W I L D W O O D C U R R I C U LU M

A Charlotte Mason Education for All

Options for Form 1

Sometimes, you just need someone to choose all the books and tell you exactly what
to do.  That is what our main curriculum is for.  In other seasons of life, you want to
tweak and have options, and be able to make choices for your own circumstances.

Here we give you alternate suggestions and information on how to make this
curriculum your own while still following Charlotte Mason’s guidelines.

Writing

Previously we had recommended American Cursive Handwriting .  We still think

this is an excellent program, but in the past few months the owner has become less
and less responsive, and customer service has signi cantly dropped.  While the
product is excellent, the company appears to be having issues.

(I ordered through PayPal/email and the owner said he would ship the following day,
Monday.  Two weeks later I sent a PM through Facebook asking for a tracking
number and was told the order would ship out the following Monday.  I nally
received it three weeks after I’d ordered.  I have since sent two emails asking for
information on the “Primary Scale Drill Sheets” that are recommended in the
program for Grades 2 & 3 and have received no response.  Inquiries through
Facebook were answered by the creator’s wife, saying, ‘please ask via email.’ —
Marjorie)

Without being able to get the Primary Scale Sheets (for Grades 2-3), it is more
appropriate for ages 10+.  Order at your own risk.

Tales

For 1B, choose three fairy tales per term of your choice.  We chose Andrew Lang’s
Blue Fairy Book because it is readily available and contains many of the fairy tales
that are well-known in our culture.  In the PNEU programmes, Grimm’s or
Andersen’s is speci ed.   Andrew Lang has many other books of fairy tales, and there
are several well-illustrated fairy tale books available.   Use any book of fairy tales
that appeals to you.

Classic Fairy Tales by Scott Gustafson is a lavishly illustrated collection of ten tales.
 It is an excellent choice if your children have had no exposure to fairy tales in the
earlier years.  The stories are toned down but not Disney- ed.

Also, read three Aesop’s fables per term.  We know this doesn’t seem like much, but
this is actually what was scheduled in the PNEU programmes.  We considered
adding more, but decided to stay with the original guidelines.    We recommend the
Dover Children’s Thrift Classics edition of Aesop’s Fables because it’s inexpensive,
and with only reading nine fables over the year, an expensive copy is not necessary. 
However, The Aesop for Children with illustrations by Milo Winter is also an
excellent choice, and nicely illustrated.   If you get a different version, try to get one
that hasn’t been ‘updated with modern language’.

Hero Tales in 1A can be replaced with biographies of people who will inspire your
children.  When we looked at the list of hero biographies in the original
programmes, one of us saw naturalists, another saw explorers, and another political
gures.   If you choose to use others than what we suggest, consider choosing one of
each.  Biographies should be of people your children can look up to, and preferably
be adventurous. We encourage you to choose heroes that re ect your family.   
Some suggestions, by no means exhaustive:

Bessie Coleman (African American aviator)

Pocohontas
 Sundiata: Lion King of Mali (disabled man who became leader)

The Story of Nelson: A Ladybird Adventure from History by L. Du Garde

Peach (British)

The Boy Who Drew Birds: The Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline
Davies

Henry David Thoreau

Abigail Adams

John Hancock

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

      Martin Luther King, Jr.

World folk tales may be replaced with any cultures you wish, or with an anthology. 
Select a different region every term in 1A, and read these in the evenings or on
weekends.  You don’t need to limit yourself to 6 per term, but don’t read so many it
becomes a burden.    Yesterday’s Classics and Dover Children’s Thrift Classics
both have inexpensive options, while Project Gutenberg has free versions of others.
 If you need a break from folk or fairy tales in 1A, read Alice in Wonderland for a
term.

African Myths and Folk Tales

Jataka Tales

More Jataka Tales

West African Folk Tales

Chinese Fairy Tales

Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales

Stories from My Childhood (Mikhail Baryshnikov)

Indian Fairy Tales

Jewish Fairy Tales

etc.
If you need to replace Beatrix Potter, additional ideas that still keep with the same
theme are:

Winnie the Pooh

Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales, adapted by Julius Lester

Brambly Hedge by Jill Barklem

James Harriot’s Treasury for Children

any of the animal or bird books by Thornton Burgess

Arthur Scott Bailey’s Tuck-me-in Tales

Clara Gillingham Pierson’s Among the _______ People series

Or you could simply use any good literature  that appeals to you and your children.

Tales of Troy and Greece could be replaced by

Tales of the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne (easier read and less intense)

The Children’s Homer by Padraic Colum

Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

King Arthur replaces Pilgrim’s Progress from the original PNEU programmes, a
book that is foundational for subsequent literature but is too Christian for most of
our families to be comfortable using with their young children.

We looked long and hard for what could replace Pilgrim’s Progress — something
that was similar dif culty level, that was foundational for English literature, that
was epic in scope, that is widely available, and that would be interesting to children. 
We settled on King Arthur because it met all these requirements.

While we recommend Knowles’ version, there are others.  Howard Pyle we felt was
not only longer than could be easily read in 2 years, but also uses stilted language
that many of our children struggle with.  Knowles is easily available and easier for
children.  Roger Lancelyn Green also has a version.  Elizabeth Lodor Merchant has a
lovely edition that is high level language without being overly dif cult and most
children love it, but there are not many used copies available and it is out of print.

If you decide to pass on King Arthur, try to replace it with something that is similarly
foundational to future literature.  If you think of something, please let us know!  You
could try a children’s version of the Mabinogion, or a children’s version of
Canterbury Tales, or stories selected from 1001 Arabian Nights.  These all have
adult content, so you will want to nd one that is edited for children.

History

Because we assume 90% of our users are American, we begin with American
history.  If you live in a different country, you will most likely want to begin with the
history of your own country.  Please see Users from Other Countries.

We struggled with history as much as any other subject. In the end, we went back to
Charlotte’s own thoughts – that Form 1 students want to get at the people of
history, and care nothing for strings of reigns, battles,and political movements. She
warned against using ‘outlines’ of history. She also felt that in Form 1, the children
should be shown the good of their country, and there is plenty of time in Forms 2
and beyond to teach the unsavory history that all countries have. We know that
some will want to teach their children mostly about the Presidents and traditional
history of our country, while others will want to downplay those men in favor of
women and minorities. To that end, we gave a choice of biographies in most terms of
Form 1A. Please make decisions based on your own family’s desires and cultural
background. These are merely suggestions.

In 1B, we begin with American Tall Tales, in keeping with Charlotte Mason’s own
theme of teaching Age of Myths to this age group.   Other options for books of tall
tales:

American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenberg

Cut from the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend, and Tall Tale  by Robert
D. San Souci

Individual titles by Steven Kellogg : Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett,
Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, etc.

Paul Bunyan Swings His Axe by Dell McCormick.  Seventeen Paul Bunyan stories,
written in 1936, and 111 pages.  You might pair this with the John Henry book
by Lester Pinkney and use this pair exclusively for 1B history, picking up 
America First in 1A.

We use America First because we feel that it exempli es what Charlotte Mason
recommended in a history book for children under nine.   If your child is not ready
for this book in 1B, consider reading more tall tales and adding Boys and Girls of
Colonial Days, available from both Project Gutenberg and Yesterday’s Classics.  Due
to stereotypes of the time, particularly of Native Americans, about half the stories
in Boys and Girls of Colonial Days not be appropriate to read to your children.    Please
pre-read and choose the stories that are appropriate.   Those that are, are a
wonderful, gentle introduction to life in colonial times.

There are several possibilities as alternates for America First (all of Form 1), though
none we liked quite as well:

Betsy Maestro series — The Discovery of the Americas, Exploration and

Conquest, The New Americans: Colonial Times, Struggle for a Continent: The
French and Indian Wars, and Liberty or Death: The American Revolution 
These are well illustrated, but tend to focus on the broad political
movements, rather than stories of people.  Some are dif cult to get (try
the publisher), and they only go to the early 1800s.

America is Born by Gerald Johnson (excellent, but out of print)

America Begins by Alice Dalgiesh

The American Story by Jennifer Armstrong (well illustrated, but at a

lower level than America First.  Perhaps only appropriate for 6-8 yos)

Our Country’s Story by Frances Cavanah

A few speci c events in American history:

The Story of the Statue of Liberty by Betsy Maestro

The Boston Tea Party by Russell Freedman

Let it Begin Here! Lexington and Concord by Dennis Fradin

Liberty: How the Revolutionary War Began  by Lucille Recht Penner

(Landmark Book)

Shi-shi-etko by Nicola I. Campbell (Age appropriate book on forced

boarding school for Native American children.  The book
concentrates on the main character being connected to family before
she has to leave.  It has an author’s note on the actual forced boarding
 school but does not mention it in the text, so the parent can choose
exactly how much to share with students.)

The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter (Navajo Code Talkers,

WW2)

There is an excellent book called Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African
Americans.  It is beautifully illustrated and as the title says,  is the story of African
Americans.   Since  it follows the history of America in 40 pages of text, it
didn’t quite t in this Form.    African American families,  as well as those who want
more of a minority focus, will want to use this book in either late Form 1A or Form
2.  Use it in place of, not in addition to, the scheduled history reading.

In America First, we skip the story of Osceola.    We have scheduled a Native

American biography in one term, and in another as an option.  You may want to
replace some of the biographies in other history terms with Native American/First
Nations biographies.

Other ideas for biographies:

Louis Braille: The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind by Margaret Davidson
-OR- Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille by Russell Freedman

Dear Benjamin Banneker by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Molly Bannaky by Chris Soentpiet

Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express (I Can Read It Level 3)

The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch by Chris Barton

Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson by Ann McGovern

We had to cut several stories from America First to keep the page counts within
Charlotte Mason’s recommended range.  We skipped stories we felt were too
violent for our little ones, as well as several others.

However, every family and every child has a different tolerance level.   It is our
expectation, as it was Charlotte Mason’s, that the parent will edit on the y for
suitability.     Many children will nd the stories in America First to be thrilling and
exciting.  Some who are more sensitive will be upset by the deaths of many
characters.  If your child is the latter, you may be happier using one of the other
options we suggest.
Geography

1B  Replace Elementary Geography with Home Geography for Primary Grades by C. C.
Long, if desired.  Or, view Elementary Geography on archive.org and simply teach
the appropriate concepts.

In the PNEU programmes for Form 1A, Charlotte used both Ambleside Geography
Book 1 and Ambleside Geography Book 2.  Book 2 is physical geography of the
world, with a heavy emphasis on Britain in Year 2.  A similar book is the Guyot
Geographical Reader and Primer: A Series of Journeys Around the World by Mary
Pratt, which starts with North America.  Neither of these are currently available in
either print or well-formatted ebooks, but are on archive.org.   If you decide to use
Guyot, use it in place of Paddle to the Sea and the explorers in Form 1A, and use only
Part 1.  It should last 2 years.  As always with books of this age, the parent will want
to read judiciously and edit where necessary.  Overall, this is an excellent book, 
however.  We’ve also listed a few other books that could be used, but are also
unfortunately not in print.

Pacing distance and making plans was done for all years of Form 1A, regardless of
how long the student was in that Form.  Charlotte Mason apparently felt it was an
important skill, and should be repeated.

Are We There Yet? by Alison Lester is a great book for Australian geography, and we
had this in the main curriculum.  It is not currently available from either The Book
Depository or Amazon, so we have moved it to the Options page.

Other options for explorers:

Helen Thayer (one possible book: Helen Thayer’s Arctic Adventure by Sally Isaacs. 
This is brand new and has not been vetted yet)

Dr. Livingstone (since he was a missionary, biographies may contain more

Christian content than desirable)

Other options for physical geography (use in place of Paddle to the Sea and/or
explorers):

A Child’s Geography of the World by V M Hillyer (out of print)

Guyot Geographical Reader and Primer, Standard 1 by Mary Pratt (be sure to use
Standard 1.  archive.org only  Begins “What We Learn in Geography”)
 Ambleside Geography Book 2 (archive.org)

The World at Home, or Pictures and Scenes from Far Off Lands by Mary Kirby   *note:
this is a bit heavy on the Christianity in the beginning, and here and there
throughout the book, but for the most part is a delightful book that mixes nature
observations with geographical. The descriptions of cultures is dated, as is to be
expected in a book written more than 100 years ago. The parent should read
aloud and edit on the y as necessary.

Home Geography by Ralph Tarr (archive.org)

Seabird, Holling C Holling

You may want to use books that re ect culture rather than physical features. 
Options for cultural geography:

Children of Many Lands by Dana Bruce and Elizabeth McCrady (out of print)     A
previous edition is Children of Foreign Lands.  This is a wonderful book and our
rst choice for 1B, but it is of limited used availability.  If you are able to nd it,
use it in place of Children of the Northlights and Jenny Goes to Sea.  –    world

Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren (sub for Jenny Goes to Sea OR
Children of the Northlights in 1B)  –  N Europe

Sticks Across the Chimney by Nora Burglon (Denmark)

Waiting for the Owl’s Call by Gloria Whelan –  Middle East

Megan’s Year: An Irish Traveler’s Story by Gloria Whelan –   N Europe

Orani My Father’s Village by Claire A.  Nivola – Europe (Sardinia)

The Gullywasher  by Joyce Rossi –  Southwest N America/Central America

Jingle Dancer  by Cynthia Leitich Smith  – Nat American

The Raft by Jim LaMarche –   N America

The Desert is Theirs by Byrd Baylor  – Southwest N America

Little Pear  by Eleanor Francis Lattimore –   Asia

I Live in Tokyo  by Mari Takabayashi – Asia

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters  by John Steptoe –  Africa

King for a Day by Rukhsana Khan – Pakistan

The Children of China: an Artist’s Journey by Song Nan Zhang

Natural History

The PNEU programmes use Arabella Buckley’s Eyes and No Eyes series, and several
Tommy Smith books by Edmund Selous.  We have been unable to nd anything
modern that compares to these books.  We have scheduled the rst 6 Eyes and No
Eyes books, written by Arabella Buckley, throughout Form 1.

The Wonders of the Jungle Book 1, which we used to use in 1B,  has a few Christian
references, but isn’t overbearing.  If you like this, www.gutenberg.org  also has Book
2.  Another option is African Critters by Robert Haas.  This book is beautifully
photographed but the text isn’t as instructive as either Tommy Smith or Wonders of
the Jungle.  However, for a physical book it is a solid option.  Parents will want to edit
for sensitive children, as it does mention harsh realities of nature.

Another option for 1B is the Smithsonian’s Backyard Books series.  They appear to
be out of print, but may be available from your library.  Try to spread a book out over
2-3 weeks, if you can.   Since these are cute picture books, more realistically this will
mean reading one in a single sitting, then re-reading over the next few weeks.

If you enjoy The Look About You Nature Study Books in 1A, Project Gutenberg also has
Book 4.

Other options for Form 1:

The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess

The Burgess Animal Book for Children by Thornton Burgess

The Burgess Seashore Book for Children by Thornton Burgess

(and others by this author)

Seed-Babies by Margaret Morley

Animal Heroes by Ernest Thompson Seton

School of the Woods by William J. Long

Among the _____ People series by Clara Dillingham Pierson

Talking to Fire ies, Shrinking the Moon by Edward Duensing (for older 1A
students, or use as a parent resource)

Shenlaya’s Quest by Thomas J. Elpel (also an optional book in Form II)

Creep and Flutter by Jim Arnosky

 Pagoo by Holling C. Holling

Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling

If you want to do object lessons with your children, or you have several students in
the elementary years, the Keepers series by Joseph Bruchac and Michael Caduto is
excellent.  These are resources for the parents and are not meant to be read by
children as school books.

Keepers of the Earth

Keepers of the Night

Keepers of Life

Keepers of the Animals

Recitations

If you have not used Mother Goose previously, start with that in 1B.  We like both
Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose and The Real Mother Goose by Blanche Fisher
Wright.    Both are excellent, but they differ in illustrations.  Tomie dePaola’s
uses more of a cartoon style of drawing, but also has a few multi-cultural drawings.
 Blanche Fisher Wright’s book was published in the early 1980s and has only white
children pictured.  If this is an issue for you, choose Tomie dePaola’s book.

For  1A, we love the poetry books by Joyce Sidman.  We didn’t use them in the main
curriculum due only to cost.  For example, Song of the Water Boatman and Other
Pond Poems has only 11 poems and is $12 new on Amazon.    If cost is not a factor,
or if you can get these from your library, these are excellent choices for 1A and 2B.

Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night
Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold

Other beautiful anthologies are

Classic Poetry edited by Michael Rosen with pictures by Paul Howard

National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis

Picture Study
If you don’t want to jump into the picture study rotation with your little one, use the
Come Look with Me books by Gladys S. Blizzard.

Handwork

Every term students were expected to do handiwork, in addition to their regular

studies.  For Form 1, this was mainly knitting, sewing, and gardening.  One term per
year clay modelling was added.  The children were also expected to make Christmas
gifts, and  gardening books were suggested but there were no actual assignments
for any of them in Form 1.  Because we know that coming up with ideas is
sometimes dif cult, we have assigned projects for knitting, crochet and sewing, as
well as one family project per year.  Feel free to choose your own instead.

If you know how to knit, sew, and garden, you don’t need these books.  However,
they can be helpful just for suggestions on how to teach or projects to make.

Sewing School is one of the best hand-sewing books on the market today, but we
recommend in it with some caveats.

1. The projects pictured often have sloppy stitching.  While this can be normal for a
child just learning, do strive for straight, even stitches.

2. Buttons are sewn on without shanks.   This is a typical beginner error, and it will
save future aggravation if you teach your children how to make a shank from the
start.  Here is an excellent tutorial.

3.  The projects in sewing school often have un nished seams and are not ironed,
to make them “easier for children”.  While the project will still get done, it will
look messier than it needs to.  Rather than throwing the book out, teach your
children to “press as you sew”, and nish interior seams.   A handmade article
should look as nice on the inside as on the outside.  Most of the items in Sewing
School can be nished inside with a simple whipstitch.  Here is a nice explanation
of how to use whipstitching to nish a seam.

Other simple sewing projects:

Sewing Projects for Kids from Red Ted Art

Felt gnomes (very easy)
good tutorial for buttonholes for 1A
 Easy Sewing Projects from Martha Stewart.   This is a list of 28, of which several
are appropriate for our Form 1 students to do.

We have multiple resources for handiwork on the Resources page.

Other ideas for knitting:

Teaching Kids to Knit has great tips for teaching the very young ones
Simple Spring Chick

The Mary Francis collection is a particularly enchanting series written directly to

the child. We did not recommend it in the main curriculum simply because it will be
more appealing to girls than to boys.

The Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting Book Jane Eayre Fryer
The Mary Francis Sewing Book by Jane Eayre Fryer
The Mary Francis Garden Book by Jane Eayre Fryer

Paper modeling or folding was assigned every term.  This was most likely paper
sloyd, and differed from origami in that the projects start out easier, but are more
precise.  It is a good way to work with fractions and measuring.  We found Paper
Sloyd on archive.org, which has projects for three years.  We have not used it
ourselves, but if you do we would love feedback on it.

In its place, we have suggested folding paper books and origami.  Use whatever you
can nd at your library or local bookstore, or use web resources.   Origami books go
in and out of print quickly, so we have not speci ed particular ones.  Resources for
making paper books are on the Resources page.

Another handicraft that shows up regularly in the PNEU programs is clay

modelling.  Unfortunately, we were unable to nd the sort of instructional book that
we would like in print.  The ones currently available tend to be how to make pottery
or polymer clay products, neither of which are what Charlotte Mason suggested. 
Here is one from Google Books:  A Manual of Clay-Modelling for Teachers and
Scholars by Mary Unwin.

Another option is beeswax modelling.  An excellent manual for modelling with
beeswax  is Learning about the World through Modeling by Arthur Auer (currently
free as an ebook – this is a Waldorf resource).  We have also linked to these from the
main curriculum pages.
If your child has motor skills delays, move at his or her pace, but don’t stop
handwork.  Simply do more of the easier projects before moving on to more dif cult
ones.  You might also consider using a knitting loom for quick satisfaction.

Volunteer or service work was expected every year, and later every term.  This
usually involved helping the “Save the Children Fund” in some way.  We encourage
you to do some sort of service every year.  While some families are involved in
service projects through their church, synagogue, or Scouts, many of us aren’t
involved in those organizations.    For those that aren’t, here are some suggestions:

Mother Bear Project

Feed My Starving Children
collect for Unicef
volunteer at a food pantry
Project Linus (the No Sew Fleece Blanket on the project page is perfect for Form 1)
Hats for the Homeless

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