THANK YOU!!! We have 10 children! Our oldest is graduating age and a 4 month old 8 in between. I pray for more family’s that we can relate to . This was a Blessing to watch:)
I'm homeschool four children of various ages, and I've had to just adapt as well. Some things had to be dropped or else we would never have time to complete it all!!! But even dropping some of them, it's still awesome. I also decided that the history loop had to have everyone on the same page - not everyone could be doing separate history times because it got too out of hand lol. But we all focus on one period of history, and the older ones just go more in depth. God bless your family :)
Thanks for sharing that! It's nice to hear how other families are making AO work. I agree, it would be much more enjoyable to do one period of history together.
My kids love the Library of Congress Aesop's fables online because it has some fun animations, and Paddle to the Sea is their favorite. I haven't had to purchase a single book yet since most books are older and available online.
I didn't know about that resource on the Library of Congress. Very cute! Thanks for sharing that. My kids love Paddle to the Sea as well. Good to know that you can find so much online!
This is so helpful! I’m a mom of five and my second student just turned 7, so we’ll be implementing all of AO y1 now. I just can’t wrap my head around how to do that exactly and not miss any of the riches. Thank you for sharing from your experience!
You are so welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful! Year 1 is my absolute favorite! Enjoy! I'll probably still be re-reading year one for personal reading after my kids are long gone, ha! ;)
My boys really enjoy Tree in trail by Holling C Holling. They like them all, but their favorite is definitely that one. We are a french speaking family, but we read a lot in english too. Lots of good english books have been translated thankfully.
Glad to hear it! When I had my 6th, our oldest was nine too. :) That's such a busy time...you are truly blessed! It gets easier as the big kids get older. I hope you can find some good solutions!
Very helpful. I want to start incorporating narration and some Ambleside books, but I don’t want to completely give up the curriculums we have now. I also don’t think my kids would be thrilled if I dumped a pile of classic books on them all at once.
I'm glad this helped you! Yes, AO can be a lot. You could try just slowly doing a few of the things that you like while keeping with the curriculum you are already using.
Loved this video so much!! Really appreciated that you shared specific books you enjoy and that have stood the test of time in your home. As a mom of five, with three now graduated, I've found this method of learning to be so fruitful. We've enjoyed every single title you mentioned in our home, too! Definitely consider doing more videos like this. You can really give your child such an amazing education by simply reading good books and discussing them in your home. Thank you so much! ❤
You're welcome! Thanks for the helpful feedback and glad you enjoyed the video! I will definitely keep it in mind to do more videos along this topic. Couldn't agree more...reading to the kids and conversations really carries so much weight. Not to mention all the memories we've made!
I just found your channel this week from your “keeping a clean house with a large family” video. I was so excited when this video popped up because we use AO too. We have 6 children 2-17 so not as many children as you have. It has worked well for us to group kids who are close in age or ability into the same AO year. When the older ones were younger they used a lot of audiobooks since they have dyslexia and I wasn’t available to read everything to them. The older kids now use some self paced classes like Shormann Math and science and our oldest has taken a CM style composition class online for the past two years. We do the “riches” together and some years we get more of those done than other years. My husband leads us in singing hymns and Bible reading. I always wish we could fit it ALL in but looking back I can see our 17 year old has had a lovely education and I’m thankful for that!
Sounds very similar to us! Thanks for sharing that. I agree 100%.. it hasn't always been picture perfect (or easy!), but I think they have had a wonderful education and I am so thankful for all our time together. So glad you found my channel!
This was incredibly helpful! Thank you so much. I also will be using VP history cards this next year and I decided to choose my own books. I'll pull from AO for literature and the riches. Congratulations on your first gradute!!
You are welcome! Glad these ideas helped you! That's sounds really similar to what I do with history and I think it has worked really well. I hope the same for you! Thanks about the graduate!! All new territory having a child who is an adult in the house!
Can you provide examples of your “daily flow” with your large family . Have you had any kids that needed more detailed instruction for spelling? Can you provide examples of the type of “checklists” they use or how you go about assigning everyone’s individual work? I have 7 kids and thinking of slowly moving across to AO
I give an overview of our day in this video if you want to check it out. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DG1-lCDb39M.htmlsi=3N-hi0e02id_A1Zq I have found copywork to be sufficient for spelling. I also have a list of spelling rules that I review with our kids which has also been a huge help. Here is the link for those. docs.google.com/document/d/1msve53RIRqzXWzNtqj6QcPcWwWn3tKy7rdValNdFp8A/edit?usp=sharing Here is the blog post I did on how I make my kids checklists. ourlifehomeschooling.com/2022/08/22/how-to-make-a-workable-homeschool-checklist/ If I could give any advice for switching over to AO, it would be to not try to do everything. AO is rich. It was an education for me the first time I went through it all, so it can easily be overwhelming, especially for large families. Knowing this ahead of time and doing a light version will help, in my opinion.
Thank you for this video. While I only have two children, this helped give me ideas for how I can pull both together. I have a just-turned 8yo and a 6yo and they love learning together. I'm still wondering which year to start with, as we've never used AO.
You are welcome! How exciting! If it were me, I would go through Year 1 with them both together, depending on how familiar you are with the books. When I started, it was all new to me. I hadn't read many of the books myself, so learning one year at a time with my oldest was so helpful to me.
Thank you-we love AO and the books you mentioned. We have used AO from Y2-7 with my 13yo and now my 8yo finished Y1 in 2 years. My 5.5yo has been listening to Y1 but now I’m not sure if we should repeat Y1 next year or see if he can learn from Y2. He occasionally asks to narrate. I would love to know which ages you combine.
You are welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I have basically combined ages that seemed appropriate. Our 2nd and 3rd kids are close in age, so it made sense to combine them. Others I had go through on their own. It really depends on individual circumstances for me. Glad that you love using AO!
So appreciate your videos! Can you do a video on how you do high school with your children? My oldest is in grade 5, but I'm starting to consider how we are going to do this. We are currently expecting our 7th child, and we live in Canada, so some things are different, but I would like to hear how you make this all work.
Thanks so much! Great question! I will keep it in mind about doing a high school video. I feel like I need a little more time with these years to confidently share what works well for the high school years...but I will jot it down and keep it in mind! Here's a few things that may help. For history in 7th and 8th grade, they read through Story of the World (world history). They read two books a year to complete the four books in two years. Along with this, they read through the History Lives series (church history) which is a 5 book set. In high school, they take classes at a local co-op. For literature, we continue with some of my favorite picks from AO, but I pick any that I like from years 7 and up and don't strictly stick within years. They also continue with Abeka grammar. In high school, our kids attend a local co-op (a second one from our family's co-op) where they get a lot of their high school credits. This has been a huge help with having a wide age range. We still do a few things at home or I outsource some subjects as well. So it's kind of a modge podge of different options. One thing I have learned about high school is that it is a great time for them to become involved in choosing their classes and what direction they want to go based on their interests. I hope that helps some!
@@lizhunter6737 We attend two co-ops. The first is our family's bi-monthly co-op and yes, parents teach it. The second is a weekly drop off co-op for my middle and high schoolers. It is taught by paid teachers, so it does cost a little more. Our kids take some of their high school classes from there and it has been a nice way to outsource a few subjects.
Hi Sheri, just wondering if you guys read Viking Tales, Tanglewood Tales, A Wonder Book, or Heroes? And whether you read the other books by Holling C. Holling. Just some I noticed weren’t on your list, and I wondered if that was purposeful or not. Thanks 😊
Good question! Because we have a large family, I have to pare down more than others might need to. I picked only the books that I and the kids absolutely love and couldn't do without. I actually loved all the Holling C Holling books, but my kids weren't big fans of them other than Paddle to the Sea. My kids also liked a Wonder Book... several well-loved mythological stories there. Not having those books on this list has more to do with only picking my personal favorites than any other reason. I personally don't love mythology, but if that is something you like, then you should try them! All AO suggestions are good, so if there is one you really want to do, I would go for it!
That is very helpful, thanks so much Sheri! I absolutely love your RU-vid channel and blog, everything has been so helpful to me as I navigate things, it’s such a blessing. So thank you!
I just wanted to add, I love that you pare back and that you are willing to share your thought process for how to do that. It really helps those of us with larger and growing families see how we can tweak things to make it doable for us, and how we can be quite flexible and make our own decisions rather than trying to do absolutely everything that a smaller family might do.
@@Mamaofblessings Good! It's hard for us moms of many (speaking for myself here) to accept that we can't do it all, ha! But I have found so much more peace in our homeschool when we do less. I'm glad this helped you!
I usually start at Chapter 5...skip the evolution and cave men chapters. They get the story of creation through our Bible reading and other history readings.
Sheri: I love learning from you! Thank you for sharing your insights on homeschooling. I know this video discussion was some time ago, but, would you consider answering a few questions about Our Island Story. Would you mind sharing which chapters you read with your family? Also, we are from the west coast and you had shared that you would not recommend having your children read all of this book: This Country of Ours. I purchased Story of the World and A Child's History of the World for American History this year. Do you think I would need This Country of Ours as well? My boys are 1st and 5th grade. Thanks in advance!
Thank you so much! My pleasure. :) Great question! For Our Island Story...if your kids are enjoying it AND depending on what else you are doing in history, I wouldn't skip anything. Much of OIS is world history as well, so it's all very good. For This Country of Ours, it depends on your preference and where you live. We live in Pennsylvania, so I skipped chapters 7-10 about the French and Spaniards in Florida and chps. 42-43 about the founding of the Carolinas. Not that they aren't important, but TCOO is pretty detailed that I felt that my kids were missing the import information because of too much detail. I focused on the chapters about New England states and especially Pennsylvania. Looking at the chapter titles can help you decide what is important to you. Story of the World and A Child's History of the World can be a full curriculum itself. It depends how you break it up and how many chapters you plan to read a week. I aim for no more than 4 history readings per week. You could do all three, but then it might take you longer to finish them. One very important thing I have learned (mostly learned the hard way) is that it's a constant struggle for me to want to do it all, but when we do less, we really enjoy it more. All that to say...you could cover all these books in 1-6th easily, but as long as you are ok with it taking that long to do it and not expecting to finish them in a school year. I hope that helps!
@@OurLifeHomeschooling That helps so much! Thank you, Sheri! We live in California and in 4th grade we have to do a year of California history. So, I wanted to really have a strong year of American History. I have ended up with 3 curriculums for American History (Beautiful Feet Books, The Good and the Beautiful, AND Ambleside)...I couldn't decide what to do? Now I'm in a tizzy trying to figure out how to piece it together. I was so concerned with picking the perfect one that I missed the mark. You are so wise in suggesting that too much will result in less enjoyment for all. Would you recommend waiting on any of these until they are older or skipping any of them? Story of the World, A Child's History of the World, Our Island Story?
@@JennCG I do Story of the World as a two year history curriculum for my 7th and 8th graders. Its' a great fit. They read two volumes per year to finish all 4 in two years.
I have done a couple of different things. Some of the kids are taking it at co-op. Other times, I have put together a plan with books/online programs/etc. and determined enough work to make a credit. Rosetta Stone and duolingo are some online programs I have used.
Thanks for your videos!! I’m limboing about goin more CM with our homeschool. Since you have various ages, do you read aloud the books to everyone mainly and then discuss? How do you access older grades particularly when they are in high school and you need to keep grades for a transcript?
You're welcome! For the most part, I do read to everyone. Often I have an older and a younger book I'm reading so they each get something more tailored to their age and we just spread our readings out over the year. For a few things, I exclude our 9th and 10th grade kids because they have more of a work load. Once our kids are high school age, they go to a second co-op where they take classes. These classes (as well as some other things we do at home) are most of what goes on their transcripts.
@@OurLifeHomeschooling nice. Thanks for the information. I’m sure it can become a juggle having to read 2 sets of books. I need to check out your other videos on AO.
I don't have high schoolers yet but their high school curriculum has more book choices and their curriculum is usually separated into "history", "literature", etc. so you could assign credits that way.
@TheChan7 I combine my two kids into the AO for groups Form 1B curriculum, and once they're old enough they will hopefully be reading more independently. I started them in 2 separate years and it was hard to keep up because I was reading almost everything out loud
I skimmed the comments section but may have missed it being mentioned. AO now has an AO for groups outline. That is what I am hoping use this year with my large family. It groups the levels in "forms" and seems to be a scaled down version to make it more manageable. Have you looked at this? Any thoughts?
Yes...I don't think I mentioned AO for groups in this video, but I'm glad you brought it up. AO for groups was created after I had already found my way and started on a track that was working for us. Otherwise, I would probably have tried it. I definitely think it would definitely be a great option for large families! I would encourage any other mom of many to look at AO for groups first to see if that might be a good fit! Why try to reinvent the wheel? Thanks for sharing that!
@@OurLifeHomeschooling I will be using Form 1A with my youngest 3 school age girls this year. And I'll have one in year 6, a preschooler and a special needs child who will be following along the Form 1A group on a mild scale while we work mainly on his functional life skills curriculum. And I'm one less student this year since my oldest GRADUATED this year 😁 Thank you for your video. It's great to see other REAL large families using AO.
@@kaleenamartin9839 Oh wow, congrats on your graduate! It's so rewarding to see it through to the end! You're welcome. It's nice to hear feedback from other large families as well!
Good question! For 7th and 8th grade, they read through Story of the World (world history). They read two books a year to complete the four books in two years. Along with this, they read through the History Lives series (church history) which is a 5 book set. In high school, they take classes at a local co-op.
I’m wondering if you combine children in the Veritas history? Looked at the price and thought that would be very costly ($249) for each individual child in a large family. Also do you get the books or just the videos? I appreciate you sharing what works. Pregnant with number 7.
Aww, congrats on number 7! Good question! Every year I purchase the Veritas Press when they run the $100 off sale. They run it once or twice a year. Yes, I have the kids all do the same course. The books are just suggestions, not necessary for the course. I have collected a few over the years (many of them are also AO suggestions) but only use them as extra read alouds or book suggestions for the kids when they are looking for something good to read.
@@OurLifeHomeschooling thank you! That is really helpful to know they run a sale. I’m definitely considering it for next year. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.💛
Thank you for this video. We’re new to AO. We aren’t doing all of the riches for now because we want to get acquainted with the books first, we’re used to text books. It’s a lot even paired down and they want you to do narrations after every read. For example, next week just in history, my son would have 3 readings on Monday just for history, two for science…and there’s no way we’re narrating after every single reading. So if you’re doing narration twice a week, how do you decide what they are narrating on? Secondly, family style learning just doesn’t work for us. I only have 2 kids and they both thrive working independently. I’m seriously thinking about choosing one history book, one biography, one science book…and just letting them read those on their own. If they finished them, I’ll pull another AO book from the list. What are you’re thoughts on that?
Great questions! Doing a narration after every read, in my opinion, is way too much! Instead, I often ask them what the story was about (oral narration) - and remind them to keep it short! Some kids can go on and on! ;) For written narrations that we do twice a week, I let them choose which reading they want to do. If independent learning works for you and your kids, I say go with it! Each family is different, so don't try to fit into someone else's mold. If I had two kids, I would probably do similarly. For some history and science, I have asked my kids if they learn more from me reading to them or reading on their own. They tell me both. So we switch it up. Your kids might really like reading it on their own! I say try it!
Hi! We are seriously considering Veritas for next year and I have a few more questions for you if that’s OK. Do you think it’s only appropriate for a grades two through six? Or do you think a first grader or a seventh grader could do it? Do you also think you can start wherever we left off in history or would you start at the beginning, can you do more than one in a year?
Glad to hear! We love Veritas! Yes, I think you don't have to stay within the 2-6th grades specifically. If your first grader is your oldest child doing it for the first time, it might take a little longer to catch on, but if your first grader has watched older siblings, then definitely he/she would be fine. Also, I do think you could start wherever you left off and it would be a smooth transition. I hope you enjoy it!
@@OurLifeHomeschooling awesome! Thank you again for a quick response. The more I look at it the more I want to get it. I’ll have a pre-k, 1st, 3rd, and 5th next year plus toddlers and a new baby. This looks like it will be a lifesaver. I am bummed my oldest won’t get to complete all the years of self-paced history.
Rewatching. For language arts inspiration. Two things… 1. While your showing the abeka grammar book you say you start them at level C, but it’s a level A book. I assume you meant to say A? Hahaha. 2. I haven’t finished watching yet, so you may mention this. I’m curious if you use dictation. I haven’t been. Because it’s more to do on my end. 🫣
Good questions! 1. Ha! You caught one of my mistakes...I meant to say I start with Language 3. They have a Language 3 (3rd grade) workbook and then Language A, B, and C. Here's the link if you want to see it. www.abeka.com/abekaonline/bookdescription.aspx?sbn=315648#gref 2. I have used dictation, but truthfully it's something I haven't done in a while. I think it is really helpful though. I should probably focus on it again at some point soon. It's really good for gauging how a child is doing in spelling and punctuation. It's not something I personally would make a regular part of our day, just maybe for touching base every now and then. Just like you mentioned, it's more work on my part...probably why it easily gets pushed aside.
@@OurLifeHomeschooling one more question! How many books do you have them do? I was kind of hoping to spend grade 6-8 on grammar and then be done. But idk if that’s feasible.
@@homeschool.pray.repeat I have our kids do Language 3, then Language A, B, and C (at their own pace, usually 2-4 pages a week, depending on the child) and then that's all we do. Just remember that you can make your own rules according to what works best for you and your child.
