Oh wow...so similar to us!! That's awesome...I love meeting other moms of many! Thanks for the feedback and so glad you enjoyed the video.

Thank you for doing this video. I always wondered how on earth you did Ambleside with that many children. Now it makes sense. 😊

So encouraging to hear that! I'm a mom to only 7.. ages 7-17 but it's so nice to see other large homeschooling families out here! ❤

Thanks for sharing that! It's nice to hear how other families are making AO work. I agree, it would be much more enjoyable to do one period of history together.

Sounds very similar to us! Thanks for sharing that. I agree 100%.. it hasn't always been picture perfect (or easy!), but I think they have had a wonderful education and I am so thankful for all our time together. So glad you found my channel!

Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoy them!

You're welcome! Thanks for the helpful feedback and glad you enjoyed the video! I will definitely keep it in mind to do more videos along this topic. Couldn't agree more...reading to the kids and conversations really carries so much weight. Not to mention all the memories we've made!

Glad to hear it! When I had my 6th, our oldest was nine too. :) That's such a busy time...you are truly blessed! It gets easier as the big kids get older. I hope you can find some good solutions!

Oh wow! I'm glad you found it! AO can be overwhelming! I'm hoping this will make it simpler for some people.

You are welcome! Thanks for your feedback and encouragement!

I'm glad this helped you! Yes, AO can be a lot. You could try just slowly doing a few of the things that you like while keeping with the curriculum you are already using.

You are so welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful! Year 1 is my absolute favorite! Enjoy! I'll probably still be re-reading year one for personal reading after my kids are long gone, ha! ;)

@@OurLifeHomeschooling it really is a great year. I loved doing it with my oldest.

You are welcome! Glad these ideas helped you! That's sounds really similar to what I do with history and I think it has worked really well. I hope the same for you! Thanks about the graduate!! All new territory having a child who is an adult in the house!

Oh, I like that one too!

Great! I'm SO glad to hear! I hope you can find a plan that works for you and your kids!

I didn't know about that resource on the Library of Congress. Very cute! Thanks for sharing that. My kids love Paddle to the Sea as well. Good to know that you can find so much online!

You are welcome! How exciting! If it were me, I would go through Year 1 with them both together, depending on how familiar you are with the books. When I started, it was all new to me. I hadn't read many of the books myself, so learning one year at a time with my oldest was so helpful to me.

@@OurLifeHomeschooling Thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate your advice. We'll get our feet wet and give Year 1 a go!

@@annebaiel You're welcome! I hope it goes well for you!

I usually start at Chapter 5...skip the evolution and cave men chapters. They get the story of creation through our Bible reading and other history readings.

Great questions! Doing a narration after every read, in my opinion, is way too much! Instead, I often ask them what the story was about (oral narration) - and remind them to keep it short! Some kids can go on and on! ;) For written narrations that we do twice a week, I let them choose which reading they want to do. If independent learning works for you and your kids, I say go with it! Each family is different, so don't try to fit into someone else's mold. If I had two kids, I would probably do similarly. For some history and science, I have asked my kids if they learn more from me reading to them or reading on their own. They tell me both. So we switch it up. Your kids might really like reading it on their own! I say try it!

@@OurLifeHomeschooling thank you so much for your time and thoughts!

@@homeschool.pray.repeat You're welcome!

I give an overview of our day in this video if you want to check it out. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eq1hYM90qciXaYE.htmlsi=3N-hi0e02id_A1Zq I have found copywork to be sufficient for spelling. I also have a list of spelling rules that I review with our kids which has also been a huge help. Here is the link for those. docs.google.com/document/d/1msve53RIRqzXWzNtqj6QcPcWwWn3tKy7rdValNdFp8A/edit?usp=sharing Here is the blog post I did on how I make my kids checklists. ourlifehomeschooling.com/2022/08/22/how-to-make-a-workable-homeschool-checklist/ If I could give any advice for switching over to AO, it would be to not try to do everything. AO is rich. It was an education for me the first time I went through it all, so it can easily be overwhelming, especially for large families. Knowing this ahead of time and doing a light version will help, in my opinion.

You are welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I have basically combined ages that seemed appropriate. Our 2nd and 3rd kids are close in age, so it made sense to combine them. Others I had go through on their own. It really depends on individual circumstances for me. Glad that you love using AO!

Thanks so much! Great question! I will keep it in mind about doing a high school video. I feel like I need a little more time with these years to confidently share what works well for the high school years...but I will jot it down and keep it in mind! Here's a few things that may help. For history in 7th and 8th grade, they read through Story of the World (world history). They read two books a year to complete the four books in two years. Along with this, they read through the History Lives series (church history) which is a 5 book set. In high school, they take classes at a local co-op. For literature, we continue with some of my favorite picks from AO, but I pick any that I like from years 7 and up and don't strictly stick within years. They also continue with Abeka grammar. In high school, our kids attend a local co-op (a second one from our family's co-op) where they get a lot of their high school credits. This has been a huge help with having a wide age range. We still do a few things at home or I outsource some subjects as well. So it's kind of a modge podge of different options. One thing I have learned about high school is that it is a great time for them to become involved in choosing their classes and what direction they want to go based on their interests. I hope that helps some!

@@OurLifeHomeschooling this is very good. Lots of great ideas, thank you. Do you write a high school transcript for them or just not worry about that?

@OurLifeHomeschooling another question: How is your high school coop organized? Do local parents teach it? It sounds really good and helpful.

@@lizhunter6737 Sure! Yes, I do write a transcript and he will receive a high school diploma.

@@lizhunter6737 We attend two co-ops. The first is our family's bi-monthly co-op and yes, parents teach it. The second is a weekly drop off co-op for my middle and high schoolers. It is taught by paid teachers, so it does cost a little more. Our kids take some of their high school classes from there and it has been a nice way to outsource a few subjects.

You're welcome! For the most part, I do read to everyone. Often I have an older and a younger book I'm reading so they each get something more tailored to their age and we just spread our readings out over the year. For a few things, I exclude our 9th and 10th grade kids because they have more of a work load. Once our kids are high school age, they go to a second co-op where they take classes. These classes (as well as some other things we do at home) are most of what goes on their transcripts.

@@OurLifeHomeschooling nice. Thanks for the information. I’m sure it can become a juggle having to read 2 sets of books. I need to check out your other videos on AO.

I don't have high schoolers yet but their high school curriculum has more book choices and their curriculum is usually separated into "history", "literature", etc. so you could assign credits that way.

​@TheChan7 I combine my two kids into the AO for groups Form 1B curriculum, and once they're old enough they will hopefully be reading more independently. I started them in 2 separate years and it was hard to keep up because I was reading almost everything out loud

@@katielarsen2630 thanks for the details. That’s helpful!!

Yes...I don't think I mentioned AO for groups in this video, but I'm glad you brought it up. AO for groups was created after I had already found my way and started on a track that was working for us. Otherwise, I would probably have tried it. I definitely think it would definitely be a great option for large families! I would encourage any other mom of many to look at AO for groups first to see if that might be a good fit! Why try to reinvent the wheel? Thanks for sharing that!

@@OurLifeHomeschooling I will be using Form 1A with my youngest 3 school age girls this year. And I'll have one in year 6, a preschooler and a special needs child who will be following along the Form 1A group on a mild scale while we work mainly on his functional life skills curriculum. And I'm one less student this year since my oldest GRADUATED this year 😁 Thank you for your video. It's great to see other REAL large families using AO.

@@kaleenamartin9839 Oh wow, congrats on your graduate! It's so rewarding to see it through to the end! You're welcome. It's nice to hear feedback from other large families as well!

AO groups is fabulous if you ask me 😂 so far mine have been able to enter FORM 3 alone so that helps so much!!

I have done a couple of different things. Some of the kids are taking it at co-op. Other times, I have put together a plan with books/online programs/etc. and determined enough work to make a credit. Rosetta Stone and duolingo are some online programs I have used.

Good question! Because we have a large family, I have to pare down more than others might need to. I picked only the books that I and the kids absolutely love and couldn't do without. I actually loved all the Holling C Holling books, but my kids weren't big fans of them other than Paddle to the Sea. My kids also liked a Wonder Book... several well-loved mythological stories there. Not having those books on this list has more to do with only picking my personal favorites than any other reason. I personally don't love mythology, but if that is something you like, then you should try them! All AO suggestions are good, so if there is one you really want to do, I would go for it!

That is very helpful, thanks so much Sheri! I absolutely love your KZfaq channel and blog, everything has been so helpful to me as I navigate things, it’s such a blessing. So thank you!

I just wanted to add, I love that you pare back and that you are willing to share your thought process for how to do that. It really helps those of us with larger and growing families see how we can tweak things to make it doable for us, and how we can be quite flexible and make our own decisions rather than trying to do absolutely everything that a smaller family might do.

@@Mamaofblessings Oh good! I'm so encouraged to hear that! :)

@@Mamaofblessings Good! It's hard for us moms of many (speaking for myself here) to accept that we can't do it all, ha! But I have found so much more peace in our homeschool when we do less. I'm glad this helped you!

Glad to hear! We love Veritas! Yes, I think you don't have to stay within the 2-6th grades specifically. If your first grader is your oldest child doing it for the first time, it might take a little longer to catch on, but if your first grader has watched older siblings, then definitely he/she would be fine. Also, I do think you could start wherever you left off and it would be a smooth transition. I hope you enjoy it!

@@OurLifeHomeschooling awesome! Thank you again for a quick response. The more I look at it the more I want to get it. I’ll have a pre-k, 1st, 3rd, and 5th next year plus toddlers and a new baby. This looks like it will be a lifesaver. I am bummed my oldest won’t get to complete all the years of self-paced history.

Good question! For 7th and 8th grade, they read through Story of the World (world history). They read two books a year to complete the four books in two years. Along with this, they read through the History Lives series (church history) which is a 5 book set. In high school, they take classes at a local co-op.

@OurLifeHomeschooling Thank you. I just got story of the world. Yay. I'll look into those other books. Thank you for your recommendations!

@@emilyallred3779 Great! I hope you like it! You're welcome!

Aww, congrats on number 7! Good question! Every year I purchase the Veritas Press when they run the $100 off sale. They run it once or twice a year. Yes, I have the kids all do the same course. The books are just suggestions, not necessary for the course. I have collected a few over the years (many of them are also AO suggestions) but only use them as extra read alouds or book suggestions for the kids when they are looking for something good to read.

@@OurLifeHomeschooling thank you! That is really helpful to know they run a sale. I’m definitely considering it for next year. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.💛

@@redeemedmama6768 You're welcome!

Absolutely!

Good questions! 1. Ha! You caught one of my mistakes...I meant to say I start with Language 3. They have a Language 3 (3rd grade) workbook and then Language A, B, and C. Here's the link if you want to see it. www.abeka.com/abekaonline/bookdescription.aspx?sbn=315648#gref 2. I have used dictation, but truthfully it's something I haven't done in a while. I think it is really helpful though. I should probably focus on it again at some point soon. It's really good for gauging how a child is doing in spelling and punctuation. It's not something I personally would make a regular part of our day, just maybe for touching base every now and then. Just like you mentioned, it's more work on my part...probably why it easily gets pushed aside.

@@OurLifeHomeschooling thank you so much!

@@homeschool.pray.repeat Sure!

@@OurLifeHomeschooling one more question! How many books do you have them do? I was kind of hoping to spend grade 6-8 on grammar and then be done. But idk if that’s feasible.

@@homeschool.pray.repeat I have our kids do Language 3, then Language A, B, and C (at their own pace, usually 2-4 pages a week, depending on the child) and then that's all we do. Just remember that you can make your own rules according to what works best for you and your child.