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New, looking for guidance
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Hello everyone! I am new here, new to homeschooling, new to CM, and I’m so happy to have found this wonderful resource!
I am starting grade 1 with my 6-yr old son this year. I have selected some things to do with him, but I’m not sure it’s enough. We are working through FIAR Volume 2, which incorporates some geography/history (but, of course, not in any semblance of chronological order), science, social studies, and art (and he loves it!); RightStart Math; and Phonics Pathways. That forms our core. In addition, we do daily copywork, usually a memory verse; read from our children’s Bible; read a poem from “A Child’s Garden of Verses” or “When We Were Young”; we’re reading through “The Tale of Despereaux” just for fun; and every Wednesday we will be going for some kind of hike or nature walk (today is the first), after which he will do a journal entry on something that he found interesting while we were out (he has a draw/write notebook specifically for this). Oh, and he expressed interest in learning French, so I picked up a French picture dictionary so that we can start learning some vocabulary; we’ll probably do that once a week. I am considering purchasing Laying Down the Rails and adding in some habit training as well. For extra-curriculars, he will be doing gymnastics and a couple of art workshops at the local art studio.
It sounds like more than I thought when I write it all out like this! But is it enough??
The thing I’m unsure about is whether I should consider scrapping FIAR, and instead dive into the (more structured and chronological) SCM history/geography curriculum? It looks really great. My biggest concern with it is the expense, once you add in all the accompanying books. Should I stay the course for this year, and begin that next year? Or perhaps start with that curriculum in January?
Thanks so much in advance for your thoughts and advice!
Jonessa
Hi Jonessa! Welcome!
It’s so fun to think and plan and try things. I love your comment as you finished listing it all out though – that it sounds like more than you thought.
Here is my thought, speaking as a momma of 9 children who is on my 6th 6 year old: You have way more than enough for a 6 year old! To be honest, while I like SCM a lot at age 6 I would NOT use their history modules. If you had several older kids then I would consider it because it keeps every in the same time period, but just for a 6yo it is a lot. I love FIAR for this age. I would do that and enjoy it. I would not have a separate science curriculum or social studies materials from FIAR, just do FIAR. It usually has social studies, science, art, etc ideas for each book.
Math and phonics are good, and daily copywork at that age is good but remember to keep copywork to 5 minutes or less. It’s consistent practice that makes a difference, not long practice sessions.
Nature study can be less formal – do the weekly walk but don’t worry about the nature journaling at this age unless your 6yo asks to draw something. (A hint: you can start nature journaling for yourself, and one of these days/years he’ll want to join in.) A poem and a read aloud most days is fun!
Personally I skip extracurriculars outside the home at this age. It can wait. Just live life and go places together. They don’t need formal lessons in sports, art, music, etc.
Have fun, relax and enjoy each day, and it will be a great year!
Hi and welcome Jonessa! Tristan gives great advice above and she certainly has the experience to back it up!
I’ve been homeschooling for over 13 years and less is definitely more when it comes to educating young children. My advice is to enjoy the learning process together, spend lots of time outdoors, and keep lessons short.
I agree with the others. We did SCM history module one last year and if my 6 year old had been my only child in school, it would have been mostly a waste. Just read lots of books to him and focus on the the 3 R’s, habits and learning to love learning.
Thank you so much for sharing your sage advice, ladies! Part of my stress in all of this decision-making is feeling pressure “prove” that he’s learning and “keep up” with his public-schooled cousin and friends. But, thanks to your comments, I feel quite reassured, and finally feel like I can relax and settle into our year as I’ve planned it and as you’ve recommended: focussing on the 3 R’s (with short lessons, absolutely!), reading great books together, enjoying and observing nature, developing positive character and habits, and maybe some extras (French, for example) for fun if there is an interest.
I guess my next question would be, if not this year, at what point should I consider moving to more in-depth curricula, such as SCM’s history/geography program and a language arts program? For example, I was given “First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, Levels 1 and 2”. Level (grade) 1 covers things like nouns, pronouns, verbs, titles of address, and basic sentence types. When should I be introducing these kinds of concepts?
Thanks again for the virtual hand-holding! 🙂
I think I would start the language arts program whenever it is recommended by SCM. I would hold off on purchasing a big package of formal history curriculum until your child is old enough to really get the most out of it-maybe 8ish? Until then, I would read great books from the library, using the SCM and AO (Ambleside Online) recommendations for very young children.
Sonya created a video showing The Natural Progression of Language Arts using Charlotte Mason’s methods.
You may also find our blog series on Language Arts in the Charlotte Mason Method helpful.
As far as the expense of books recommended for a particular history module, you can often find some or many of the books you need through your local library or interlibrary loan. This can work out great for the younger years since it doesn’t take very long to finish a book for grades 1-3, so getting through a book before your renewals run out usually isn’t a problem.
Also, sources such as homeschoolclassifieds.com, eBay, Amazon, or local book fairs (used curriculum fairs) can be good places to acquire used copies of books you need at a reasonable price.
Thank you so much, everyone! These comments have been so helpful, particularly the link to the video library – what a wonderful resource! One video in particular directly answered my question about when to start grammar training.
I am so pleased to be a part of this community – thank you for your help!
Just wanted to say I wish I had found FIAR sooner. We did too much formal work too soon. I suggest going through all 4 volumes of FIAR before going to formal history, etc. Do all the extras, enjoy the good books and enjoy learning together. FIAR is really a very complete core curriculum for elementary. There is a supportive Facebook page too.
Thanks for your comment, Wings2fly! We started with FIAR last year for K, and loved it. We didn’t do much extra stuff with it, though, just read the books and did some discussion. I am going to try to draw more out of the books and combine it with some simple notebooking and other activities this year; between that, math, and phonics, I think we’ll be set! I will definitely check out that Facebook page, thanks!
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