Another THANKS SONYA and SCM!

Hi there, I just wanted to echo another thank you to Sonya, and all the creators of the SCM resources. I have been homeschooling from the beginning, and my children are now 10, 7, 5 and 5. I’ve always been drawn to CM methods, and greatly inspired by books such as Educating the Wholehearted Child (Clarkson) and Real Learning (E. Foss). However, I have yet to fully embrace CM methods until this year. We’ve always been heavy on Living Books, but I have not been able to shake my traditional school mold and trust that her methods are “enough.”

The funny thing is that while I have continued to buy resources and curriculum that I didn’t really need (eg. Sonlight activity pages, unit study books and activities, lapbooks, Montessori stuff, etc. etc. etc.) I never REALLY used them. We basically just read! BUT, I felt BAD about my lack of producing a big paper trail, and always thought it a bit of a failure that we just didn’t DO much for school!

Anyway, this year, a dear friend and I bought and have been watching weekly the SCM seminar DVDs. Its been so fun! Our kids watch a movie or Monday night football with Dad, and we order takeout, eat with our plates on our laps in front of the tube, enjoy a few sessions of CM and Sonya! We are almost finished with the seminars, and I’ve begun using the CM organizer. And I must say, already my outlook on homeschooling is improved. The concepts are not new to me, however, Sonya, you present them in such a clear, simple and accessible format that things have really clicked in a new way. I have been affirmed over and over again what I already KNEW was true about learning, in a way that has really freed me.

Now, since  I am not putting energy into lamenting my lack of curriculum usage, I have more time to put into valuable learning methods, such as developing good attention habits, practicing better narrations, actually DOING Picture Study instead of just thinking about it, and doing dictation exercises with my oldest. Yay!!

It has been GREAT! These resources are so, so valuable. I know there are so many ways to homeschool and to do it well. But in my family, CM methods have been the only ones that are actually do-able over the long-term, and that produce the goals…both in character and Godliness, and academically….that we desire.

So thank you. I look forward to getting to know the moms on this board!

Shawna in Northern CA