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Typical Day w/CM?
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Hello families,
We just received our box of SCM goodies and I’m going over it all to begin Monday. We are starting with History in module 3 (Matthew-Acts) with our 4th ds, 7th dd, and 9th dd. We haven’t transitioned to a complete CM method with every subject, but are doing it gradually. My question is this: what does a typical day look like using CM to teach? We are moving from using My Father’s World Rome to the Reformation and Ancient History and Literature, which had a highly “busy” schedule grid to follow. It took us at least 6-7 hours to complete everything, and that wasn’t counting any foreign language that I wanted to implement. I want our children to enjoy learning, not feel like they are back in PS with a rigid schedule. Any tips/ suggestions? Thanks in advance!
I’ll start. Hopefully you’ll get lots of replies:) Our year officially begins Tues., actually…but this is the plan based off what’s worked well and not so well in the past!
Wake kids 8am. They get dressed and take care of dogs.
Breakfast 8:30am. I start reading together stuff while they eat. (Family lit. reading most days, Geography and Bible readings/assignments as scheduled in SCM guide, Short poetry and character reading on Mon., Logic(Fallacy Detective/Thinking Toolbox) on Tues., SCM Picture Study on Wed.)
After done w/together stuff they go brush teeth and make beds and get started on independent work. I’ll work w/each one independently as needed…watching math videos, doing Spelling Wisdom dictations, listening to narrations (or having them tape them…plan to buy recorders as a couple here suggested…and listen later in day).
This isn’t quite CM style, but at dinner I’m starting a music rotation. Every week night we’ll listen to a different genre. Kids have their pick one night a week. I planned a hymn, folk song, and classical night and keep cds in the kitchen. I’ll occasionally read some bio. info. Truer CM-style would be more like focusing on one composer for a period of time, then moving on to another….
Just what we do:) You’ll find a good groove after you try things for a bit….I’d just probably start slow w/the CM arts and get into a routine w/the core subjects firsts. Then slowly add in the arts….they don’t take much time! Blessings as you begin, Gina
On Fridays we add to their timeline books. And I hope to do art/nature study…but we have trouble getting to those two:(
Our day should be around 4ish hours for my 5th grader and 5ish hours for my 8th grader, which inclues music practice and with lighter Fridays. Kids have their own checklist to complete independently…math, grammar, vocabulary, writing and narrations, science, spanish online, music practice. I’m having them do all their history readings on their own this year and each week will just put their SCM scheduled readings on a whiteboard for them.
Ok, I’ll bite…though I think everyone who is on the forum must know exactly what our days look like because I post on this too much! But I switched directly from MFW so I feel like I can speak to this with some knowledge!
First, you are going to have a lot less structure to follow with SCM materials, and fewer ‘hands on’ types of activities than MFW requires. You can round that out as much as you choose with projects, notebooking, timelines or book of centuries assignments – but these are optional and up to you.
This is what our day looks like (this term!):
8-9: Breakfast, chores
9: Family Bible study, scripture memory, hymn study. I do composer study, picture study, map drill, French memory work, and poetry during this time as well. Usually we spend about 10 minutes on one or two of these, one or two times a week.
9:30: Bigger kids move to their desks for Language arts, math, French. My 5yo works with me for about 20-30 minutes.
10:00 – 11: I am generally doing dictation, listening to narrations, and checking work as they go along. I am there to help but try to encourage them to complete their work as independently as possible.
11 – 11:30 – Slowpokes are finishing up :0). Everyone else is practicing music.
Lunch/ Playing outside, weather permitting
1:00 Family Read Alouds including History, Science, Literature. We work on a timeline and do a little notebooking one day per week. Kids take turns narrating orally after each read aloud. Science experiments happen every few weeks.
2 – Independent reading time. I assign one book, which they must read a chapter per day in, any other reading is up to them. They generally love their assigned books and continue reading them during this time.
3 – Quiet/Reading time is over. We clean up messes, have a snack and move into the rest of our day!
I should point out that we have seen tremendous benefits from limiting tv time. They spend most of their free time out of doors or working on art and handicrafts (because they don’t have the option of tv to distract them). We also take music and art classes through our co-op one day per week.
Hope that gives you a general feel for what our day looks like! Once you get the feel for it, you will find SCM very freeing. My kids have retained MUCH more in the past year than they did with a much fuller schedule in the past. Blessings!
I am up pretty early (between 5-6am, as is my oldest), my younger dc sleep a bit later, maybe 7. I prefer an earlier beginning to my day 🙂
My oldest begins his work at about 8am. He has list for the day (CMO) and just follows a routine he has built for himself. When he needs to give an oral narration, he comes to me and we spend some time together. At this time, my younger two are getting dressed/breakfast/teeth brushed/some chores. I like to get started with them by 8:30 (8am is ideal) with math. Then we move on to reading (middle child reads lit/history and gives a written narration, as I work with my youngest on beginner reading skills/copywork. My middle child begins to work independently on his list, OR, depending on the day, I may work with him on a dictation or listen to an oral narration. They practice music and may go outside for a few minutes during this time, too. Around 11am I like to begin some Family studies: Bible, SCM history, scriptures, picture, composer, hymn, etc., and end right at lunchtime. Nature study is set for Fridays but I think I may have to change that.
After lunch, we may have a class to attend (sometimes before lunch we do, too), but that is only once a week. If we don’t, then we move into science, (the younger two are working together on a program and the middle one has 2 separate readers) history/literature reading with my youngest, or narration practice (he’s a beginner narrator).
The afternoon is pretty much left for handicrafts, outdoor time, time with dad, going to the park or swimming.
I do have to say, though, that it very much depends on the day. We have a lot going on during the week (outside the home) and our days get juggled here and there sometimes. Sometimes something completely alters our plans and nothing goes right! But, we still end our days reading literature.
I try to get up by 7, some of my DC are also up by then…I’ll probably start waking them in the mornings so we are eating breakfast together. We start school about 8:30/9:00. Before that, we eat breakfast and I try to fit some chores/laundry in. I need to get the DC more involved on chores, but I work best early in the morning, so I like to move quickly…usually they do some chores in the afternoons.
Our schedule varied quite a bit last year, but this is what we are doing this year:
copywork–10 minutes
Next we work on family subjects:
- Scripture Memory & Catechism memory
- Mystery of History
- Bible Study or Prima Latina (alternates)
- Art Appreciation Rotation (pick one each day): 10-15 minutes (nature study is longer); Drawing lesson (we try drawing a household object or use a drawing how-to book), music study (listen to a new track by our composes, read a short biography once during the study), hymn study (using a sing-along DVD), picture study, nature study (this is moved to the afternoon).
- 106 Days of Creation: The time looks like it will vary quite a bit…we’re only a few lessons in. .
- Literature: daily, 15 minutes?, we generally read a chapter of our book
- Poetry or LDTR for Children: these alternate and only take 5-10 minutes.
- Family Time Fitness 2x week, great for giving them a break while staying on track with school…I fit this in when they are getting restless in their studies.
- Handicrafts-scheduled 2x week, but we often do other projects as well, scheduled in the afternoons when we are home (no co-op or piano). Right now we are working on cooking and cleaning. Each week they have a different area to study from the Future Christian Homemakers e-book.
Math–this is scheduled at 11:00 each day…right before lunch. It’s disaster if we wait until after lunch, but they don’t like it first thing in the morning. This seems to be a good time for it.
We continue through our list of subjects and break for lunch. At 1:00, we get back to school and finish what we didn’t get to or work on handicrafts and chores. If we finish by 3, we may take a walk or visit the playground. After that, it’s dinner prep and free time for them (more laundry for me, and knitting time).
We aren’t super-organized on this…we have plenty of interruptions and I have a toddler in addition to the 6, 8, and 11yo. If and when we don’t get to things, I skip it for the week or save it for another day.
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