• Home
• Browse Reviews
  • Browse By Title
  • Browse by Author
  • Browse by Reading Level
    • Age 00-04
    • Age 04-08
    • Age 08-12
    • Age 12-16
    • Age 16-18
    • Easy Readers
    • First Chapter Books
    • Transitional Readers
    • Books for Parents
  • Browse by Rating
    • 5 Stars
    • 4 Stars
    • 3 Stars
    • 2 Stars
    • 1 Star
  • Browse by Tags
  • Reviews of Book Lists
  • Selections from Book Lists
    • Amblesideonline.org
    • Book Tree
    • Books Children Love
    • Books That Build Character
    • Caldecott Medal and Honor
    • Classicalhomeschooling.org
    • Discerning Reader
    • Honey for a Child’s Heart
    • NEH Summertime Favorites
    • Newbery Medal and Honor
    • Read-Aloud Handbook
    • What Stories Does my Son Need
    • World Magazine Books that Show & Nifty Fifty
• Essays
• Resources
• Ratings & Criteria
• About
• Contact
• Get Involved

Book List: Amblesideonline.org

Rating:

Amblesideonline.org is a homeschooling website which offers a free curriculum guide and reading list based on the strategies of education promoted by Charlotte Mason.  These ideas were popularized by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay in her 1984 book For the Children’s Sake, and today they form one of the primary streams of the modern homeschooling.  The Charlotte Mason philosophy is centered around the idea that education is made up of Atmosphere (especially home life), Discipline (good habits), and Life (dynamic thoughts and ideas).  It is best known for its emphasis on the use of “Living Books,” or books that draw the reader into their subject, allowing them to relate experientially rather than intellectually to their ideas.  The Charlotte  Mason approach is geared toward experiential acquisition of understanding, a narrative focus, and an emphasis on cultivating a love of learning.  It also incorporates a good deal of Bible study and memorization.

The list is maintained by a co-op of homeschooling parents and is still in some transition (I added it to my database in 2008, so there may be some differences between my records and theirs).  The list is unannotated except for a suggestion of grade level (there is an optional reading schedule for homeschoolers) and occasional notes by the contributor; helpfully, they have noted when a book is available for free online.  For people who are interested in implementing this list as a curriculum, there is an email support list for discussion.

This list, like the Classical Homeschooling list, contains over 1000 titles, and there is about a one-fourth overlap between the two.  Because the list is so extensive and was compiled by a number of individuals with different criteria, the quality is a little mixed, but it still provides a significant corpus of good titles to work from.

Click here for reviews of titles recommended by this list.

Posted on May 21, 2009