CM is College Prep

I know people personally who have schooled their children with pure CM methods all the way through high school (no textbooks for science, teaching math her way, etc), and I have met the kids, and they were wonderfully prepared.  Those experiences and meetings have solidified my dedication to CM’s philosophy.  🙂

I’m definitely following this thread. I have a high schooler and I’d love to hear from others who have graduated students following the CM method. Willow Tree Community School is a CM school. On the school’s website, they have a page for high school that includes a high school handbook. It might be helpful to read the info. they have on their high school as it discusses how they have their high school structured. I think it’s helpful to see CM’s methods applied in a high school setting to get an idea of how you could structure for credit high school courses in a CM manner. Here’s the link to Willow Tree Community School’s high school page.

http://wtcsprospectivestudents.weebly.com/high-school.html

Maybe that’s helpful? 🙂

You’re welcome! I found it very encouraging when I read it because it helped me have a visual of how to still do high school courses for credit using the CM method without feeling like you have to resort to grades and the traditional tests. Don’t get me wrong. I still have my daughter take traditional style tests because I want her to have experience taking those types tests. We also incorporate some textbooks as well because I feel it is important for my daughter to have experience using textbooks as well. But as someone else had pointed out, CM is a method and it can be applied to a wide range of materials.

Personally, I really wish there were a complete CM curriculum that has everything planned out and the schedules written to the students like MFW and Sonlight does for the high school level. Something that included narration points and discussion starters and gives the teacher a summary of what is being read each week (like TOG does). Not a lot to ask, is it?? LOL

A question I find myself asking: Do our children really need experience with textbooks? I don’t mean this disrespectfully at all. I find myself using them to provide that experience sometimes or sometimes just to make sure things are easier/quicker to cover. But my children have never had trouble adjusting to textbooks so do they really need the “experience” with them, even if they are going to college? 
If they have read widely and have intimate relationships with a variety of subjects, won’t they just adjust when they run into things that are different (like textbooks)?

My first child will be graduating this year. We have used textbooks only for math (almost always) and Chemistry and Physics (in high school only). Everything else has been taught with living books, experience, narrations, and the like. He is planning on going to college. And I can forsee NO trouble for him at all. He teaches himself from computer textbooks with no trouble (the only place he can learn some of what he desires to know). He writes well and has even won some essay and historical fiction writing contests recently. This one surprises me the most as I am not a writer nor do I teach it well and yet he excels.

I don’t really expect answers. These are just my rambling observations. And my joining in the high school conversation.

-Rebecca 

Rebecca – I think most of us are thinking of textbooks used in those scenarios. A math text, maybe a science one here or there in the high school years. Or at least that’s what I have in my mind, and what we’ve done and will do. A massive amount of living books and all things Charlotte Mason-y, with a textbook here and there.

I was researching this a bit last night and SCM did a post back in 2010 or so where they discussed that Charlotte did appear to use textbooks in the upper levels, but very few and of the best quality she could find. Over at Charlotte Mason Help she talked about how Apologia science texts could be considered a living book as they are written by one person who is passionate about the topic (and I am sure other books would fit this category). So some ‘textbooks’ can work in Charlotte Mason setting if you want. Some will choose to use such books, some won’t. But we should avoid the ‘you aren’t CM’ finger pointing if someone does choose to use them. This is not directed at any specific person so please don’t take offense. It is merely a caution as so many times I’ve seen homeschoolers get confused or hurt and start second-guessing themselves when this topic comes up.