AmblesideOnline vs Build Your Library
The main differences
Both are Charlotte Mason booklists and schedules for kindergarten to 12th grade, with narration, copywork and living books, and both leave math to you. AmblesideOnline is free, run by volunteers, with no teacher guides, and many of its books are free online texts. Build Your Library is $39.95 a level as a PDF with a daily schedule, narration cards, science lessons and art projects tied to one history theme each year.
| AmblesideOnline | Build Your Library | |
|---|---|---|
| Subjects | All subjects: language arts, science and history and geography | All subjects: language arts, science and history and geography |
| Grades | Year 0 (kindergarten) to Year 12 | Level 0 (kindergarten) to Level 12 (12th grade) |
| Method | Charlotte Mason | Literature-based, Charlotte Mason |
| Format | Books and workbooks | Books and workbooks |
| Faith label | Faith-based | Secular |
| Cost a year | Free. Free to use: there is no charge for the schedules, booklists or other material. You buy or borrow the books (many are free online texts) and choose your own math, phonics and foreign language programs. | $39.95. Level 3 (The Early Modern World) lesson plans, a 302-page PDF with a 36-week schedule, reading list, narration cards, activity pages and science lessons: $39.95. The books are bought or borrowed separately, and math is not included. |
| Placement | Guide to choosing a year ↗ | Level, grade and age chart ↗ |
| Parent time | Not stated by the publisher | Not stated by the publisher |
| It fits | A family that wants a free, book-centered Charlotte Mason plan, with a parent who enjoys reading aloud and is happy to choose a math program. | A family that wants a book-centered year planned for them at low cost, with time to read aloud together. |
| It doesn't fit | A parent who wants teacher guides, day-by-day lesson plans or a boxed set where every subject arrives ready to use. | A family that wants math included, printed teacher guides, or a box that arrives with every book. |
AmblesideOnline
AmblesideOnline is a free Charlotte Mason curriculum run by a volunteer group, with a booklist and weekly schedule for each year from Year 0 (kindergarten) to Year 12. A year is 36 weeks in three terms of living books for history, literature, poetry, geography and nature study, with narration after each reading, copywork, and picture and composer study. You gather the books, many of them free online texts, and pick your own math, phonics and foreign language programs.
Does well: The schedules and booklists are free, and many of the books can be read online at no cost.
Watch for: Math, phonics and foreign language are not included, so you choose and buy your own programs.
Build Your Library
Build Your Library is a literature-based curriculum with Charlotte Mason methods, sold as one PDF of lesson plans per level from kindergarten to 12th grade. Each level follows a history theme, and the plans give a daily and weekly schedule for 36 weeks with a reading list, narration cards, copywork, vocabulary, poetry memorization, timeline figures, mapwork, science lessons and art projects. You buy or borrow the books yourself, add your own math, and may want separate spelling and grammar programs.
Does well: A full year of lesson plans costs $39.95, so most of the spending goes to books, which you can also borrow from a library.
Watch for: Math is not included, and you may need separate spelling and grammar programs.
Lists with both
- Homeschool all-in-one curricula 22
- Charlotte Mason homeschool curricula 9
- Homeschool curricula for pre-K and kindergarten 48
- Homeschool curricula for middle school 51
- Homeschool curricula for high school 38
- Print homeschool curricula 44
- Homeschool all-in-one curricula for pre-K and kindergarten 21
- Homeschool all-in-one curricula for middle school 21
How we label
Every fact on a card was read on the publisher's own website on the date shown, and the page it came from is linked. A fact we could not confirm there is left out. Costs are for one child and one year of the main package, as the publisher's page showed them that day; prices and sales change. Method and format are the publisher's own description where it gives one. The only thing we say about religion is one label, secular or faith-based, given by the rule above; where the publisher's pages don't settle it, the card has no label.
Something wrong or out of date? Send a correction; publishers can send corrections, never money. Every program compared