Can someone tell me the difference between using Tanglewood and Ambleside?

[MommyInTraining]

I have looked at both of these sites and am wondering if there is much difference between them.

Thanks for any input!

[St. Theophan Academy]

yes! :) Ambleside is far more complete and thorough - and is updated and maintained by a group dedicated to recreating the school & curriculum founded by Charlotte Mason. Tanglewood is a site founded by a homeschool mom who created a reading plan for her own kids that combines CM and neo-classical ideas - but the site is no longer updated, and the plans only go to 6th grade (I think?). It is my understanding that she has no plans to develop her curriculum further (at least not in the near future). I consider many of Ambleside's books to be higher level than those on Tanglewood, but there are many great suggestions on Tanglewood.

[Dawn E]

I believe that Tanglewood considers themselves a mixture of CM and Classical while Ambleside is strictly CM. I love the Tanglewood Corebook and am using it this year. I'm also using Our Young Folks' Josephus at their recommendation. Someone who's followed them more closely will better be able to answer your question, but I just thought I'd throw in my limited knowledge of one difference. :001_smile:

[Chandi_n_WI]

This is just the post I"m looking for. I have gone back and forth too and see that some of the books on ambleside are also used on tanglewood. I'm loving tanglewood, even if its not complete its a great place to start.

:Any other differences?

[Peela]

Ambleside tries to stick very closely to how CM did things and does a good job of that.
Tanglewood doesn't really try to do that. It just takes some CM ideas like book of centuries and nature study, throws them together with some Classical ideas, and voila, a new curriculum.
Dont mistake Ambleside for a booklist- it is so much more than that, but you dont really "get" that until you really dive into it. Even if other programs use similar books- the methodology is pretty different.
With Tanglewood, say year 5 science- she tells you what to take notes on- for example, different types of metal etc. With Ambleside, you dont "take notes" on anything, especially guided ones. You would read the information, then if you were doing a written narration for that book that day, you would write down everything you remembered about what you read- in your own words. That is across all subjects. And oral narrations can do a similar thing.
Lots of differences. Ambleside is very rich and deep and well thought out, though it doesnt and cant hold your hand as much as a program like Tanglewood- if it were complete- does. That suits many people like me, anyway.