First week using CM. Worn out and frustrated…

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  • March 25, 2010 at 8:29 pm
    hnjmom
    Participant

    This is our first week using CM. We have previously used textbooks. I just really felt a need for a change and the kids did to. They were dreading school. I felt like I was uninvolved other than checking workbook pages.

    We are hsing five. Ages 12, 10, 7,6 and 5. Narration is like pulling teeth. I have two that would rather scrub toilets than draw in a nature journal or write. The two youngest don’t listen to the reading unless I get mean.

    Whew! Getting thru school the last four days has been very rough. Please tell me this will get easier! 

    March 25, 2010 at 10:22 pm
    Scherger5
    Participant

    Habits of all kinds take a while to form.  Maybe try implementing one or two CM aspects at a time. 

    I would put living books and narrations at the top Smile.  My kids balked about it at first too, but it is now second nature.  I started strictly with oral narrations on short passages and gradually increased the length of the readings until they were comfortable with the process. 

    IT WILL GET BETTER!  Meanwhile, take a deep breath, pray, and read all you can on this Fantastic site.

    If you don’t have a CM book yet, Karen Andreola’s A Charlotte Mason Companion is GREAT!

    Heather

    March 25, 2010 at 11:15 pm
    my3boys
    Participant

    Every family is different and unique.  We only have 3 kids and after hsing the textbook way, my kids feel like they are on vacation.  Just kidding, of course.

    We did do what Heather is suggesting, though.  We have, by accident, been implementing one, maybe two, new methods at a time.  I don’t know if it has been a help or not, but I did explain to my oldest two what we would be changing and tried to show them if there were samples available. 

    I agree that the habit forming aspect of it does take time, there is no other way around it.  But now my kids are not surprised bythe things that we do and actually have come to expect them.  I can’t think of anything right this minute that they DON’T like and that is a blessing:) 

    March 25, 2010 at 11:50 pm
    Renelle
    Participant

    Hi hnjmom,

    We started hsing the same way and are still transitioning to CM. We have 2 children.

    I just started by reading them great stories and some short interesting biographies to my eldest, without asking for narration and found he would just talk about the story anyway.

    As time went on I tried a narration cube which can be found on Penny Gardners website – this was just a wooden cube(from my kids building blocks) and on each side I wrote something like Plot, Character, Setting, Compare, Theme, Heart. We roll the dice until everyone has a go. That way they don’t have to explain the whole story just that part of it.

    For the first weeks hsing we just did nature walks without writing/drawing anything and would just talk of our discoveries as we went. If there was something my ds wanted to know about we would google when we got home. We have now started our Nature Notebook and I draw at the same time as the kids, they love to see how mum does it.

    I expected too much too quickly from mine and I felt I and my children didn’t meet my expectations. I think introducing everything gently and slowly , even though this can be frustrating is important and builds confidence in the children themselves and in the mother/child relationship.

    I find too if there is a game that related to the academic work, this always gets them in the right frame of mind or can teach just as well sometimes.

    Heather is right about habit forming and my3boys is right about everyone being different so I hope you will find what works for your family. I must admit it is always more challenging the more children you have (all the different learning styles and strengths)

    Hope that’s helpful.

    Will be thinking of you.

    Blessings

    (It definitely is getting better for us but seems slow sometimes.)

    Renelle

     

     

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