About
Hi, I’m Brenda
I’m so excited you’re here, exploring the work I’ve created! I pray it is a blessing to you in your homeschool journey. May your days with your children be lovely!
I’ve been homeschooling for twenty years, and I love encouraging homeschool moms as much as I adore books and making spreadsheets. I combine all of these passions at The Gentle Learning Company, where I create flexible, whole-family, Charlotte Mason-style reading plans around four chronological cycles. I also write posts about homeschooling and life right here, and I love what I do.
Let me introduce you to what The Gentle Learning Co. is all about….
(Click on any of the links below to learn more)
I believe that whole-family homeschooling is the key to beautiful days. Because of this, I schedule reading plans, with living books, around four chronological cycles, and include resource for all of the “forms” (grade groups).
The four Gentle Learning Co. cycles include ALL the subjects!! You can see what I mean here:
Bible
The GLC cycles include a chronological Bible reading plan to take you through the whole Bible in one year, two years, four years, or eight years. I wrote a post to share all about these Bible reading plans, here.
If you choose to go through the Bible in eight years, these are the books of the Bible you'll be reading from:
Memory Work
The four cycles line up perfectly with the Claritas Publishing classical memory work. Using this memory work in your homeschool days is optional, but it is really rich and full. Each cycle contains 28-weeks worth of memory work on the following subjects: English Grammar, Math, Science, History, Geography, Hymns, Scripture and Latin. The GLC cycles were built around the Claritas cycles. I wrote a blog post about the memory work here.
Bible Memory
In addition to the Scripture memory work that is included in Claritas Publishing's guides, I have added two additional verses per week for all twenty-eight weeks of each cycle. I am also working on a Scripture Memory-to Music project on this site here.
Apologetics
There are twenty-eight apologetics questions in each cycle. There is one main apologetics book scheduled for Forms 1-3 that follows these questions, and then the Form 4 & 5 students are addressing the same questions in books at their level.
Hymn Study
There are four hymns scheduled for singing each week (two per day, rotating) and there is one hymn scheduled for reading about each week (and at least 8 books suggested to read from per term, with reading schedules). If you follow the four GLC cycles, you will study more than 100 hymns in 4 years' time!
I have scheduled my favorite hymn books for kids, and though they're out of print, I highly recommend trying to find a copy of each volume of Bobbie Wolgemuth & Joni Eareckson Tada's Hymns for a Kid's'Heart. There are pictures of these books below, and a list of some sample hymns that are sung in each cycle (some of the hymns will be found in these books, but not all). There are other hymn study books scheduled as well (including several that are still in print and easy to find).
Read Aloud Books
There are read aloud books scheduled for each week, at a pace of approximately four chapters per week (depending on the length of the length of the chapters). At STAR Homeschool Community, families with students in Forms 2 and 3 are reading these books and discussing them in class. Below are pictures of just two of the books for each cycle.
In addition, there is one story per week (28 stories total) scheduled for Form 1 students (picture books).
History
This is my favorite part of the GLC cycles: history is taught chronologically, over four years! And then, once you've covered every year of His Story and learning about the people and places He created, you get to start over. Only, your kids will be a little older, and maybe you'll read different books, and dig a little deeper into a different subject. Keep a timeline book and draw maps and solidify all of these ideas in your kids' minds!
There are several options for living history books scheduled in the GLC reading plans. There are two options for most books: read them cover-to-cover, or simply read the chapters that line up perfectly with the week's memory work. This is really a choose-your-own-adventure curriculum.
Geography
The GLC Geography reading plans follow the Claritas Geography memory work. There are several books scheduled as options for your family. Sit together at the couch or at your dining room table and look at maps, read about places, enjoy photos of what people eat and how they live in other parts of the world, and pray for people who live far away from you.
Science & Nature
The Claritas Publishing memory work guides include one or two main science subjects each year. I have added to those subjects to provide a large buffet of choices for your family. When you come back around to a cycle again, you can either dig deeper into a science subject you have already covered, or choose to move on and cover another subject. It's also Charlotte Mason-style to read little bits of lots of different subjects, over time, so don't feel limited to one or two science topics per year. You can read more about the Science & Nature Scope and Sequence here.
Enrichment
Each cycle includes 4 artists (with 7 paintings each), 4 composers (with 7 songs each), 4 poets (with 4 poems each) and eight or more handicrafts. Founding members get access to printable art cards and a pdf of the poetry book for each cycle.
Habit Training
Each cycle includes four character traits and twenty-eight life skills, as well as suggested books and schedules for reading about these important habits. In addition, Form 4 & 5 students "Worldview," or "Life" reading books as well, and worth through a list of Survival topics as independent study.
Math
There are so many options for math, and it's hard to narrow down the very best program for each child. I wanted to give you some options, though, so I have scheduled out five different math curriculums. Take your pick, or use another one of your choice.
Language Arts
A Charlotte Mason purist would only use narration, dictation and copywork until the student is in middle school or higher. I describe how to do all of that in the online portal. I also suggest multiple language arts programs and I suggest how to schedule those, as well.
Form 4 and 5 students are introduced to beautiful and classic literature and have writing assignments scheduled as well.
More Reading Schedules!
In addition to the read aloud schedules and the history, geography and science reading schedules, I have planned out extra read aloud or independent reading books. Some of these books line up with the history time period, and some are just for "fun." You can find these under Literature & Language Arts and also under History: Historical Literature.
Electives
Electives are coming soon! I haven’t uploaded this information to substack yet, but it’s coming!
Support for Moms
You won't be alone as you navigate the reading plans on this site! Paid subscribers can chat with me and with each other, and comment on any post to ask questions or make suggestions!
All of the Master Lists!!
I use a ton of spreadsheets to make the GLC reading plans, and I share those with Founding Members. If you want to see how I set up this program and get a list of every single book I’ve scheduled here, make sure to become a Founding Member!
Lots of Help!
I wrote a post about how to use the reading plans here and I created a really cool editable spreadsheet for you here. You can see lots of great posts on the How to Homeschool (with the GLC reading plans) page.
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The Four Cycles
Click on the images below to see the cycles.
Relevant Posts
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