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Having a hard time organizing our SCM curriculum
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Hi everyone! We are new to SCM, but not new to homeschooling. I love the free curriculum guide and all of the book lists/etc. and am pleased that I can find a lot of the books at my local library, but I can’t seem to organize it all. I’m sure the charlotte mason organizer would help, but if I can figure it out without purchasing something extra that’s what I have to do (money is tight).
I want to start from the beginning, module 1, I will have a 5th grader, 3rd grader, kindergartener, and a little 3.5 year old girl who just joined our family from China. She is working on getting settled into our family and culture.
Any advice would help. I would also love to implement some workboxes for certain things too and these are new to me.
What really helped me to get organized was “Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education” from here. Also, get a calendar that you can write on and put down the days you are planning on teaching each subject. Not every subject needs to be taught everyday, and writing it out can help you keep your day balanced. Have you read the free ebook here: http://simplycharlottemason.com/store/samples/Getting-Started-in-Homeschooling.pdf It will probably be helpful.
For example, we do Hymn Study on Monday, Picture Study on Tuesday, Composer Study on Wednesdays, Nature Study on Thursday, and Creative Art on Friday. Once a year (or a term, my dd enjoys this so much), we add a Shakespeare Play on Fridays.
Math, copywork, reading, and scripture study is daily, History/Bble/Geography is scheduled as is in the guides (daily), and science is M,W,TH. Spelling is worked on daily with at least one dictation by Thursday. There are more things we do regularly, like tucking Grammar, sign language, music lessons, etc in where they fit, but this gives a general idea. I try to keep Fridays a bit more more open since that is payday/shopping day for us.
Basically, look at your resources, how long they will take, how much time you want to give it, and do some basic math. If a book has 13 chapters, how long and how often do you want to read it? What else goes in that subject? This is where the Planning Your CM Education comes in handy.
I second the Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education materials. It is something extra to purchase, but I have used mine for three years now. The cost is totally worth it in my opinion. Also, I know the Organizer is also an extra expense, but I wouldn’t be without it either. It helps keep our days flowing smoothly from one thing to the next, and it may be something you need just until you’re settled into CM. But once you get it, it’s hard to imagine homeschooling without it!
Our schedule is similar to sheraz, although I have been lazy with pic. study/composer study/poetry this year. I had some health issues earlier in our school year that are finally going away, so this year was a survival year for us. Anyway, when we do have those subjects, they are once per week, as sheraz mentioned. Composer study for us is a CD that we listen to whenever we’re in the car running errands or shopping, so it might be more than once per week. This is not a Shakespeare year for us, however last year each Friday for one term was devoted to reading one of his plays. We will do the same next year. Our other subjects are as follows:
Daily: history and/or Bible (using SCM’s history/bible/geo modules), Scripture memory and recitation, copywork, math (MUS), literature, hymn
M, W: grammar for ds8
M, W, F: science
T, Th: ds8 reads aloud from Pathway reader
M, W: dd7 reads aloud from Pathway reader
M: map study and read from Material World
Th: map drill and read from Hungry Planet
It’s a pretty simple schedule and takes us approximately 2-2.5 hours per day. Next year we will add spelling and typing for ds8 and grammar for dd7, so our schedule and time will adjust accordingly.
Welcome to SCM!
Welcome! I third buying “Planning Your CM Education.” 🙂 This gives lots of examples of ways to organize your days. It also provide downloadable schedules…this provides the structure and flow for our days. I have a schedule for what our family does together each day and what each kids does. Each child has their own daily schedule of what they do independently.
Also, if you want your Bible/History/Geography planned for you, I don’t think you can beat $11 for the Module Guide. For us, subjects like math, handwriting, etc. are done in books where we just do the next thing…so there’s not a whole lot more planning to do. HTH some:) Gina
Gina,
there is a module guide for the bible/history/geography? I have been poking around this site for weeks and not seen it, lol. This is so time consuming! I am assuming that the “planning your CM education” is available on this site? I will take a peek. Thanks everyone, I am excited but nervous and there is so much work to do.
Here is where you can find the guide for Module 1: http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/genesis-deuteronomy-ancient-egypt/
Here is Planning Your CM Education: http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/planning-your-charlotte-mason-education/ May I humbly suggested you purchase the book/DVD combo?
There is a complete list of resources for sale or free on the right side of the homepage. I can also recommend Laying Down the Rails.
On this page in the right column at the bottom of each module you will see a link under Daily Lesson Plans.
http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/history-modules-overview/
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