New Here

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  • October 20, 2016 at 4:58 pm
    Sheena
    Participant

    Hello everyone!  This is my 3rd year of homeschooling and to be honest it has gone horrible the 2nd and 3rd year.  I have four children ages 4, 10, 11 and 12.  I need homeschooling to be a way of life instead of 8-3 book work.  I don’t use a book curriculum, but I am not loving what we are doing right now and looking to make some changes.  I just need some help making sure I have everything covered.  I am not going to totally drop all of our current curriculum because I can’t afford to go out and purchase a ton of new curriculum for all of my children.

    I am planning on purchasing the first history time period.  Do you use this packet it also for your literature and some of your grammar or totally separate stuff??

    I am debating on the family enrichment studies.  Do these studies work the same as the history does as far as the rotation but every 4 years instead of every 6??

    I am currently using Math on the Level for my oldest two and Saxon for my 10 year old.  MOTL is a lot of work and my daughter hates Saxon.  So I want to change both of those and I have though about Math-U-See before and I see it is suggested.  Any other suggestions??

    We use Apologia for our science currently which my children love and I plan to continue using it.  Actually it is what led me to CM.

    I just feel like with language arts I am hung up.  Does anyone have any suggestions here??  I read through the blog post about the methods way of teaching each subject and I feel like taking the spelling words from the reading we are doing with the history, geography and bible along with using it for handwriting and using sentences from the books and teaching the parts of speech is what I took from reading the information about the teaching of each subject.

    I am downloading the free resources and reading through them so I am sure I will learn more and have more questions.  But any guidance at this point would be awesome.

    I am not stressing about my 4 year old right now.  Just getting my 10, 11 and 12 year old in a better plan so that we are enjoying school.

    Thanks!!

    Sheena

    October 20, 2016 at 10:06 pm
    Wings2fly
    Participant

    Welcome Sheena.  I think of it more as changing methods than changing curriculum.  You probably already have a lot of the resources you need for a CM education.  You just need to use CM methods.  I encourage you to read more here and also books on applying CM methods.  For LA, bookworm has some great comments in this older post.

    https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/writing-advice/

    Here is a blog series on transitioning to CM a little at a time:

    https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/series/making-the-transition-to-cm/

    A timer can also be a great tool in managing your day and short lessons.

    October 21, 2016 at 6:24 am
    2Corin57
    Participant

    We just switched to Math U See this year and absolutely love it. My only regret is that we didn’t find it years ago (my oldest is 9/grade 4). We tried Math on the Level – I love the concept of it, but it was too much work. To save money on MUS, there are a couple used MUS curriculum sites on Facebook, join those groups. Also, check eBay, and http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com. I know where you can pick up a beginner set of the blocks for $40-50. I could message the lady if you were interested and wanted to give me your email.

    As for LA, you can do language arts for free. http://www.archive.org should become one of your best friends for any budget-conscious homeschooler. On that website, you will find many free resources, including old readers, spellers, grammar programs etc… Download them and just print out pages as needed.

    So for grades 5, 6, 7  Charlotte Mason would recommend daily copywork, dictation (through which spelling is learned), oral and written narrations, and a formal grammar program. All of these can be found free on that website.

    You might want to look for:

    “Lessons in English” by C.C. Long. I am using this with my grade 4 student, and we are really enjoying it. I would easily cover grades 4-6.

    “Harvey’s Elementary Grammar & Composition” is another excellent freebie, for grades 5-7.

    “Introductory Lessons in English Grammar” is another excellent one, geared for grades 6-8.

    Remember, that historically grammar was never taught yearly for 12 or 10 or even 6 years. It was typically only taught for roughly 3 years, so you’ll find most old texts are designed to be spread out over 3 years.

    Another free resource I just found recently and am about to start using which covers copywork, grammar and spelling is called “Wheelers Graded Studies in Great Authors”. It is beautiful. Depending on how many lessons you complete a week, how long your school year is etc… the book could last anywhere from 3-5 years.

    For narrations – just have them orally narrate something from whatever they’re reading (history, science, excellent literature) daily (but do not require them to narrate everything they’re reading. That will turn reading into a chore). Myself personally, I would require one written narration per week for your 10 year old, two for your 11 year old and 3 for your 12 year old.  Make note of spelling mistakes in their written work and review the words with them.

    And really, that is all you need.

    October 24, 2016 at 6:08 am
    jeaninpa
    Participant

    Thanks for sharing the internet archive site.  It’s delightful.

    We often use the vintage books for language arts as well.  One of my favorites has been Dictation Day By Day by Kate VanWangeren and also The Moden Speller.  I’ve found those at Google Books and they can be downloaded.  Some of the language can be archaic, but I appreciate the emphasis on character that was found in schools 100 years ago.

    October 24, 2016 at 8:03 am
    HollyS
    Participant

    We use Spelling Wisdom from SCM, and I highly recommend it.  I’ve also used Dictation Day By Day, and it would be a good choice as well…It’s been awhile since I used it, so I’m not sure where you’d start with it.  There are lots of free vintage texts out there, some of which we’ve really enjoyed.

    We use MUS too, and it doesn’t take much time to get through all the lessons with several DC.  Another great option is Strayer-Upton.  They have three little texts to cover grades 3-8 and are very inexpensive.  SCM’s Mathematics DVD discusses ways to use them along with hands-on lessons.

    For grammar, Our Mother Tongue is a great, inexpensive option.  You cover grammar in a year or two when they are ready.  Generally after age 10.  We are adding in Latin at this time, which is a great way to learn and review grammar.

    Our enrichments are a mix of resources.  You can cover all the enrichment subjects for free by using the internet or your library.  It just takes a little planning on your part.  SCM’s enrichment study lesson plans are new, so I don’t know how many on the boards are using them as-is.  Many of us use a mix of SCM and free or inexpensive resources.  By buying books used on Amazon or Thrift Books, you can save a bit more money.  As far as cycling back through, the resources available are so great that you can do different studies each year if you choose!  My advice here would be to start with just a few subjects/resources and add more over time.  Many times we only cover a subject for 1 or 2 terms to keep it from getting overwhelming.

    I also recommend researching CM methods before changing your curriculum…you may find what you already have can be used with her methods.  If you change curriculum, it’s often best to just change a subject or two at a time.  Otherwise it can get overwhelming.

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