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Starting, choosing a curriculum
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Hello!
I’m just starting here at SCM. I homeschooled my DD (7) for her kinder year and she was at school for first grade this year. In the fall, we will be back to homeschooling, with my DS (5) in tow:) I’m very excited to have her home again and get started in earnest!
I was wondering how those of you who are choosing to follow SCM decided to head this route, as opposed to AO? I am feeling torn a bit between the two, and my goals are flexibility and rigor. Also, we are a catholic family, so I need things to be adjustable, in terms of faith and religion;)
So, an thoughts for a newbie on whether SCM could meet my family’s needs?
Hi Angela,
I started homeschooling my youngest child using SCM as the “spine” of our curriculum a few years ago. I was drawn to the Charlotte Mason method, but angsted a bit about stepping away from the packagedand more textbook-oriented curricula I had used with my older children in the past. SCM took a lot of fear out of this equation for me. I could see the big picture of the CM-method and also how to apply those principles in each area of study. SCM also, as its name implies, simplified the entire book and vendor selection process for me. I have found it easy to pick and choose which subjects I wanted to pursue using strictly cm methods and resources, and which ones I wanted to approach differently. I think you could easily apply this from everything from spelling to bible study. I wish you the best on your journey with your little ones!
Blessings,
Kristina
There is a Catholic Charlotte Mason curriculum online:
Welcome! I haven’t used AO, although I use some of their ideas and suggestions. I have used SCM and really appreciate their curriculum guide/books. I learned from SCM just how flexible you can be and still be rigorous and successful.
Here is a delightful Catholic CM blog that I follow:
http://wildflowersandmarbles.com/
Misty and others on here are Catholic and would be great people to ask specific questions about how they handle the religious aspect.
Suzukimom, how did you end up at AO? I’d like to hear your process.
Another question: since I would only be doing school with dd this coming year, would my son simply join whatever time period we were on for history when he begins the following year?
Thanks again!
Definitely have both kids studying the same time period for history. It makes planning and implementing soooo much easier. And, they are not too far apart in age, so they can use a lot of the same books, especially for family read-alouds, and you can just add in separate books for each as they become better readers.
You can also then have them doing geography and Bible or Catholic materials together. Of course, your religious studies will vary somewhat when your daughter is preparing for First Communion. I grew up Catholic, so I’m a little familiar with that, but we don’t practice Catholicism at this point….we instead have family Bible studies/devotions, and you could do both if you wish.
You also can combine a lot of science for awhile, especially if you do nature studies. Even as my oldest reached middle school age, we still took nature walks together and enjoyed that as a family.
The pathway to AO for me took a while…. It started with a combo of AO and Milestones Academy (MA), then a different AO MA combo. Then a mentored CM program (now nonexistent). Then SCM. Then AO. Our family works better when it isn’t as much family studies….
If you do SCM or another Family Study based CM program, then yes, younger children join in the same time period as older siblings when they start school. If you do AO or another Year based CM program, then each child will study their own history period.
We really do our own thing, pulling from SCM and other places sometimes, doing full SCM one year (it was good!). I’ve never done AO because I want our family to be in the same studies as much as possible, including history, and AO has each child in their own year and different time periods. I have 8 kids and just don’t want to do that. I know some like it though!
I appreciate that SCM offers book lists for every age in any time period you choose, keeping the family on similar topics. In my experience this has led to wonderful family conversations because we’re all marinating in the same themes. I love it!
We are just starting on our homeschool journey. I was first introduced to SCM a few years ago, and I feel like this is the place for us. I like to plan our year’s studies, but love to have a guideline to work from. I also go to AO for more resources and guidance. For example, when I was planning for next year I was at a loss for which poets, artists, composers to study – so many great choices. I went over to AO to see which ones they were doing next year. For artists we’ll be following the AO list, but using SCM portfolios where possible. For composers we’ll study a mix of what AO is doing this year and next.
I love that SCM really does make it as simple as possible, and there is a lot of encouragement here!
I chose AO because of rigor and because I prefer to work one on one. AND if it is on an individual child’s list it will probably get done. But family stuff depends 100% on me, and I can’t do it consistently enough especially in my current circumstance. I also don’t see a need to base everything on history. I think good literature is more important, and we do many good read-alouds as a family.
I had looked at AO when I was first starting with my oldest in K & 1st grade and it was confusing to me and I felt lost trying to figure everything out. SCM works well for us as my four kids are close in age/grade. (5th and under). Plus now that I work full time out of the home as well as homeschool I need the family subjects to save me time. SCM gives me guidance but allows me to be flexible as well and it is relaxed.
My 12 yr old daughter (only child) will be starting year 7 on AO in August. The choice was easy for us as my daughter was reading at a 10th grade level at the end of 5th grade in ps. I pulled her out in October 2013 two months into 6th grade, and we did year 6 AO PLUS books mentioned in old fashioned education. I wasn’t worried about jumping in as she had read practically everything on her own through the years that was listed in prior yrs. We also use spelling wisdom 3 and of course nothing beats the scm organizer!!!!!! It’s perfect for us.
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