The Children’s Tradition 1st Grade Review, Part One
We are in term three of our first year of The Children’s Tradition! Written by Amanda Faus and launched in 2024, there is limited information about the curriculum since it is so new. I wanted to provide my firsthand experience to any curious parents who are considering TCT for their family.
I have been singing the glories of the TCT from the rooftops to anyone who will listen. Blessings to my kid sister in law who listened to me ramble about the critical nature of fairy tales for ten minutes yesterday.
I am an avid researcher and a second-generation homeschooler. Since we knew we would likely homeschool, and my oldest was four, I have been honing my philosophy (still am) and trying to learn my first formal student (still am), while simultaneously trying all the things it seems Charlotte Mason says I should do. I jumped head over heels into the Charlotte Mason philosophy, but when it came time for my oldest to begin formal lessons last fall, I felt many of the wonderful CM picks just didn’t fit our family, my personality, or broader classical goals. This is not to put down those curriculums but to say I felt a hole and had started piecing together my own DIY curriculum when TCT entered the picture.
This review won’t focus on math or reading, which are subjects you as the parent-teacher choose on your own within TCT, but rather the streams of learning that are covered.
TCT is divided not by grade but by the ages and stages of man. It lands squarely in the Classical Education realm but not Neo-Classical. By that I mean this is not a rote memory program like what is often associated with Classical education in our time (looking at you, Classical Conversations). TCT blends the Charlotte Mason narration and dictation styles of learning for Language Arts, with the rich, timeless, and proven books from John Senior’s 1000 Good Books list.
To summarize, John Senior and Dennis Quinn were two students of classical education and professors who ran the humanities program at the University of Kansas in the 80s. When they gave their students Dante and Plato, they found that they couldn’t explore these GREAT books because they had been starved of the good books and poetic life experiences that form the building blocks of a good education. Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Bible, and Aesop’s Fables, among many are more than a fond childhood memory. These are essential, seminal works that shape one’s view of the world and have shaped education for millennia. So John Senior took his students backwards, singing songs by the campfire, embodying what we now call Poetic Knowledge or Poetic Education. Amanda explains all of this in beautiful depth in the curriculum.
“It is not that we cannot enjoy and learn many wonderful things from newer books or other old books that are pleasant, but when it comes to our school curriculum and the natural time constraints of childhood education, these books ought to be the priority.” – TCT, p. 2
My mom chose rich literature picks for my own education, pulling from amazing books and many historical fiction reads that shaped a very full view of the world. I memorized Casey at the Bat and Charge of the Light Brigade while learning It Is Well With My Soul and reading Swallows and Amazons on the couch. But whether due to my own personality as an adolescent or the nature of having six children younger than me, I did not read many of “good books,” or “great books” in high school. Today, I still struggle to pick up and read Jane Austen, a personal embarrassment. It wasn’t until I realized that I needed a re-education on the good books before I could expect to read a large George Elliot novel.
So here I am, being educated alongside my first grader. TCT is not based on the fact that we should ONLY read ‘the great books,’ rather, that we wouldn’t want to miss those in our child’s education. Just because Peter Pan or Swallows and Amazons isn’t on John Seniors list doesn’t mean any less of that book. Amanda has just specifically taken the list from Senior and woven it into a beautiful curriculum from birth through seventh grade. She plans to continue creating high-school curricula and praxis later, after she has her sixth baby.
What did we do this year?
Read. A lot. And listened. And read. And went on nature walks. And had simple and fun narrations. And journaled in our nature journals. And gazed at stars when I remembered to. And played in snow, and in creeks, and caught frogs, and then read more good books. Yes, we did sums and my son can read CVC books now which he couldn’t in September, but that wasn’t the crux of our homeschool. The richness of our days was laughter at Dr. Doolittle, conversations about the laziness of Lazy Lawrence (and us)
When you buy the TCT what do you get?
A lot of philosophy. This is one of Amanda’s strongest points, for sure. Things are cited, and there are a lot of quotes. Amanda didn’t invent this way of thinking, far from it. She is humbly compiling it for all of us to benefit. However, expect to put your deep thinking glasses on and sit with a cup of tea for many nights pouring over the philosophies. This is not an open-and-go curriculum in the sense that you need to understand the why behind everything that is being chosen, and once you do understand the why, you will feel confident to customize to your family’s needs as well. The curriculum is a 285-page PDF and will soon have a print version available, which you can print yourself.
TCT begins with an explanation of Senior and the Great Books program, Charlotte Mason, and her place within Classical education. Everything is hyperlinked and very user-friendly.
Year 1 in TCT, which is roughly first grade includes:
-Reading through the Bible. You simply use a post-it note, stick it there, and pick up where you left off. We did not usually narrate scripture and I let it just wash over him (and me). We have beautiful memories of reading through Genesis this year.
-A Psalm or Proverb when we remembered
-Poems from AA Miline, lots of Fables, Mother Goose, and sing song songs
-Greek Myths from D’aulaires. These were some of our favorite stories and my view on myths has changed so drastically. I have learned SO much and I am glad we read and did not listen. The pacing of this read is very simple, about 6 pages or so a week.
-Maria Edgeworth’s The Parent’s Assistant – I bought this on Amazon and the printing is not beautiful, but it has worked just fine. We have loved many of these stories and it has surprised me! A few of them were misses for us, mostly the ones where they are written as a play and we might revisit those. We maybe skipped three stories in all and my advice would be don’t give up on this read. It is old english, but these stories are quoted in Little Women and by Charlotte Mason. Many of the greats read these stories and you will see why. I believe they are written from a Catholic point of view, but it wasn’t a very strong theme. Personally I also found this read to take the longest of all in a week, and it required more focus so we prioritized this when the 2yo was sleeping as it was a hard one to start-stop-start-stop. Edgeworth’s Moral Tales continues in Year 2 and we are excited for those. Lazy Lawrence and Simple Susan will stay with us for sometime.
-We re-read the Narnia series as night time or naptime reads, though we had already read them and I didn’t put pressure on this to rush and sometimes let my son listen to a chapter on Spotify. Readings Under the Grapevine has the full Narnia series by chapter for free on Spotify.
-Latin: We opted to NOT do Latin this year, and were the better for it. However I will purchase University of Dallas Latin Thru Stories program ($100) for this coming fall and plan to begin then.
-Other literary picks like the Dr. Doolittle series (a personal favorite of my six-year-old) and Wind and the Willows. These were lovely choices.
-Historical Fiction reads from D’aulaires. These are common reads in the Charlotte Mason community and I was glad we didn’t miss them. These are an example of a read NOT on John Senior’s 1000 good Books list, but a beautiful addition none the less and something you could easily substitute if desired.
-Nature study through the Burgess Animal Book, simple nature journaling using The Handbook of Nature Study (Comstock).
-Composer and Artist study which was very simple. WE listened to beautiful music on a loop, and read Stories of the Painters which was lovely. We will add the book Complete Book for the Great Musicians in the fall.
-Saint stories. We read Saint stories at least once a week, and this I added. We started with 101 Orthodox Saints, reading one a day, but quickly discovered we wanted more depth in our stories. If you aren’t yet reading Saint stories, I highly recommend them! We have been so encouraged in our faith this year because of these great martyrs.
I wanted to note that many of these reads are free PDFs and so if cost or space is a factor, I found that a huge plus. Many are also available on audio on Librivox or Youtube for free. Cost should not be a deterrent.
To be continued in Part Two, COMING SOON.
