Welcome Tabitha! What an incredible journey you are about to embark upon. I know you will find SCM and this forum a wonderful source of help.
I, too, pulled my children out of public. My eldest was halfway through 2nd grade, and my second son was halfway through 1st grade. Our transition went beautifully, and looking back, I feel strongly that this was because my ELDEST was fully on board with the our decision to move to homeschooling. He absolutely set the tone for my other children. I saw this very quickly and as such, although my second son was the one was struggling more with academics at the time, I focused way more on my eldest – making school interesting, focusing on HIS favourite subjects, keeping it all pleasant even when I was feeling low confidence, making it thought-provoking, interactive, full of field trips, full of social stuff….for the first six months (at least). Yes, this meant that working on my second son’s reading was put on hold a bit, but I just knew in my heart that without good attitudes and perspective we would be in for a rocky time. There were MANY days in that early transition where all we did was math games on the computer and curling up on the couch for family read alouds in literature and history. My children and I STILL look back and remember those early days with warmth and fondness, and we still talk about those first homeschool family read aloud books (Dr. Dolittle and Trumpet of the Swam) as though we were actually WITH the characters on their journeys…LOL.
All this being said, my suggestion would be to focus strongly on your eldest daughter. The adjustment will be much different for her, having been in public school for much longer than your 7 year old. Your 7 year old, though she may have been in “the system” for what feels like years to you, has not had the same experience as your 5th grade daughter who has experienced all her education (which amounts to many hours of desk time by end of 5th grade) via the public school routine, methods and philosophy. I would suggest you get REALLY close (in mind) to your daughter so that you can truly understand her learning style, her way of processing information, her strengths and her weaknesses. Does she already have the skill and gift of absolute attention in reading, or will this be something that you’ll need to work on? Knowing the answer to this question in particular may very well determine whether she will adjust quickly to a CM education or whether it will take a bit more time. Knowing the answer to this question will be key in understanding where you can begin on narrations and how well she will do on narrations (also, how long a reading should be before you ask for narration, etc.) Finally, knowing this one fact on her reading ability and her habit of attention will help all of you (including husband) set expectations realistically.
So, again, understanding how her brain works (in a learning environment) is really key IMO. This all comes before choosing a curriculum.
When I began, the books I leaned on most for learning styles, overview of curricula and how a curriculum maps to different children’s learning styles: 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, by Cathy Duffy. Duffy covers the CM way in detail, subject by subject, but this book will also help you to see ALL the other teaching methods out there, as well as the pros, the cons – and the realities – of each. (note, Cathy Duffy has a website as well, but the book provides FAR more on learning styles and understanding the CM way versus other educational philosophies). Even if you don’t want to go to other methods, understanding what they are all about might give you insight into how your daughter was previously being taught and the extent to which you’ll need to tweak things to set her up for success in a CM education.
On CM – there are so MANY amazing resources available. My first was Catherine Levison’s, “A Charlotte Mason Education”. I found it was just perfect because it is short and concise. Gave me just enough to think about, without becoming overwhelmed. From there, I came to SCM and began diving into all the resources here.
If you are truly a bit scared about where to begin, it might be worth considering a “boxed” type of CM curriculum for your first year. Every subject, schedule, goal, reading length, etc. is already figured out for you and you would need only to follow the to-do list and charts in a very beautiful teacher’s binder that’s already prepared for you. (smile, can you tell I love beautiful teacher binders and charts?) Anyway, a boxed offering just may allow you to leave behind the “am I doing enough/am I doing it right” for your first year. It may allow you to unload some of the weight that comes with being a first year HS teacher…and this may very well make the difference between having a struggle year and having a pleasant year. The offerings I would lean to (and sometimes dream about moving to) include Sonlight or WinterPromise. If you are Catholic you would consider Mater Amabilis.
Blessings to you! Angie
