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3 or 6 composers/artists per year?
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I trust the wisdom of the Simply Charlotte Mason group but was curious as to the change from six composers/artists per year to three. You all are always so good to point out that we can do what we feel is best for our kids so I know the option is open. But, knew, too, that if a change was made there was a good reason. Just wondering.
I do not know exactly why SCM made the change……maybe to give more freedom to larger families??? I know that for us – a family of 5 kids, six artists per year is too much. Three still may be too much for us at this season of life and i have to tell myself that it is OKAY!
I don’t know if this answers your question – just a guess.
Thank you Lishie! I too was guessing that this could be the case. You are so kind to share your thoughts.
In the free curriculum guide it now says 3 of each, but in the previous chart it says 3-6. I think some families would use three of the suggested in their first cycle through the modules and then use the other three on the second time through. Other families might choose to do all six, and then repeat them, or if they are not going to repeat the module with older child doing 6 may have apaled to give exposure to more artists/composers.
Doing 6 would mean fewer pieces of each one, so doing three allows for a more in depth study if desired.
Many families spend 6 weeks studying an artist, composer, and poet before switching to a new set for the remaining six weeks. I have done this for years and it works very well. Other families choose 1 of each to focus on per 12 weeks, either going deeper or alternating the study. This would work very well, too. There is no right or wrong, but I’ve found a change every 1/2 term to be refreshing. We haven’t repeated, there are so many to choose from.
I originally had a new artist every six weeks based on the information that Charlotte recommended doing six or so works by the one artist. In my head, I calculated that if you do one work per week, it would total six weeks to do all the works; and then you would move on. Later in my studying, I discovered that Charlotte actually scheduled one artist per term (which is 12 weeks) and spread out the studies and adding in the biography for variety over a more leisurely pace. So in this new curriculum guide version, I’ve tried to reflect the things I’m learning along the way.
A leisurely pace works well, but don’t get hung up on exact number of weeks. As you have all so beautifully stated, teach the child and do what works best for your family.
We changed from doing 6/year to 3 for this very reason. We had trouble getting in all we wanted to learn about an artist/composer. Now, if we were just viewing work/listening to pieces, we’d have been able to continue. Adding in biographies and time to become more hands on with art and music meant we needed/wanted much more time.
This year, we’ve tied both to nature study. Actually, I think we’ve enjoyed this year the most so far. It took quite a bit of planning in the beginning, but it’s been a nice study.
Though we’ve changed some things about the way I thought we’d pursue this year, it’s quite similar to this:
http://topsyturvytoile.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/fine-arts-nature-study/
LOL and I decided to go in the middle we do 4 a year. This worked better with my budget and getting all the ones I wanted to cover in a 6 year cycle. I think every family should do what they want. That gives us 9 weeks with one picture study/composer study. For our family this gives us enough to get into it, yet not to much to bore my children, who are not interested in composers or artists. 🙁
You all are so impressive. We just fly by the seat of our pants. We focus on an artist/composer/poet until we feel like we know them as well as we want to. (Just like meeting some people, we find we may not wish to get to know them as intimately as others?). Then we choose someone else to meet. We probably wind up covering 3-4 a year and we school year-round. We just spent several months on James Whitcomb Riley, enjoying every minute of it.
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