Just Starting – VERY Confused!

I remember how I felt when I started using CM 6 years ago. It can be very scary. I would recommend the guide here and the books because they have all been “road tested” and are a bit more engaging than some of the recommendations from AO. I used AO first and found some of the choices bombed because they were just too grown up for a 6 year old IMHO.

If you wanted to get a feel for the method you could use books from http://www.mainlesson.com or its hardcopy counterpart http://www.yesterdaysclassics.org . This site has books catagorized by age and that really helps. I would pick one of the nature books by Thorton Burgess or Clara Pierson (something like that anyway)and get started practicing narration. My four year old likes a Burgess set we got from Amazon, but I digress….:) Nature books are both fun and interesting to little boys. You could then try a chapter or two of the history books. I like Mara Pratt. This would help you get a feel for everything before spending money.

Narration is the HUGE thing. Small chunks are best. Really small sections. 🙂 It is better to be too easy than too hard at first. This is so very foundational and so you really cannot spend too much time on it. After that I would add in copywork. I’ll tell you how I do it. For a boy that age I just set a timer for 5 minutes and show them the part of the page on which to start copying. I tell him to copy as neatly and accurately as possible. At first it may be only part of a sentence, later it can be much more. Then I gradually increase the time as it becomes easier.

I should mention that you can add ANY book into the SCM organizer. I often add things. It is also easier to go one or two books at a time and helpful to have a few reviews from moms in the trenches. This has saved me some money by avoiding books that were too hard. boring, etc.