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Don't know where to begin
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This will be my 3rd year homescooling. I have been reading about Charlotte Mason’s methods for a few months now and feel strongly that this is the way I want to go. My oldest son is 8 and will be in 3rd grade. I also have a son who will be 5 in Sept. and a little girl who is 1. Anyway, I am a little overwhelmed and really don’t know where to begin with planning. Is there anything I can combine with my sons? It all seems really overwhelming to me. If anyone has any tips about how to plan and how to be organized so I don’t feel so overwhelmed, please share. I would sooooo appreciate it. For math, I am really at a loss here. I have yet to find a math program that my son likes. The latest we have used is Math Mammoth. I purchased the full 6 years because he really seemed to like it at first. I’m wondering if maybe he just isn’t going to like Math no matter what. I’m unsure if I should continue using it or not. Basically, any suggestions on how to get started and plan would be very appreciated. Thank you.
Boy, have you come to the right place!
First, check out the FREE curriculum guide here! It has how to combine the family for many subjects, along with specific suggestions. http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/
You might also want to check out the various series topics here, including things like “Making the Transition to CM” and “Planning your CM Education”…. http://simplycharlottemason.com/series/
There are a lot of great free resources in the bookstore on this site too, as well as some for sale. Of the ones for sale, the “All Day Seminar” is great for getting going.
And you can find little segments of info by going to YouTube and searching for Sonya Shafer (or Simply Charlotte Mason)…
There is lots more info, but don’t want to overwhelm you… so feel free to ask questions!
As for math – my kids really love RightStart Math (they always WANT to do math first)… but it might not fit your budget. I had it gifted to me.
For some free fun for math, if you might like an online program, is Khan Academy. I don’t personally like the videos, but others do – but you can sign up your kids, and sign up as their coach – they go into “practice” and it suggests what they may want to work on (based on what they have done before) – and it gives them problems to work on, and they can do that type of problem until they master it – then they can continue or go to a new suggestion. They can earn “badges” for various things. My kids also love this. As their “coach” you can see what they have done, how they are doing on it, any problems, etc.
For a very good free math program, you can also check out MEP Math. I know of many people doing it. If interested, I’ll give you more info on it. It is free, except you will need to print out the worksheets (and either look at the lesson plans online, or on a kindle, or print them too.) For Year 1 and 2 (and maybe more?) I’d recommend cuisinaire rods… although they do have a paper version you can print. I’d also recommend dominoes, something to count (we used beads) – and that was about it.
Hope this helps!
Welcome! Suzukimom gave you great advice….I’d check those links. The Planning Your CM Education book is very helpful. Our day is set by the downloadable schedules, and it gives great guidance on planning each of your subjects, sample schedules, etc.
You can definitely do quite a bit of combining…I also have a 3 yr. gap w/my kids. If it were me, I’d pick a history/geography/bible module and combine them in that. You can start with whatever history cycle you prefer.
For science, if I had it to do again I’d probably do the 106 Days of Creation.
For math, we love Math-U-See…it’s about the only program we haven’t switched…used it from day one!
For the arts, I’d probably first get a good routing going with the other subjects, then slowly add the arts in one at a time. They don’t take a lot of time. The picture study portfolios sold here are a wonderful way to get started w/art study…beautiful reproductions w/simple instructions on how to implement. You can pick any artists you want, or look at the free curriculum guide for ideas. For composers, just read a bio and play music occasionally. The Classical Kids cd’s (Beethoven Lives Upstairs, etc.) are a nice starter…they weave composer info. in w/excerpts of their music. For poetry, it’s good to have a nice anthology of different poets. I like A Child’s Book of Poems(Fujikawa) starting out, then Favorite Poems Old and New (Ferris). You can pick a poet to focus on (even just one for the year)…the anthology will likely have a number of poems from that author if you pick a popular one.
I hope that wasn’t overwhelming! Just take it slow and come here to ask qu. and it will eventually all fall into place:) Blessings, Gina
Well for us, we don’t need to do any formal schooling until a child is in first grade or 6 years old by September 1st. So depending on where you live, you may not need to worry much about your 5 year old. Especially since he would barely be in Kindergarten this year. If he is very interested in joining his brother in ‘school’ time I would check out the suggestions on the early years guide. CM didnt’ start school till 6 or 7 years old I believe. So even if you want to do some little things with him, don’t be stressed out about it.
http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/eyguide/
The only Math I have used is Math-U-See, which we really like. I would first find out what about MM your son isn’t liking. Maybe you are moving too fast so it’s too challenging for him right now? Or too slow so he’s bored? Lessons are too long? Or require more writing/fine motor stuff than what he is up for?
I really like Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education for doing my actual yearly planning and am currently reading ‘A Charlotte Mason Education – A Home Schooling How to Manual’ by Catherine Levison (available through the library). It’s a short and sweet summary of all the different subjects and how to teach them.
Just take one subject at a time and work your way through. Each subject by itself isn’t too difficult. It is only when you see everything together that your mind can start swimming.
Thank you everyone! I will definitely check out all the suggested links. I actually am not stressing about my almost 5 year old. He just likes being included in what his big brother is doing so I thought if I could combine some things to include him I would. I think my biggest concern is how to figure out what living books to use and how to keep them all organized. Also knowing how to know how many to select and what to select to correlate with what we’re studying.
Basically, with math, my son just really hates doing worksheets! He is really good at it and catches on quick but hates sit-down, “boring” work.
I really appreciate you taking the time to help me figure this out!
We also use Math Mammoth. If we only used that my son would mutiny lol! I also bought the entire 6 year set. I assume you mean the downloadable version. What I do is use it as a guide. We have a math notebook where we keep track of all of our learning. So for example when doing multiplication (which third grade MM starts with) we used different things as manipulatives, building a visual multiplication table for the twos, threes, etc. then we would write the problems out with their answers in his notebook. We followed the MM as a guide and did print out occasional worksheets or instructional sheets as we needed them. My son also loves when I make up word problems for him about our family. You can also just choose five problems to do on a page – they love getting to skip work lol.
We also use LIfe of Fred Math and it breaks up the monotony too. We do 2 days MM, 2 Life of Fred, and one day math games on the computer.
When we first stated CM I just picked a great read aloud and we read it each day and narrated it, then my son copied one sentence out of the reading. It’s a good jumping off point. If you continue math then you have the basics of reading, writing, and math all covered and can expand from there. This site is a treasure of info, starting with the links from the other ladies above.
Tara
We use Math on the Level and love it. They also suggest just 5 problems a day, but they suggest varying problems from ones you know they have mastered (just to recheck on occasion) to ones they are still mastering.
Of course, all children need to learn the math facts but as Tara said, you can mix it up using manipulatives and a notebook, both of which we do as well. I will also test all of our children from time to time with verbal math. Maybe we’re working on a project involving fractions or percentages, and I’ll just throw out a question at their ability level. This is always good to me, because I figure this is much more indicative of life (vs. boring worksheets–I tend to agree with your son!).
Another option for math drilling is IXL.com. You can join through Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op for a small fee annually or you can use it for free doing just 20 problems at a time. I like paying for it b/c it keeps a record of problems missed and ones correct. It is divided by grade, but each child registered can choose any topic in any level, which is great for a child who is “ahead” in some areas of math.
I was in your place last year except beginning my 3rd year of homeschooling. I LOVE SCM and would highly recommend their History Modules if you want to have it easy for choosing living books that correlate to the time period for history and science and geography and they tie in Biblical history as well.
You’ve definitely come to the right place!!! Welcome!
Oh wow, I feel so much better already. Tara, thank you for chiming in about MM. I love your ideas and have been thinking about adding Life of Fred. This past year I tried to have him do EVERY problem on EVERY page and we didn’t even get through it all.
Every one of you has helped me so much already. I’m so thankful to have found this forum! Thank you all!
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