New here….

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  • December 20, 2007 at 10:08 pm
    smartypants
    Participant

    Hello. I am new here, but not new to homeschooling. I have 2 children, 14 yo daughter and 10 yo son, that I homeschool. I also have a daughter that is in college. My son has been homeschooling for 3 years now and my daughter for a little over 2 years. They were in public schools before that.

    I have been using a mix of curriculum, much of which has been recommendations through the Well Trained Mind boards. But……it has become drudgery, so textbook-y. I love many of the things we use, but I feel like there can be so much more than reading a textbook, answer questions, blah, blah, blah….

    I have been reading this site and feeling so confirmed in my recent attitude!!! I briefly tried some of these methods when I first brought my son home in 2nd grade…don’t even ask me why I stopped…”grass is greener” maybe, insecurities about doing things differently than a school would…I’m not sure.

    I hope to learn from everyone here. This site is awesome. I am going to be working over our holiday break to begin incorporating CM into our homeschool, but I’m going to do it S-L-O-W-L-Y so I don’t get overwhelmed and give up. I think I’ve found just way too easy to give the kids their workbooks or assignments and not really be too terribly involved, except for grading and the occasional question. I want to participate more, maybe that is why I’m feeling dissatisfied with our year.

    I’ll keep everyone posted on our progress and I’m sure I’ll be asking a ba-zillion questions!!!

    I love this method and hope I can make it work.

    Robin aka smartypants

    December 21, 2007 at 7:56 pm
    Sonya Shafer
    Moderator

    Welcome, Robin! I think you have the right idea about making the changes gradually. Keep us posted 🙂

    December 22, 2007 at 2:34 am
    7blessings
    Member

    I am so intriqued with this method of home educating!! We have graduated three children from high school and they are now in college yet we still have four to go and I’m looking for something different. Something refreshing and full of vitality with the hope of instilling a love of learning into the children. I’m not convinced that a traditional method of education is the best as we have used Bob Jones faithfully and yet my older children scored below average on the SATs. School around here has become dry and boring. I am looking for feedback concerning standardized test scores when using the CM method of education. I am aware that grading isn’t a priority with this method but the fact is I am required to test my children each year to fulfill our state requirements and SAT scores are important when a student applies to college. Can anyone that can speak to this issue? I thank you in advance for taking the time to do so.

    Brooke

    December 23, 2007 at 5:01 pm
    CindyS
    Participant

    Hello Brooke,

    We have one college student thus far and so I can only tell you our experience up to this point. I continue to strive to be teachable, and with seven more to go, I am leaning on the Lord for wisdom!

    The fact is, testing is a state requirement and that is how we have approached it. We do not have children cramming for standardized tests; we simply tell them that the purpose of the test is to fulfill the law and it gives us a good picture of where they are gifted and where we may choose to bolster their knowledge. We have the same philosophy regarding SATs: leaning on the Lord.

    As the children are brought up to love learning, are raised with prayer, and are fed an abundantly liberal education, they naturally bend toward their God-given talents. In that regard, SATs become another confirmation as to where they should be heading anyway.

    Knowing God equips in spite of us fallable parents gives such peace and we are able to give big pushes where the child is gifted and little nudges where they struggle. Another encouragement I have had is, because of the type of education the children are receiving, we are often surprised by how much they actually do know that was perhaps not taught (that is the lifestyle part). Since they are learning to think and make connections, they can figure out the answers; indeed it is often obvious to them. And now that I think back, I can honestly say that those subjects where we struggled to maintain a ‘textbook’ state of mind (think math) are the ones where the children scored lowest. They flourished in all others.

    Blessings,

    Cindy

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