Charter School: Around the World Part 1 Curriculum

So excited to get started in the Fall with my boys! They have so many interests already about the world at large so I’m excited to expand on that with this curriculum!

I love how this book is set up. Very easy to get started and lots of ways to engage my kids.

Beautiful content, artwork and lesson plans!

The teacher’s guide is beautiful and is very easy to use. The accompanying picture books are rich and give a fantastic glimpse into the cultures and histories of countries around our world.

I love this curriculum! I have used it in some fashion for the past 6+ years. The book list alone is worth the price... Be prepared to learn alongside your kids and enjoy it SO MUCH!!

I am not a YouTuber or affiliate or anything of the sort, just a normal homeschool mama! I use this with my older three (9, 8, 6) and we absolutely LOVE it. There’s so many extra suggested deep dives that have been so full of rich information. I do think each family is unique and individual but even days or activities I thought “this won’t be very fun” we ended up loving. The Anno’s books really seemed terrible to me but my kids really enjoyed them! We ended up googling and YouTubing things we found interesting in the pictures. Make it your own, there is so much richness here without feeling like too much. We return to these resources again and again!

This is okay— quite expensive for the information. They say it is a complete program minus math and LA but I find we are heavily supplementing this program to make it an enjoyable learning experience with girth. Also, there is extensive and interesting historical and cultural information about Latin America that could have been expounded upon. For example, we took a week to learn all about chocolate that grows on the cocoa tree and is native to Brazil. Why that interesting and delicious topic wasn’t covered is beyond me as there are many EXCELLENT picture books (like the Chocolate tree or No monkey no chocolate) that speak to the rich cultural, natural, and diverse experiences one can explore in South America. It just seems heavily tilted toward Western civilization— South America was heavily filled with Darwinism, a Victorian naturalist from the West— so, while these narratives are worthwhile and interesting, they are not the only or more important than non-white stories that contribute to our world story :-)

We absolutely love getting to immerse ourselves in each country! My 7yo has a very short attention span when it comes to listening to facts but she loves stories and a learning experience that incorporates all her senses. She especially loves the watercoloring. We love learning about different animals and enjoy all of the quality literature represented in this curriculum. She looks forward to ending our study with one of the recipes and is sad to move on to another country. So far, we have done all of South America and are looking forward to moving on to Europe! Excellent curriculum!

ATW has been the perfect fit and pace for our family!

We began using this text after seeing several glowing YouTube videos about how fun and life-changing this would be. I ordered the books, got everything set up, and thumbed through the manual with my heart glowing thinking if the joy that would spring forth. And.... nada. Nothing. My kids were bored stiff. Half the book recommendations (additional books suggested) we’re not well received. The activities were hit or miss and some that ring a little too close to busywork. Website/video clips suggestions were considered boring by my crew. But if I improvised and found books, clips (music, movie, short animal, etc), recipes, documentaries, etc on my own, my girls loved it. The manual became a suggestion guide of countries. I had to shakeup map work as well. I bought both volumes and neither was enjoyed. The title Prince popup book suggestion, I will say, they do very much enjoy. But that is the only thing I can point to that they still find favor with after using and investing $$$. My library did not have the vast majority of the required or optional books, so I purchased a great deal many assuming this would be a worthy investment. I have to resell them or donate them for a significant loss. My kids also were not a fan of the history. We are a book-loving family that has anywhere from 100-200 amazing books checked out at a time and we have hundreds, maybe over 1k great books. We’re book people over here! But not these guides. The work, the flow, the questions seemed forced. At least for us. It wasn’t a natural conversation and the rabbit trails mine wanted to take deviated from the manual most every time. I packed the manuals away and I don’t foresee them coming back out. If your children are not strong and voracious readers, this actually might help jumpstart them. But mine are bookworms. My 7 yr old complained often that it was just too easy or the books were boring. Trying to do family read-alouds with disinterested children makes for long days and less than stellar results for retention.

My kids love these books. Read aloud have been more fun than ever!

We LOVED this program and are so excited to dig into part 2! It was such a refreshing change from our previous box curriculum. Its very flexible and can be easily beefed up or paired down from the guide if that is needed for your family. My kids loved every book that came with the kit and and many of the library suggestions. I look forward to doing this again with my youngest!

This study has been our most favorite thing this year. I am going through it with my first grade son, and he adores each book, the activities and more. The books selected along with the library selections are all top notch. We have had a great time going through it so far!