Year Eight, Term One: Current Reads & Plans
Welcome to A Mother’s Thinking Love: Living Ideas, Lovingly Shared! We are three weeks into Year Eight, and I am finally ready to share a bit about our Term One. In today’s post, I will share our current reads. I will also share some tentative outlook for the rest of this term. Join me for: “Year Eight, Term One: Current Reads & Plans”!
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Year Eight, Term One: The Big Idea
For the last few years, we based our plans largely around the historical time period we were studying. We did this for: the Ancients, Greece/Rome, and for a big part of the Middle Ages. After three years of that particular planning style, my brain hurt. It’s really challenging to coordinate so many subjects with a particular time period. I know there are curriculums that do this for you, but I also had another concern: this planning style was very limiting. So, while history-based planning served its purpose for a season, this year, I did not stress about it.
After studying the Middle Ages last year, we still weren’t quite ready to leave them behind. So, we decided to keep wandering through the villages, exploring the castles, and gazing on the beauty of the cathedrals of this fascinating time. And we are savoring every moment of it. While many of our current reads do fit within this time period, others do not.
Year Eight, Term One: Current Reads
I will share our current reads along with how much or how often we read from them each week.
Bible:
- One chapter in Psalms each day
- One chapter in Proverbs each day
- Two days of Old Testament study – We are currently in Exodus.
- Two days of New Testament study – We are currently reading John alongside Charlotte Mason’s Savior of the World, Volume One.
Time period focused:
- The Magna Charta by James Daugherty
- Beowulf
- The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle – about two chapters each week
- English Literature for Boys and Girls – One chapter per week
- The Oxford Book of English Verse, Part One – One poem per week
- Primary Sources – I am choosing at least one primary source for us to read each week, like The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle on Alfred the Great. I may do a future blog post on my choices at the end of, or further along in, the term.
One reading per week from each of the following:
- Plutarch’s Life of Solon
- Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
- Ourselves by Charlotte Mason
- Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
Life of the Church:
We dedicate this time of each day to learning about the Life of the Church, both past and present.
- The Voice of the Martyrs magazine – Each week, we read one article and pray prayer in the current edition.
- Trial & Triumph – Two stories each week
- Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede – One chapter per week
Other:
- Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson – One poem per day
- Eagle of the Ninth – We read about 45 minutes to one hour of this each week.
- Handbook of Nature Study – Focus: Trees
- The Wind in the Willows – We are about halfway through this one and that makes me sad. It is absolutely brilliant!
- Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm – One story per week
- String, Straightedge, & Shadow: The Story of Geometry by Julia Diggins – One chapter per week
- *Geometry was one of my least favorite subjects in school, but this book is helping me to rethink my view of it entirely.
- Star Lore by William Tyler Olcott – We don’t have a strict schedule for this one. We just read it alongside our star gazing evenings.
- James Herriot’s Cat Stories – This is a “Nature Lore” read for us this term. We absolutely love the works of James Herriot. We read about one chapter a week.
Year Eight, Term One: Other Subjects
- Science- We are not using a formal science curriculum, as our focus is natural history. Instead, we are doing a lot of nature study and star gazing. Once a week, I will present a lesson from Outdoor Geography by Herbert Hatch.
- Math- In addition to reading about the history of geometry, we do have a separate daily math block. I make our math curriculum, and I don’t have those resources organized to share here. I do have a ten-part blog series on the subject of teaching math, if you are interested in that.
- Latin/Greek- We are continuing with Picta Dicta for Latin. We are also writing and illustrating beautiful Latin phrases each week. Our first was: “Ego sum via veritas et vita” or “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” English from the Roots Up, Volume One is also helping us to study Latin and Greek roots found in English.
Year Eight, Term One: Future Plans
Several of these books will be spread across our entire year, and a few of them will stretch across a couple of years or more. We will, likely, finish The Magna Charta and The Wind in the Willows before the end of the term. I am not yet sure what will replace The Magna Charta, but I do know that Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is up after The Wind in the Willows. As sad as I will be to finish The Wind in the Willows, I am looking forward to Treasure Island.
Closing
We don’t begin a new year until September, so I know most are probably further along in their terms. How is Term One going for your family? What are some of your favorite books? Share in the comments below!
