Ambleside Online
http://amblesideonline.org/
Years Covered: K-11
Lesson Plans/Schedules Included? Each year includes suggestions for how frequently each topic should be studied each week.
Distinguishing Features: This is a Charlotte Mason curriculum through an American Protestant lens. For those who don't already know, Charlotte Mason in a nutshell is, "A child's mind is not a game of Tetris." (Of course, there's a lot more to it than that.) This educator argued all her life against what has become the conventional wisdom in education in the English-speaking world, the assumptions that underlie carefully organized lesson plans with pieces of information presented in sequence in textbooks. Children, Mason said, can abstract ideas from context on their own and synthesize them to form a comprehensive understanding of a topic without someone pointing out every step they are supposed to take. Furthermore, she asserted that a well written storybook or personal account is much more engaging than an outline of facts. Therefore, Mason recommended what she called "living books" whenever possible, instead of textbooks.
Additional Cost: Moderate. Depending on which books and equipment you choose, you may find yourself spending quite a bit of money on certain subjects. However, suggestions for tight budgets or families living abroad are included for each year. Many of the suggested books can be read online for free and shorter books may be checked out from your public library.
Gentle? Mason took some corporal punishment for granted, but was against a punitive mindset. People have combined AO with the likes of Tripp and Pearl and also with GOYB and grace-based parenting. It's up to you.
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An Old-Fashioned Education by Miss Maggie
http://oldfashionededucation.com/
Years Covered: 1-12.
Lesson Plans/Schedules Included? Weekly schedules for grades 1-11 are available.
Distinguishing Features: Another Charlotte Mason-style curriculum, this one organizes an enormous database of etexts from relatively modern school textbooks to the transcribed journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The viewpoint is modern American conservative Christianity.
Additional Cost: Minimal, by design. Books must be purchased for some subjects.
Gentle? The usual suspects are not mentioned on Miss Maggie's various sites. For what it's worth, she links to the Prairie Homemaker forum, which disavows the Pearls on several bases that have been cited here at GCM--but not on the basis of baby whipping.