Why we didn't choose Ambleside Online 

It’s so funny, AO history is exactly what tipped the scale in their favour for me because we’re British homeschoolers. It’s literally the only curriculum that covers a healthy amount of British history so it was a no brainier really 😅

Fellow AGF user here! I agree with you on starting history with our country and the older books offered on AO. I resonate so much more with AGF booklists! (And I always pick some of my own ideas!)

AO is a lot more to put together. It's not open and go. When I had baby #4 and then #5 I really looked at AGF and considered it. It was too light. I couldn't get on board with it after doing 2 years of AO with my oldest. It felt like a step back. Now that we're (supposedly) "done" having children and my youngest is 2 - I'm glad we stuck with AO - even if it was done a little haphazardly at times 😅 My oldest is finishing up year 4, my second is finishing up year 2 and next year we'll be working on year 5, 3 and 1 - my third time teaching year 1! I'm excited! I LOVE this curriculum. The history is really great and has given ME a love for history! I noticed that only the AO ers lol Cared when Queen Elizabeth II died. Radio silence from other people even though it was a major significant moment in all of our lifetimes. AO made us acknowledge and appreciate that monumental moment! They do have American history in year 1 and 2. It's basically watching the new world be born vs just learning about it overall. It's really great. I know AO isn't for everyone. There are a million ways to homeschool! And none of them are the one "right way" but AO has worked well for our family!

I really appreciate hearing your thoughts on this! 👏I’ve followed your posts on the AGF group, and just found your videos. Thank you!

That subscription bell makes me jump every time 😂 very informative video!

Thank you so much for sharing this! Currently sifting through options for next year, and this was incredibly helpful!!

The website has definitely improved in the last few years but it is still fairly complicated to most. We have gleaned from its book list for years, and actually rarely struggle to find a copy of the books at reasonable prices. Since I've only started reading CM since I started homeschooling in 2018, I didn't understand the history thing until a couple years ago. That's when I started praying about curating my own each year. Since I have the passion for it it works. I lean heavily on lists like AOs but follow the ADE history cycle which resembles CM methods best IMO, and I add in a little state history and church history as a family. Honestly, what kept me from AO at first was the separate schedules for every age! It's too much for this mama with so many kids to keep up on.

Great video! All your reasons are the same why I eventually chose AGF instead of Ambleside. Also I noticed that with my kids they prefered the AGF's book suggestions and the slower more gentle start whereas some of Ambleside's books seem to be harder and going over their heads in the earlier forms.

This is my first year using Miss Mason’s method. You hit the head on the nail with how I was feeling about AO. I will be looking into AGF 👍

SarahRuth, this was such a helpful video. Thank you for sharing your perspective on this. Now I have some balancing points to consider regarding whether or not to use AO.

Yes about the books! I had the same issue with the library and about not wanting to read off screens all the time. 💜

Great video! I was just contemplating between AO and Sonlight and this has helped solidify my decision!

"Smell the books!" 😅 I'm with you on that 100% Thanks for much for this video. I've been waffling over AO for next school year and conflicted about the history timeline especially. Starting with what my kids know makes so much more sense.

I appreciate your thoughtful, honest experience with AO. I can see all your reasons for choosing something else. I didn't find CM until year 3 of homeschooling from the beginning and after piecing together from many other sources, I am planning to go all in with AO this year. I'm interested to check out AGF but I'm hesistant because similar ones included too many lacing and alphabet cards, etc. and not much for my older kiddos.

I think its important to learn history chronologically. Both America and us in Canada our forefathers came from UK/Europe. So I personally feels that's where history should start. Also, I find most of the books at least Y1 can be found from Living Book Press, Amazon, Thiftbooks, Book Outlet etc. And they've recently redone some of the reading lists in various grades to make sure the books are not out of print. I also don't like reading from a tablet. I like physical books. AO has been around for 20,+ years and many have graduated from it and went to college. So clearly this curriculum works for some people and isn't a complete dud. I understand that not all curriculums work for everyone. There's many curriculums that have been around for 10-20+ years old and I don't find it a fit. But we do love AO. We don't follow it strictly. We pick and choose what we want.

We have started using ambleside online and I am actually so excited to dive into British history. I find myself very confused about wars and situations because I don’t have a good understanding on the prequel but I also agree in starting where kids are. Developmentally I’d like to expose them to both what’s in front of them and what the foundation is for growing knowledge. I look at it similarly in how I disciple. I want my kids to know God and the foundation even if they don’t understand because at some point they will and they will have that truth and rock to stand on. So I think it’s about perspective too. I like your thoughts because I hold value to those who have read all the volumes. I am working on it through AO free reading but I would rather have the volumes in my hand to highlight and chew on. With that being said, I am still very much eclectic and naturally like to create my own thing. I don’t necessarily want to change the AO set up but would like to have more knowledge in how CM created her book selection and the goals for why and when so that if I do feel the need to switch a book out I will be accomplishing it under CM principles. Any direction on that? I have enjoyed Christy over at simple studies because she shows what books they use for their curriculum CMEC and it looks like she has more knowledge too about what to choose for each form. I like scrolling yesterdays classics website because it breaks down what they have for each curriculum too. I find most of my books on ThriftBooks or Abe books or fb marketplace and half price books. Love knowing I’ll have my library built for my younger ones I as I get books for my oldest and I’m probably in the minority that enjoys separate years for students. Thank you for this video. I would love more CM breakdowns of what subjects are covered in what volumes and how to go about reading those too since the language can be difficult at times.

I love Ambleside online but ultimately chose to go with AGF. It’s rare that I find any books from Ambleside or AGF at the library. But thankfully, I am able to purchase the books little by little!

AO homeschoolers here! (Returning after two years of using A Modern Charlotte Mason which were enjoyable but just not what we need for the upcoming year. We went with AMCM over AGF because it has a 6-year history rotation like AO does so it was easy to jump in.) I think that all of your reasons are valid, and I'm sure that AGF is a beautiful and rich curriculum--I wish it would have been an option when we were starting but it came out a few years too late! It would be nice if AO would break the weekly schedule down into a daily one as that would help me immensely, but I understand why they leave it as a weekly schedule. For us, though, I do appreciate the British foundation that AO mixes into our American history, especially as the British Isles is a major chunk of our family's ancestry, and for that, it feels personable. We were also blessed to be able to travel to England so we have those connections and memories. Really, I think that whatever CM curriculum you choose, you can't go wrong :)

Good critique and very fair analysis. Agree with your points about history and library borrowing! We subbed Mystery of History which is CM and goes chronologically through 4 volumes beginning with the Creation. Although we homeschooled since kindergarten we didn’t start AO until year 7 so I totally didn’t get Our Island Story. I use it mainly for literature and the riches, and it’s annoying that the library won’t extend our borrowing period for any reason. I probably won’t switch at this point because we’re in the middle of year 10 and my kid is starting dual enrollment next year. I also agree the AO website is just too troublesome to bother trying to navigate! If it can be searched on fakebook ok but I’ll never bother with AO website. Meh- we’re almost done but if we had more years/ kids I’d probably go with CMEC or Pam Barnhill.

The website and history reason is exactly why we didn’t do AO too! We have been loving the CMEC!

Totally agree, which is exactly why I looked elsewhere.

I agree about starting with the child’s own history!

So Interesting. I always have been able to find almost all of the Ambleside books for reasonable prices and I have been using AO for 8 years! Another things is that I can use all the books with eaxh child too so it is definitely worth purchasing for me! I also don't quite agree about the history in AO not being chronological. I have found that it is very chronological and my kids have a really good grasp of history compared to friends who have used a few other CM Curriculum (not AGF). In yr. 1 there is the history tales (50 Famous Stories), that is the only thing that really jumps around. I also didn't like that AO started with British history. So with my older son we started with American. But it didn't feel complete. So with all my other kids we started with British. It has been really good for them and their understanding seems greater. Anyway I enjoyed your video and we are all making the choices thatbare best for our families!

I’m kind of surprised you didn’t mention the difficulty in aligning multiple students into the same history stream. That’s why I left AO after the 1st year homeschooling my oldest - I knew I’d never be able to juggle all the different ages. We did the CMEC this year and while I liked it, the kiddos did not so we are switching to AGF.

Homeschool methods are like religion and politics. Everyone has a different view of how it should be done and some are ride or die for a certian way. I just do what works best for my family and myself.

I haven't had any issues with finding books, especially since Living Books Press is reprinting some of the ones that had gone out of print. I purchase most books from thriftbooks. I absolutely LOVE their chosen book for British history and I don't mind that their history starts with British history since I'm an anglophile and my grandparents are from there. Here is the one thing I don't love about AO: I believe they start some of these terrific books too early. A 6 year old is not going to understand or narrate well Our Island Story and I think it's a shame to have all of those interesting stories thrown away like that. So I'm holding that one back a year. Other than dealing with that one book, I find AO to be simple to use.

I didn’t know about AO until my oldest was in 5th grade. I enjoy borrowing ideas off the booklist, but you are correct- it’s hard to get them from the library (ours got rid of many older books), and I’m not on online reader. We already had certain books and habits that worked for our family. I also have a huge concern about their set up for science for middle and high school as someone with two science degrees. Students really benefit from learning how to read and use textbooks to their learning benefit especially if they wish to go on to secondary education/science degrees. I also had to purposely work on US history with mine because you are correct, that isn’t happening well in AO.

This is so helpful. I’m pouring over the AO website and schedules and I’m so jumbled with it. I like to do as much as possible together with my two boys 7 and 9. On top of it I have to teach Canadian history so adding all that in 🤪. Would love to see AGF’s Canadian resources walk through… no one has any overview of it and it’s hard to commit without knowing if it’s worth it (is it a complete curriculum that can stand alone or just a couple supplementary books to add to the existing AGF schedule, as AO does)? Is it just a book list or scheduled? SOS from Canada 😅🇨🇦

I agree with the booklist comment. Have you ever considered Alveary? I’m intrigued by the booklist. As for history, I’ve heard that you need to understand British history before understanding American.

I did look into Ambleside and also noticed the "free" curriculum had some very difficult to obtain spines. 🤯 I also noticed in their social media group, people who use the curriculum tend to take a very hard line on CM philosophies which isn't what I want for my homeschool.

😊

I know this is off topic but I need information on how you head cover and dress so cute! I head cover and seriously struggle with matching outfits.

Our library has zero of the books listed (except for free reads like Little House on the Prairie). We have to buy everything.

Hi! Thanks for you thoughts on Ambelside and history. Do you have any thoughts for TCK’s (third culture kids) who are American but growing up overseas, at least for several years of their lives, to include the beginning school years?

Does A Gentle Feast carry books from one year to the next? That’s another things I find challenging with AO. It’s almost like you have to start at the beginning or you’re screwed. I have just learned about Charlotte Mason and wanting to start with her methods of Science and History etc but I have kids going into 5th grade which dumps you in the middle of books which I don’t feel is feasible to do. And I also agree when I look at the book lists for the older grades I’m like these books sound so boring.. 😬🙈 so I’m happy to hear that AGF uses a mix of old and newer books!