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New to HS & CM – Where to start for 12yo, 10yo & 8yo?
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Hi everyone,
We are new to home school with all 3 in the public system until recently. We have a 12yo, 10yo & 8yo that started off with a ‘purchased curriculum’ for a few months as I didn’t have the confidence to do the planning and curriculum side of things on my own.
I wasn’t happy and the kids weren’t happy so I started looking at options and kept coming back to CM methods. I love what I am seeing, I feel this is right for our family and I am thankful that there is so much support and resources available.
After lots of prayerful consideration I have decided to start implementing SLOWLY some of the basic principles and have started seeing an improvement both in the children and myself.
One thing that I am a little confused about is where to place them in the CM curriculum levels. Is it according to their year level (we are in Australia so I am not sure if that is different to other countries year levels) or according to their abilities?
They are all fluent readers and enjoy reading so that is not the issue. I guess that as we are new to CM I don’t want them to miss out on any of the ‘foundations’ of this way of learning. Will they be ok to start at their grade levels 7, 5 & 3 here or will they be at a disadvantage in any way?
Also I am keen on the grade combined family subjects and hope to hear how this has worked for some of you personally. The older two will work well together but I know that I need one-to-one time with my youngest.
I have been easing them into narrating (in preparation for CM education) as this is not a concept that they were familiar with. We need to work on this a lot.
We are so excited and keen to fully transition (baby steps for now) but I would love to know your thoughts so that I can source the appropriate books and resources.
Kind thanks,
Amy-Lee
Welcome Amy-Lee. This is a great forum for support and encouragement, and a wealth of information. The ladies are so helpful.
We are Australians also, but live in Israel. There are a few other Aussies that frequent this forum so maybe some of them can give you information regarding grade levels. I love the SCM Handbooks for History/Geography/Bible because they make it so easy to combine different ages.
If you haven’t already you should check out the Aussie Homeschool Forum. There are quite a few ladies who follow a CM education there and they are all very helpful.
http://community.aussiehomeschool.com.au
Enjoy the journey. A CM education is great for the Mum too, not just the children 🙂
Blessings, Michelle
Not sure about Austrailia, but in Canada & the US children are usually 5 (or about to turn 5) in Kindergarter, so age 6 is usually 1st grade, age 7 second, 8, third and so on. Of course there are slight variences depending on the region. (for example, when my older ds started school children had to be 5 by October 1st to start. His birthday is iin November, so he was nearly six when he officially started. Regulations have since changed and children now have to be 5 by Dec 31st. It isn’t mandatory here to register a child for school until they are six, though, but they must start in K. K here is a full day and is much more like grade one than when I was a child. I think that is partly because preschool didn’t exist then.
Welcome to CM, Amy-Lee! It’s great to have such a choice experience with my kids – we are all learning so much.
I really feel like the Lord led me to CM (and SCM) – and what a blessing it has been in my life. I have gained confidence in myself, in my ability to teach and choose appropriate material, learned that is okay to say no and do things differently, in my faith in the Lord and His intimate knowledge/dealings with my family, and my ability to trust the methods.
I pulled mine out of PS when they were in 3rd and 4th grade. I basically started them at their level, but retained the assigned grade level of PS so they would feel like they were progressing. =) Most of their stuff did remain on grade level, but I had one that was stuggling due to illnesses her entire PS life, so adapted hers. However, the first year she came up two reading levels and we continue to make progress.
I also have 2 little girls six years younger than my older two. I can (and do) combine things like nature study, hymn, composer, picture study, etc. I have not added them into the history yet, but it will not be hard using the SCM modules. You should be able to use most family subjects together – you say all your kids are fluent readers, so it will be easier for you that way. I really like the ease of use of the SCM history modules for various reasons – the open and go, the wonderful books, the levels are already planned. I can add things if I want to, and yet they are complete as is.
If shipping to Australia is going to be prohibitive, may I suggest that you consider the Yesterday’s Classics ebook collection (225 wonderful books) and the Heritage History ebook collection? HH also comes with maps and teacher guides for using their amazing collection of living history books. All the books I have read and looked at in both of these collections are engaging and interesting. They share a few titles, so you may want to look at that, but I think the inexpensive cost of the entire collections make it worth duplicating a book or two.
Book lists are great – All Through the Ages (for history and geography), A Picture Perfect Childhood (using wonderful picture books to help teach even teenagers about art, music, history, etc.), Who Should We Then Read?(collection of 300 writers chosen for their Biblical standards and great books), Honey For a Child’s Heart, and Books Children Love (collection of book reivews, chosen for content, sorted by subject) are excellent resources. I know that a couple of those are available as ebook downloads.
A few books to consider during the next few years: I am almost finished reading “A Charlotte Mason Companion” by Karen Andreola. I have been reading ahout and using CM methods for 2 years and counting, but I find myself so encouraged and inspired whenever I read it. So if you get a chance to read it, take the time. Catherine Levison’s “A Charlotte Mason Education” is a great jump start too. And of course, Sonya’s DVDs here. The Free Curriculum Guide here is an excellent place to start – and if you have the Planning Your CM Education you are set to make it work for you.
Also, you might want to read this series on getting started…. http://simplycharlottemason.com/series/getting-started/
I agree that keeping them at their grade level for the sake of keeping records is the best idea. But if you pick a math curriculum and your 10 year old ends up in the 4th or 5th or 6th ‘grade’ on their placement tests, who cares? In those skill based subjects it’s important to work at their own level, moving along as they are able to.
For something like history, I would pick the time period you want to start with, Middle Ages for ex., and in addition to a family read aloud, each of your children would independantly read books about the Middle Ages that are at their reading and comprehension level, whatever that happens to be.
So some subjects you want to fit them in at their skill level, while others you pick your topic first. 🙂
Welcome Amy-lee,
Where about’s in Australia are you? We live in South Australia 🙂
As far as grade levels go, (as far as I can tell) we are pretty similar to the U.S.
We are using mostly SCM – with obviously lot’s of god books thrown in :))
Math U See for Math,
Good luck,
GB Kelly
Hi everyone,
Thank you to you all for your advice and recommendations. I am truly blessed to have you all helping me on this new adventure.
Michelle – Thanks, I registered last night for the Aussie homeschool forum to see how they implement CM here in Australia. I found some great Aussie reading lists there too that I could compliment into the kids reading list to cover the Australian curriculum guidelines. I do stress a little about doing CM and still covering what we need for the curriculum standards here.
4myboys – Thank you, it sounds pretty similar for grade levels other than we have different school terms etc but thanks for explaining.
Sheraz – Wow, thank you for all of your recommendations. I think I need to print this out and look into it as you provided so much information. I am very thankful. Your message ‘I really feel like the Lord led me to CM (and SCM) – and what a blessing it has been in my life. I have gained confidence in myself, in my ability to teach and choose appropriate material, learned that is okay to say no and do things differently, in my faith in the Lord and His intimate knowledge/dealings with my family, and my ability to trust the methods.’ is very encouraging to me. I need to remind myself that God has entrusted me with this task and in His strength I can do this. I love the way you put it and pray that I gain confidence knowing He is guiding our ways.
suzukimon – Thank you, that is the one book that I have read from cover to cover so far and how I am slowly starting out. It is a great wealth of information to those of just starting out without being too much that it may confuse. Very well done if I do say so myself 🙂
eawerner – Thanks, that is very helpful and exciting that I can pick the time period. I think I may need to lighten up and not feel that I have to do everything a certain way in a certain order. Isn’t that the joy of homeschooling? Not feeling that the kids have to be pigeonholed into a certain way of learning. I need to trust that I know my kids learning styles and abilities best and help them at the level that they are best suited.
Kelly – Thanks for the welcome and help. We are in Western Australia. New to WA and to homeschooling so it has been a very full on time for us with lots of bumps along the road but finally feel like we are finding our feet.
Again, I feel truly blessed that you have all taken the time to respond to my questions.
God Bless,
Amy-Lee
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