New to CM

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  • June 15, 2011 at 2:58 am
    vsdunkin
    Member

    Hi!!! Just wanted to stop in and say that I have only recently been introduced to the CM method of homechooling.. I LOVE IT!! We are finishing up our 2 nd year of homeschooling and I plan to spend the summer coming up with our CM schedule for next year.

    My question would be ” What book/s do you CM moms(dads) find absolutely useful to educating your children. I plan on following the SCM guide for our next year with the exception of math (because what we are using seems to be working) and phonics (still for the previous reason). I willl have a 4th grader , a 1st grader and a 4 yo. I have so far decided to use Module 1 for History/ Geography and Bible and 106 Days of Creation for Science. So are there any books that would be absolutely neccessary for me to buy or ones that are only needed occasionally so they could be borrowed from a library?

    Thanks in advance for any input! I have so enjoyed reading through the posts especially considering I don’t know any other CM homeschoolers. Honestly it is all alittle overwhelming and scary to be venturing out away from something alittle more laid out for me but I am really hoping that this will help to bring about that love of learning that I want so much for my children. =)

    Veronica

    June 15, 2011 at 3:52 am
    Sue
    Participant

    Welcome to the SCM forum.  You’ll find a lot of answers here from both veteran CM-ers and homeschoolers who have recently discovered the joys of this method.  We ask a lot of questions ourselves, so keep ’em coming!  Someone (or several ‘someones’) will chime in with the ideas that work for their families.

    As far as choosing books from the SCM guide is concerned, I often do a little homework ahead of time on the internet, looking up the suggested books on the SCM Bookfinder, where you’ll find a listing of the table of contents for books that have them, or reading reviews on various homeschool blogs and websites, even on Amazon.  I’d have to say that of the books we’ve chosen for each subject in the curriculum guide, at least 80% are available through our local library or free online, although some are through interlibrary loan.  Our budget is very tight, so we’ll make use of the library as much as possible.

    The biggest drawback is that those borrowed through interlibrary loan are not as easy to work with.  Since they belong to libraries that are up to 200 miles away from here, let’s just say their home library misses them and wants them back too soon!  So, some of those will be items we will likely end up purchasing.  I’ve been doing rather well lately at finding books I need through used curriculum sites.  One other thing I do is to decide which living books take place later in the historical time period we are studying, and I will usually put off buying them until after the school year has started since I won’t need them right away.

    The lists of suggested books may seem overwhelming at times, but just remember that these will be spread out over the course of a year.  And the suggested books are just that–suggestions.  Whatever you can get through your library or borrow from a friend, spend a little time looking over them during the summer.  If it doesn’t seem like a good fit for your children, no one will require you to use it.  I tended to overload my children with too many literature and history selections last year, so we are paring things down a volume or two this year.  Consider the SCM curriculum guide as a starting point.  You can tailor it to fit your needs.

    Sue

    June 15, 2011 at 4:57 am
    sheraz
    Participant

    Oh, welcome to CM!  It is so much fun once you get the hang of it.  If I were you, I’d start with the All-Day Sminar and Planning Your CM Education.  After that…well, you know your family.

    Considering God’s Creation is a good one, because it will help expand the 106 Days lessons for your 4th grader.  The other experiment you probably don’t need…Of course, you need to find living science books.  My kids love the Thorton Burgess books that are not overly expensive on Amazon.  There might be some at your library.

    On the history side, if you can’t get the Oxford book, just make sure that you are covering the topics listed here on the third page.

    http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/no-luck-with-the-late-burrell 

    (Ihave a post in there with the subjects covered in the lessons from Mod 1, so you can find appropriate books for replacement).  A map is good – and you can find blank maps on line for geography. 

    I am not sure what to tell you to leave out, or substitute b/c I don’t know what you have access to for substitution!  =)  HTH

     

    June 15, 2011 at 11:34 am
    vsdunkin
    Member

    Thanks!!! I searched the internet for books that are available from our library and there were a few so far. I also found the books by Thornton Burgess free on Project Gutenburg so that was a plus =)

    Our budget is also very tight, so I am hoping to be able to borrow most of our books unless there are some that the kids just really enjoy…which is almost a catch 22 because I am hoping that is most of them =).

    I guess I really need a starting off place because I am not really sure how a day looks using the CM approach.

     

    Thanks again!!

     

     

    June 15, 2011 at 1:49 pm
    Richele Baburina
    Participant

    Hi Veronica and welcome!

    I know there are some in-depth threads on the forum for Module 1 History where you can see some reviews of the resources. Generally, I try to get most from the library first to determine if it is something I want to purchase for our home library as we have budget and space to consider as well.  As a homeschooling family, our librarian allows us to continually renew items as long as there isn’t a hold or wait for the particular book.  I think most of us on the forums keep a list of wantities on hand for our trips to the used book stores/second hand shops and library book sales.

    This past school year we had a 3rd and 1st grader.  If you want to see how our CM-days looked, our schedules for the last two years are here.  In SCM’s “Planning Your CM Education” Sonya encourages us to determine our goals first, likening it to a map – by knowing your destination you can then determine which route to take.  The goals are also helpful in evaluating if a particular book is working for your family.  At the top of the same page as the schedule you can find our goals as well.  

    Enjoy your time of planning!

    Richele

    June 15, 2011 at 2:46 pm
    sheraz
    Participant

    There are also lots of the books available on audio found here http://librivox.org/.  The books are free downloads.  They are also on this site http://www.myaudioschool.com/, which has the librivox books organized a little differently.  You have to pay $14.95 a year for it.

    I was just looking at the book list for the history mod 1.  I found a book at our library called “Once Upon A Time in Egypt” by Frances Kent Gere.  It can take the place of “Boy of the Pyramid” easily since they are both living books and are about boys that explore and show us Egypt.  They are both excellent. =)  We found Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt at the library.  Pyramid is a book about how they think the ancients built the pyramids.

     

     

    June 15, 2011 at 10:11 pm
    vsdunkin
    Member

    Thanks so much for your replies!! I hope to be able to sit down tonight and sort through some of the information you have given!! Thanks again!!

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