How To Spread My Feast – Is This Too Much?

To me it seems like a little much/too long for the age of your kids.  How many times are they narrating over the course of the morning?  IMO once a day would be enough for the 6 YO and no more than twice a day for the 7 YO, unless you’re breaking one story/chapter up into very small chunks to introduce them to narration (ie the 6 YO narrating a short story as his narrating for the day but doing it in 1-2 paragraph chunks).

FWIW I have a 7 YO 1st grader (along with 2 older kids and 2 younger ones) and we do approx 30 mins/day of family work and his seatwork is roughly 1 hour 4x/week, which includes a 20-30 minute reading lesson (he has dyslexia so they’re on the long side) and 15 mins of listening to an audiobook.

I was thinking more about this.  On Friday there was a homeschool conference/seminar, and Sonya spoke at it. Her session was titled: When More is Less. I think that might apply here.

I know the temptation – there are so many wonderful things to learn and read about, and you can own so many resources you just can’t wait to use them all – but you honestly at this point, have all the time in the world.

Trying to use so many resources at once is overwhelming, especially to such young children.  It’s far better to use fewer resources and to be able to experience them deeply, than to just skim through many. You’re also risking burning your children out, and yourself out. And trust me, that is a really high price to pay. LESS IS MORE.

If you look at Charlotte Mason curriculum outlines, you won’t find any that are covering as much as you, especially for such young ages.  Ambleside Online covers the most (and consequently that is one of the biggest complaints I see about AO, is that it is too much), and even they only cover 2 streams of history at once.  You’re covering FOUR!

I think you might find it useful to really look at the SCM and some other CM curriculum guides, to see what they actually do for those ages. It’s not all that much. Four different streams of history is too much for any age, especially young children. I would highly recommend you look into the SCM guides. I think it would simplify a lot for you, and make your schedule far less overwhelming. It would allow you to combine History, Bible and Geography into just one subject a day.

IMO you’re also doing too much for science. Charlotte did not recommend formal science at such young ages. Instead, she suggested Nature Study only, which will expose your children to more science than you realize. You’re covering 3 sciences: BFSU, Storybook of Science and Nature Study. Pick one and do it well. I would follow Charlotte’s suggestions and use Nature Study only. Use it to build their skills of observation, note taking and drawing. It will better prepare them for science later on.  If you truly feel the need to keep one extra, I would keep Storybook of Science as a fun read aloud only. (Ambleside Online schedules this book for Year 4, which is for ages 9-10).

Cursive, phonics and math daily – just fine 🙂

Grammar – there is no need for grammar. Charlotte did not introduce grammar until at least ages 9-10, even later. Check out the Ambleside Online Language Arts scope & sequence. This is one of the best (developmentally appropriate) guides there is.

https://www.amblesideonline.org/LangArtsScopeSeq.shtml

2.5 hours a day, not even including the history and science, is a LOT at those ages. For comparison, my daughter at age 7 spends about 1.5 hours, total. My 10 year old spends 2.5 hours, total.

I would cut your list to half of what it is. You could also always look at splitting your year into three semesters, and rotating what you use: so Semester One you use History of Prophets, Semester Two you use Significant Females etc…

But that said, I think it would also serve you well to consider normal development of children and their areas of comprehension and interest (ancient history is a very abstract concept for young children). Historically, history has always been studied inward then outward: even Charlotte started with the history of her own country, first, then expanded outward. Likewise, you might want to focus more on the history of your own state or country first. That is what is the most applicable and relevant to the young child’s world.

Also, children don’t care about timelines and wars and this and that. It’s the people that are intriguing to them, so read good, engaging stories of famous Americans like George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin, anyone local famous heros etc…   But again, if you really want to do a sequential study of history, then I would use the SCM guides. I think it will keep things simpler for you, and remove the risk of doing too much.

Lastly, because you’re so focused on the heavy academics, you’re missing all the beautiful “enrichments” that Charlotte recommended: the art, music, poetry, hymns, great child-appropriate literature like fables and tales etc…  These are really the core of a Charlotte Mason education, because they are what bring beauty to the soul, they nurture in a way that academics can’t, and ultimately, they are what maintain a holistic balance to one’s education. Ignoring the soul for academics is a recipe for failure.

Again, simplifying everything else will allow you to add these enrichments in, giving your education much more balance.

I would say just once or twice a day would be sufficient at that age. And I would mix it up, not always narrating the same topic.