Apprehensive – encouragement needed :)

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  • October 14, 2015 at 11:18 am
    thekimfamily4
    Participant

    Hello everyone –

    I am sure someone has posted this before.  I started homeschooling 1.5 years ago.  This is our second full year.  I have 2 daughters, one in 5th grade and one in 4th.

    When I first started HS, I heard about CM and really liked it.  Between here and Ambleside Online I took a bunch of ideas…after a couple weeks of trying, I became very overwhelmed and ended up abandoning it.  I moved on to a hodge podge of things – all from great publishers  . . . but after 1 month of this school year I find myself back at square one and drawn to CM again.

    I really feel this makes sense but I have a couple hesitations.

    1. long term – Will they be prepared to enter the different environment of college that requires tests and grades and long lectures and study skills, etc?

    2.  short term – How do you plan all this without getting overwhelmed or having a 12 hour school day?  I truly agree on giving them a “wide” education but I tend to need some structure or I get overwhelmed . . . I think this is what messed me up the first time – not knowing how to structure our days and weeks.

    I really appreciate your time in reading this and responding – really want to go the CM route again but nervous!

    Rachel

    October 14, 2015 at 4:43 pm
    sheraz
    Participant

    Rachel – being prepared for college is definitely possible and doable. I personally think that the first way to prepare your children for this is being consistent daily in school for the long-term. There are lots of ways to learn about how to track your time and efforts into a transcript. There are people on here who have done this a few times and their replies are on other threads – you’ll need to search those out (do a google search SCM Forum high school transcripts or college prep.) You do have time to grow into that aspect, so don’t panic. First things first! 😉

    To make this do-able now with proven curriculum, SCM has several new products that enable you to have that daily guide to spread the feast in a few hours a day instead of 12.

    Keep It Simple that is a life-saver for many people. Specifically, Keep It Simple walks you through their curriculum guide in three steps – helping you choose a history time period (bible, history, and geography) to study, choose an enrichment guide (which is all the feast subjects), and choose individual daily lesson plans (individual skill subjects). If you will follow those 3 guides, you should have a great schedule.

    You’ll find your groove soon!

    October 14, 2015 at 4:43 pm
    HollyS
    Participant

    1.  This is an encouraging blog post:  https://childlightusa.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/paying-attention-to-dead-books-by-jack-kelly/

    2.  I set time limits on our day.  When we run out of time, we stop and move on to the next subject.  We timed every subject at first, but now that we are a bit into the year, I have a good idea of how long our materials are taking.  I still time copywork and math.

    Here is a great blog series on scheduling your day (her planning matrix is very helpful).  She suggests ways to combine your DC and how long to schedule each day based on their ages.  http://www.sabbath-mood-homeschool.com/p/preparing-cm-schedule.html

    Another great resource is SCM’s Planning Your CM Education e-book.  You can buy a hard copy, but I like using the printable pages.

    October 14, 2015 at 5:04 pm
    Melanie32
    Participant

    We definitely need to teach our students the traditional skills that they will need in college. However, the good news is that it doesn’t take 12 years to learn those skills! Just focus on one at a time during the high school years and you will move through them in no time.

    The secret in keeping the days from getting too long is to stick to the short time periods for subjects that Charlotte Mason recommended. Though we do many subjects, we do each one for a shorter time than one might imagine, thereby keeping our school days doable.

    Definitely check out the links that Holly provided above. The last one in particular was a huge blessing to me. 🙂

    October 14, 2015 at 5:50 pm
    RobinP
    Participant

    Will they be prepared for college?  Yes.  My oldest son, age 25 and a mechanical engineer, was CM homeschooled throughout and did very well.

    Many subjects can take only minutes a week and are very effective.  I love Cindy Rollins’ (mom of 9 children, mostly grown) philosophy.  A little bit over the course of years adds up to a vast amount…think for the long haul.

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