Name: Teach Them Diligently (Branson)
Start: 2025-05-15T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-17T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Branson, MO

Tagged: Ambleside, Ambleside Online, AO, Bible/History/Geography, History, LIving Books, SCM

This topic has 28 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 10 months ago by sheraz.

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May 15, 2014 at 10:45 pm
llm
Participant
Also, why do you think SCM does not use “The Story of the World” by Susan Wise Bauer? I can’t understand why it’s not even on the reading lists. . .
May 15, 2014 at 10:55 pm
sarah2106
Participant
Have you looked at TruthQuest? It has an amazing book list. Right now too much for me to pick and choose, but I am always tempted especially reading other posts about it.
May 15, 2014 at 11:20 pm
shannon
Participant
Lorna,
I’m so glad everyone on here was a big help to you! I actually used Susan Wise Bauer’s, “Story of the World,” our first year when I began with SCM. And at that time, it was on the SCM booklist. You see we started with SCM then like yourself, I saw AO and thought how wonderful it appeared, but then of course, decided to switch back to SCM.
I share your weariness in spending money on a book you’re not sure will work. Believe me when I say, this is an ongoing stress in our household, because my husband is the only one employed and he is extremely thrifty! Though I am on board with saving a buck or two! There really is no way of knowing if you’ll like the book before purchasing, however, I had this belief that SCM would not let us down! I looked up the books on the internet prior to see if I could get a sneak peak, like for example, AMAZON will give you one for most of their books, or I just did some research to see if it made sense along with the curriculum. I looked up the authors, like Susan Wise Baer to get a little background and that helped…I’m a researcher! All in all, SCM has made great suggestions thus far. One of our favorites from AO and SCM is the Burgess series. I was nervous to let it go when we decided to no longer do AO, but then was so overjoyed, when I saw it was apart of the 106 Days of Creation series! Most books recommended by AO are on the SCM booklist as well. The goal is no TWADDLE, but I’m sure you knew that. I have found discrespencies in some books from both, but nothing major to where I couldn’t make the correction when being read to my kids. Overall, all of the books I have used from both have been great! SCM however, are just a tad more refreshing to us. For example, the Pathway Readers are wonderful…these were suggested our first year with SCM. Where there I go again, lol!   I hope all I said was again helpful. Take good care and warm wishes to you on your journey!
Shannon
May 16, 2014 at 12:31 am
llm
Participant
Thank you everyone!!! Sarah– great idea on Truthquest. Reviewing it now.
Shannon- I so appreciate your thoughts and input. Yes– no twaddle and living books!!! Did you like/not like Susan Wise Bauer’s “Story of the World”? Wondering if that would be a good one to have on hand, but, being married to Dave Ramsey (hahaha– yes I respect the budget and saving money which makes me extra crazy in choosing books!) I don’t want to make a bad choice. Also, I read him what you wrote and he quickly grabbed on to the part about being stressed and reflected on that. I’m working on that!!! He knows that adding stress into the equation is not good. 😉
I have a question– realizing if we stick with SCM, and I repeat the modules 2 times per kid for the 12 years I am blessed to teach each one, then they will “miss” some of the age levels. For example, if we do Genesis-Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt in Grade 1 for a child, he gets it again at Grade 7. But then he never does the Grade 9-12 level work. I know there will be gaps in his education but, to be honest, I don’t trust myself enough to make those choices. . . I want to make sure he reads Plutarch and Shakespeare and others that I feel are an important part of his education. . .
I think this is bringing me to tears at some points and, honestly, to my knees. . . I know He has the best plan for our family. Does He sell it in a neat little package and deliver it at our front door? 😉
The irony and maddening part is that if my kids were in school, I would have more time to do the planning for their school! HA! So trying to find the necessary time to research and read and make the best choice is challenging.
I know God has the ultimate plan. Thank you all for your light on the journey.
Lorna
May 16, 2014 at 12:44 am
missceegee
Participant
I don’t care for The Story of the World, personally. I know many like it, but I don’t care for the writing or the tone.
May 16, 2014 at 1:01 am
llm
Participant
Thank you for your input. Any particular AO books you love?
May 16, 2014 at 3:26 am
sheraz
Participant
Okay, Lorna, I was going to stay out of this discussion since I haven’t used AO – I’ve read their schedules and lists and really like some of their stuff – but have no desire to have four levels of every subject going at the same time. 😉
Here is my first response to your comment:
My issue has been with the SCM history/geography books for the family— This past year, we did “Famous Men of Greece.” I have to admit that my history is NOT a strong point. I could memorize textbooks well for the test that allowed me to do well in school! But I can’t remember much of anything!! So I am excited to really learn along with the children. So perhaps my background made it so that I was not able to wrap my brain around the different people as well as I would have liked. Maybe I need to read some sort of history book to help with the background?
I have used 1-1/2 history guides from SCM, and like their layout very much – I just struggled with Famous Men of Greece as my spine since I didn’t know enough about Greek history to even know who these men were and where they fit into the grand scheme of the history! I found Heritage History and the Yesterday Classics collection and started writing my own history plans with The Story of Greece as my spine and using Famous Men of Greece as an additional biography as we come upon those men in the spine. Shortly after I did that, SCM revised their Ancient history guides and now use other books for the spine.
The new guides use Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors for Ancient Egypt, The Story of the Greeks from Nothing New Press (4th edition) for Ancient Greece, and The Story of the Romans from Nothing New Press for Ancient Rome. All of those books are comprehensive histories, which means that they will start at the beginning of the civilization and follow it to the end, so to speak. If you have not looked at the new guide samples, I encourage you to download them and really carefully look at them. They are really quite good and it might make it easier to enjoy them. I have read the Greek and Roman one and enjoyed them. It actually made the Famous Men books make sense to me. 😉
So I am thinking I would like to stick with SCM but include AO’s books as they fit. But the tricky part is— How do I know if the SCM books are not suitable/living enough/engaging before I buy them/order them at the library?
You can read the samples on Amazon and ask for specific title information on the forum, but I have to say that in my experience, it is very rare for me to find a book that SCM recommends that I really dislike. Some are better than others, of course, but mostly they are great. If you find some that you don’t like, resell it at the end of the year and use it to buy other books. You will have similar experiences with all book lists.
I have a question– realizing if we stick with SCM, and I repeat the modules 2 times per kid for the 12 years I am blessed to teach each one, then they will “miss” some of the age levels. For example, if we do Genesis-Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt in Grade 1 for a child, he gets it again at Grade 7. But then he never does the Grade 9-12 level work. I know there will be gaps in his education but, to be honest, I don’t trust myself enough to make those choices. . .
Ahhh, the gaps syndrome! Even if your child never studies the Ancients in high school, but he had the rare and wonderful opportunity to study them in depth for a year in 6-8th grades, he is still going to be streets ahead of the other students in PS. He’ll have a solid foundation to build his knowledge of the modern history on, and he will be able to make connections between the cultures of that time with our modern world. You don’t have to teach him everything…your ultimate goal is that he will continue to learn all his life. He will cover any gaps that he has during this time – and it is okay! I just ran across this blog post in my reader yesterday and printed it out to re-read and ponder. It is about leading our chilldren to the feast – and our resposibility as the teacher. It might be helpful to you:
http://wildflowersandmarbles.com/2014/05/13/charlotte-mason-teaching-tuesday-open-doors-to-avenues-of-delight/
I want to make sure he reads Plutarch and Shakespeare and others that I feel are an important part of his education. ..
Have you considered getting the SCM Planning Your CM Education book? This book is wonderful for helping YOU decide what is important to YOUR children’s education and helps you decide what to teach, when to teach it, and how to schedule it for yourself. Truly a personalized, tailored education. This is when I decided that I wanted to do more Shakespeare and Plutarch than SCM calls for, so I added it to my own plan, a la AO. Love it! It helps every time I am planning anything to have that 12 Year Big Picture. I may change a resource or two, but my ultimate goals/plans are there to help me stay on track.
You are mentioning the geography books. Have you seen the new SCM geography Visits to series? We really like the two we’ve used. The additional books are living and engaging. My children are enjoy the spines for those.
Here is a link to the SCM Learning Library where Sonya shares her thoughts on choosing living books. Perhaps there will be something there that sparks your interest:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/category/living-books-2/
This has turned into a novel and I didn’t mean it to be one. I just wanted to share a few things and encourage you!

May 16, 2014 at 5:00 am
Jessica
Participant
The Story of the Greeks/ Romans etc by Guerber edited by Miller are very interesting. My children, ages 13, 11, and 8 thoroughly enjoyed The Story of the Greeks. I purchased it used on ebay for half the price. I want to add that if you are a Christian, the edited version is well worth the money spent. (You can get Guerber’s online for free in ebook format) Perhaps that would have been a better fit?
When the child is doing the module for the second and last time in 7th etc you COULD have him/her read your favorites from the higher grade level after other work is completed. I know a lady who reads the higher levels to her children if she likes the book. You are free to do what works for your family. That’s one suggestion if you are really concerned with them not getting to read them. They could always read them after the 12th grade as well. 🙂
I can not speak for SCM, however, my family and I would not choose to use the Story of the World due to its evolutionary view point. …. and there are my three cents!! 🙂
May 16, 2014 at 6:03 am
shannon
Participant
I didn’t think Story of the World was that bad. It had way more information that I learned with my kids, than I did when I was in school. Like I said, our education is focused around Bible. So, as far as views go, I look over those because our family is grounded in the scriptures/truth. When it comes to History, I made sure my kids understood that it is always about rise and fall. Descrepencies for me would be if facts did not line up with the Bible/scriptures. I’ve come to learn that there is no flawless History book out there. Again, it depends on your goal and what you want your child(ren) to learn and understand. The only and best view for us, is God’s.
Back to the stress part…my advice would be, to keep it simple. My husband saw me nearly lose it and almost made a decision to send our boys to public school as much as he didn’t really want to. But I am thankful for him, because I’m a complex thinker and he helped me to see things realistically.   I’m still learning and trying to figure things out, but I’m slowly coming along and realizing that it’s about the children and making sure they have a rich and enjoyable education. As CM and Sonya says, our kids are people, not machines we dump information in. So, I remind myself of this, when I begin to make things too complicated. I appreciate your post, I feel like I’m looking in the mirror, lol! But I love we mothers have this connection and support system.
Shannon
May 16, 2014 at 10:41 pm
Amy
Participant
For me, separate works better. #1 I prefer a tutoring style to the crowd control style, which is what happens, especially with a hyper child. #2 I found, like suzukimom, that it gets done more often if it depends less on me. I have a lot of irons in the fire, so having two children with more independent work is a good thing. So I use AO. Like many, I wanted to customize it … but I don’t have the time to do it justice. And really, in jumping in I’ve liked most of the books. The ones I don’t like as much, my children do, so we keep going. 😀
AO does have some old earth books – Madam How (yr 4/5 – I guess it would be Christian old earth?), The Sea Around Us (yr 6). I haven’t gotten further. Most of the others up to year 6 are either obvious (It Couldn’t Just Happen) or about nature observation, and therefore don’t deal with origins at all, but the here & now. I don’t see AO’s books as Bible-pushing – many are just old classics, others don’t really discuss religion. Some even have parts that some Christians skip. I am Christian, so my analysis might mean nothing. But I dislike in-your-face, pushy, preachy books and I haven’t had an issue with that so far using AO books.
Also, with AO, my children were confused on what subject they were
actually working on, because of all the books. My kids love reading, but
it just seemed bunched together rather than gently spread out. In
other words, SCM has a much more enjoyable and smooth flow.
That is one of the things I like about CM actually – the knowledge linking together instead of staying in it’s own box.
One of our favorites from AO and SCM is the Burgess series. I was nervous to let it go when we decided to no longer do AO, but then was so overjoyed, when I saw it was apart of the 106 Days of Creation series!
Wow – so 106 Days has changed then? Because I don’t remember this in my version. Bummer. 🙁 We love the Burgess books too.
So I am thinking I would like to stick with SCM but include AO’s books as they fit. But the tricky part is— How do I know if the SCM books are not suitable/living enough/engaging before I buy them/order them at the library?
That is the nice thing about AO. Most of the books are free online. That can be a downside too, but so far we’ve enjoyed it. It was part of what pushed me to AO though. I just couldn’t spend the money SCM requires and I love all the ebooks – we travel in the winter. Perhaps Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature can help you decide – I’ve used it. If you use the search box, to search the book, you can read more snippets. That helps with some books, especially if I am interested in something that isn’t at the beginning or clickable in the contents.
Oh, and I’m just finishing Story of the Greeks with my 6th grader – LOVE that book. I can’t wait for Story of the Romans. We have the Yesterday’s Classic’s ebooks.
I hope you find the right path – it looks different for everybody.
May 16, 2014 at 11:08 pm
shannon
Participant
That is the nice thing about AO. Most of the books are free online. That can be a downside too, but so far we’ve enjoyed it. It was part of what pushed me to AO though. I just couldn’t spend the money SCM requires and I love all the ebooks – we travel in the winter.
I’m glad this was mentioned because the free e-books is what originally drove me to AO. But then as it turned out, once I got into the curriculum, I still had to buy more books. This was disappointing, because the free e-books is what sold my husband, but then I would go to him on several occassions letting him know, that I had to purchase books. It could just be me, but I actually spent less with SCM because the e-books would actually come out cheaper than having to buy from AMAZON and paying for shipping/handling for the books that weren’t availble for free and with Project Gutenburg. There were some e-books I purchased for our Kindle for AO, and some were free and some weren’t. So, I wasn’t too thrilled in the end. I thought I would save more money the AO way and that unfortunately did not happen. Either way, money had to be spent. Let’s just say my library is stocked well!
Shannon
May 17, 2014 at 12:50 am
curlywhirly
Participant
Gaps!
I was skimming the thread and saw the comments about stressing about the kids having gaps. We ALL have gaps in our educations- you will never be able to cram all the information available into their skulls in 18 years. it just can’t happen.
What I shoot for is 1) being able to find out what the need to know on their own (library skills, internet skills, reading skills, knowing how to evaluate sources, etc) and 2) lighting the fire of LOVING to learn. If they have those 2 things they will do great whatever path they take in life.
May 17, 2014 at 1:12 am
llm
Participant
How did I get so lucky to be in the presence of so many who love CM and at the same time are honest about their different paths and journeys? THANK YOU so much to all of you for providing your insight, tips, wisdom, challenges, and joys. I am in planning mode, which means my hubby has the kids while I plan. . . and your notes have helped this sometimes anxiety-provoking process to be much calmer this year. Thank you.
Sheraz— great tips. Thank you. Somewhere between having a baby last year and starting the school year, I forgot about the “Planning your CM Education.” I need to get that out— great idea. There is a bigger picture and I sometimes forget to see the forest for the trees. Thank you for your insight on the history books. That will help me immensely. I have such a weak history background (and sadly I aced school– I could memorize and spit it back out!) so thank you. This is truly a journey for the entire famlly. I printed out the “avenues” article. I was thinking of it today as I gave my baby a bunch of kitchen tools to play with and watched as she used them in different ways. I did yet another sweep of the house to remove as much twaddle as I can (including so many book gifts!). Thank you.
Shannon— It is like looking in a mirror! Thank you for your honesty. My husband has seen me up late at night or set my alarm for 4:45 and working so hard to wrap my brain around so much and juggle everyone’s needs and has said the same thing about sending them to school. . . When I first said I wanted to HS, he said, “I know how much you love them. And I know you. So i know IT will be great. But I worry about you. . . that you won’t have time to yourself. . .” And then talking at times if they were in school I would have more “time.” But we are just finishing our second year, and it is a journey. And I think we are realizing that we won’t ever truly “arrive” at having figured it all out. It’s going to change as we go (we are praying to be blessed with more children), and part of the process is for me to let go of that control and be okay with it.   I want them to love first and foremost our Heavenlly Father, and I want them to love to learn. He put that desire into their hearts and mind for the Truth. I just have to learn how to best facilitate that. 😉
I have to say that I just love CM. I had my 3 year old in my lap today, and we were reading parts of Pincocchio, Velveteen Rabbit, and Parables of Nature. I was trying to gauge his attention and how well he would want to listen next year while I read/how many different activities I should have ready for him as needed. 😉 (Not to mention his sweet 1 year old sister). I read slowly and with expression, and his little eyes stared off in the distance, as if trying to make the pictures in his mind. I love that. I don’t know exactly what is going on in his head but I know connections are being made and I have to trust the One who made him that there is a mighty plan for him.
My oldest finished reading the Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh the other week. When he realized he could read it, he carried that book all over the place. He recited it. He brought it out at his sister’s birthday party to share with his cousins— I felt a bit nervous as I did not want it to appear to others that he was “showing off”– but I know him, and I know his love of literature. He truly wanted to share his deep love for the story with others. The next day, when he finished it, he was almost forlorn. He told me he was sad it was over. We got to have a good discussion of how THAT is what a good book is– when it becomes a part of you, makes you think, makes you laugh, makes you cry. How there are so many wonderful authors blessed with the ability to tell amazing stories and how we get to listen to them when we read their works. A few days later, he was reading Charlotte’s Web, and, when I called him for breakfast, he hid his face from me, buried it in the couch. I came to him, and he was crying— Charlotte had died. It was sweet and offered a time to reflect again on what a good book is.
So what I am realzing as I go forward is that I think each family is different. God has called families in different ways. He is changing me in many ways and I have to look to Him first and foremost as my curriculum guide. And He has put wonderful guides in my life to help me along. So thank you all for helping me! You have all helped more than you know.
We just bought a huge bookcase off Craigslist and my darling hubby just painted it white because his children’s teacher is a bit nuts at times and thought that would look best. 😉 We just set it up, and my heart leaps with joy to think of all the books we can put in there and then read together on the couch. 😉
Blessings to you all. 🙂
Lorna
May 17, 2014 at 1:53 am
sheraz
Participant
Lorna, that bookcase sounds lovely…my children’s teacher has those same moments. Thankfully the hubbies are supportive. LOL
I LOVE the stories you shared. Keep it up…I think that you are on the right path. Whatever you choose, make it work for you and your family. =)