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So confused
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Hi,
I am new to CM. I have thought about switching to CM for a few months now and have decided to make the switch. I’ve spent the last few days researching plans and have started reading the CM Companion book. My problem is I’m REALLY confused when it comes to the planning. I decided to use Simply CM but when I went to go plan the year the website wanted me to buy curriculum books. This kind of threw me for a loop and turned me off to Simply CMs website. Does the website not offer yearly layouts for free? You have to buy their books in order to know what to teach for the year?
Sincerely,
Confused
When I first started getting into CM method I too read the Companion book and was smitten with the whole idea. I learned what I could from my home schooling mentors, reading this board, and from the Planning Your CM Education DVD and book. THAT DVD and guide was what really taught me how to use CM method, what to do, how to gather resources, and most importantly, how to schedule this all. Breaking all the resources down into manageable pieces was something I was unable to do realistically before then. You don’t have to buy anything from this site to teach a CM home school. There are guides and free book lists all over the web. There are free curriculum guides on this site as well, yes, they recommend SCM products. But Truely, don’t be put off by that. The products really are simply charlotte’s ways put in to practical parcels. An buffet of help to go along with the invaluable resources of knowledge in the women who hang out here. This will be my first year using many SCM products. It will be my 6th or 7th year using the Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education Product, I can not express how VERY KEY this planning guide has been to making our homeschool years come together. I have friends who use it to plan their years, and they don’t even use CM method. It is that helpful.
Be encouraged, this is a good place with help for any questions, and really helpful curriculum and guides should you need it. I know others will chime in.
I have bought a few things from this site but really very little over the years. It is completely possible to do it all with little expense. We get most books from our library or used from amazon.
Nebby
When I first read A Charlotte Mason Companion I don’t think SCM even existed. I simply went to the library and chose living books for my children’s science, history, and literature and we started reading. We took copywork from our books and used library books for picture study and composer study. I did manage to pick up a boxed set of classical music cd’s on sale as well. That about covers how we did it for years. I eventually bought Truthquest history guides to help with our history studies but continued to use the library for our living books. The only textbooks we used in our home were for math.
SCM has begun to offer lesson plans to tie it all together and lay it out for moms who need or want that approach. They are not for everyone. I prefer to do my own planning and pull things together on my own. You can still use the free curriculum guide to plan your own year. It is wonderful that CM mommas now have options! 😀
Here’s the free planning materials I use. It’s a five part series. Read through these and then get started, piece-by-piece. I have the pre-designed organizer pages from before Sonya wrote the book, but before that, I just used a notebook. You can use 5-small notebooks, one for each step or however, you are comfortable.
https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/new-planning-series/
https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/the-big-picture/
https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/your-year/
https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/your-term/
Hi mrenee
I think it’s very important to note, that unlike many sites, Simply Charlotte Mason actually offers a great deal, about the Charlotte Mason method, without you having to pay a thing! I may be incorrect, but they way I see it, after following the SCM site since it started, is that SCM totes a method, rather than a curriculum. The people here are passionate about the CM method, and have so many free helps to get you started.
I think the previous posts list many of the places where you will find the free pages from SCM. The SCM Curriculum guide may suggest SCM produced books, where applicable. But look carefully, the people at SCM first, and foremost, list the methods employed.
I live in South Africa, and cannot ship things out here. We also cannot afford expensive curriculum. I have found SCM is an excellent starting point to the CM method, in fact, the best. There is a lot about CM out there on the web, but this site lays it out in a very easy to understand way, and it is not intimidating.
Of course, anything new is a little overwhelming. I would suggest that you perhaps start with a CM method or two, rather than focus on “what do I need to buy?” The CM method can be done with so many resources, and you don’t have to buy a whole lot. Often the products the SCM people suggest in the guide, are to assist you, they fit really well into the CM method and also, often they save the time and money which could be wasted otherwise. I have found the SCM items (downloads) that I have purchased have given me more value for my money than most other curriculum.
The planning pages are a good place to start if you’re ready to plan. If you’re wanting to know more about the “essence” of CM, then browse the articles.
Lastly, for a quick overview of all the methods used and taught by SCM, in their many series of articles, see the Old Curriculum guide, it shows it all on one page, with fewer suggestions of “products”
Blessings as you decide.
Lindy
First of all, welcome! 🙂
Whether or not you use someone else’s book list or create your own, you will still be using “curriculum” because that is the term used to describe the course of studies we all make for our children.
All CM and CM-flavored sites have their own curriculum choices – Ambleside Online, Simply Charlotte Mason, Higher Up and Further In, Charlotte Mason Help, Heart of Dakota, My Father’s World, Sonlight (to name a few). All offer curriculum guides and book lists. Most of us study their suggestions, think and pray about it, and choose those things that will make a CM education in our home. Seeing it in different aspects really helps you as a teacher make those choices.
The free curriculum guide is that – a guide. It helps you make sure that you have covered all the bases needed, and even gives their recommendations (which have been refined over 20 years of doing a CM education) so we can do this CM thing SIMPLY, but you DO NOT have to use their suggestions.
SCM has taken the principles and ideals offered in CM’s Original Homeschooling Series, For the Children’s Sake, The CM Companion, and other CM educational books and figured out how to put those principles into actual practice, which is wonderful because most realities do not match our ideals, however much we want them to. Those of us doing it for years continue to study CM and refine our homeschools to better reflect our deepening understanding. This is not a life chosen by the faint of heart. 😉
So as a beginner, without having studied all of those books, how does one jump in and start and know that you are covering all the building blocks of a CM education? We really can’t at first – studying and reading about what others choose to use helps us to learn what a true LIVING book is, how to actually do things like narration, Shakespeare, Plutarch, foreign language, picture study, etc., and we gain confidence in our ability to use much harder -but so much better – books than we have before.
Charlotte’s own words were that we use the methods combined with the living books. SCM helps you do that. Sonya Shafer of SCM has taken living books, worked hard on the scheduling side, and made up plans for 180 days of lessons, including notes to make Book of Century entries, exams, how to count credits for high school and other necessary items – because we still have to live the present world where transcripts and core subjects are required by tradition/law. This is so helpful to moms who want to do all of the wonderful enriching amazing aspects of a CM education, but who do not feel qualified, have the time to do so, or who simply want to have a terrific open and go curriculum that meets CM ideals of spreading the feast and savoring the best. This is true of ALL the SCM offerings. And if you choose to pick just what you want and need, that is okay – and if you choose to do something completely different, that is okay. SCM’s really great advice is to teach the child, not a particular book or curriculum choice.
Karen Andreola is amazing and I always feel encouraged when I read her book/blog posts. She did a fantastic job with what she had available…and she encourages us to do the same. Keep in mind, though, that while she was teaching her children, there was not an internet as we have it now and there weren’t as many people actively pursuing a CM education, which means she was much more on her without much support. There is a lot to be said for having someone to bounce ideas off, even in cyberspace. 😉
One word of advice, from a mom who picks and chooses what to use, SCM’s Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education is a great resource to have. It helps you plan your own version and helps you set your goals for the entire homeschooling effort, not just a single year, which makes your child’s education cohesive and well-rounded. 😉
I hope that as you continue on your journey of a CM life that you will see the amazing difference in your home that we have experienced!
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