I am so new to all of this and I was wanting to know if the planner book/dvd that you can buy is a more in depth planner of the blog posts of the 5 steps to planning?
Quite honestly, when I initially read your post, I was a bit confused – my fault, not yours. (I wasn’t sure if you were referring to something off the SCM site.) If you are talking about the ‘Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education’ versus the ‘All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar’ which are both SCM’s, I’ll try to help.
The first mentioned above helps you plan from the whole picture, down to your day. (Kind of like a map of the world, down to your living room – if that makes sense. 😀 ) It gives you sample schedules, timetables, methods, and goals along with a clear explanation for each “step” (the steps are the bulk of this resource, of course). I would *highly* advise buying this – it’s been a huge help to me in planning our school year and thinking about the years beyond the next.
The seminar basically covers what you can find here on the SCM site already (CM methods for each subject). I found this to also be very helpful, but if you are debating on which ONE to purchase, my recommendation would be the ‘Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education’. Use the SCM site as a resource (as Sonya planned it to be) and you’ll feel more sure of how to use the CM methods. The seminar also has a final “session” that talks about ‘laying down the rails, but I personally recommend the ‘Laying Down the Rails’ book for your library. It is *excellent*!
If you are a visual person and can buy both (or all three), it certainly wouldn’t be a waste of money, but you can get by without the All-Day Seminar.
I hope this helps (if I’m even in line with your question). 😀
Thanks for your response. I know my question sounded confusing, but wasn’t sure how to word it because the things I was comparing are very close together.
At the bottom of this blog post is the 5 step planning series I was referring to on the blog. I think the 5 step series is just a shortened version of what you can buy.
and it says in this blog post “We’ve taken all the goodies from the planning series and added even more practical tips, ideas, and worksheets to help you plan your best year ever.”
So I guess my question is for someone who has read the 5 step series blog post and bought the planner. I thought the 5 step series was pretty helpful, just wondered if the planner you buy is A LOT more helpful?
I can’t seem to figure out how to read what’s on the blog for 5-step planner, but I thought I’d chime in anyway and say that I bought the e-book version of Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education and I refer to it alot. It’s proven to be more valuable than the $11.95 that I paid for it. 🙂
Ahhh, it’s all making sense now. I came on somewhere in step 4 or 5, so I never realized the series was taking place, which is the reason I wasn’t quite sure what you were talking about at first (sorry). I did just skim through it quickly and it pretty much looks like the ‘Planning Your CM Education’ IN A NUTSHELL. Having the book, I can personally say to you that it’s worth having. I feel it gives the same picture, but a much *brighter* one. I, too, try to be careful in duplicating information, but this is one I would not regret ordering after having read the ‘series’ on the site. (If this had been the order in which it happened for me. 😀 )