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Ditching Classical and moving to CM methods SOS!!!
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Okay laides I have abandoned my dream of encyclopedia note-taking, fact retaining machines, who are destined to be neurosurgeons. I just can’t keep up with the planning and enjoy life at the same time. I always feel like there is something great out there they will miss and stress daily about it.
I want to change over what we are doing NOW. I have a DS (5), DD (7) who is a high functioning 2nd grader, and a DD (11) in 6th but hates to read and write. The two girls were home last year for the first time after being in PS. The little man is beginning K this year and would love to spend the day blowing things up and being a boy. I also have an almost 3 year old, and 2 older boys who want to be in PS.
We did Middle Ages last year and I am currently doing American History 1 with them. Here is what I own:
Horizons math
Trail Guide Pathways of Exploration
Phonics Road 2(older DD needed to back up to get the phonics/spelling down)
Science-older does Mr Qs life and littler DD does RS4K bio-little man does Elemental Intro
Latin-we did Prima last year and I have Latin for Children for this year. They will progress into the Latin Road so maybe I should just drop this?
Should I just stop, drop, and do the SCM modules? If you were me, what would tomorrow look like?
Thanks in advance! Kristen
I’d ditch the Horizons Math yesterday. 🙂 We started our homeschooling journey with that, and I can’t even tell you how much we hated it. We switched to BJU, which was better, but not much. Now we are doing RightStart. LOVE IT!
Science – youngest do just nature study and perhaps tag along with older siblings if he feels like (but don’t expect a thing from him). We are doing elementary Apologia with my 2nd & 3rd graders right now, but we just started it. So far we like it, though.
If I were you (and I’ve been in your shoes), if you can’t afford all new curricula right now, just implement her methods into your current textbooks. Short lessons, narrations instead of all the fill-in-the-blank worksheets, etc. Somewhere on this site is a list of how to implement for the time being, or ease into it or something like that. I printed it out when we first started SCM.
I hope some of this helps! Prayers for better days ahead now that you have discovered CM! 🙂
Welcome, Kristen! I used to stress over the tension between feeling that Classical was rigorous and CM easier, etc. But actually, Charlotte Mason was a classical educator herself….just happened to live before Dorothy Sayers and the trivium ideas. Here’s a great article by Susan W. Bauer on how similar the two are, if interested: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/charlotte-mason-education/
We use Math-U-See for math and love that we’re covered and it’s short, to the point lessons. I combine my kids in Apologia Elementary science…agree that the youngest would be good just doing nature study. Charlotte recommended Latin in 4th grade, so you could keep that for your eldest, if you like the program.
I agree that if you can’t afford to buy new materials, that you can use what you have and just do narrations instead of worksheets and make sure your lessons aren’t too long (about 15-20 min. each for your 2nd grader and 30ish for your 6th grader). Your 2nd grader would narrate orally, and you can ease your 6th grader into written narrations. I would start with the core subjects, and then slowly implement the picture study, composers, etc. as you get comfortable. HTH some:) Gina
If you are happy with Horizon’s math. Keep it. How are the children progressing through this?
Trail Guide. I’m assuming this is your history program. I would read this as your spine. Read and narrate. I would search SCM for literature selections to round out your history study. Use the selections that you can find at your library. Read and narrate.
Phonics Road 2. Is the 11 yo the only one using this resource?
Science. Are you happy with these choices? I would add in a Nature Study day for all and look for way to combine. There shouldn’t be any real reason that you cannot combine the younger two children. I am not familiar with Mr. Q’s science.
Latin. I wouldn’t do Latin with the younger children. I also wouldn’t do Latin with an older child that I feel still needs instruction in phonics/spelling. How are your children doing with Latin studies?
So, I would recommend modifying the resources that you already own. Concentrate on narration especially with the 11 yo. Once the 11 yo is more confident with oral narration then start adding in written narrations.
Add in copywork for the 7yo. Add in copywork and dictation with the 11 yo.
HTH
If you are happy with Horizon’s math. Keep it. How are the children progressing through this? They like it and it keeps us accountable for math. I feel good knowing it is thorough as well.
Trail Guide. I’m assuming this is your history program. I would read this as your spine. Read and narrate. I would search SCM for literature selections to round out your history study. Use the selections that you can find at your library. Read and narrate. Yes, kind of. I was using Guesthollow’s American History(based on books) and there are the units in TG that I was going to integrate. So I read and they narrate? I am adding in additional reading for them for that time period. Should I be picking a Module instead?
Phonics Road 2. Is the 11 yo the only one using this resource? 11yr old and 7 yr old are using this for spelling/grammar
Science. Are you happy with these choices? I would add in a Nature Study day for all and look for way to combine. There shouldn’t be any real reason that you cannot combine the younger two children. I am not familiar with Mr. Q’s science. I am not a big fan of nature study because of its open and less directed nature so I need to get into the groove with this. Mr Q’s is light reading and she enjoys it. I think I will keep that for her and let the others do more interest driven science.
Latin. I wouldn’t do Latin with the younger children. I also wouldn’t do Latin with an older child that I feel still needs instruction in phonics/spelling. How are your children doing with Latin studies? They liked Prima and we haven’t done much with LFC.
So, I would recommend modifying the resources that you already own. Concentrate on narration especially with the 11 yo. Once the 11 yo is more confident with oral narration then start adding in written narrations.
Add in copywork for the 7yo. Add in copywork and dictation with the 11 yo. Would the AO copywork suggestions be good for this?
Also, how much per day should DD (11) be reading silently? How much should I be reading aloud? I love to read to them and could do it ALLLLLL day! lol I guess I just need to know what a typical day for my 11 yr old should look like. We are also doing Turner for picture study and Bach for the composer. Thanks ladies!!!
Sounds like you are set with math.
You could either do a SCM module, but you could also use the resources that you have already in place. Read and narrate. I know, it sounds super easy, but it does work. If they read a selection independently, then have them come and narrate to you. As your 11yo gets more comfortable with oral narrations then start written narrations.
Phonics Road is a totally different methology than CM. If you are happy with the progress of your children using PR then by all means continue using it! PR takes quite a bit of time each day, doesn’t it? If this is a resource you are wanting to keep, I don’t think that I would add anything else into your day.
Sounds like you have a plan to streamline science. For nature study, check out http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com . Scroll down the right side and there are some simple, easy to do nature study links. There are also some links to see how different families used these instructions for their nature studies.
It’s been awhile since I’ve had an 11 yo in the house. My older dd stated that she read A LOT. Ha ha! I suspect that my eldest son was reading an hour or less at that age. It really depends on the child. However, I don’t think you could read too much. So if you or your dd can read all day….go for it!
I hope this has helped you find some enjoyment in your day! A few minor tweaks to your resouces should get you through this year. Spend some time researching CM and getting a clearer picture of the vision for your homeschool and children.
I also think you can take from both CM and WTM Classical style of homeschooling. I use a mix of traditional textbooks, CM, WTM and use literature. I pull what I want from each method. This is our 9th year of homeschooling and for me there is always going to be planning, espcially with lots of kids 😉 I have six and spend at least one hour each night going over the children’s work {checking Nature Journals, correcting and so forth}. Sunday night I spend 2 hours making schedules for each child to follow during the week. I use the simple lesson planners that one can find at an office supply store. I do this because it works for us and it keeps the children on track {if I’m working with one the others can look at their lesson planner and move on}.
Even with all the planning we don’t always get to everything but we just pick up the next day. I no longer {like I use to} stress out about what we may be missing. Like with doing a picture study. It’s in my plans this year. I purchased one from SCM but we haven’t started it yet (hopefully soon). Even if we only do one or two pictures studies this year, it’s one or two more than if I didn’t start it at all.
As for curriculum, you can use what you have now. Espcially if things are working for you. You can slowly add in CM methods. Maybe one week add copywork, the next add in narrations, then a nature journal (we just started our nature journal this week and the kiddos love it).
With whatever way of schooling I would ease into it. It has taken me years to get where we are at (not saying it has to take years) This is our first year to start a Nature Journal. It’s something I’ve wanted to start from the beginning but just didn’t happen, same with Picture Study. I haven’t started a Shakespaere study yet but it is on my ‘one day’ list.
Blessings,
Linda<><
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