TOS Review: Easy Classical

 

I think most homeschooling moms would agree that lesson planning, the scheduling of actual day to day doings, is the most time consuming part of the homeschooling experience.  I know it is for me.  It’s a process that takes up large chunks of my time, especially right before we start a new school year, with marathon planning sessions lasting for days.  Literally!

If you are following a classical approach in your homeschooling, Easy Classical has done all the work for you.  Easy Classical schedules break a full year of education down into specific, daily assignments that are adaptable to fit all styles of learning.  36 weeks of classical education based lessons done for you!  Sounds like a slice of heaven.  :)  Easy Classical offers Complete Schedules, Main Schedules, Science and History Schedules, all based on the ideas of The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer, for Kindergarten through Sixth Grade.  The schedules are very detailed but easy to follow, thanks to informative icons and timely reminders inserted throughout.  The Easy Classical website even has helpful links to all the suggested resources used in the schedules.

We were given the Early Modern Times History schedule to review.  The resources used in the lessons include A History of Us books by Joy Hakim (we used these last year and loved them!) and The Story of the World volumes 2 and 3.  We are currently using SOTW volume 1 and are quite impressed with it.  There is a complete list of read-aloud and picture books to accompany the main curriculum and extra activities from the History Pockets series (have used these in the past with ds1 and 2 and they are great hands on fun.)  The Early Modern Times schedule also incorporates writing and geography into the weekly lessons, using some resources developed specially by Easy Classical creator Sandra Williams (you can read about her qualifications and story here.) 

While having all the daily lessons, weekly quizzes and reviews and supplemental activities laid out for you is quite enough to merit investing in this resource, it is the little extras that Sandra Williams has included that really make these schedules appealing.  She not only has a master list of materials you will need for the whole year, but also little reminders pasted into the schedule about supplies you need to pick up for the following week.  She has included icons that prompt you when to have your students listen to a geography cd or complete a mapping exercise.  It is these kinds of details that are especially helpful in keeping you organized and on top of your daily homeschooling (I speak from experience here lol!)

All schedules are available printed up and assembled in a notebook or as a download. Complete Schedules include main, history and science schedules in one and cost $35.95 ($29.95 digital) for Kindergarten and $89.95 ($79.95) for 1st through 6th grade versions.  Main Schedules provide daily assignments for Bible, math, grammar, writing, handwriting, spelling, Latin (except for 1st grade), art and PE and cost $35.95 ($29.95 digital) for all grade levels.  Schedules just for history and science are available as well.  The website does have sample pages to view.

I received a download version of Easy Classical Early Modern History Schedule to facilitate this review and no other compensation.  To see other TOS Crewmember reviews, click on the banner below.