Cons of Ambleside Online?

We used it for our two daughs bout 7 yrs ago, they are 8 yrs apart in age, so we did indeed use two different levels. We stopped after 1 yr. and I am sorry we didnt stop sooner. Its just I ( notice it was I ) wanted to say we gave it a good run . My daugh literally had dark circles under their eyes from the extensive reading list and they felt that is all they did, read, read, read… Going from one book to the next. Never feeling they had time to digest what they read. I also question the book selections. Duplicating what was used in a school 100 yrs ago doesn’t make it better, not to mention many homeschoolers live in different countries, so studying history pertinent to that country’s heritage doesn’t add up. I can’t help but wonder, if CM herself would be using those same books in the now,( certainly in 100 yrs there have been some good living books that are worthy of their print! )not to mention, had she suspected her “curriculum” would have taken off exponentially beyond the walls of her schools. I think the very thing that living ideas can accomplish can be our demise when we allow them to replace our ability to think and decide for the components of our families.

I have incorporated many many CM methods and philosophies over the years , I do not use SCM per se, but I cherish what is here and the work that Sonya Schaefer does because she isn’t so dogmatic that her curr, is the “way” she extends to you some choice selections that align with the methods of CM that are valuable to pursue for the child, and then she gets out of the way. I don’t know SS personally, but I did have the opportunity to peruse her table at the CHAP convention this spring , I asked her a few questions and she said ” you don’t need anything here, just keep on doing what you are” she recognized and respected an individual who had caught onto ” living” and was able to appropriate it for their homeschool journey.

One last comment : would you duplicate a culture or lifestyle that was in the bible to attain a more fitting spiritual understanding of the bible,? Would you read only books of those times in the original languages?

May you be blessed in your journey

Kk

We are using AO right now, with modifications to remove some American history and add in Canadian History (being Canadian.)

I have one in Year 4 (with dyslexia), one in Year 3, one in Year 1, and one in Year 0.

The only real Con I find to AO is that right now all my kids are unable to read their books independently, so it is a lot for me.  We do use a fair number of audiobooks to compensate.     I generally go through a bit of a panic attack as I plan for the next year – and our first month or so is always a bit rocky as we work to find our rhythm.

The site can look overwhelming, and I find that if we get behind schedule I can start to get worried.  That said, I find if I treat each AO week as a module and just finish one and start the next, that things work well.  So far we have never ended the year more than a week behind my original plans…

Yes, a lot of the books are old (which is nice as many are available free if you have an ereader.)  There are some that are NOT old.  And most of them have been delightful. 

My kids don’t seem to work well together, and when doing ‘family studies’ types of programs like SCM, there was always a problem if one of the kids was sick or uncooperative.  

Love AO through year 6.  Only downside IMO is separating out kids.  Hated some of the choices in years 7 and up.  Just hated them.  There are better books.  That’s where we ditched.

I also felt that there were newer books that did a better job of igniting a love for reading in my younger children, but now that my oldest two are moving into jr high and high school level work, I am using the AO book list to round out our hand made curriculum. I would encourage anyone to learn the methods and put together their own plan whenever possible. Believe me, if have tried every curriculum package out there, and I have ended up tweaking and adjusting until it was un-recognizable! In the end, you are going to be the best judge of the books that appeal to your children and the pace you want to set for education in your home. We choose our foundation books and then I draw from the suggestions on SCM, AO, Veritas Press, Winter Promise, etc. to fill in the reading. We are also using some of the videos on http://www.kahnacademy.com. It works really well! If AO does appeal to you, just remember that it’s ok to adjust it to fit your family! At least with their program you won’t be spending thousands of dollars so you don’t need to feel guilty if you make changes!

We are using AO for the first time this year with my 12 year old daughter. We are using year 6 and really enjoying it so far. I have no idea what we’ll think of years 7 and up but Year 6 has been the perfect answer for us this year. I wanted something that wouold challenge my daughter without frustrating her and this has fit the bill.

However, I can’t even begin to imagine how my son would have responded to AO. It would not have been an option with him.

Pros:

Great book choices so far. My daughter’s narrations have improved dramatically.

I’m loving the science selections! It’s so nice to use living science books!

Most of the planning is done for me.

It’s so inexpensive!

Cons:

Many of the books are hard to find a hard copy of so alot of reading takes place on the kindle.

It can be overwhelming at first. I found the best method for me was to jump in and slowly incorporate things as we felt ready.

I don’t think the book selections fit a lot of kids learning styles. They are old and my son would have been really frustrated with only reading old books. He wouldn’t have found many of AO’s book selections to be relevant to his life.  AO would have only frustrated him.

We have definitely tweaked AO to fit our needs. We don’t follow all their suggestions. We haven’t begun Plutarch yet and I haven’t decided if we will in the future or not. We follow our own Bible reading plan. We use SCM’s picture portfolios (which I LOVE!) and I prefer to follow Sonya’s advice concerning nature study, composer study, picture study, poetry, hymn study, geography and scripture memory. The methods are so simple and yet so effective. I heard Sonya speak in May and then was able to watch the SCM dvd’s during the summer as well. Her methods for these subjects have enabled our family to finally be consistent in these areas. I am so thankful. 🙂

AO is a great resource HOWEVER it can be complicated.  It does not necessarily move in chronological order in the younger years which was a bit confusing.  Also, I feel that unless you are a seasoned CMer, it may be incredibly difficult to know how to put it all together.  It does give you a general schedule, but when a person is new to the CM method of educating, AO can be very overwhelming.  I suggest that if you use AO, be sure to take time and read through ALL the pages on their website, and  especially read through and take notes on Charlotte’s book series.  (A good idea to do anyway)  I was going to use AO this year, but decided to go back to SCM because Sonja’s books, blog, forum and curriculum have been the most help to me.  She has put the CM method together in an easy to implement format and I need that.  Her prices are very affordable as well as having good quality classic books she uses.  My boys really enjoyed and learned a lot from her curriculum last year.  My stress has been cut down to almost nothing now.