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There are quite a few resources listed on scm for each subject. Am I to use them all??
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I’m finally sitting down to write up a schedule for my 4th grader. This will be our first year doing CM. I refer to SCM constantly, but I’m a little confused. For each subject, there are at least 6 books listed as resources. Are these simply recommendations, or required reading? For Literature alone there are about 10 books in the book group I chose. History,another 6 or 7 books. And this is only for two subjects! How will we get through all of these??
No, you don’t have to read them all….in fact, for literature (as an example), the Younger Student book groups cover grades 1-4, but that doesn’t mean you have to use all of the books from one group per year.
I have a daughter who loves to read a good book, but she has always been a rather slow reader. We have always had a read-aloud selection going at the same time they are each reading their own literature book on their own. So, the not-so-great reader at one point only read two literature books on her own during the school year, but alongside that, I read three books during the year to her and her siblings. Now, with my son who is autistic and didn’t really read on his own until he was 10 or 11, he only completed the books I read aloud plus a chapter book or two that we would read before bed as his routine allowed. My older daughter has been reading on her own a lot longer (she’s now in high school), so she always read more books during the year. She does not really care for read-alouds at this point, but I still do a family read-aloud for history….so she has to grin and bear that!
This first year especially, you’ll need to ponder what you feel you need to cover among the concepts within each subject and choose which books to use according to those thoughts. I would caution you not to fall into the stressful thinking of “so many books, so little time.” You’ll set yourself up for emotional failure. I’m not saying to set low expectations; just be prepared to cheerfully alter the plan if it seems like you are “falling behind.” I think many of the seasoned veterans here will tell you that it’s easy to overschedule and then feel like you have failed your children, instead of simply stepping back after a couple of months and telling yourself that you simply need to schedule fewer books to suit your family’s needs.
Blessings on your planning and implementing of this first year of CM. Please continue to ask questions here. This is a great place to find suggestions on how to make this method of teaching and learning a successful one.
I also thought I would mention a couple of earlier threads on this forum that addressed the issue of how many books to use in a given year. The first one starts off with a question about how many books to schedule for history & geography for a 9th grader, but the replies address the issue of how many books & how many pages to be read by the student as well as those read aloud by a parent. I would suggest reading through all of the posts so as to benefit from everything addressed.
Here is that link: http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/how-many-books-for-historygeography
Then there is another thread from not quite a year ago, started by….oh, who was that person?
(That would be me….) This one breaks things down by grade range & gives guidelines for how many books per term, how many pages per term, and other guidelines. Just remember–they are guidelines, so be sure to take into consideration what you think your child is capable of and what best suits your family.Here is that link: http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/how-many-books-2
HTH,
Sue
Sue,
Thank you for the information! I’m feeling much better about the schedule now. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to answer my question. A little encouragement goes a long way in my world, and now I feel refreshed.
I do have one more question about the resources. Should we be reading from each book throughout the whole year? My instinct is to finish a few books, and then start a few new ones. However, based on the math equation given in the Learning and Living videos to calculate pages per book per week, it appears that all of the resources should be used alongside each other for the whole year. In other words, 25 books going at the same time. Is that right?
Forgive me; I find it difficult to express this question in writing.
Thank you,
Chrissy
I’m not familiar with the equation in the L & L dvds, but speaking from my experience- I go nuts if I have too many books going at once. I like to finish something before starting another new one. Some curricula tell you to have many multiple books going at once, some don’t. I simply choose to schedule it so we finish one up before starting another. It works for us!
Chrissy, the equation is simply a tool I use to get a grip on about how many pages per day. In real life not every book will be the same length; some books will need to be read before others to get the logical flow of thought. So please don’t feel tied to the scenario we used.
The main thing I wanted to emphasize in that exercise was that CM does not mean sitting on the couch reading multiple chapters from book after book after book all day long. Some people have that mistaken picture in their minds.
You have freedom to arrange books as it works best for your family. Charlotte did have several books going throughout the week to keep variety in the lessons. So take that principle of keeping variety and make it work for you.
Does that help clarify a bit?
Hi Sonya! Yes, that really helps; thank you. We will be reading quite a few books this year, and if it’s possible, I’d like to finish some in Term 1, some more in Term 2, and so on. Too many books at once may be a lot for my 4th grader who has been in public school up until now.
But I’ve struggled with “how” to divide up the resources. For example:
Should they be divided by subject…?
Do I throw all the books into a pile, add up the chapters, and divide them up that way…?
Is the schedule determined by the amount of resources, or vice versa…?
(This is what the inside of my head looks like right now. HA)
Do you have a resource that goes into detail about scheduling? I’ve read the Planning blog, and the sample Planning book. I considered purchasing the full version with the DVD. Would that answer some of my questions? I ordered the History & Geography curriculum (Gen-Deu & Ancient Egypt), so some of the scheduling is already done for me, and that will help tremendously.
Thank you so much for your time!
Chrissy
The Planning Book and DVD are what would help you answer those questions. It is a great resource. Is it still for sale? I am having trouble finding it in the bookstore.
I found it by clicking the link at the end of the blog series. The dvd is very helpful to go along with the book.
http://simplycharlottemason.com/store/planning-your-charlotte-mason-education/
Chrissy, I strongly recommend the planning book that wings2fly suggested. It’s fabulous!
Here is my ds10’s 4th grade plan that we’re finishing up. Please be aware that these are my goals, sometimes I will drop or tweak something, but this is how my plan breaks down. The other key is to remember short lessons, so if 1 chapter is going to long, we extend it.
4th grade term charts – https://app.box.com/s/c3gibna5s60h6bbkk4f1
Here is simply one example of how a week’s work could be broken up.
4th grade weekly checklists – https://app.box.com/s/dcs6p2cebc37lcc428lz
HTH,
Christie
Thank you for putting up those links, Christie!
I plan to use your term charts this year. I love how organized it is!
Christie, thank you so much for your generosity in sharing your plans with us. I thought I was organized, but I can learn so much from the way you have this laid out and organized. Do you make each weekly table as you go throughout the year or do you make 12 out before each term starts? I have not yet scheduled specific pages in books b/c it seemed overwhelming to me and I’ve just “done the next book” kind of thing. I can see the benefit in laying it out this way as my oldest becomes more independent and takes over more of the reading for herself. What are the ages of all your children?
I have learned through the years that too much planning out of details can be wasted and/or put too much pressure and stress on us to get it all done like the schedule says. This is why I choose all of my books for the year and then plan out details as I go for smaller lengths of time in terms, like 6 weeks, 8 weeks or 12 weeks at the most. Life happens. Children do not always learn at the pace we or the book we are using wants them to learn. You do need a plan though. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
Okay, Planning Book and dvd have been ordered! Thanks for the link Wings2fly! Look forward to getting this started.
Christie, your forms are beautiful. I like the way you think! I will absolutely put this format to use in my classroom. Wonderful!
(That would be me….) This one breaks things down by grade range & gives guidelines for how many books per term, how many pages per term, and other guidelines. Just remember–they are guidelines, so be sure to take into consideration what you think your child is capable of and what best suits your family.
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