Simply Charlotte Mason Curriculum: Individual Graded Subjects

Math, science, and language arts for each grade

These subjects should be taught one-on-one, not as a family. Each grade level covers math, science, and language arts. The older grades include additional Individual studies.

Grade 1

Individual Studies for Grade 1 will give you day-by-day plans using the resources below.

Math

Science

Language Arts

Young students vary widely in readiness for reading and writing, so we offer options. Select the one track (A or B) that best reflects your student’s progress in reading and writing skills.

Grade 2

Individual Studies for Grade 2 will give you day-by-day plans using the resources below.

Math

Science

Language Arts

Young students vary widely in readiness for reading and writing, so we offer options. Select the one track (A or B) that best reflects your student’s progress in reading and writing skills.

Grade 3

Individual Studies for Grade 3 will give you day-by-day plans using the resources below.

Math

Science

Language Arts

Young students vary widely in readiness for reading and writing, so we offer options. Select the one track (A or B) that best reflects your student’s progress in reading and writing skills.

Grade 4

Individual Studies for Grade 4 will give you day-by-day plans using the resources below.

Math

Science

Language Arts

Grade 5

Individual Studies for Grade 5 will give you day-by-day plans using the resources below.

Math

  • The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series, Book 5 (four days per week)
  • Charlotte Mason Practical Geometry, Part 1 (one day per week)

Science

Language Arts

Grade 6

Individual Studies for Grade 6 will give you day-by-day plans using the resources below.

Math

Science

Language Arts

Grade 7

Individual Studies for Grade 7 will give you day-by-day plans using the resources below.

Math

Science

Language Arts

Latin

Personal Development

Grade 8

Individual Studies for Grade 8 will give you day-by-day plans using the resources below.

Math

Science

Language Arts

Latin

Personal Development

Grade 9

Math

Science

Language Arts

Latin

Personal Development

Current Events

Grade 10

Math

Science

Language Arts

Latin

Personal Development

Current Events

Grade 11

Math

Science

Language Arts

Latin

We recommend spreading out each Unit of Cambridge Latin over a full school year. This can be done for Unit 1 by completing 4 stages per term (3 weeks per stage) using one of these schedules:

2 lessons per week = 6 lessons per stage (3–4 pages per lesson)
3 lessons per week = 9 lessons per stage (2–3 pages per lesson)

Personal Development

Current Events

Grade 12

Math

  • Your choice of math curriculum elective. (We recommend mentoring your student in the position of family bookkeeper or Math-U-See Calculus [Pre-Calculus is prerequisite].)

Science

Language Arts

Latin

We recommend spreading out each Unit of Cambridge Latin over a full school year. This can be done for Unit 2 by about 2.5 stages per term (4.5 weeks per stage) using one of these schedules:

2 lessons per week = complete about 2.5 pages per lesson
3 lessons per week = complete about 1.5–2 pages per lesson

Personal Development

Current Events

Notes on Math, Science, and Language Arts

Math

Charlotte Mason used manipulatives to teach math. She emphasized the importance of “things” before “symbols.” She also wanted the children to have a good understanding of why they would perform a certain math function, not just how to perform it. The book Mathematics: An Instrument for Living Teaching will give you all the details on how Charlotte approached math. You can also see live demonstrations of her methods for elementary arithmetic on the video series, Charlotte Mason’s Living Math: A Guided Journey.

So choose a math curriculum that uses manipulatives and includes the Why behind the How. Word problems are a great way to explore the Why. Keep lessons short; you can do two shorter lessons at separate times throughout the day if you need to.

Not all children need advanced mathematics, such as Calculus. If your child finds math fascinating and wants to pursue it, feel free to do the advanced math courses. If your child is not math-inclined and doesn’t need an advanced course for college requirements, do the Stewardship course and give him practical experience as the family bookkeeper.

Science

Grades 1–3: You can combine your students in grades 1–3 for science if you would like to. The grade-level suggestions give recommendations for living science courses that will help you do that.

Grades 4–6: You can combine your students in grades 4–6 for science if you would like to. The grade-level suggestions give recommendations for living science courses that will help you do that.

Grades 7–12: We recommend that students in the upper grades use the conversational science textbooks listed in the grade-level suggestions. While living books might be more interesting, at this level of study it is difficult to find such books that present current, accurate information. We have also found that many living science books on the advanced science topics teach about the science rather than teaching the science itself. So we list one optional living science book per course as a supplemental read to the conversational textbook. If your child is planning to take college courses, we recommend he or she complete the high school science courses listed.

Language Arts

Language Arts includes everything you do to help your student hear, speak, read, and write. Many educators break down those four areas into lots of individual skills; however, Charlotte Mason combined and integrated many of the skills in her wonderful, language-rich methods. For example, she did not teach vocabulary as a separate subject, but the children’s vocabulary was enlarged as they heard and read quality living books. Other components that are normally classified as Language Arts are included in the Family Enrichment studies and the History studies (poetry, literature, Shakespeare, narration/composition material). You’ll find all the details in the book Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing: A Charlotte Mason Language Arts Handbook.