AO and My Favorite Books (so far)

From April 2009 until now we've been using Ambleside Online in our school. I stumbled upon AO in January 2008 when I started thinking about taking our kids out of public school and I was looking for a curriculum for possibly homeschooling.

Admittedly the first thing that caught my eye with AO was that it is free. That's right- free. When I say 'free' though I don't mean that it costs nothing. Really, how many things in life are truly free? You will have to purchase some materials for schooling with AO. But they offer the entire curriculum- book list and schedule- online for no cost. A lot of the books that are suggested are in the public domain, making them 'free' to read either online or as is the case nowadays, on an ereader or such device. (I've made a website with as many books as I could find that are Kindle ready for AO/HEO)

Another reason I love AO is that it is based around Charlotte Mason's philosophy (which I've yet to understand fully but I love what I do get). It is also based on the understanding that God should be in every facet of our lives. That includes learning. All things are because of God, how could we cut Him out? The books and materials suggested by AO reflect this. 

We started gradually in Year 5 and Year 7Lite. My kids were in grades 5 and 7 when we started homeschooling. They had already used another boxed curriculum for the first 6 months of school. We started using AO material in February, more than half way through the first year.  I'll admit it was a bit challenging at first to understand the concept or philosophy behind AO (Charlotte Mason method) because it was extremely different than I had been taught and how I was going about teaching my kids.

Here we are in our second year of homeschooling (finish it May 20th) and we still are using Year 5 and Year 7 (added in a few books that are in the Yr7 full booklist). We have added in one or two books from Year 6 and Year 8 also. As much as I want to 'complete' the years it is more about understanding and learning than just getting it done.

I've been thinking a lot about AO lately since I pulled my ds out of it and placed him into an online public school. My dd is still using AO and I can see such a difference in the quality. At the bottom of my blog you can see a list of books we have used/are using in our school with AO. Unfortunately my lists are not up to date but you will get an idea of what we are doing. 

There are definitely some books that I have set as my 'favorites' since starting with AO. I've always been a book reader. I read at least 5 books a week when I was in middle school and high school. But not good quality books, I'm afraid. I read a few things that were 'good' when I had to but otherwise I chose what I would call twaddle or simply inappropriate books for my age. Oh how my mind would have been so different if I had focused my appetite on books that were more filling. I was always hungry for reading (and I suppose learning) that wasn't satisfied with my book choices. I am getting that chance now :)

Here is a short list of some of my favorite AO books as of now, and a brief reason of why:

Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton

(links to table of contents as the book is not available online)

This book, although very old and may be seen as outdated in terms of geography (only really in the sense that if you look at the maps presented in the book, they may not show what you will see on a current map), is full of information about the locations that Halliburton traveled. He writes in a way that is interesting. I think at the start of the book he says that he will make you feel like you are there with him when you read the chapters. My ds tells me after almost every chapter how awesome it is to go to these places. Halliburton really takes the reader along. My son really gains a better understanding of geography this way. Our book was purchased through a used homeschool curriculum group and was printed in 1941 (?); my son says he will keep this book forever.

This Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall

Honestly, at first we weren't thrilled with this book. There is a lot of strange wordings and language that we didn't quite understand but I do think that the style of writing and descriptions of the situations/circumstances pertaining to US History are very engaging. My son does grumble when we have this scheduled sometimes but before we get far into it, he is on the edge of his seat. It gives more of a sense of realism to when these things were taking place, I think. The chapters are not impersonal with only facts and numbers to be remembered. No, Marshall gives insight into feelings of the people of the time; it helps the students take an interest.

The History of English Literature for Girls and Boys by H.E. Marshall

(links to Gutenberg, choose how to view under Format)

This has taken a bit to get into. Because we started AO later in the year I didn't have all the books/subjects scheduled. However this book is also written by Marshall and the style is engaging. We are only on chapter 10 now and a lot of the time we stop to figure out what a word or passage means, yet we want to continue on with our reading- even when we don't quite understand. This one I read with my dd but even my ds likes to listen in (and attentively, I might add). It helps give a background into the literature from the past and how it has influenced our literature. The book was published in the 1900s so you can expect to find a few unfamiliar words.

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey

There is a page set aside at AO's site pertaining to the content of this book but honestly, if your student is mature then this book will be no problem. Of course, if this is done together (as my dd and I do) then it is easy to skip/skim over the questionable parts. I really enjoy the comparison of living to the Body of Christ (the Church) in this book. There are so many references that I had never thought of before and it's been a real eye opener to me. It also has taught us about leprosy -something that I don't think is talked much about anymore. There are not many illustrations in the book that we have and I think that is good. Pictures are often unnecessary if the writing is well done. It is in this book.

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

Being a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia I was totally unprepared for this book. With narration my daughter finds this book challenging but this is an excellent book. I think that if one is unsure of Christianity or if they are needing a nudge in their own Christianity this book will help with that. I like Lewis' candidness at points and also his omission at other points. Some things are not appropriate for the scope of this book and he realized that when he wrote it, I think. There were sections that we did not cover because they dealt with things that my dd didn't need to be discussing at this point in her life. But I can see this being a book that can be reread at almost any age (not younger than perhaps 14 ish, in my opinion).

Saints and Heroes Volume 1 by George Hodges

Not being very inclined to learn about 'saints and heroes' when I was younger other than what little I learned in school, this book has been quite interesting to me. I have personally been familiar with a lot of the names of individuals that are covered in this book but not the circumstances surrounding them. It helps us to realize what early Christians went through for their faith. It also helps to paint a picture of the early Catholic church as well. There is of course some bias but that is to be expected in any book. These are short bits about each person/situation and really do not include as much information as one would need to call their knowledge complete. But it does give a basic foundation or a jumping off point for more investigation if one should choose.

Well, those are some of my favorite books suggested by AO -so far. There are others that I've just now thought of but I will leave those for another time.