Has anyone used the SCM Guides but shortened the rotation to less than 6 years? Ideas for how to?

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  • April 2, 2013 at 2:36 am
    Mysterious Lady in Pink
    Participant

    I like the idea of the SCM hist/geog/Bible guides, but really do not like a 6 year rotation. I’m just not sure how/if I could adapt them to a shorter rotation, or if that’s enough work that I’m better off just doing my own thing. Has anyone done this? Thoughts on how you would go about it?

    April 2, 2013 at 3:17 am
    momto2blessings
    Participant

    How old are your kids? The first 3 modules have a lot of Bible. They only have 1-2 days/week of history reading (well history books….I think the Bible IS history:)  Basically:

    Module 1 every week: 3 days Bible, 1 day History, 1 day Geography 

    Module 2 every week:  3 days Bible, 1 day History, 1 day Geography

    Module 3 every week: 2 days Bible, 2 days History, 1 day Geography

    I like having the Bible line up w/history, but if I were trying to speed things up, I would probably do something different for Bible time. Unless your kids are older, tripling the Bible readings would be a lot, unless you’re breaking it up some at bedtime, maybe, and skipping commentaries. If I wanted a 4 year cycle, I would try to complete all the history in Mod. 1-3 (Egypt/Greece/Rome) in one year…. that’s only 4 days a week in above example. Then one day a week for Geography. I’d probably focus on mapping the areas that SCM does, it would just be done more quickly (map Africa w/Egypt study, etc.)  And add some living books to go along w/it.  

    Then one year for Module 4 (Ren./Ref.) and two years for modern history in Modules 5 and 6.  So if you did this, you’d only be adapting ancients…not sure if the guide is worth it for all the changes…but the last 3 modules could be done as written.  Just my .02. Hope you figure out a good plan:) Blessings, Gina

    April 2, 2013 at 3:21 am
    sheraz
    Participant

    Hi, Pink. There have been lots of discussions about this and I *think* the general concensus is to combine the ancients into one year, and leave the rest of the modules as is.

    Assuming that you leave the Ancient History portion as is, I think you could use the Discovering the OT from Discovering the Scriptures (an LDS company) since it discusses the same Bible history as the SCM guides do in less time. That way you could easily do Bible History once (or twice) a week and still cover the world history the remaining 3-4 days.

    For geography, you can still use their recommendations and do a weekly map drill.

    Basically, you take each of the Modules 1-3 and assign it a 60 day term (3 terms equals the 180 days) – and do Bible once a week, Ancient History 3x, geography 1x.   You may have to adjust the length of lessons for that to work.

    April 2, 2013 at 4:46 am
    Mysterious Lady in Pink
    Participant

    Thanks to you both! I was looking at the latter study guides, lol, so I didn’t even realize that the earlier ones had a greater amount of Bible compared to history. Of course, that makes perfect sense. So I will think this through, but maybe this will word then. 

    So what is being “revised” in some of the editions? Is there a thread about that someone could point me to? I was reading the one recently about geography changes, but am wondering changes the revisions will bring….

     

    April 2, 2013 at 5:52 am
    sheraz
    Participant

    The revised additions are using different spines – Ancient Eygpt uses the new SCM book, Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors.  Ancient Greece will use The Story of the Greeks (Nothing New Press’ version updated by Michelle Miller, although you can use the original version found in Yesterdays Classics and Heritage History).  Ancient Rome will probably use The Story of the Romans, again the Nothing New Press version updated by Michelle Miller (withe original versions available through YC and HH). 

    These changes are because the Oxford book used in the first module editions as the spine has gone out of print and it is ridiculously expensive now. Sonya has mentioned using these other books as new spines because they are highly recommended by many ladies on this forum. There have been several threads about this topic in the last few months, but I am tired so not looking them up right now. 😉

    April 2, 2013 at 12:45 pm
    HollyS
    Participant

    I’m trying to go through a bit quicker.  We are only 40 lessons or so into Mod 1, and I’ve only been doing this scheudle for a few weeks.  What I’ve come up with is the following:

    Day 1: Bible lesson, geography reading

    Day 2: Bible lesson, map drill (replace with geography or history readings if there is a 2nd map drill for the week)

    Day 3: Bible lesson, history lesson

    I repeat this three day rotation, making adjustments as needed (sometimes I do some history readings on the map drill day).  Since the history and geography lessons are pretty much independent of the Bible lessons, this has been working out so far.  I haven’t done the math to see how quickly this will go, but I’m hoping to get through the first 3 modules in 2 years (so it’s still a 5 year cycle).  My DC love Bible and history, so they have no problem going through the lessons a bit faster.  

    Also, to help me keep track of where we are in our lessons, I have a checklist of all the lesson titles (I cut and pasted it from the book sample and made it into a bulleted list).  I may skip ahead a couple lessons for a history lesson, then go back for a Bible lesson.  The list helps me keep track of exactly which lessons have been covered.

    April 2, 2013 at 1:13 pm
    Amber
    Participant

    Was there a post somewhere about the Module 2 changes?

    April 2, 2013 at 1:36 pm
    sheraz
    Participant

    From this thread: 

    http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/struggling-with-module-2-history/page/3 

     

    Just wondering about those revisions??  Will they be made any time soon??  No rush, of course…we will be in Mod. 2’s time period next year, so I was just wondering.

    Sonya’s reply:

    I’m really excited about the revisions, which will include brand new geography lessons and some interest-catching supplements that bring in ancient artifacts and architecture. Plus, we’ll be incorporating your suggestions for a different spine; most likely, The Story of the Greeks from Nothing New Press for Module 2. My goal is to have the revised lesson plans ready so you can use them in the fall.

    There have been others, but I am not sure where they are. 😉

    This is the last post I’ve seen about the revisions:

    http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/question-about-module-2-history-revisions

    April 2, 2013 at 11:27 pm
    Amber
    Participant

    I guess I have seen that post. I just didn’t take it as a final decision since she said “most likely”.

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