Hi! I am Brenda, and I really think this homeschool year is going to be the BEST one yet!

I created these reading plans with families like yours in mind. This is what I wanted:

• A program that included good books (living books)
• A four-cycle approach (Meaning, we go through history, chronologically, over four years, and then repeat. Also, certain science and geography subjects are covered in each of the four cycles). Basically, I wanted order for my homeschool years. A random-approach isn't my style, and I think you will see that when you dig in to this curriculum. There is a vision for where we are going, and I hope you'll join us on this journey!
• An ability to teach a whole family together for as many subjects as possible. I was tired of curriculum plans that divided my children by grade level, like a public school. I wanted a one-room-schoolhouse approach for history, geography, science, artist, composer, poetry, hymns and more. 
• Flexibility. Have you ever purchased reading plans that included set books for the year (again, by grade level), and you really didn't care to read all of those books, and you wanted to add in a few others? There are SO many books scheduled in this curriculum plan--and you get to pick and choose what you want to read this year!
• To include all the subjects and allow families to pick and choose what they would study this year.

I started with Claritas Publishing Cycle 2 Memory work as a spine and jumped off from there. Claritas includes 28 weeks of memory work in the following subjects:

• Scripture
• Hymns
• English & Advanced English Grammar
• History
• Geography
• Science
• Math
• Latin

In our homeschool community, STAR Homeschool, in Lynchburg, VA, we introduce a new week of memory work each time we meet (all except the Latin). STAR stands for "Seeking Truth and Righteousness," in case you were wondering.

I wanted to provide some context for the memory work, and that's why I started creating these reading plans for others (I've made them for my own family all along!). I first shared the Cycle 2 reading plans I had written with our STAR community in the 2022-2023 school year, and decided to publish the Cycle 3 reading plans here for the 2023-2024 school year and got Cycle 2 up by February 2024!

This is what I added:

• Two hymns per week to sing in community and four per week to sing at home (Claritas includes 1 hymn at a time), plus a hymn to read about each week, and page numbers in nine different books (choose your own adventure: pick the book you'd like to read from this year and look at the handy-dandy chart I created and read the assigned page numbers for the week).
• A Bible reading plan that will take your family through the entire Bible in either four or eight years, only reading on school days (I did not assign Bible reading for holidays or weekends, but if you simply read the Bible four-days per week, on school days, it is still possible to get through the whole Bible!).
• Apologetics for children in grades pre-K through 6 that lines up (by topic) with Apologetics for students in grades 7 through 12, so that you can have family conversations around your dinner table about the same subjects. 
• History that is lined up with the memory work. There are twenty-five books to choose from! You may decide to read a book cover-to-cover, or only read the selections that line up with the memory work. Both schedules are available. In addition to the scheduled books to use as "spines" there are lists of picture books and chapter books, by the weekly subjects, that you can find at the library or purchase online, if you'd like to.
• Geography that is also lined up with the memory work. Read about the places you're memorizing and look at the maps! There are eighteen geography book options.
• Science and Nature: The Claritas materials cover Astronomy and Geology in Cycle 2. I added to this and included more subjects in Cycle 2!
• Read Aloud Books: there are five main read aloud chapter books scheduled this year. These are optional, and fun! There are also picture books scheduled each week for younger children.
• Habit Training: there are four character traits to put on and four character traits to put off, scheduled throughout the year (one of each per term), as well as suggested reading for each of these. There are also two life skills scheduled, every two weeks.
• Enrichment: there is an artist scheduled each term, and the curriculum includes printable art cards and art post cards. There are also composers scheduled each term, with links to each of the weekly songs provided. And, there is one poet for the year for Form 1 students (pre-K to 1st grade), which is Robert Louis Stevenson this year, and a new poet each term for the rest of the family. (Or choose to read the Form 1 poet or the other poet's works aloud to your entire family).
• Math: there are suggested math curriculums listed as well as suggested schedules.
• Language Arts: for the younger years, Narration and Dictation are described, and there are links to a few suggested Language Arts programs, as well as some schedules for these. For grades 4-6 (Form 3), there is a schedule for going through an IEW program (Institute for Excellence in Writing), as well as Fundamental Grammar from Claritas. For Forms 4-5 (7th-12th grade), there is also a schedule for an IEW program and grammar, plus there is a schedule for going through an Excellence in Literature program and reading great literature!

This is a Charlotte Mason-style, flexible, choose-your-own-adventure, whole family learning curriculum that covers all the subjects. Keep your children together for as many subjects as possible. Choose the books and resources you'd like to use, and then look at the reading schedules for those resources and plug them into your planner, your blank family guide (provided), or simply highlight what you'd like to read on the many, many pdf charts provided. .

If you are purchasing these reading plans, you will have access for 18 months (545 days).