My prayer is that every child in America receives an education with a solid foundation, the Bible, which leads to eternal life. 

​Educational reform has been happening in our country, with two movements, Charlotte Mason and Classical, both of which were birthed, not in colleges, but in the homes of America, by mothers, with much success!

After leaving teaching for motherhood, I began our homeschool in 2011. I learned about the classical method from Susan Wise Bauer [1], the Charlotte Mason method from Karen Andreola [2], how to make a family together schedule from Sonya Shafer [3], and how to make it affordable from Miss Maggie [4], all to whom I thank.  ​

Without the Bible, methods are empty because they do not provide the foundation of truth, so together, with prayer, and sound methods [5], I present our family together program of study here at Old Fashioned Education .org [6], a free online K-12 curriculum for Christians.

Overview
Old Fashioned Education utilizes old textbooks, those written in the late 1800 to early 1900's. They have the advantage of (1) not being dumbed down, (2) not being filled with political propaganda, and (3) being in the FREE domain. Our family together program of study includes three lessons per day.

Program 1
Christian Study is a 30-minute family together course covering the subjects of Bible, History, Geography, Biography around the Timeline. It uses many living books and old-fashioned textbooks available for free online. 1 lesson daily.

Program 2
Enrichment Study is a 60-minute family together course covering the subjects of Art, Music, Literature around the Timeline, plus Habits, Handicrafts, Foreign Languages, Poetry, Nature Study, and more! It uses many living books available free online. 1 lesson daily.

Program 3
Individual Study is a 60+minute grade-level skill course covering Math, Science, Language Arts, plus for older students, Latin, Logic, and Rhetoric. It uses many living books and textbooks available free online. 1 lesson daily.

Our Curriculum
Do 1 lesson per program per day for a full curriculum. Each program offers: (1) a Syllabus with full-year booklist, (2) a Weekly Schedule PDF, and (3) Teaching Guide.

The Teaching Guide is a handbook that includes lesson plans, worksheets, tests, and answer key and is made affordable via commercial printing. If you prefer to make your own lesson plans, you can use the free Student Weekly Assignment Booklet.

Our Booklists & Key
Easily access books using our FREE booklists. At the beginning of each booklist, you will see this key:  

Key: *Free online   ❶ Our Pick!   ❷ Christianbook."

• The star (*) indicates free online reading and most books offer this format. Just click the link to access.
• The ❶ indicated "our pick" for a textbook when parents are given the choice, such as math.
• The ❷ indicates a link for purchase to an affiliate or otherwise. A beautifully illustrated book at a good price is best for eyes, notetaking, comprehension, and building a living book library.

Our Method
Most lessons follow a read-talk-write-recite pattern. 

• First, we begin by reading a good book often called living books because the subject comes to life through a single author. 

 

• Second, we talk about the reading through oral narration or sometimes discussion, often a natural result.

 

• Third, we write about the reading through copy work or written narration or the recitation notebook, [7] where a student writes key facts in question-and-answer format.

 

• As a culminating activity, we complete a recitation [5] of the new information learned so far in the term. This is also called repetition. Repetition is what builds long-term memory. 

When we start by opening a good book, we can enjoy learning together and are sure to instill a love of learning in our children. 

"To introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it from the very first. A child’s intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find."  - Charlotte Mason, vol. 6 pg. 51

Assessment
Because our focus is learning through living books, not testing, we test only once per term in our Teaching Guides, but you are welcome to create your own testing schedule. We follow a 3-term schedule.

• Term 1 (Weeks 1 to 12) - Test 1
• Term 2 (Weeks 13 to 24) - Test 2
• Term 3: (Weeks 25 to 36) - Test 3 (Final & Cumulative)

Public Domain
We use many free old-fashioned books that are in public domain found at Project Gutenberg, Online Books Page, Internet Archive, Baldwin Project and Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The resources found at these sites are all copyright free, so you can read online or print as desired. 

License Agreement
Before you begin Old Fashioned Education's FREE online K-12 curriculum, please read our license agreement.

Next:  Read the license.