A Closer Look at 4th Grade Charlotte Mason Curriculum
Do you have a fourth grader you’d like to homeschool using a Charlotte Mason-inspired curriculum? Well, Preparing Hearts for His Glory is a Charlotte Mason-inspired, complete, literature-based, Christ-centered curriculum written specifically for 8 to 10 year-olds. It works well for 4th grade and includes all your student needs for a complete year of Charlotte Mason-style curriculum! Let’s take a look at this inspirational 4th grade Charlotte Mason curriculum!
A Charlotte Mason Living Books’ Approach to History
Told in story form, Heart of Dakota’s Preparing Hearts for His Glory interweaves biblical and world history, taking students on a sweeping trip through time from the day of Creation through the modern era. Discover world history from Creation to the 20th century with the living book A Child’s History of the World. This well-loved classic provides a one-year overview of world history, featuring stories told in a highly-engaging, narrative style. Enjoy Grandpa’s Box – a retelling of 42 key Bible stories showcasing God’s plan for redemption from Genesis to Revelation. Join Grandpa as he uses his special box of wooden carvings to share Bible stories with his grandchildren emphasizing what can be learned about God.
Discover how the Ice Age fits into the biblical timeline in Life in the Great Ice Age. Not only will readers learn what life would have been like during the Ice Age, they will also find out the scientific reasons for this puzzling period of time! Develop Christian character qualities as you hear the narrative stories of 15 faithful men and women in Hero Tales – Vol I. This inspiring collection presents true stories from heroes like Amy Carmichael, Samuel Morris, Martin Luther, Harriet Tubman, Dwight L. Moody, John Wesley, and many more! As students ‘travel’ chronologically through ancient history, they chronicle their journey by keeping a timeline in a beautiful, full-color Preparing Hearts for His Glory Student Notebook. Very Charlotte Mason-inspired!
A Charlotte Mason Living Books’ Approach to Science, Literature, and Composition
Preparing Hearts for His Glory features a unique, Charlotte Mason living books approach to life science that integrates notebooking, narration, relevant Scriptures, and hands-on experiments. As 4th grade students delve into life science, physical science, and earth science, they find what they learn matches up with the Bible. Use the visually stunning One Small Square Arctic Tundra, Cactus Desert, and Coral Reef books to explore history-connected themes. Discover how dinosaurs fit with Creation in The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible. Study the stars in the heavens as you locate and identify constellations with Find the Constellations.
Observe major historic advances in science as you read fascinating Charlotte Mason-style living books about the lives of famous explorers, inventors, and scientists. Sail with Columbus, invent with DaVinci, fight diseases with Pasteur, and experiment with Einstein. Create science notebook entries, give oral narrations, answer questions, become familiar with science-related vocabulary, and practice biblical application. Conduct quick, hands-on experiments and activities related to the science readings and log the results in a science notebook. Each experiment is easy to complete, uses the scientific method, and is guaranteed to make each day’s discoveries memorable.
Finally, draw connections between science and history as topics, people, and events overlap between the two subjects. As students read about the Israelites wandering in the desert, they will study the desert habitat in science. When reading about seafaring explorers, students will study the coral reef. As students read about Columbus, da Vinci, Pasteur, and Einstein in history, they will also study their contributions in science. This living books’ approach to science makes this 4th Grade Charlotte Mason curriculum unique and inspirational!
A Charlotte Mason Living Books’ Approach to Literature, Dictation, and Grammar
With Drawn into the Heart of Reading, students read captivating books, explore nine different genres, learn common story elements, discover Godly character traits, and complete fun activities. This flexible literature program will help your 5th grader become passionate about books, while still teaching necessary reading skills. Based on clear instructions and engaging activities, this innovative program will work with any literature. You can choose your own books, or use our engaging Level 4/5 or 5/6 Book Packs instead!
In Preparing Hearts for His Glory, the Charlotte Mason method of studied dictation is used. In this method, students study the passage prior to having it dictated. This is an important step in learning to visualize the correct spelling of words. All items in the passage must be written correctly, including punctuation marks, before going on to the next passage. Studied dictation focuses on the goal of using correct spelling within the context of writing. Multiple levels of dictation are provided, so you can place your student properly. Rod and Staff English instruction is also included to teach students proper grammar.
A Charlotte Mason Living Books’ Approach to Composition and Poetry
A Charlotte Mason educational approach recognizes the importance of choosing good authors! Preparing Hearts for His Glory’s composition component introduces students to the classic poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson. Through shared poetry readings, discussions, and writing exercises, students discover the enduring qualities that make Stevenson’s work timeless.
First, students read and appreciate his classic poems. Then, they learn about Stevenson’s life, gain exposure to unfamiliar vocabulary, and discover the meaning beneath the text as they discuss provided questions. Students practice these skills through weekly prewriting and writing exercises patterned after Stevenson’s poems. Next, they learn creative writing skills by examining the style, content, pattern, and poetic devices of each. Finally, they copy excerpts from each poem and choose their favorites to memorize and take to heart. This 4th grade Charlotte Mason curriculum takes a beautiful living books’ approach virtually every subject it can!
Oral and Written Narrations
Oral and written narrations provide important Charlotte Mason assessments, and Preparing Hearts for His Glory’s plans include both! Just as Charlotte Mason recommended, only narrative, living books provide the basis for narrating. In response to their independent history living books’ readings, students write 1-3 sentence written narrations, highlight the main idea in each written narration, and use the Written Narration Tips to edit their narrations. Guided questions help students think about their narration before they begin writing. Likewise, students work through the Written Narration Tips one at a time when they are editing. As the year progresses, students lengthen their written narrations to five sentences. This helps fourth grade students develop strong written narration skills!
Oral narrations rotate, so students orally narrate upon a different subject’s living book each day. In response to the living books read aloud for Storytime, students transport themselves back to the time of the the story. They ‘become’ one of the characters and tell all they ‘see and do’ as they retell what they remember from the day’s reading. In response to the living book they read independently for Science, students orally narrate as parents refer to the book and the provided key idea in the Preparing Hearts for His Glory’s teacher’s guide. In response to the living book for history, students orally narrate or retell the portion of the day’s text that the parent read aloud. This variety keeps narration fresh and fun, and also teaches different styles of oral and written narration skills.
Narration Guidance for Parents and Students
If you need a little guidance as a parent, just refer to the Narration Tips: Teacher’s List before, during, and after narrating. Meanwhile, students refer to their how How to Narrate: Student’s List for helpful narration tips. These easy-to-use, helpful narration tips in the Appendix of the Preparing Hearts for His Glory guide make narrating a success from the start! This 4th grade Charlotte Mason curriculum provides all the guidance necessary to help students learn to successfully narrate in both oral and written form!
Charlotte Mason’s Encouragement of Repetition, Memorization, and Recitation
Charlotte Mason encouraged recitation of beautiful poems, scripture, and Christian music throughout a child’s learning. For twenty minutes each day, Charlotte’s schools planned for ‘Repetition.’ During ‘Repetition’ time, children would alternate between poetry, Bible, and Christian music. Younger children recited a poem of their choice, a hymn, a Psalm, and several passages each six verses in length per term. Older children recited several longer Bible passages each about 20 verses in length, as well as three poems each term. Children also practiced Christian music in the form of hymns that included Scripture. As children matured, they memorized lengthier Bible passages and poems, and they added more hymns to their repertoire.
Charlotte Mason-Inspired Bible, Music, Common Place Book Entries, and Recitation
Well, Charlotte Mason would certainly enjoy Preparing Hearts for His Glory because it includes poems, Scripture, and Christian music of Bible verses! Students complete a Robert Louis Stevenson poetry study that includes recitation of a poem of their choice each term. They also complete a Bible study on focused on Psalms passages. In this inspirational study, students read and discuss passages from Psalms using heartfelt questions that encourage students to reflect upon God’s Word. They identify the mood and purpose of each Psalm, and use prompts from the guide to apply the themes of each passage in prayer.
This heartfelt Bible Study also teaches students to have a personal quiet time filled with prayer and praise based on the Psalms. This special time helps students transition into having their own personal Bible quiet time in future guides. Students copy Scripture memory selections in their Charlotte Mason-inspired “Common Place Book.” This book serves as a special journal to copy and store meaningful Scriptures. Finally, students memorize entire passages from the Psalms through repetition, hand motions, and beautifully-performed music from Kelly Crawford’s Lead Me to the Rock.
We hope you enjoy this 4th Grade Charlotte Mason curriculum as much we have with our own families!
In Christ,
Julie
