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Skip to see the planning and review of my first time through Year 5 with M in 2023-24
2026-27 School Year – Planning for Em. This will be my second time through Year 5.
The planning for this year has been tricky. I am writing this from a couch in a rental apartment where we are staying for two months while we search for a new house to purchase. We moved from California to Maryland at the end of January and all but a couple of boxes of our current school books are packed up in a POD waiting to be shipped when we finally find a home. So, I have had to rely on what I know I have from going through Year 5 with M. For the new studies such as artists and poets, I am (mostly!) waiting to purchase books until we move in. Needless to say, I am further behind in my planning for next year than I usually am at this time of year. And I have a feeling there will be more changes than usual in the final execution of this plan!
Weekly Schedule
Once I have the 36-week schedule figured out, I spend some time making sure I can fit everything into the weeks allotted. I determine which items will be done together in morning school, which will be independent work, and which ones I will do alongside Em. This means taking the weekly schedule template from the previous year and tweaking it until I can see where everything will go. This process is a bit tricky because I need to remember to think about what is coming in term 2 and 3 and figure out which new things for the term is replacing what from the old term. This year I have added in a new complication: I have decided to allow one day a week for a field trip. We just moved to the D.C. area where there are so many museums and historical locations that I can’t not take advantage of them. So I am being deliberate about planning to visit one per week. Here is the template I have set up for Em’s Year 5:
In addition to the weekly schedules for each student, I also make a Morning School weekly schedule. I have to do this to keep track of all the things I have planned for us to do together. Here is the template I’ll be using for this year:
Bible
Bible is split up into Together Time and Vespers and then by the time of the year. This year we will cover the following:
| Together Time | Vespers (see Liturgical Year for details) | |
| Aug – NovOrdinary Time | Esther, Job | I & II Samuel |
| Advent | Hallelujah by Cindy Rollins | Advent Readings |
| Christmas | N/A (no school) | Christmas Readings |
| Jan/Feb | Special Study: Jonah | Luke |
| Lent | The Sacred Sacrifice by Hannah Paris | Lent Readings |
| Easter | TBD | Acts |
| Jun – Aug Orinary Time | n/a (no school) | Possibly the narrative portions of Isaiah and Jeremiah |
Check Out the Other Guides pages for Bible Reading schedules. I have made up bookmarks with reading schedules for the AO6 readings (Job, Jonah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther), which we’ll be using to finish out the books we didn’t get to last year.
For Bible Memory, we work through one or two passages a term in Together Time. I will use the suggestions from AO for Bible recitation for AO5 and AO8.
History
I will continue to read TCOO to Em and show him the maps and resources I have listed on the TCOO page. We are using the revised editions by Donna-Jean Breckenridge (see link on AO website). In addition to the poster of the presidents, we will start a “Presidents Notebook,” in which I will have Em narrate, draw, or paste in pictures of things he’s learned about each president. Now that we are living in the DC area, I hope to be able to make visits to presidential homes or museums during the weeks we are studying the president. Em really likes keeping track of things, so I am hoping this is a way he can enjoy remembering a bit about each President.
We read through most of Answering the Cry last year, so I will not add it in this year.
I plan on reading aloud SOW to Em, though I will schedule it in for a daily reading so that we can be sure to get through all the readings. A lesson I learned from going through it with M – the AO schedule has a lot on it for each week that can’t all be done in a day.
I have decided to read aloud Lincoln’s World to Em. I had M read it independently, and I unfortuneatly did not keep up with the pre-reading as thoroughly as I should have. So honestly, it’s mostly because I want to read it myself. But also, Em is able to have more in depth conversations than M, so I am looking forward to working through this book with him. I have scheduled other readings as independent that I read aloud to M to make room for this in the schedule.
Em will read African Icons independently and use the narration sheet and maps I have prepared for each of the readings. See Other Guides for the document.
Timeline
In previous years, Em has kept an abrievated book of centuries made up of century charts from about 1000 BC to current date. He has mostly used timeline stickers for major people and events and drawn in some others.
This year Em will start an official Book of Centuries. We’re using the Book of Centuries from Living Book Press. He is looking forward to having more room than one tiny square for each year. Though he is sad to be loosing all of the stickers he has already put in. So I bought another set of the stickers and we’ll spend some time at the beginning of the year putting the stickers he’s already used in his new timeline so he can keep the work he’s already done. I have put in dates on the AO schedule to remind myself of some of the more important dates from the readings to make sure we include them. I have a Book of Centuries for myself that I add to along with the boys,
Biography
History Biographies and Science Biographies lists
I am planning on having Em reading Of Courage Undaunted on his own. I will use the reading guide I’ve posted on the Other Guides page to help me follow along with narrations as well as to show him maps and other resources that go along with the weekly reading. I have scheduled in the reading for once a week during Terms 1 and 2. In the past I have forgotten to have discussions about independent readings, especially when the narrations are written. To avoid this, I am including 5 minutes on the schedule every day with me to discuss the independent readings. (see Weekly Schedule above).
Using the kindle version of Radium Woman and listening to the audio book, Em will work through this book independently. The chapters in this book are long, so I will assign Em to listen to the audiobook for 10 minutes every day during Term 1 as I did with M. I will use the guide I made to keep up with the narrations. (See Other Guides)
In Term 2, Em will read Dr. George Washington Carver: Scientist by Shirley Graham and George D. Lipscomb. He will read this independently 2-3 times per week and I will follow along with the reading guide for narrations (See Other Guides).
I will use the same Teddy Roosevelt biography I used for M, since I’ve already done the pre-reading and it allowes us to fit everything in the schedule easily. I’ll use my reading guide for Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt!By Jean Fritz to help with narrations (see Other Guides page). I will have Em read this one independently once to twice a week during Term 3.
I am also including th biography Harriet Tubman by Ann Petry for Term 3. I pre-read this and can’t wait to talk about it with Em – it was probaly one of my top reads for last year. Now that we live in Maryland, we can also visit some of the locations mentioned, as well as the visit the Harriet Tubman Museum and/or the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad NP. Em will read two chapters per week or I may have him follow along in the audio book which is about 40 minutes per week. This will be split into 2 or 3 readings per week.
Language Arts
Shakespeare
For the last two years I have scheduled the Term 1 play to be a play that we watched over the summer. Both years we’ve been able to see a Shakespere in the Park production with friends. Before the performance, we have read a retelling with our friend – narrating with peg people or puppets. Then when we read the full play in the fall, the boys have been fully absorbed. For Love’s Labour’s Lost last year, they also watched Kenneth Branaugh’s incredibly silly version after reading it. In fact, I was only showing them a clip but they begged to watch the full movie in their free time! For this year, i don’t yet know which play we’ll get to see this summer. I have hopes of being back in California to see Comedy of Errors performed by the Indpendent Shakespeare Co. with our friends. Otherwise, we might be able to see The Tempest or The Tale of Cymbaline performed by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. There is also the possibility of seeing Twelfth Night at the American Shakespeare Center (they are also doing As You Like It, but that is one we recently saw and read).
So, depending upon what we get to see, I’ll plan the first two terms. I am planning the Winter’s Tale for Term 3. As usual, when we read along with the script, we will listen to the Argo Classics audio version. In the past, reading it about 3 times per week got us through a play per term (except the term we moved across country – it took us longer so we only did two plays that year).
Literature
Though Age of Fable was not a hit with M, I am going to try it with Em. We will listen to the audiobook of it (so I don’t mangle the names), while Em follows along in the book.
For Term 2 Em will listen to Oliver Twist and Tom Sawyer in Term 3, both while following along in the book independently.
After getting only several weeks into it with M, I have decided not to do Kim with Em either.
Since Daddy read Rosemary Sutcliff’s Arthurian legend books The Sword and the Circle and The Light Beyond the Forest to Em during bedtime reading last year, I have not assigned the King Arthur book to him for Year 5. Instead, I will do as I did for M and substitute it with Beowulf: Dragon Slayer by Rosemary Sutcliff so that he will also have a re-telling of the story before reading it in Year 7. I have scheduled it as independent reading twice a week for Term 1.
Poetry
We do poetry in Morning School together, blending both of the year’s assigned poets. Poetry is scheduled for twice a week. Morning school poetry for Term 1 will be Kipling from Year 5 and we’ll take Donne’s Sonnets from Year 8. In term 2, we’ll read Longfellow and Shakespeare’s Sonnets. For the Sonnets, I’ve choosen 12 sonnets from the AO list and we will listen to the recordings Patrick Stewart did of all the sonnets during the COVID lockdown. In Term 3 we study Gwendolyn Brooks using the resources suggested on the Heritage Mom website. Since there are two days scheduled for poetry, I will use one day to read the biography and one day to read a poem.
Copywork and Grammar
See copyworb and grammar recommendations here
This year we will work through Fix It Grammar level 1, which includes a copywork component. I will have him do this in cursive.
Dictation
We will also be starting dictation using his assigned readings. On one day I will have him study the passage independently, and the next day I will dictate it to him. This never worked with M, so I am not sure how it is going to work. I really wish there was a list of recommended dictation passages. So, I plan on keeping track as we go through and making a list of what we did to share here.
Recitation
Recitation suggestions here and here
Since we do poetry, Bible, and Shakespeare together, we also work on Recitation together. We review it twice a week in Morning School. Then both boys study the passage twice a week during their independent time. I have created a document with the poems and passages I have chosen from our poets and Shakespeare readings. This way when they have mastered one passage, I just print the next for the recitation binders. We keep one binder in the Morning School basket and each boy has their own. I keep all the recitations they have done in the binder as a reminder, but also as a way to easily access the recitation component of the Exams.
Foreign Language
This year we will continue Getting Started With Latin. Em did well and made significant progress through the book last year. I have Latin scheduled for every day we do school, either a new lesson or a review.
Geography
As I did with M, I will read the Book of Marvels aloud to Em. Some of the chapters are lengthy, so some weeks it will take two days to get through, though I am planning for one day a week for most chapters. We will use the maps in the book to locate the marvels and depending upon his interest, we may use a World Map from Beautiful Feet Books to keep track of them all (since I have an extra one lying around). M enjoyed the videos on the website Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels: The Classic Journey Updated for Today along with our readings, so I’ll plan on using them again.
Our morning time georaphy/map drills time will be studying the Carribean and Arctic nations this year. As with previous geography studies, we find the country on the globe, look at maps, answer map questions, and learn a little about its culture and natural enviroment through books or videos. This is usually about a 15-20 mintues time once per week. I will post those studies in Other Guides as I develop them.
Citizenship
This will be Em’s first year with Plutarch. I tried for about a year and a half with M, but decided in the end that it was not working with M’s special needs. But I’ve decided doing Plutarch in morning school this year instead of just with Em. I have found that when Em is following along and giving good narrations, M is able to understand things a little better. This has worked with poetry and Shakespeare and some science. I have scheduled it in for one day a week and will use Anne White’s Plutarch Project Vol 7 in hopes of working our way through Pompey by the end of the year (also available for free on the AO website).
Nature Study
As usual, we’ll do Nature Study in Morning Time one time a week for about 20 minutes. This year we will follow the topics in the AO schedule. We will incorporate the topic into field trips and nature walks. I’ll post my nature study guides on the Nature Page as I complete them.
Science
I have scheduled Wild Animals I Have Known for once a week independent reading. I did not keep up with the pre-reading when M read it, and I have a feeling I won’t this time either.
I am looking forward to reading Great Inventors with Em. He is always asking how things work and how things were invented, so I think he will be engaged with these stories. I remember from going through with M, that the readings are long. So I have scheduled it for me to read to Em twice a week.
We will continue to read Isaac Asimov’s Guide to Earth and Space as a replacement for Madame How and Lady Why. I will read it to Em once a week. Last year we made it through about half the book by reading two chapters per week. At the rate of one per week, I anticipate not finishing the book.
I will use the anatomy reading that I used for M instead of the recommendations by AO. See Other Guides page for the guides.
In morning school, we will continue working through Rural Hours, Plant Life, and Signs & Seasons along with M. I have decided to do these books together since they both include many of activities that work better doing them as a family (such as star gazing and making a backyard compass).
Mathematics
Em will continue in his Saxon math. Last year he started level 7/6. I will do a couple weeks of review and then start up where we left off. I have scheduled three new lessons per week and a math fact quiz on Fridays. This is to accommodate our field trip day as well as a shortened day on Friday when we meet with our Nature Group.
Art and Music
Artist Study
While we mostly follow the AO schedule, I do make some changes to add in some diversity. This year we will study Norman Rockwell in Term 1. I’m sad there will be no prints available from A Humble Place since most of his artwork is not in the public domain. But I do have a book of his artwork from my grandparents that I remember pouring over for hours as a kid. So I will use that book and maybe get a calendar to use to hang some prints up during the study. I also hope to be able to see at least one of his pieces at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. I also have a secret plan to take a family weekend up to see the fall colors and the Norman Rockwell Museum (it may be fantasy, but a girl can dream). In Term 2, we will study Joshua Johnson using the resources from the Heritage Mom website. Now that we are living near DC, we will be able to see several of his works at the National Gallery of Art. In Term 3 we will study Pieter Bruegel the Elder. I chose him because we missed him when he was on the AO schedule and I think the boys will both connect with his art. We will also be able to see several of his pieces at the National Gallary of Art.
Architecture
Lately I have been including an achictecture study in Morning Time (see Other Guides/Architecture). We’ve been through Young People’s Story of Architecture, and Catherdral & Mosque by David Macaulay. This coming year I am going to try a less formal study. I found a used copy of Architecture Styles Spotter’s Guideand think I will carry it with us as we go on our adventures in the cities around D.C. Already when we’ve been out the boys have pointed out columns and design features, remembering that we’ve studied them and sometimes even remembering the names. So, I’m going to try out bringing our “field guide” with us just like we do on nature walks so that we can study architecture in the wild. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Composer
This year I have chosen to study Chopin in Term 1, Debussey in Term 2, and Bach in Term 3. We have really enjoyed the Music Study wih the Masters series by Simply Charlotte Mason, so will be using those resources for all three of these studies.
We will also continue with our From Sound to Song study from Thistle and Biscuits. We did not make it through the study last year, so will continue where we left off. The boys have been enjoying the videos and interactive websites linked in the study.
Folk Songs & Hymns
As usual, we will continue following along with the AO Hymn and Folksong and use Hannah’s lovely YouTube postings at folksandhymns. I support her on Patreon and receive a monthly email with an mp3 of the music and a pdf of the lyrics. It makes my life so much easier! And with the mp3 I can create a playlist of hymn on my phone so we can listen to all our AO songs.
The monthly hymn is added to our family hymnal that is used during our Vespers time in the evenings (See Liturgical Year for how we have family readings and singing each evening).
Ambling Together 
