Sample Minimalist Homeschooling Schedule – Combining Charlotte Mason and Classical Conversations

The story of a sample minimalist homeschooling schedule that combines Charlotte Mason with Classical Conversations…

There are a lot of ways to homeschool minimally.  If you have read the book, Minimalist Homeschooling, you know that it is not about the curriculum or resources you choose.  Rather, homeschooling minimally is about changing your mindset about education, and increasing the value in everything that you do.  This sample minimalist homeschooling schedule just happens to be one example that uses resources from Charlotte Mason and Classical Conversations.

I had the pleasure last weekend of sitting down with a friend to talk about her upcoming school schedule.  She was a little reluctant to actually get the year planned, but also a little stressed that it wasn’t planned yet, and a little overwhelmed by the thought of another homeschool year.  Sound familiar?  Yeah, me too.

She had already read the book Minimalist Homeschooling, and so the process was actually super-simple.  It took us about 2 hours, which included a lot of gabbing about neighborhood news and family life… so, let’s just say it took an enjoyable, relaxed 2 hours.

In this particular case, she is combining Charlotte Mason – specifically, Ambleside Online – and Classical Conversations Cycle 3.  Her children are Y5 and Y6 in Ambleside.  Normally, combining Charlotte Mason (hello, mountain of books) and Classical Conversations (hello, tons of information at break-neck speed) would sound like the opposite of minimalist homeschooling.  However, anything can be simplified if…

• you have embraced a minimalist homeschooling mindset, and
• you have gone through the book to prioritize, set goals, and get control of your schedule and your space.
• you may also want to look at What Minimalist Homeschooling is NOT.

The Schedule

First, here’s the schedule for their first 12-week term.  I’ll discuss the details below.

 

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Those “download” buttons will take you to an .rtf version of their overall schedule.  That means you can open the document in most word processing programs and edit it to suit your own family.  You can add specific page numbers and lesson plans to customize each week.

Repetition + Technology = Simplification.

By the way, it’s a table.  Each color (or white space) is a row.  There are columns for the days of the week.  I removed borders to make it look pretty, but they are there.

Let’s highlight some features of this particular sample minimalist homeschooling schedule.  I will also try to provide enough insight into how we arrived at the schedule so you feel comfortable adjusting it for your needs.

Hyped-Up Block Scheduling

 

 

First of all, you’ll notice that the sample minimalist homeschooling schedule is a block schedule… but different.  Instead of using times, we grouped similar tasks together.  In this case, the family is tending to a new litter of puppies, so interruptions are inevitable.  Whether you have new puppies, wee ones, or medical appointments, I find this kind of flexible scheduling works well.

Here’s how it looks in real life: You sit down to work on your “together work” until the puppies need to go out.  You go to tend to the puppies while your children attack their “independent work.”  When you return, they finish up the independent assignment they are on, and you get back to some together work.  You break for lunch, or any of the appointments listed for the day, and then pick-up on the schoolwork that needs to be completed.  Once schoolwork is complete, chores come next.  Then, once everything is done, the child gets free time.  Highlight completed items to stay on track.

If you have a lot of appointments, consider putting an asterisk next to any item that can be done “on-the-go.”  Or, you can devote a separate colored section to “on-the-go” lessons.  I’m not usually an advocate of car-schooling, just because I believe that focused attention is the ideal way to make the most of your time.  But, I know that car-schooling is unavoidable in some circumstances, and is a completely viable way to provide an excellent education.

Open Day

Minimalist homeschooling advises a contingency, and also advises putting the most important things (major and minor subjects) first.  This sample minimalist homeschooling schedule leaves Fridays open not just for a contingency, but also to ensure focus on the most important things first.

Now, in our state, children are required to school 180 days in the year.  If nothing was actually happening on Fridays, then this family will be committing to 45 weeks of school, instead of 36.  In reality, however, schooling is happening on Friday.  Friday is intentionally left open for the “specials” you would expect in school.  This time can be used for anything that you would like to do, but that is not a top priority: Gym, Art, Music, Field Trips, Nature Study, Tea Time (fine arts study and literature), Computer Lab (programming), Home Economics, Woodworking, Photography, Games, Memory Work Review, Detailed Memory Work Study, Related Movies…  the possibilities are endless.  Jot down what actually happens on the open day to accurately capture the variety of your child’s education.

The idea is that you are confident in the excellence of the education that your children receive during the other four days, and this day offers variety, enjoyment and abundance.  Leaving one day open (flexible) is optional, but it works well for many situations.

This open day also allows so breathing room for life.  If you have a particularly busy day one day, you can claim that as your “open” day, without getting behind on lesson plans.  It is much easier to make up “specials” throughout the week or on weekends than to double-up on lessons in an effort to catch-up.

Major and Minor Subjects

This sample minimalist homeschooling schedule includes both major and minor subjects.  The major subjects for both children are:

1. Math
2. Language Arts – specifically, Literature, Narration and Grammar
3. Science

The minor subjects are:

1. Classical Conversations
2. History/Geography
3. Fine Arts: Poetry, Composer and Artist Study

Math was chosen because it is a weak point, and science because it has not been a major focus for a while.  Literature, History and Geography were chosen because the family loves those subjects.

Language Arts will include writing in the form of narration – more so for the Y6 student than the Y5 student – as well as grammar and literature.

Classical Conversations is treated as a minor subject, because the children will simply learn the memory work – no more, no less.  Mom will present the new materials each Monday, and the children will study the memory work independently throughout the week.  In this way, the memory work is being used as exposure for a variety of topics.

Specific Resources

Drawn predominately from Ambleside Online, the following resources are being used for the given subjects).  Resources were chosen based on what was readily available, and what would be most interesting.  In the case of history, she chose titles that would best relate to American History since that is the history covered in Classical Conversations Cycle 3.

1.  Math: Life of Fred (together); Khan Academy (independent)
2. LA: Our Mother Tongue (grammar together); Bulfinch’s Greek and Roman Mythology – Age of Fables (Y6 independent with written narration); The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (Y6 independent with oral narration); Age of Fables (Y5 independent with written narration); Of Courage Undaunted by James Daugherty (Y5 independent with oral narration)
3. Science – Physics: Ordinary Genius by Stephanie McPherson (both independent; Y6 written narration; Y5 oral narration); Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick (both independent with written narration)

 

1. Classical Conversations Cycle 3 CDs, Timeline cards, and Foundations Guide
2. History: Cornerstone of History (both independent;  Y6 written narration; Y5 oral narration); The Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton (both independent; Y6 written narration; Y5 oral narration)
3. Fine Arts Study: They selected poetry by Robert Frost to read aloud together once each week.  Sample work from a single artist will be printed and displayed in the home along with a photo and brief biography of the artist.  Playlists for 2 composers will be played during the week (6 weeks for each composer).  In addition, a photo and brief biography or the composer will be posted in the home.

Making it Your Own

 

 

You can see that everything in Ambleside is not covered here.  In addition, she added a few things to the morning together time that are neither major nor minor subjects: Bible and Current Events.  There are no exact assignments associated with these items – mom plans to read a small bit of scripture, and they will watch Student News together… very simple.

Chores are added to this schedule – almost for the same reason as the Bible and Current Events – as a reminder of what must get done during the day in addition to an education.  Feel free to add any recurring reminders to your week: gratitude journals, quiet time, outdoor time, etc.  Just don’t overdo it.  You know how much time you (honestly) have.

In addition, you can see that this sample minimalist homeschooling schedule deviates from the Minimalist Homeschooling model in which major subjects are covered 4-5 days each week, and that’s ok.  Charlotte Mason advises reading a book once each week, and so this homeschooler chose to adhere to that model.  Therefore, science (a major subject) occurs only twice during the week.  This tweak does not change the value of the education and is a good example of individualizing the plan.  Adding hands-on experiments, complimentary videos, nature study, or field trips to extend the subject are some possible ways to increase your commitment to science without adding more reading to the week.

How Long Will it Take?

Looking at the assignments on this schedule, we can estimate how long the different blocks of tasks will take (being sure to include a contingency).  In this example, there is about 1.5 hours of Together Time on Mondays, and closer to one hour of Together Time Tuesday through Thursday.

The Independent Work varies from approximately 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours, also depending on the day.

In this situation, we loaded up Monday as the most intense day (but still realistic), knowing that that is the day when everyone is fresh and motivated.  It also means that if something isn’t completed on Monday, there is a good chance that it can be easily picked up later in the week – don’t freak out!

What About You?

Are you all ready for your homeschool year?  How are you combining Charlotte Mason and Classical Conversations?  What questions do you have about this schedule?

Comment below, or join us on facebook where we explore minimalist homeschooling in real life every day!

You can read more about What is Minimalist Homeschooling? and a Series of Minimalist Homeschooling Mindset Posts.  If you have not yet read the book, you can buy that here.

Wishing you all the simple things,
Zara