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Fitting everything in a CM day
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Hi there. Lots of questions in this post ladies 😉
We have been using many CM methods (with a bit of RB mixed in occasionally) for years now. I would like some advice on how people fit it all the CM subjects in one day, or spread them out over a week. I have ordered the CM planning guide e-book and looked at some of the schedules. Okay, I realise perhaps it’s because I am anemic at the moment, and everything is tiring, but it looks exhausting. Not one schedule looks like I could manage it. (except the light one that Sonya shows on the site and I cannot do that because it’s supposed to be used for a short time and my illness is long term)
I also have struggles getting my children to actually co-operate and do school. They are a wonderfully creative bunch and of course building houses, creating things and such always seem more important to them than school. I have purchased the Laying down the Rails too, but wonder, in this case, which would be best to focus on first… it seems we lack in all areas 😉
I say “we”, because I think my hubby and I need some habit training too. I have been sick for so long and bad habits have kind of slipped in. Between just coping and trying not to be too hard on the children the training we started when they were little has slipped. My hubby is great but he is not the kind of man who will do these things without me, he’ll just keep the wheels turning when I am ill 😉
I am determined that our new school year (we run Jan-Dec in South Africa) is not going to be a repeat of nagging. I just cannot figure how to get the children not to dwadle over their lessons. It can take us 1 hour to do something that I planned 15 min for. I know CM says dwaddling is NOT acceptable, but how do we stop it?
Thanks,
Lindy
Sweet Lindy,
I don’t think I’d be the only one to say that the “light” schedule is just what you need for as long as you need it. It will allow you to complete the necessary while working on instilling the habits that will provide for more studies down the road.
My favorite Wendell Berry quote might be helpful encouragement.
“When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.”
Blessings,
Becca<><
Have you seen the post on transitioning?
http://simplycharlottemason.com/basics/started/transition/
That article was very helpful to me. I needed to stop focusing on all the subjects as a whole and just add in a new one until I was comfortable with it and it was a habit. Start with the basics on your light schedule and gradually add in more as you feel confident to. Many of the extras like poetry, classical music, artist picture study, and hymns can be done once a week and take only 5-10 minutes. In practice it does not take very long. But you do need to be prepared ahead of time with your resources and know how to teach them. They are a don’t miss for CM, as they add so much flavor to their educational experience. Some seasons I fit in all the subjects, and some seasons I don’t due to other things going on. Sometimes I just play some composer music while cooking dinner and it is more informal.
For habits, start with the top 3 in this order: attention, obedience, and truthfulness. Sonya goes through them in more detail on the audio or video that goes with LDTR. I struggle with where to start too, as we need to work on so many. I am finding it helpful to use LDTR and LDTR4C along with another resource on character like A Child’s Book of Character Building and going in order of that book, spending many weeks on the habit. This way we make some progress. Yet it seems we are continually working on those top 3. There is a lot of delayed obedience here. This was my own fault for foolishly counting to 3 for years. Now I know better, but having to re-train is much more difficult than training them right to begin with. Consistancy is key. Habit training is done as a family here.
There have been other posts on here on dawdling. I think it is usually something like having them go back at the end of school to finish while those who finished on time go have fun and play. Read this thread: http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/how-to-train-habit-without-nagging
Thank you for those kind words Becca. I’ve never heard that quote and it really is very wise.
Wings2Fly, thank you, I am grateful for those links. There is so much of value on SCM but I can’t always find what I need to read. Those 2 pages are just right for now. I think you have some great ideas. Funny, I’d never thought of the times I play classical music whilst cooking as “counting” towards school but I see now there are several ways I could be doing 2 things, to cover all the CM ideas, and we may already be doing more than I think in that case.
I really want this to work,
I appreciate the posts and hope to hear other ideas.
Lindy
Lindy,
As a mom who is often at the end of her energy both physically, mentally, and emotionally, I want to encourage you too! CM can be done, and done well, creatively. In my situation I have minimal health issues myself that cause lack of energy, then I have eight children, one of whom has serious medical needs that take a LOT of time day to day and appointments and therapy and surgeries far too regularly. I think one essential is getting habits in place and routines so many parts of your day run without a lot of your direction. I know this is true for me. Be it chores, schoolwork, obedience, or even family scripture study – we need a routine to keep us moving in a positive direction. ((HUGS))
Start small and build those routines. So what if it takes a year to get a full school routine in place?! You’re further ahead than you were and once those rails are firmly laid the next 8 or 12 or more years will glide along with less effort. Pick one routine to start getting in place for December. Then in January add to it or work on a routine in another area. You get the idea. If it were me I would begin with chore routines. Then the morning hours of school routine. Etc.
Well said, Tristan. I think we often see that much needs work and we think we need to fix it all immediately. But, the reality is, we can only really address one thing at a time.
I agree that it is best to begin with chores and basic home routines and then move forward from there. It may not seem like that is working towards school improvement. However, I think it has an awful lot to do with it. Hang in there, albanyaloe, one step at a time. It will get better and better when we are faithful to the little things to build a good foundation.
Thank you ladies, those are exactly the areas that are chaos at the moment and I think you have hit the nail on the head- it may not seem like chore routines and home routines improve school, but I can see how they would.
I now have something to work towards, as you both said, even in little steps, such as monthly, is manageable and a great idea.
Thank you so much,
Lindy
Another thought or two. I, too, multitask where appropriate.
We do our scripture memory box system at the breakfast table followed by whatever reading is next in our SCM Module. Breakfast eaters are a captive audience!
After that, since everyone is already together, we spend 10 minutes or so on a different fine art component each morning. For example, on Monday we read part of Hamlet from Tales of Shakespeare by Charles Lamb.
We, too, listen to the music while cooking. It plays softly in the background during school work. The picture study image is on the fridge all week so we see it often. We add on to our history studies by listening to Story of the World or a book on cd when driving to appointments.
I do a literature read aloud for olders during lunch and the younger listens in. We do our poetry studies during our “tea time”/afternoon snack. I read the youngest one her literature selection at bedtime. These are ways we fit it all in.
Also, I put together a clipboard for each child. On it is a laminated daily task sheet labeled across the top with days of the week and down the left side with tasks such as make bed, pet care, laundry help, kitchen duty, etc… They mark them with a vis -a -vis marker as they do them so it is reusable each week. I check the clipboards several times a day – that is the key that makes it work. I learned that the hard way!
Under the daily task list is a weekly spreadsheet with that child’s lessons for the whole week for each subject. Even my emerging reader has this and we just help her along. They keep on task much better this way and they know I will check and the responsibility is theirs not mine.
Hope some of this is helpful to you.
I do a lot of multitasking too. I also do a lot of “big picture” looking at our weeks instead of looking at each day to see that it was all done. I make sure it’s all done at the end of the week.
I am very organized. My household runs on systems that I do/are done automatically now. That seems to make a difference although I don’t see it because I’m a little OCD so I have to live like this or I’ll freak out. 🙂 Others have commented in the past and made me aware enough of these systems that I’ve even been able to walk a few close friends, who were struggling and interested, through them to see if some of them would work in their homes.
I don’t nag. I tend to get mad if my children are resistent to their lessons. Probably not a great thing! I used to do the system where they had to sit at the table and finish their lessons before their free afternoons. I don’t use that anymore. They are too old for it now. It seems babyish. Plus they school all over the house now too. I think now I just relax a little and realize that sometimes I don’t want to do a particular thing at a particular time either. I give them *some* slack and things must be done before the end of the day. I try to be uber flexible with things too … if they can create a better way to learn something I’m totally open to their ideas. I want our days to be interesting and creative and meaningful.
It helped to see that our days are meant for homeschooling. Not being done! That way of thinking, to me, seems to imply that schooling is negative and something to be done with and finished so that the real fun can start. Just my .02
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