Transitioning to AO Year 1

We've never followed a traditional school year so starting AO Year 1 in January is not something that will be awkward. It actually makes alot of sense for our family. For my younger kids the longest break of the year is Thanksgiving through New Years. The rest of the year we take shorter 1-3 breaks as needed for vacations, etc. With a little planning, we should be wrapping up AO Year 1 around the following Thanksgiving.

I also think having the AO years starting in January will be a huge benefit as the kids get older and the work load increases. Starting at age 9, our school day will lengthen a bit after their birthdays and then lengthen a bit more in January with the start of a new year of AO.

As we transition to AO Year 1 we will continue doing everything that we started at age 6 but add..

1. Copywork 2x per week

2. Structured reading for 20min/day and encourage free reading for 20 min per day.

3. Memory work substitutes speech therapy practice. We will continue our exercises that we have learned but now will memorize a poem every 2-4 weeks.

4.Oral Narrations now will become mandatory after each reading.

5. I will start a notebook with samples of his narrations that I have written, copies of the poems he has memorized, maps that followed our geography study, copywork pages, reading lists and anything thing else that seems to fit.

6. I also want to have samples of his narrations on video on this blog.

7. Complete by 7th birthday any that we have not done.

"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint
of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.

from Summer 93 Parents Review pub by Karen Andreola

Now we will address .....


1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
9. to tell quite accurately 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history

17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song