just started looking and need help!

Hi, Amy and Heather. I’ll try to answer your questions here. (We’re on our way to Iowa for the seminar this weekend, and my brain may be fuzzy tonight. So please let me know if my answers don’t make sense. 🙂 )

1. My daughters are (6) and (9), how do I make it work for both. I’m confused as to how to do one program and make it more challenging for the older and make it right for the younger at the same time. I very much need direction myself as to what to do and how to do it.

I try to combine my children for as many subjects as possible. The key is to mentally separate the subjects into two categories: topics and skills. Subjects like history, geography, nature study, and art (etc.) are in the “topics” category; they can be studied in any order at any age. For example, you can study the Middle Ages at any time with any age of children for history. So that subject can be done all together. Many subjects are in the “topics” category.

The “skills” category contain subjects that must be done in a certain order as the children develop and are ready; for example, math. For those subjects it works best to teach the children one-on-one.

I like to pick a read-aloud-together book to do with all the children for a combined subject (like history), then to challenge the older students, I assign them additional reading to do independently. Their additional reading is on the same topic (or time period, for history) but in a more challenging book.

So, Amy, if you were using the suggestions given for History/Geography/Bible in Module 1 (Genesis through Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt), you could read aloud the books listed for Grades 1-3 and assign your 9yo to read the books listed for Grades 4-6 on her own.

Heather, the Modules are outlined on our SCM Curriculum Guide. If you click on “History” you’ll see the overview of each Module. And if you click on the “details” for a Module, you’ll see the books we suggest for it for each grade level.

2. Where would I start with the Hist/Geo/Bible, with the first module?

You can start at whichever module you want to. Some of that decision might depend on which history time periods you have already studied. The first two Modules are heavily Bible history with just some world history (Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece). If you want a day-by-day guide, both of those Modules have lesson plans already written. We’re planning to write Module 3 for 2009, by the way. If you just want a list of books, then don’t worry about the daily lesson plans and just look at the suggestions given.

3. Last, what do you really need to start with? I see a lot of options and I guess it’s just overwhelming at first.

Great question. You can start using just a few CM methods and ease into this approach gradually if you want to. Here’s a little article with some ideas for making the transition in smaller steps. It might give you some encouragement!