Practical Application of CM methods

I agree about the SCM seminars.

Also have you explored the free curriculum guide yet, it is a real gem of practical help :o)

http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/

I agree too.  This is absolutely the right place to find the rubber-meets-the-road stuff.  Wish there’d been resources like these way back when I was starting.  If you are visual I second the videos- Sonya has a real gift in explaining and making it real. 

I agree with all of the above:) Also, if you mentioned it to the other hschool families around you it might spark some interest and you could all watch them together. Our group did this a few years ago and even the families who weren’t ‘doing’ CM found the seminars extremely helpful in the planning process and in the whole ‘big picture’ area. Well worth the investment!

It does help to “see” CM’s method carried out.  If you lived in my area, I’d say to come to our upcoming CM talks or our CM group meetings.  I do know that Sonya has done some videos that describe some of the curricula they have come out with.  For example, there is a video that shows how CM taught spelling on the Spelling Wisdom page.  A video for teaching reading is on the Delightful Reading page, etc.  I haven’t looked at everything, but there may be others that would demonstrate narration, etc. 

Well, since money is a never-ending issue for all of us, here are some things we implemented quickly and (mostly) free:

http://www.geog.byu.edu/Assets/Maps/      free maps for geography and map drills

http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/timeline.htm     timelines, figures, maps, games, ect. For history (not free but full of suggestions on how to make inexpensive timelines or book of centuries, etc)

http://handsandhearts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=40    hands on kits for history studies  ($)

http://www.squidoo.com/cassatt-artist-study      free – another awesome artist study

http://www.knowitall.org/instantreplay/content/LanguageIndex.cfm   free foreign language lessons

http://www.myaudioschool.com/     – organized by history period lists of librivox.org’s public domain audio books and lots of extras  (librivox.org is free – I just haven’t spent losts of time there yet)

http://www.livingmath.net/   free ideas for living math stuff like books, etc

http://www.freetypinggame.net/   free typing class

http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm   free multiplication games

http://www.squidoo.com/drawingwithchildrennature  free drawing lessons

http://www.squidoo.com/harmony-fine-arts-mini-units    some free picture and composer studies

http://momstoolbelt.com/moms-home-journal   ($) organizing your life and homeschool

http://cgfa.acropolisinc.com/index.html   free artists bio and their works

http://notebookingpages.com/    ($) worth every cent!!  Pages for every subject and style!!  LOVE this.

http://pattyreedsdoll.blogspot.com/     free lessons on Donner Party/Pioneers in American history

http://littlehouseteachersguides.blogspot.com/   free lessons and activities for Laura’s books

http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/loanfinder/  free history, LA, science, and art lessons and DVDs from the National Gallery of Art – they send it to you on loan for  free – you have to pay to return it  They have LOTS of things, including a DVD of Ancient Egyptian and Greek art.  (I just ordered that one)

Practical put it to use (sorry no visual)  😉

Once a week, you have a picture study.  This is just a picture by an artist (like Mary Cassatt or Giotto http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/picture-study-portfolios/)  where you and the kids look at a picture for about 5 minutes.  Then turn it over (or off if on the computer) and tell each other everything you can remember about it.  Look at it again and enjoy it.  Then you have the option of displaying it as wall paper or in a picture frame for one week.  Then the next week do a new picture from the same artist.  Do this for 6 weeks before choosing a new artist.  During that 6 weeks read a short biography about that artist. This should take no longer than about 15 minutes. 

Like picture study, music study is easy.  Choose a composer and listen to a song or CD by that person for 6 weeks.  Most of us choose someone and listen to the CD during lunch, art, music study etc.  Read a biography of the composer.  Do this once a week.  (Free classical music is available online to listen to).

Folk songs and hymn study are the same as the others, a new one either once a week or as kids master them.  We do a new hymn each week – I am only going for familiarity.

Nature study is simple.  Once a week, give your kids a pencil (or colored pencils) and a paper.  Go in the yard or a park and LOOK around.  Feel the tree bark, watch the clouds, study the flowers, watch the bee flitting from place to place.  Have your kids find something that they are interested in and draw it.

Read books aloud (or listen to an audio book) – have kids tell you what they remember (short passages first) do this everyday.  If it is a literature one, I don’t require narrations, although we usually talk about them.  For other subject narrations, here are some ideas  http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/narration/   My girls like to make puppets or paper dolls and act out the stories.

Geography can be as simple as choosing a contintent, a country or similiar and having the kids look at a labeled map of it for about 5-10 minutes.  Then on a blank map have them write down all that they remember from that map.  Check the work against the labeled map and make corrections.  Put map in folder.  =)  Do once a week until they have it down.  This takes about 20 minutes.  You can choose to watch a video, read a book, cook a treat, make an art project, or something from that country or continent as a fun re-inforcer.

The SCM history, bible and geography modules are simple, effective and easy to use.  If you want a consistent program, I recommend these.  They don’t overwhelm my family.  =)  This module schedules all your readings for history, geography practice and bible study for each week in a 36 week year.  There are ideas and links that are provided for the modules on the bookstore page for each module.

I don’t know what you have chosen for science or math, but we only do science 3 times a week, and math is daily.  I am still trying to figure out my math =)

I don’t know if I have helped or not, but … 

Sheraz- awesome post! Thanks for sharing that wealth of info!! Already printed Africa maps for map drill.  Will be checking the other links you posted.