A MuddlePuddle Reading Year

Britannia: Gogmagog and the Exiles of Troy. (Or first in OIS)
Stories…World: Strong Magic (Australia)
Read Me 1 (see below)
Just So: The Sing Song of Old Kangaroo Man
Bible: How the World Began (this will be chronological)
Greek Myths: The Gift of Fire
Tales… Ireland: The Children of Lir (sensitive child alert)

This is what i am thinking…
Britannia/OIS, Bible, Greek Myths will be read just by going through the book.
Poetry - this particular book has a poem per day and i am going to look at them in batches of 7 and just pick our favourite/favourites. No reason not to use another book if you prefer.
Tales of Old Ireland can be subbed with a different book initially or permanently. I just had it and liked the look of it. I’d say that some sort of book of British Folk Tales would be good though.
Stories from Around the World and Just So (link to free version but i’ll be using the nice illustrated version because it affects what my kids think of the story!) can dot about to suit the general theme of the week.

Every fourth week we’ll have a break to allow people to catch up on missed readings and/or holiday, expand on what they’ve read etc. I have a vague plan to put together “gap week bundles” of a few themed stories or ideas for people who don’t need a space to do as a change from routine, but we’ll see what people think when we get there. Tell me what you think though, i’d really like to make this viable.

I have this feeling that this ought to be like we used to say at Slimming World classes; if you fall off the wagon, don’t panic, just forget it and carry on. In other words, there is very little of this that can’t cope with one chapter or reading being missed out, or being one out of sync, or being done with two books in one sitting.

Looking forward to it though

So… i’m branching out. I want to create a Curriculum, sort of But also, not really.

What i want is something like the Ambleside Online reading lists, but…

*with one reading per day.
*using easy to get books.
*with a modern feel to it with nicely illustrated books.
*with low costs and freedom to be otherwise autonomous while indulging in interesting stories.
*with a strictly world view - look at all religions, not just basing it around Christianity and (worse in my opinion) certainly not discounting other world religions.
*relevant to the UK.
*with cohesion between what is in the weekly reading and with ideas for exploring those through the week or month. Also with some relevance to festivals.

I’m hoping that a few people will join me and help me out with that last bit, as well as helping me find new material as we go through the year.

So - here i go. I’ve trialed Ambleside last year and what i liked, i’m bringing. What i didn’t like (volume, old fashioned books, American feel to it) i’m leaving behind.

These are my first 7 books, mainly based on what is on my shelf and i know will be a strong start. It starts with the Old Testament, in simple form, mainly because i have it and i know my girls will enjoy narrating it back and illustrating it. I’m using it as a base to explore other religions through the year but it could be easily substituted with a child’s Qur’an or just left out.

These links below take you to Amazon - buying the books through them will net me a few pence but you can buy the books just as easily in a shop and to be honest, i’m hoping anyone who joins me will already have some of them. I think these 7 books would cost about £48 if you had to buy them all. Look on Red House and thebookpeople for bargains though.

Tales from Old Ireland

Greek myths

Read me 1

Usborne Children’s Bible

Usborne Stories from Around the World.

Just So Stories

Britannia 100 Great Stories from British History

I’ve chosen the above British History because it comes so nicely illustrated, but Our island Story is also excellent and well like among HEers, especially as it is available free online.

So - above i will detail how we are going to read these, on a week by week basis; i very much hope anyone who fancies trialing this alongside me, will get in touch via the comments box and help me make this work.