Thanks for sharing all your charts Christie. I'm a planning junkie too. =) My charts are very simple and working for us for now since I only have one young student and we still do many things together, but I've often thought about how we might need to organize things differently when I have multiple students who are doing more independent work and trying to keep track of it all. The CMO isn't an option for us since we don't always have reliable internet access where we live overseas. (And I totally hear you about needing to spend less time online and not more!)

Blessings,
Jen

I've been tweaking our checklist over the past few days. I seem to do this a lot. However, I think this one might just work long term or at least as long as we do 3 weeks on and 1 off, which will be for the forseeable future.

3 Week Mini Term Checklist

Basically, I made a list of ALL work (w/ detail) in our 3 week mini-term with checkboxes. We check off or circle lesson numbers as they are complete. Each week of the mini-term is color-coded. I don't care really which day the things are done even though we have a schedule of what to do when. I'm simply looking for the simplest way to keep track of our learning. This means I will have 4 sheets of paper per kid per term and 12 for the year. That works for me!

The CMO here is terrific, but I am trying to spend less time on my computer each day and found I was easily distracted when I'd go on to check something.

Just thought I'd share in case it's helpful.

Christie

Christie, how do you manage narrations?  Do you have them narrate immediately after reading?  Do you have them wait and do them all at once?  That's a bit of a challenge for me in the mornings, being able to stop long enough to give full attention to a narration if they are coming every 15 mins or so with a narration.

My youngest is going into third.  He's an excellent reader, but still struggles with narration.  We are working with Aesop fables now and I'm getting more out of him (We take turns -- he reads one for me to narrate, then I read one for him to narrate.  This way he hears an example of what I'm looking for).  I do not mind reading (or even buddy reading) the majority of his books. He's not 8 until the summer.

Older ds is going into 6th, but struggles with written assignments.  I wanted him to get a good start on oral narrations (he's doing pretty well) and spend a good year on copy work to improve his printing skills before moving to any written narration.  My goal is one written narration per week during the 1st term next year, 2 second term and hopefully 3 third term.  We will continue with copy work and working on spelling wisdom. 

This is only our first year, as I've said, so I don't expect they will be quite at the level of a child who has been homeschooled from day one.  The older was behind his PS peers in many things, and the two boys are evenlly matched in skill, but not maturity.  It's a bit of a balancing act where they are nearly 4 years apart age wise.

Thanks for being so willing to share your plans and reasoning with us.  I'm really learning to think differently about some things.

Thank you so much, Christie, for taking the time to answer so thoroughly - I know you are a busy momma! :)

So it seems I must continue on reading everything... sigh. No just kidding, but it will be nice when ds starts reading some of his own work. I am unsure about what to do with my niece - 10, who will school with us one more year before probably returning to public school. She really needs both a bit more hand-holding and to take some responsibility for her school work. Perhaps that will have to lie in the hands of her parents.

Knowing I will be reading our lessons until 4th year (approx of course) makes me feel better about the whole "abandonment" thing. I think its when I hear hs friends who have their kids school mostly by computer that I wonder if that's really the point of all this (hsing). To each their own, I know, but I think I feel called to be more involved, especially when the kiddos are little, ya know? So what you said makes complete sense - thank you again for that! (Though I'm a little bummed because I still have to figure out how to get things done with my little guy! ha! :))

Have a wonderful night - Becky

Christie - perfectly clear now!  Thank you.  I was not seeing that you do not list out each page to be covered each day but instead an amount from that source for the week.  Stands to reason then that they are picking up where the last were in each book/subject each day.  Thus flexibility is gained!  Yahoo!  Schedules scare me because I have to have that flexibility without everything falling apart.  That's sort of why I've generally stayed away from them for two years!   Reading through Charlotte Mason's first book this year helped me to see that unless you follow this philosophy hook, line and sinker you can not expect the same results.  Many components have come together for us and our method is solid but it was our expectation and volume and independence that were lacking.  Without those ... well, not really CM is it.  Lovely.  But not CM. 

Just a note ... it was exams this term that lead me to take a step back and see our past year with clear eyes.  Not because they weren't done well at all, but in reviewing sources for the questions asked I realized I'd missed the boat on some things and been doing a "type" of CM instead of what I really wanted to be doing.

I just saw the last two posts while I was typing. 

Charlotte recommended reading lessons for grades 1-3, which we do for history and science. Both of mine have been proficient enough at reading to add in a book or two for them to read on their own like Matchlock Gun in 2nd grade. If they weren't proficient, I wouldn't add it. I will say that requiring reading for a certain amount of time per day helped dd11 get over the hump where reading went from being hard to being a joy. My son is at that hump, but I expect him to be over it in the next few months.

DD11 has done 2 Apologia courses in previous years with our co-op and needed a change for this year. This year she read through Fabre's Storybook of Science and made a lovely journal to go with it with drawings, journaling, labeling, etc. DS8 as I mentioned is doing Outdoor Secrets w/ companion together with me.

Math - DS8 uses Math Mammoth and the directions and examples are in the text. He does it on his own unless he doesn't understand a concept. This works b/c he gets math. DD11 was a guinea pig and we tried many different things. Math doesn't come as easily for her and jumping curriculum didn't help. It would have been better for her to stick with what we started with and plug along, but I didn't know that then. So, we've done a few things. We are using the Blue texts from MM for this last term to fill in some gaps. I will need to go over concepts more often with her b/c this is her area of struggle. LOF has already been of benefit for her to see the need for this. Next year, she'll do more on her own. We will use Systematic Mathematics and LOF next year.

DS8 only gives oral narrations. I have him draw a picture at the end of the book and I occasionally type up a narration he does, but not often. 

I do not oversee copywork as both kids have nice penmanship. I circle errors, which are rare, and ds8 corrects them. We did cursive from the beginning and he uses copybooks from Light Home Publications (currclick) at 1/2 page per day, 4 days per week. He's on the shorter ones. Right now using A Celebration of Christian Character. DD11 doesn't do copywork, but will start a common place book next year. I do AAS with each kid and help dd11 polish narrations. That's it for LA.

I can't tell you what to do re. possible reluctant readers and reading laziness. I can only say what I would try. I would read ALL lessons for grades 1-3 and begin requiring reading for learning on their own at grade 4, but only 1 subject at a time. It is a transition phase and I imagine not all kids will transition easily. Slow and steady wins the race, but the goal is for the kids to read their own books. To build reading endurance, I would require everyone to spend a set amount of time reading per day. My DS8 must read 30 minutes during quiet time in addition to his assigned reading. DD11 reads on her own and has no requirement.

I am no expert, I'm just a mom who loves these methods and am striving to learn how to best incorporate them into our family. (Notice my one deviation from her methods with AAS. It works for us.)

Christie

Hi Becky,

LA for my ds8 is simply copywork, Pathway Reader and AAS.Oh and recitation (memorizing of poetry and scripture).

History - we use the SCM modules and are currently in module 5 which I rearranged a bit due to our big American history field trip last month. So for this term our family books are Story of the Nations, vol. 1 and Master Skylark (if we get to this one). DS8's books are Toliver's Secret, Good Queen Bess, Bard of Avon and Out of Darkness which I will read to him. He will read Matchlock Gun on his own and narrate (not in module, my addition.) My dd11 will join in for Story of Nations and Master Skylark and will without being asked either listen in on his readings or more likely, read them on her own, just because she loves reading. 

Science - We are using Outdoor Secrets w/ the Companion guide and books for ds8 and we do it together though he could do it on his own, I think. DD11 does her own science this year. Next year we are using RS4K pre-level 1 and level 1 - same topics, different levels. DD11 will do on her own, I will work with ds8. Experiment days will be all of us together.

Family Studies - We will always have our fine arts studies (poetry, artist, composer, hymn, folk song), nature studies and some read-aloud or two ongoing I expect. These will be done together along with family devotion/Bible time and scripture memory. 

Please don't mistake, I am with my children all day, every day, but I cannot hand hold 4 kids all 3 years apart. They must learn to learn independently or Mama will lose her mind! By 6th-7th grade, I picture myself more as the mentor and guidance counselor as well as book discussion partner than I do teacher. I'm there, available to help as needed and always there to discuss, but the children need to do their own work. This is a very CM idea by the way. No time to give a quote, but I know Charlotte recommended kids begin reading their own books around age 9. 

I have 4 kids and like all moms with more than 1, I have to work out that balance. I don't want to shortchange my little ones by hand holding the older ones too long. I want the littles to get to read, go outside and count acorns and blow dandelions, but truthfully the older ones cannot spend their work time doing these things or they will never advance. So where do I go - play with the littles or school with the olders? It's a quandry. In fact, I'm in the midst of hiring someone to come for a couple of hours a day to either play with my littles or oversee my olders so I can play with the littles. It won't be necessary forever, but it will be a tremendous help to me right now in this season. 

@4myboys - I do understand the difference of circumstance coming from ps and working on changing that mindset and having to work part time. If the boys are with you at work, I would certainly make use of that time, but that's what would work for me. Perhaps try a few different schedules over the next few terms to figure out what best suits your family. For us, year-round works. PS here goes from 8 - 2:30 or 3 and even taking out an hour or 2, that's 5 hours with lots of busywork, I know. That really isn't my comparison to make as I don't really care what the public schools do. I simply set our goals, determine if they are reasonable and then figure out what it will take to meet them. Having finished our schedules it looks like dd11 will have 4.5 hours of work (incl. family work, but not piano) and ds8 will have 3 - 3.5 hours of work. This is a reasonable goal for us. Now if I can find that person to help, I know we'll meet the goal with 2 hours to focus!

I know what you mean about button pushers, too. My 2yo is one and loves to sneak off with a timer if he can.

Blessings on your continued journey,

Christie

Ok, so looking things over again, I'm really liking this set-up. If I'm understanding correctly, the only subject (besides Family subjects) you do with your kids is language arts, right? How about math - do they just come to you with questions if they have them? Also, how do they do their memory work on their own - how does that work? And finally, does your son give you written narrations or oral from his readings? Do you. write his narrations down for him if he gives you oral narrations? (I'm thinking I need to start doing this with my son who is 7.5)

I am totally going to re-vamp the way we do things so it looks more like this. We would probably save a ton of time that I could use to spend time with my pre-ker, which has been an issue for me.

Here's something else too - I have some reluctant readers, which may be just laziness, because they say they "like" being read to. But I'm getting rather tired of reading "everything" - which I do actually except for what I give them for independent reading. Do you think I need to make them become more responsible for their education by making them read their own assignments (because I'm totally onboard lol)? I'm wondering if it would solve some bad habit issues (like laziness) across the board. Hmmm....
(insert big grin here)

Yep -- I totally agree with Becky.  Just trying to find my way around...the best for everyone.  This discussion has been excellent and I thank Christie for getting it started.

I am curious to know about if they each do their own science and history, also.  I was thinking of keeping them together and doing Apologia Zoology over the next couple of years, them move older to Apologia General in grade 8th and using the remaining Apologias with the younger.  Now I'm not so sure...he can get very distracted by his younger brother who is ADHD.

Thanks for replying Christie.  I really appreciate hearing from the more experienced moms, especially being so new.  It soulds like you are acomplishing SOO much and you've really found what works for you.  We are still searching.  My biggest issue is the fact that I work 3 hours Mon-Fri mornings, so the more I can get them working idependantly the better.  It would be nice to have them working diligently for the full three hours.  We're working on it.  I also think that if I could get them working year round independantly that would be fabulous -- I'm working anyway, and they are at the office with me, so what else are they going to do? It's harder to establish that coming from PS, though.  They already have such negative attitudes about school and doing it in the summer is not going to appeal to them, either. 

Here the PS day is less than 5 hours (the elementary school they attended was 9:15-3:15 with an hour for lunch and a 15 min recess -- so about 4.5 class time (give or take because there are bathroom breaks and library and gym and music class).  Even Jr. High is only 8:00-2:00.  High school might last an extra hour at absolute most, so with lunch and a spare, they still aren't getting in 5 full hours of class time.  Of course, I suppose they are generally expected to put in 1-3 hours of homework time in the evening, so I guess we are still having a shorter day in that regard, even if we do eventually put in 4.5 of solid work a day... 

Then, maybe I'm under-estimating my children...?

I like the idea of a personal timer.  I've got one I picked up at the dollar store.  It would clip on to a note book or binder.  It would work for my older son I think, but my younger, who has "push-a-button-syndrom" might be too distracted by it.

Christie - I find this extremely helpful as well. And your charts made my heart go pitty-pat, ha! I heart charts. :)

I am amazed at what your 8 yo does independently. May I ask what your language arts consists of?

Also, do you have one book for "family" history and then the other book(s) are read independently by the child? Same with science - do they just read their science stuff on their own and you don't have anything to do with it?

I think I'm rather torn here (for my own life) because on the one hand I absolutely believe my child should be able to work independently - more so as they get older. But on the other hand, isn't one of the reasons I hs so that I'm actually "with" my kids - aka: the "family" subjects. I'm wondering if I'm doing too much hand-holding or if I'm sort of abandoning them (my kids) if I put so much of their work in the independent catagory.

BTW - I am totally NOT criticizing you in any way - I'm very impressed with your schedule and how your family works! I think I'm just looking for some advice ... or something...lol.
Becky

The list was simply an idea given my by Michelle aka Bookworm. She suggested evaluating every subject/book for this current season and rating it good, better or best. After rating, keep the bests, as many betters as possible and goods if time allowed. So, by doing that I realized grammar was simply a good for now, so I cut it. The Story of by Guerber and a couple other books were betters, but didn't make the cut this time. Master Skylark is a good and we'll keep it if we can, but no worries if we can't. The rest of mine were on either my best or better list and I kept them.

Re. time off for life or other interruptions - My daily (3 week at a time) checklist doesn't have any chapters or lesson #s listed. That info is on my 12 week Term Outline. Both live on the children's clipboards and we just move through each resource and the kids can check where they are as we go. I should show you next time. Let's say on Day 2 of week 3 we don't get to our history reading. No checkmark goes in the checklist and we know to pick up there next time. Sometimes we can double up a reading or we can do it on our off week. 

Does that help or muddy the waters. 

Christie

The list was simply an idea given my by Michelle aka Bookworm. She suggested evaluating every subject/book for this current season and rating it good, better or best. After rating, keep the bests, as many betters as possible and goods if time allowed. So, by doing that I realized grammar was simply a good for now, so I cut it. The Story of by Guerber and a couple other books were betters, but didn't make the cut this time. Master Skylark is a good and we'll keep it if we can, but no worries if we can't. The rest of mine were on either my best or better list and I kept them.

Re. time off for life or other interruptions - My daily (3 week at a time) checklist doesn't have any chapters or lesson #s listed. That info is on my 12 week Term Outline. Both live on the children's clipboards and we just move through each resource and the kids can check where they are as we go. I should show you next time. Let's say on Day 2 of week 3 we don't get to our history reading. No checkmark goes in the checklist and we know to pick up there next time. Sometimes we can double up a reading or we can do it on our off week. 

Does that help or muddy the waters. 

Christie

I am so thankful for this discussion!  I can not say that enough.

You are correct Chrisite.  Everyone is in their season.  Everyone has to make their own path to some degree but how delightful for me that some of you have forged ahead and beaten away some of the briars and tall weeds!  Thank you for your wisdom.

Tell me more about a good/better/best list?  I'm not sure I grasped that idea.

Also, if you don't mind me picking your brain a wee bit more ... if you do take the time for something else and a lesson or more on one day is missed how exactly is it integrated back in so as not to cause you to have to retype the chart everytime that happens? 

I pictured myself planning a day every other week for catch up of those "missed/lost" lessons but that certainly would not work since everything moves in succession (can't read chpt. 4 before missed chpt. 3).

*It has helped tremendously to have this discussion, because I analyzed everything I want her to do according to a good, better, best list *

Iron sharpens iron! Thanks for sharing Christie, it helps all of us too.