where to begin and can I do this?

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  • I have ADD as a 51yr.old NON multi tasker and have a hard time thinking ahead mom, and been homeschooling since 1984 and my last children are 12 and 14. I taught them to read and my 12yr. old from that knows how to write and spell well. My 14yr. old struggles. I wondered how Sonlight and Ch. Mason are different? Ch. Mason does narration, etc.,living books etc.I want them to see what the Lord was doing throughout His plan chronologically to redeem us. That is all a consistent big plan peaking at the cross and now the church age. BUT I’m so unstructured and need something structured telling me what to do and how to do it.

    They need some basics in writing skills and my 14yr.old need narration etc. since she has central auditory short term memory and she gets overwhelmed easily.  The 12yr. old has  a hard time staying focused.

    I have no idea where to begin. I have TONS of Living books per se. Mostly science and they have read some OLD and Landmark history that I have. I had a bunch of books on Egypt and then realized I didnt want to put such an emphasis on this. The emphasis here is the bible and history “His Plan” even after the N. T.

    Will these materials  be hard to do for me? We could work on middle grade material. We aren’t a grade level family but just master topics or levels.

    We have never used “texts”. I knew about Ch. Mason when Marilyn Howshall brought it up years ago and even before this but I just couldn’t put it together. I thought of Sonlight but then I found you. I decided not to do My Fathers World. I do want them to learn cultures through missions at some point but I must give them the 

    “Joy of learning then other things will begin to disappear that are negative”.

    I also read to them missionary stories. I like more “true” stories seeing how the Lord worked in their lives.

    Can anyone help me? Direct me to what simplycharlottemason.com has that I need to get?

    I did read the original C. Mason books at one time but I had a hard time understanding them. I get the just of her philosophy but I need to see it in practical terms. There are many who have written books on this but to choose the one that actually is “best”? or the most practical?

    Thank you so much for your help.

    Cyndi

     

    Doug Smith
    Keymaster

    Hi Cyndi. Welcome to the forum!

    I’ll let the others jump in on your specific questions but I just wanted to let you know that I removed your duplicate posts. It will be easier for everyone to discuss if we keep it all in one place.

    sheraz
    Participant

    Hi Cyndi – welcome to the forum.  I am not an expert on CM, and looked at Sonlight twice, about passed out over the price, checked out others,  and have decided that curriculums that tell me what to say are not for me.  I found SCM along that path and love the ease of planning and concise help that I get both through the forum and the curriculum guide.  I think that you would probably do very well with this particular site with your needs…

    SCM has taken Charlotte’s works and sorted them by topic into their CM Handbooks.  I really like how it gets the nuts and bolts of it right in my hands, lets me start with confidence and gives me time to succeed.  Once things are going rather smoothly, then I go back to her original works.  (I have to admit that I cheated and got the Modern English version so that I didn’t have to spend so much time translating.)  They (SCM) have a guide for Language Arts, Nature Study, Character and Habits, and others that I am too tired to remember all the names of.   Also, the SCM free ebooks can give you a pretty solid understanding without overwhelming you.  All of these resources are listed on the bookstore tab and you can preview all of them free.

    The fiirst 3 history modules are aligned with the Bible history so you study bible three times a week, geography once a week and a civilization that corresponds with the Bible times. (ancient Egypt, Greeks and Romans).  Then the module 4  move on in history and cover the Epistles and such.  Modules 5 – 6 cover world history and American history.  From my use and readings, these modules very much focus on the Bible aspect and would be of use to you.  They are easy to read, easy to do – and it is planned for you for additional material for all grade levels, which is a bonus with several kids.  There are several addtional materials to go along with them for older kids like yours – Discovering Doctrine, GOAL, etc. are listed and explained in the bookstore.  These would help you with your goal of teaching “the Plan” to your children, as they are doing it themselves. 

    The SCM Planning Your CM Education will walk you through what your goals are, what you want to emphasize, what you are doing what year, what books you are using, and when, and for how long.  It is not hard, and Sonya helps you through it.  Of course, lots of people ask questions on the forum as they are doing this, so you would not need to feel alone.  =)  The online Organizer might be good for you since it tracks everything for you once you have selected and input your selections for your children.  It is a good way to help everyone focus since you can print a family list and individual lists everyday for them to help track themselves daily.  It is flexible and I like that.

    The SCM curriculum guide has excellent resources listed and linked to, so you can see what you might like.  There are lots of people on here using tons of things – they will have lots of ideas in areas that I am not able to suggest for older children, since we aren’t there yet.  =)

    I hope this helps!  Sheila

    Debij
    Member

    Welcome Cyndi!!!

    It is so good to see someone else my age and struggles with the same problems!!!  I’m as unstructured as they get my ADD gets in the way of everything, hehe.  We have been doing SCM for a year, I started with module 5.  My son and I love it!!!  It was just what we needed to stay on task.  And everyone here is so helpful!!  Because we both have ADD I read an article on the work box system.  I set it up for him and it helps keep both of us in check.  Basically each bin has a number and you put in the days work for each subect in the bin, he pulles the bin out does the work and stacks it on my desk when finished.  At the end of the day or when every I get the chance I fill them back up for the next day.  This keeps me structured to know I have to do this and it lets him see when we are almost done with school 🙂  It works well with SCM – just another thought 🙂  Good Luck

    Debij

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