Morning Time (Magnanimous Academy) 2024-2025

In the 2023-2024 school year I planned several of our Riches subjects into a Monday morning schedule called "Magnanimous Academy." I plan to continue this schedule in the 2024-2025 year with a few additions and new ways of approaching the subjects. For this blog post I'll detail each subject and what we plan to study through the year! 

Ourselves

This was one of my favorite subjects the past year. We read a little less than half of book 1 this past school year. (2023-2024 we read Part I and Part II of Book 1. This year we will read Part III chapters 1-7 in the fall semester, and chapters 8-15 in the spring semester. You can see all the chapters at this post.)

We keep a narration notebook and I have Christian and Eva Mae write down some of the key phrases in each section but the most important part of this subject is the conversations we have during the reading. It ends up becoming a beautiful devotional time as everything we read points back to a life lived by character and purpose under the beauty of walking in God's will! I know some people give this book to students to read on their own, but I highly suggest reading it as a family that way you can share your own stories and wisdom of lessons you've learned as you grew up!

Poetry

This year we are going to focus on the poetry of Longfellow. We've read several of his poems through the years but this year I would like to focus on only his poetry (and his biography) since his life also corresponds with our American History cycle. I put together a list of 32 poems and a short biography that you can purchase here! We will be reciting poetry throughout the year and hopefully have some of Longfellow's works memorized by the end of the school year.

Plutarch

Last year we only studied the life of Fabius Maximus (I ended up preferring the F.J. Gould and Rosalie Kauffman retellings of Plutarch stories for our readings and narrations.) This year we are going to work through Marcus Brutus with the new Simply Charlotte Mason guides that even come with video lessons! Check them out here!

Church History

We have been using History Lives over the past 4-5 years, reading stories as the topics come up in conversation as well as working through some of the important timelines of knowing more about the church, theology, and faith. Last year we read some of the stories in the beginning of Volume 4, Hearts and Hands. We will continue with this book focusing on the lives of the missionaries Adoniram and Ann Judson, The rise of Protestant denominations, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. The books are hard to find in stock but you can read more about it here.

Artist Study

I'm so excited about the Purple House Press artist series! We will be focusing on Winslow Homer in the fall semester and Rembrandt in the spring semester. See their book choices here!

Book of Centuries   

I really like having a specific time each week to add to our BOC! Read about how we keep our book in this post!

Latin

We have a few lessons left in our Fables. After we finish I plan to move on to the Bible Stories in Latin by Canon Press.

Folk songs and Hymns

One of my favorite aspects of a Charlotte Mason education is the exposure to wonderful theology through singing hymns and the fun folk song tradition! Here is what we will be singing along with each month:
August - For the Beauty of the Earth / Log Driver's Waltz
September - Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken / The Water is Wide
October - How Great Thou Art / Now is the Hour
November - Faith of our Fathers / Simple Gifts
December - Wexford Carol / I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

We will be singing along with these in the car using our menu holders to keep the lyrics handy! Wednesdays are going to be long car rides with a trip to Nashville Notes! Audio books and sing alongs will make the trip go quickly!

Shakespeare

Finally, our Shakespeare study is still in the works but we will be studying As You Like It for a performance in September! Check out the Nashville Shakespeare website with performance information here! I'll be checking our local college theater websites in September to see what is coming up in the spring semester! We loved this past school year - our fall show was Much Ado About Nothing and the spring show was Hamlet!

This is a practical print out that I'll keep handy on our refrigerator to help us stay on track!