank goodness we have those options right? They can really help a mama out.

[@RI-1261]

I don't remember if I've commented before because I feel like with every "How we" video you've put out, I think of how much I want to thank you for giving us a glimpse into your homeschooling year. I've been looking into CM philosophy but I'm so scared to jump in 100%. It is so rich and beautiful but so completely different. I look at AO all the time wondering if it would be too much or a good fit for us. My daughter will be 6 at the end of Sept. Where we live, her birthday falls in the bracket for transitional kindergarten (which we did because we are homeschooling with a charter). But since formal lessons start at 6y in CM, I'm tempted to go for it even if she is still technically kindergarten. All that to say, I'm so thankful for your videos. They are so useful and practical. Your honesty about the books has also been invaluable; it is helping me determine if I should begin my daughter in Y1 or hold off another year. Anyway sorry for the rambling but had to tell you! Thanks again!

[@thisisme_cristi]

That is so incredibly sweet of you to say! I’m so happy that these videos are helping you. That is my greatest wish come true! I’m planning to do a sort of kinder/Yr1 with my 5 yr old next year. He’s a bit advanced in math and reading but he still needs some time to develop longer focused time. I’m hoping to document that next year as it happens. I did start AO with my daughter when she was 6yrs old. She was ready for something challenging and jumped right into it. A lot of play acting at the beginning was very helpful to her to start narrating, now she doesn’t use that tool as much. If I were you, I’d try out YR 1 for the first term and see how things go. Your daughter might surprise you! If some things are a little too much, chop up the readings into more days and allow her to just narrate one paragraph at a time at first. Give her lots of breaks and enjoy teaching her hand or finger knitting to keep her fingers busy. Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions that come up, I’d love to be of help.

[@RI-1261]

@@thisisme_cristi You're amazing! Thank you for the suggestions!

[@amandas7340]

Hello! Thanks for the video, do you do new peg dolls per play or have you found some overlap in using the peg dolls? And of which ones?

[@thisisme_cristi]

Generally we found we could overlap or maybe just change one or two things about a peg doll. I remember for Midsummer Nights Dream my daughter thought it was hilarious that I introduced a knight chess piece (the one that looks like a horse) as Puck into our scene of peg dolls. So if we had time to make a new set or a few new peg dolls for the main characters, we would. Otherwise she had back ups that she would collect from her toys to keep on standby for the next play. Creativity is key and letting them roll with it. ❤️

[@jackieinlalaland2843]

Hey where do you get the book marks with the reading selections.

[@thisisme_cristi]

Hi 👋🏻 an awesome mama made them and posted them as free resource in the Ambleside In-line Facebook group. If you search “yr 1 bookmarks” in the group it should pop up for you. I believe there are bookmarks available for other years as well.

[@CharlotteMasonTT]

My son doesn’t like parables of nature either. Favorite is just so stories….

[@thisisme_cristi]

Parables of nature is… challenging. As an adult I can appreciate it, but even I sometimes find it difficult.

[@danahall1282]

I am very interested in AO, but I have no idea how to do it? Help

[@thisisme_cristi]

So sorry for my super delayed response. When I first started, it seemed overwhelming so I researched, poured over the AO website, reading, and rereading it. Then I also found the AO Facebook Group and that was invaluable to me! The community support you find there is amazing and the free resources and recommendations from those homeschooling mamas got me through. What I find made it possible for me was to make sure that I knew exactly what we were going to do the night before and have things ready. Preparation is key!