Our Charlotte Mason Homeschool Sixth Grade Recap (take 2!)

Please note that I have linked to the book lists on the AO website to respect their licensing terms and the hard work they’ve put into such an amazing curriculum that they offer for free. Books that use affiliate links here are not listed on the AO website.)

It is much to be wished that thoughtful mothers would more often keep account of the methods they employ with their children, with some definite note of the success of this or that plan.

CHARLOTTE MASON (HOME EDUCATION)

See our plans for the year from August here.

It was a different kind of year for us in many ways, but it was a good year of stretching and trying new things. I think, overall, it was a good close to Form 2 (and AmblesideOnline Year 6) before my daughter takes the jump to Form 3 next year. It’s hard to believe she’s already here. I am thankful that we had time together – just the two of us – each Tuesday while my son was at his weekly STEM/Aerospace class. She and I have never really had that, and it was fun to plan a day where she could be my sole focus. I picked up a copy of Between Us Girls for us to read together, and I think it was a good springboard for us to talk about things that might not otherwise come up. I appreciated that the book has me sharing memories with her and also asks her pointed questions, so we can talk about those things. There were no brothers and usually no dads around, so it was a special time for us.

She had her first out-of-the-house activity this year in the form of a weekly homeschool PE class with a few friends, which she enjoyed. It was different for me, as I’m not used to having to be at multiple places at certain times during the week, so making a schedule around these activities was also a new experience for me. But I liked how it all worked out, as I got extra time with two friends whose kids were also in the class, and she got the experience of… well… a PE class!

I went into the year scheduling more independent readings for each kid, as I knew I couldn’t keep up with reading together, and she did very well getting them done. There were a few weeks when I had to remind her to do something from the previous week, but she was fairly dutiful in going through her assigned tasks and giving each one a specific day to complete. I’m hoping these are laying the groundwork for good habits that continue into adulthood, like seeing what needs to be done and allotting time for it.

Next year is going to be a pretty big jump for her, but I’m happy that I get to make that jump with her and can help her along the way. I don’t know if I’ll have another day alone with her, but I’m thankful for the time we did have together this year.

Morning Time

As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, we’ve found a good rhythm with our Morning Time, so it hasn’t changed much in a while, and this year was no different. As I mentioned above, because my son was gone every Tuesday, it looked a little different that day when it was just my daughter and me, which was a nice time for us together.

I have a detailed layout of our Morning Time in my planning post. The only change I made was to add a reading from George Washington’s Rules of Civility each morning, as my son was in the American Revolutionary War time period this year. We also dropped Land of Little Rain mid-year and switched to Wild Life on the Rockies by Enos Mills, as it’s specific to Colorado. We didn’t finish it, but we really enjoyed what we read so far, so we’ll continue that next year.

Bible

AO Year 9 Bible Schedule
Bible Resources
The Bible Knowledge Commentary
SPCK Bible Atlas

We did our Bible readings all together, so my daughter joined us for the AO Y9 schedule, which worked out so well. I really enjoy hearing their thoughts and ideas about the passages that we read.

On her own, she was reading through Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids, though she ended up not caring for it. At Easter, I got her Loved and Cherished: 100 Devotions for Girls, and now she is reading that along with the Bible reading plan I printed out for her a few years ago.

History & Biography

I went along with my plan for history, except for the giant omission of Vinegar Boy, which I completely forgot to add to the schedule in Term 2. I’m not sure how it didn’t make it into the schedule, but obviously, I need to read my own plan throughout the year! I haven’t decided whether to try it again as a Morning Time read during the Easter season or offer it as a free read.

C said her favorite book from this subject was Augustus Caesar’s World. She struggled with Story of Mankind, which I think is understandable, as even the few chapters we read in that book are pretty dense. We also had good discussions about Story of the World, even though that wasn’t her favorite.

The Story of the Greeks and The Story of the Romans condense a lot of history into short chapters, and though she sometimes struggled with names and exact storylines, I again believe this gives a good overview of those civilizations’ histories, which is essential to understanding our own.

I also supplemented with a few more free reads related to history (or just literature from the time periods we were learning about), including these:

• Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
• The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong
• Todos iguales : un corrido de Lemon Grove by Christy Hale
• Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop
• Rascal by Sterling North
• The Golden Bull by Marjorie Cowley
• D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths

Literature

As with her brother, her favorite literature reading, by far, was The Hobbit. We started listening to the audiobook a few years ago on a road trip to Utah, but never finished it, so I think she was glad to complete the story. Not long after she finished, during another recent road trip, we began The Fellowship of the Ring, and it was good for her to have that backstory.

I forgot to mention in the planning post that I actually went with the old AO schedule for our Age of Fable readings, since we began with that schedule in Year 4 before they changed it. It’s also a dense book, but I think Bulfinch gave a great summary and overview of several different storylines in ancient mythology, and it really is key to understanding not only much of what we read in our school lessons, but also the references that are often made in the world at large.

Shakespeare

This is a category I neglected to include in my planning post. We did not follow the AO Shakespeare schedule this year, as we collaborated with a few other families in our homeschool group to align our Shakespeare plays as much as possible so that we could perform a scene together at our Christmas and end-of-year celebrations. We originally scheduled Coriolanus (I think this might be my favorite Shakespeare play), Hamlet, and The Merchant of Venice. We did not end up finishing Hamlet during Term 2, so we continued it into Term 3 (and into the summer…), and we’ll do The Merchant of Venice at another time. She’s not a big fan of his tragedies, so neither of these was a favorite of hers.

Poetry

We enjoyed all three of our poets this year, but I think Langston Hughes resonated with her the most.

Language Arts

Copywork

She continued with 4 ten-minute copywork sessions per week, beginning with copying her recitation pieces, hymns, and folksongs. Then she either chose poetry from Favorite Poems Old and New or copied articles from her Nature Friend magazine.

Dictation

Dictation (or spelling) ended up being one of her favorite subjects this year, which was a surprise, as I don’t think it normally makes anyone’s top lists! We did one lesson per week from Spelling Wisdom Book 1 which is slower than the pace the book recommends, but it worked just fine for us.

Grammar and Composition

On the other hand, grammar was one of her least favorite subjects, but she is still progressing well in it. The Junior Analytical Grammar books, with approximately one lesson per week, have worked so well for both of my kids, and I’m disappointed that they don’t make them anymore.

Recitation

Here are the pieces she learned for recitation:

Old Testament

New Testament

Psalms

Poetry

Foreign Language

Spanish went really well this year! Both kids met together on Zoom one hour per week with their teacher from The Spanish Institute of Honduras throughout the year and made good progress. Four days per week, we also did one of the lessons from the Repertorio, Cuna in Term 1 (as she did not release any more this year, I made my own extremely rough versions in Terms 2 and 3 that were adequate but not ideal – I’m hoping she releases more for next year!).

Geography

This was the first year we used Seterra for our map drills, and it went extremely well. It was one of the things she asked to do every week, even when we cut back on other things.

She also enjoyed the rest of Halliburton (which means I’m done with Halliburton 😩) along with the videos we watched for each location. The David Livingstone biography wasn’t as much of a hit, and she felt like Long’s was written for a younger audience. But with all of the resources together, we did make good progress in her geography knowledge this year.

Scouting

We got through the unit on Observation with our homeschool group, but decided to just stick with our Nature Explorers lessons for the rest of the year.

Citizenship

While her brother and I really enjoy our Plutarch time each week, she still sometimes struggles with following everything that’s going on in the readings. Next year, we’re planning to go with some easier ones we haven’t read before, so I’m hoping that helps.

Nature Study and Science

Nature Study

For nature study in the weekly hikes with our homeschool group, we used the Nature Explorers guide from Sabbath Mood Homeschool. During our Morning Time before the hike, we would watch the video for that day’s lesson, and then talk about our goal (or what we were looking for – usually whatever we learned about in the video) just before the hike. Because we were respecting Nicole’s licensing for using the guide in groups, we did not each have a copy, but I think I might buy my own for next year so I can have access to her book lists for each section, as I have always found her book recommendations so helpful.

Both kids also completed weekly entries in their nature journals, usually during our hikes. Sadly, I didn’t end up using the Bloom and Brush nature journaling prompts as I had planned at the beginning of the year. I had inserted them into the schedule just before we were leaving for our hike, but it never worked out that we actually watched them. I still think they’re a great resource and plan to try again next year in a better timeslot!

Science

Science is always the subject in which we deviate the most from the AO schedule. Since Year 4, we’ve been using Nicole Williams’ science guides, and those have worked so well for us. This year, C learned about chemistry, weather, and energy.

We did read a few of the AO-schedule books, including The Elements and the three science biographies (which she enjoyed, for the most part – Einstein was a struggle). However, I replaced It Couldn’t Just Happen with Bruce and Stan’s Guide to How It All Began, and we’ll read The Mystery of the Periodic Table next year with Nicole’s guide. And because my son read it in Year 6 on the old schedule (which doesn’t appear to be available anymore) and really enjoyed it, I scheduled The Sea Around Us Young Reader’s Edition for her as well. However, after Term 1, it wasn’t resonating with her as well, and I felt we already had enough science readings, so I decided to drop that one. AO changed it so that the regular version of The Sea Around Us is scheduled in Year 9, so we may revisit it then.

Math

She finished RightStart Level F and is now doing math on her own with RightStart Level G, which means I am not doing math with anyone anymore. I’m available during that time for her or her brother when they need help or checking answers, but this is the first time in ten years that I haven’t been going through a math lesson with someone. It’s a little weird…

We’ll be working on Level G through the summer and into next year.

Art

For art creation, one afternoon every week, both kids spent about 20 minutes going through the instructional videos of the Bloom and Brush Brushdrawing Course, and that worked extremely well for us!

Picture Study

We had a lovely range of artists this year and even made it to the Denver Art Museum in Term 1 to see the Pissarro exhibition, which included two pieces we learned about. I always love seeing the paintings in person, especially after having studied them. There are just certain things that prints can’t recreate, and being able to see brushstrokes in person is a gift.

C said her favorite artist from this year was Albert Bierstadt. I’m a little partial to him myself.

Music

Composer Study

We enjoyed all of our composers this year, and they offered a great range of musical styles. I used our Milton Cross for Delius and Mendelssohn, and Heather Suemnicht made a very helpful guide for Scott Joplin, which was a fun option for Term 2.

Hymns and Folksongs

Hymns

Folksongs

The favorite folksong this year was definitely “On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at!”, and “Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun” was a really great song to begin our days. We also sang a few of these with the residents at the assisted living facility we visit once per month, so it helped to include them in our Morning Time.

Physical Education

As I mentioned above, she participated in a weekly local PE program for homeschoolers with some friends for the first time this year and enjoyed it, though she decided she will not be doing it again next year. We also continued our weekly hikes (usually at least 2-3 miles), and she may join her brother and me for our attempt at another 14er this summer.

Handicrafts

Making a doll was the perfect handicraft for her, and it went so well! The only hang-up was making sure I had all the supplies on hand when she needed them, which caused delays. She did manage to make two separate dolls, underwear for each, and two outfits. She’ll continue this project through the summer.

Free Reads

She read quite a few of the books on the free reads list either previously or during the school year, including these:

• Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott
• Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
• The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens
• Blue Willow by Doris Gates
• Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• A Little Brother to the Bear by William J. Long
• School of the Woods by William J. Long
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
• The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth Speare
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
• The Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum
• The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Von Trapp
• Ben Hur by Lew Wallace
• The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss

We’ll keep working on the ones she hasn’t gotten to yet over the summer! And that’s a wrap for Form 2!