Elementary Curriculum
Morning Time: Depending on age, K-3 will read Bible stories from well-written children’s Bibles or from accessible translations such as NIrV, and will learn poetry and hymns.
4th-6th: Poetry will focus on one poet per term (3 per year) and we will go a bit deeper into Bible study.
Artist/Composer Study: Composer and artist studies will be based on living artist/composer biographies and relevant art and music selections. Each composer and artist is studied in five-week blocks for continuity and depth of knowledge of the life and work of the artist/composer. We cover three artists and three composers per year.
Reading: Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade each cover a level of All About Reading (AAR), a multi-sensory systematic phonics program. Placement tests can be found on the site.
3rd grade will also hone their oral narration skills and will begin writing short narrations by the end of the year.
4th-6th: Upper elementary students study three pieces of literature a year: a modern classic novel, a classic, and Shakespeare play.
Writing/Spelling/Grammar: 1st-3rd grade use all about Spelling. Kindergarten and 1st grade use Handwriting Without Tears for introductory writing instruction. Second and third-graders will use their spelling to reinforce their writing skills.
Narration: Charlotte Mason’s approach to grammar and spelling relied heavily on a foundation of reading, hearing, and copying well-written literature for several years. Also essential to language development was narration or “telling back.” Children learn the art of listening to increasingly longer passages, and then narrating them. This skill takes time to build and requires the ability to construct sentences and order ideas into language, but does so without tying this to the ability to write and spell. Spelling and writing are learned gently, and by the end of roughly third grade or about age 9, children should have the skills to begin putting their ability to narrate to paper by beginning to write short narrations.
Math: Kuske Math is an excellent, concrete visual method that we use in kindergarten where the children learn to work with numbers and quantity and manipulate the addition and subtraction facts to 10. Check out the visual model at kuskemath.com . Our Aspen programming will be test driving Math U See in Kindergarten along with 1st-4th, as we continue to fine-tune the math progression through elementary and middle school.
1st-6th grade will use the Math U See progression and we strongly encourage its use at home!
History/Geography: The 4-year American history cycle begins in 1st grade using select living books. Each year covers a portion of American history from Explorers through Modern. A history “spine” (a living history book written in narrative form versus dry facts to memorize) is recommended for home use that helps tie everything together.
In kindergarten, students will be exposed to significant historical events and people as well as geography through appropriate stories. In upper elementary and middle school, we recommend, as Charlotte Mason did, introducing a stream of British/European history alongside American and a stream of ancient history.
For geography, we use books from Charlotte Mason and Long in 1st grade to begin to understand basic geographic concepts. Second and third graders use Holling C. Hollings books to explore the geography of North America. In 4th-6th grade, geography will include map work related to the history readings.
Science: Science in Kindergarten through 3rd grade is a mix of nature study outside, drawing and observing plants and animals, and various living books supplemented with creative projects and interest-driven exploration. The essential foundation for later science study is laid in these years by allowing plenty of time and training in observation and delight in creation. Our Field Study adventures outdoors are combined with a more book-based nature study block to give plenty of time to build this foundation.
4th-6th: These grades begin a formal science curriculum using living books and experiments that cover one topic per year. 4th grade covers Playground Physics; 5th grade covers Geology; 6th grade covers Biology.
HOME DAYS
Reading, writing, and math will be the core of home days as well as daily practice of the poetry and hymns from school days to help reinforce what the children are learning at school. We also encourage parents to read either history, literature, or nature stories each day and suggestions will be provided for these readings.
4th-8th: Parents will likely want to do at least one more day of history, and work through more literature, as well as whatever language arts and math are appropriate for their child.
