Teaching Science, history, language arts etc…

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  • Sam
    Member

    Hello, I am very new here and I am very interested in learning more about the CM method of inspiring my children. But I am so over whelmed. I am trying to understand what is recomended for each subject but it looks like everyone uses different material??? My children are 9 and 10. They were in PS until grades 1 and 3. I feel like we are spiraling and kinda getting nowhere. We have tried many methods and I feel like I have wasted time. Please help. I do feel like the Lord is leading me in the direction of CM.

    Thank you,

    Sam

    Jimmie
    Member

    CM is more of a philosophy than a curriculum. You can use many different living books or even curricula sets and still have a CM homeschool.

    I suggest you read some of CM’s works. They are all free online.

    When I was researching CM, I actually made a webpage: http://www.squidoo.com/CMbasics

    There are links there to CM’s works and many other good articles that put her ideas in a digestable format.

    Try to change one thing at a time. For example, use living books. Add narration. Then add copywork. Those are some really easy things to change. (The hard part is maybe changing your thinking. But doing them is really easy once you get the hang of it.)

    Then add in poetry study. Then add artist study, composer study, Shakespeare, etc. (These are just examples. You choose what order works best for you.)

    Don’t try to do it all at once. It’s too much. Make small changes. It may take two or three years for your HS to go completely CM. Last year, we added composer, nature, and artist study. This year I’ve successfully added poetry and I’m still working to add Shakespeare and a more living math approach.

    Jimmie

    Please explain Living MAth…I’m confused. New to all this & researching whats best for my Hands on 11 yr old HF Autistic son BEFORE I withdrawl him from our local PSD.

    Thanks to everyone for all the reads and posts so far!

    Kimberly (OH)

    Sonya Shafer
    Moderator

    Hi, Kimberly –

    I don’t think Charlotte herself used the term “living math” that I can recall, but we use it to refer to a math curriculum that makes learning math come alive. In other words, it uses manipulatives (working with things before doing symbols on paper) to allow the child to explore the concept; it helps the child understand why you should add in this situation or subtract in that situation; and it incorporates real-life examples to help the child apply what he or she is learning (word problems or story problems). Many moms also like to read living-book biographies about mathematicians.

    Several math programs fit these descriptions: the two that come to my mind first are Math-U-See and RightStart. But you can find other comments about other programs in the Math section of this forum. Is your son working on grade level in math for an 11yo? If so, you can probably skip RightStart because it goes through only fourth grade (or maybe fifth). My autistic daughter is 10yo but we’re still working on counting with her, so I’m using RightStart.

    Misty
    Participant

    Sam

    I was new to CM last year and spent a great deal of time just “reading” the posts here. I did as one said and just started by doing copywork with my boys, then as we finished one subject (we were ahead for the year) I’d learn more about it from a CM point of view and add that one.

    This year we are doing all CM and it is truly refreshing, my children are actually liking school and not complaining every day. They look forward to our different daily subjects, like Monday is music study and tues is poetry etc.

    We do more “different” study groups but with shorter lessons lengths and it’s working. Be encouraged by this group they are great. Ask lots of questions I know someone with vast knowledge in that area will answer you. As for me I can say after 6 months of using CM only it’s the best thing we have ever done.

    Misty

    ds10 ds9 ds7 ds4.5 ds2 dd 2/10/09

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