How to combine AO years with 3 students?

Hi Lydia and welcome!

We are also a dual language – Russian/English speaking family.  I began in AO with our oldest and, though it was a wonderful year, was unsure how we would get in all the hours out-of-doors if I had two in different AO years so made the switch to SCM.  AO is wonderful as is SCM.  If you want to stick with AO, maybe someone well versed on their forum could advise.

When  our second began formal lessons, we went with SCM’s Genesis through Deut. & Ancient Egypt.  Our children loved it but with SCM you can really start in any module.  We have done a number of the modules and are now in Early Modern.  Charlotte Mason’s original schools did have all years in the same time-frame of history but different things were expected of them such as written narration for the older students.  SCM’s handbooks lay this out very nicely so we have our family read-alouds and then the older student has his independent reading.  This also makes for interesting conversation around the dinner table as we can all talk about, say, Napoleon as the kids are studying the same era.

By the way, our ten-year-old is visual-spatial so Charlotte Mason’s methods have been very helpful and non-stressful for him.  Her methods work equally well for our older, more traditional learner.

Again, welcome.  Others may chime in but please let us know if we can be of any more help.  I’m looking forward to getting to know you better here.

Warmly,

Richele

Oh, Lydia, you are welcome.  Your schedule will get all worked out with creative thinking, prayer and trusting in Him, who is sovereign over it all. I’m excited for you and your family as you will not only be approaching each subject in a living way and using “living books” but you will also be in cooperation with the one who is Life.

We are able to combine most subjects.  Depending on where you are with each child, things like “Reading” might be on the schedule and for a younger child that would mean you are having a formal reading lesson with her/him while an older child is doing an independent reading.

We teach in both languages.  When my husband is home we only speak Russian but with formal lessons I mainly teach in English but it depends on the subject.  Here is a link to a forum post where we talked a lot about Charlotte Mason in different “first languages.” It details more closely how we do that.

Oh, I wanted to mention that I used SCM’s resource “Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education” when I first began.  It walks you through the process in five steps.  If you like, please feel free to message me privately at rbaburina(at)gmail(dot)com

Best,

Richele

Once we see that we are dealing spirit with spirit with the friend at whose side we are sitting, with the people who attend to our needs, we shall be able to realize how incessant is the commerce between the divine Spirit and our human spirit.  It will be to us as when one stops one’s talk and one’s thoughts in the spring-time, to find the world full of bird-music unheard the instant before. In like manner we shall learn to make pause in our thoughts, and shall hear in our intellectual perplexities, as well as in our moral, the clear, sweet, cheering and inspiring tones of our spiritual Guide. –Charlotte Mason