Why We Switched to The Alveary

This is big news and I felt like we needed to share it with you since we have used and LOVED A Gentle Feast for so many years now. Please note: I still highly recommend A Gentle Feast; watch the video to understand our switch and to learn more about whether or not The Alveary or A Gentle Feast is a better fit for your family.
/ @charlottemasoninstitute has great book talk videos where they explain their book choices!
My friend, Shanda, over at ‪@ThisDevotedLife‬ also made the switch. You can check out her video about her pivot for another viewpoint.
📚To learn more about, or purchase A Gentle Feast:
agentlefeast.com/?ref=jonsay2010
📚To learn more about, and get $25 off your new membership at The Alveary use the code OWENS and the link below:
lddy.no/1jzgg
👩🏻‍🏫 Access details about my 1:1 Virtual Homeschool Consultation:
kindletogetherness.com/produc...
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AFFILIATE NOTICE I do get a small commission if you use the links above. It is always a NO cost to you! Thank you for supporting our channel and helping me make time away from my family count. :)

[@TheyCallMeBlessed]

Oh I love A Gentle Feast! And I'm so curious about Alveary!

[@stephaniesticka5556]

The fact that is each kid is separated would be big challenge for me with 4 kids. Doing family style learning & then adding different reading levels for things like science, geography & history is kinda a must. So I'd love to see how you do it with multiple kids.

[@samanthawoods615]

Hey!!! 🎉❤🎉 We love The Alveary as well! I'll be looking for you in the Hive ❤

[@caewing85]

I’m so glad you have your joy back in teaching.

[@kindletogetherness]

It’s a big thing, isn’t it? I mean, every day doesn’t need to be magical, but we definitely don’t want it to be drudgery all the time.

[@raisingsixarrows6140]

Thank you so much for the Code for Alveary. I am so excited to be doing it this year and a little nerves. Happy to be joining you and your friend with Alveary :)

[@kindletogetherness]

You are so welcome! I’m excited for a refresh too! Yay for something new and for mamas that are willing to make a switch when needed.

[@raisingsixarrows6140]

I love your dress. I tried to get that one as well but it sold out so fast. I'm so happy to see you got one. You are rocking it :)

[@karabrittain2520]

We made this decision too! I started with AGF largely from watching you, but when I saw the Alveary this year and looked at samples, realized this is what I need! I’m so excited to know I can watch you go through this too as we venture in!

[@kindletogetherness]

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 How neat that several of us are shifting simultaneously. We really are blessed to have so many options to choose from.

[@IndiBex86]

I joined the Alveary for this year too!! Excited to see more of your videos in the future. 😊 (especially how you plan your schedule!)

[@kindletogetherness]

Aaah! So fun to find other folks using it.

[@ThisDevotedLife]

So glad you are joining me!!

[@kindletogetherness]

Thanks for the help navigating all my big feelings and resistance. You’re the best to help me audibly process.

[@VioletPersuasion]

How fun!! Okay, I like learning about the nature inside each person, through Dressing Your Truth (I've never bought anything from them). There's 4 nature's/energies, that all of us have a little bit of each, but have a dominant type. Mine is type 4 - all or nothing, black and white, bold and striking. There are facial features on me that give this away, too! My secondary also crops up I my facial features in support of the primary. 😊 I'm the "lowest" energy. I've long pondered that you are a Type 1 - playful, light, airy, and exuberant energy that comes across very naturally! I think your facial features move upward, even. So, the feeling of getting bored and needing that big breath of fresh air and not wanting to pick from all the great choices, was no surprise for me. I think you're going to love this year of Alveary! 🤩

[@kindletogetherness]

Wow! This is such a fun and complimentary comment. Also, unexpected. I hope I’m those things - fun and airy and exuberant. Do you use a specific curriculum? Forgive me if we’ve previously talked about this and I’m forgetting 🤦🏻‍♀️🤪

[@VioletPersuasion]

​@@kindletogetherness I've used AO since my first (now in her early 20s) was in 4th year. I had my second child 10 years after her, and we've continued with AO entirely until this year. I'm adding in Sabbath Mood Science for my second, this year, going in to their 6th year. I keep eyeing Alveary and CMEC, one for one reason, and the other for different reasons. I'll enjoy hearing your updates on Alveary.

[@kindletogetherness]

Oh awesome! You’ve got a lot of experience. I really liked what I saw at Sabbath Mood. I was ready to buy a unit if I stuck with AGF.

[@Blessed_assurance-777]

So exciting! I can’t wait to hear more! What are those other accounts that you mentioned that do Alveary?

[@kindletogetherness]

Min Hwang, she’s on IG under her name. Also, Amber from Heritage Mom Blog, and Shanda from Devoted Motherhood.

[@wholeheartedhomemaking]

Say what?!?! I have some local friends who absolutely love Alveary. Excited to see how it works for you and your family.

[@wholeheartedhomemaking]

Also, you are too cute in this hat and dress!

[@kindletogetherness]

It is a shock to me too! Haha. I really fought switching because I loved using A Gentle Feast. However, I feel like this was God leading me and my sons to a new place in our lessons.

[@kindletogetherness]

@@wholeheartedhomemaking You are so kind, friend!

[@Ahomeontheprairies]

Fun! I hope your family has a great year with Alveary. We used Alveary for a few subjects this past year and had re-subscribed for next year when that opened up, but are planning to move to something else now, instead. It's a wonderful program, but it became too difficult to juggle with a large family, especially with a few kiddos in the learn to read stage plus littles and older ones. We need more family style, open & go, so we are choosing more options along those lines:) I'm sure you'll love it, though!

[@kindletogetherness]

Thanks for sharing your experience with it. I can see how it might be more of a challenge if you don’t combine forms a lot in The Alveary. I only have 3 children and I’ll be combining a bunch.

[@stephaniesticka5556]

I'm looking for family style too - what curriculum have you found?

[@Ahomeontheprairies]

@stephaniesticka5556 I don't have all of our curriculum figured out yet- Berean builders science in the beginning is our choice for family style science, likely adding in some Simply CM Exploring what God has created/Discover what Go's created book recommendations. SCM is the most family style I have found for history but we are CDN so it doesn't work for us for early modern/modern. I'm piecing that together myself, family style. I haven't found any truly family style CM programs. A gentle feast combines forms, so that's helpful compared to others that are grade based.

[@teamgibber]

So fun!! As far as the lesson plans laid out like a gentle feast, Alveary does have that!! 🎉🎉 It’s called Alveary+ and it will reschedule lessons as well so it’s a little more useful IMO.

[@teamgibber]

Oh I see what you mean, each grade side by side rather than a single list for each day. Alveary+ isn’t quite like that. But you def request that as they are updating and improving! Excellent idea!

[@kindletogetherness]

Yeah, I really enjoyed the layout of AGF and will miss it. That full week spread of all subjects and all kids was chef’s kiss for me personally. 👌

[@brookelewis8958]

Ahh! I would love to see how you end up combining your children. We have used AGF in the past but will be using the Alveary this year, as well.

[@kindletogetherness]

How exciting! What grades are your kids, Brooke?

[@brookelewis8958]

I will have a 1st grader, 4th grader, and 5th grader. We also have a 4 year old and 6 month old to tag along!

[@kindletogetherness]

@@brookelewis8958 That’s a full house! I love it. What a wonderful year you’re going to have.

[@amberwheeler2896]

I was looking at Without Doors for this coming year, but now you and Shanda have me looking into Alveary. I really love how the daily lessons are set up and how using Syllabird is an additional option! I've watched the book list videos for this coming year and am unfamiliar with almost all of them. I also didn't see any classics at all. The lesson seems SO rich and I absolutely love the scaffolding that is provided, but I also would hate to miss out on great classic literature. Are there actually classics included but just not shown in the videos?

[@kindletogetherness]

I’m not certain which classics you’d like to see but we are doing Plutarch and Shakespeare, which I believe are classic. Pilgrims Progress would all be a classic in my opinion. We are coming from AGF where a lot of the read alouds are classic children’s literature. I feel like those are easily pulled for afternoon read alouds, but aren’t necessarily needed for a robust lesson feast. Unless you’re meaning some history and other classics I’m not thinking of. Also, while I’ve not used Without Doors, it’s been highly recommended several times. What makes it not a great fit for our family is it’s more a unit study of specific time periods, versus laid out like Miss Mason suggested (multiple history streams as your children enter form 2). If a family wanted all their children in the same period of history, some kids would begin in Ancient when they were ready for formal lessons, some children would start with British. I’m a big proponent of always starting a child with their home country. This is what drew me to AGF and The Alveary also does it.

[@amberwheeler2896]

@@kindletogetherness Thank you for your response! This makes sense. I was thinking of possibly just pulling classic children’s literature as read alouds if Alveary didn’t include that in the plans. That seems like an easy enough addition! I see what you mean about Without Doors. It does look like a great time period unit study approach, but history cycles definitely differ from CM methods. Thank you, SarahRuth!

[@emilykendrick4856]

Thank you for making this! Is there still a morning time together with Alveary? I have grades 1-9 and that’s my favorite part of the day 💚

[@kindletogetherness]

It’s one of my favorite parts too. They have different Bible lessons/suggestions for different grade groups, but it’s so easy to just pick one (that’s what I did). Composer, folk song, and artist study are all the same for different ages.

[@Busybeeexplorers]

Would love to hear how you plan and combine your kids 😊

[@kindletogetherness]

I am adding it to my list. Do you use a curriculum?

[@Busybeeexplorers]

@@kindletogetherness Thank you! I have Without Doors Early America Guide and I have been looking at AGF Cycle 1. Without doors is very beautifully done, but I purchased before learning about AGF. AGF just makes it seem easy to implementing a CM style learning. But I am unsure I will change curriculum before we have even started.

[@Mamaisawake]

What’s the add on you bought again? (The scheduler)

[@kindletogetherness]

It’s called Syllabird. I found it a bit overwhelming initially, but I’m so tech not savvy. Once I sat down and relaxed and really looked at it, it was very straight forward.

[@darcygriffin9443]

Syllabird sounds just like Homeschool Planet. It has been a game changer for us!

[@kindletogetherness]

I’m sooooo not tech savvy, but I’m trying it.

[@raisingsixarrows6140]

I would love to see how you combine the boys.

[@kindletogetherness]

I plan to share that for sure. I may be premature by sharing this summer, instead of waiting to see what actually works this fall. Haha. So it may become a 2 part video series.

[@raisingsixarrows6140]

@@kindletogetherness I understand that I’m so thankful God laid on your heart to do all that you do. We have many things in common I’m learning watching your videos

[@eryckamillen2389]

I’m curious what you are planning to do for Math - are you continuing SCM/Beauty and Truth or are you going with the Alveary’s plans?

[@kindletogetherness]

Such a good question. Tbh, we wound up switching into TG&TB. I don’t use it as written because I don’t love the workbook feel of a lot of it. However, I also like my kids all in the same math, because for me as the teacher, this works best. The SCM series is a solid year or 2 behind my eldest and it’s made it hard for us to stay bought into it as much as I wish we could.

[@annalisajasper3333]

I would like to see how you combine kids

[@kindletogetherness]

I’ll definitely get something up with those details! Thanks for letting me know it would be helpful.