Who uses all Cm philosophies?

We used mostly CM methods only for grade school through almost all of middle school. We started adding some more textbookish books in middle school for science but we used them in a very relaxed manner and combined them with reading from living books.

We also use textbooks for science in high school and have begun using a textbook for our history spine as well. We’ve also begun using a writing program 2 days a week.

Charlotte Mason did use textbooks sometimes with her older students and she also taught more formal writing methods at this age.

When my kids were little, we mostly used library books for science and history and literature. We also followed Charlotte Mason’s recommendations for language arts in our home. I did start using IEW with my son when he hit middle school but I chose not to do that with my daughter and I trusted CM methods. I have been very pleased with the results!

I confess to allowing my children’s interest to guide their science studies. Finances were tight so I needed to make as much use of our public library as possible. I would have my kids pick a topic and we would go to the library and they would get various books on that topic and read a bit, each day for science.

We always did history chronologically but used mostly library books for that as well.

I used free book lists online and from catalogs to choose our literature and history readings. When I couldn’t find a certain book, I would look for another book on that topic. I found many treasures this way.

We never read Jack’s Insects. My children and I really enjoyed Thornton Burgess’s nature books in the elementary years.

How old are your children? We might be able to give better advice if we have more information. 🙂

I think you’ll find a variety of moms here.   Some who use her methods exclusively and others who use her methods for just a few subjects or combing them with other homeschool styles.  There are also different interpretations of her writings and different “takes” on her methods.

We follow fairly closely (or I’d like to think we try).  😉  It is difficult, if not impossible, to follow everything to a tee.  There are only so many hours in a day, and often things are interpreted differently by different CM scholars/aficionados.

I have been impressed with her spelling methods and seen great results with my children, but we add some classical writing methods, because they seem to be a better fit for my kids.  Other moms choose to add formal spelling books, but may stick with written narrations for writing.  Others trust CM methods completely to get the job done.  I think most of us start with CM language arts and adapt them as needed…or start with traditional methods and slowly switch over to CM’s methods when they see the effectiveness of them!

For science, we’ve used such a variety over the years.  My DC are currently enjoying Outdoor Secrets…even the older ones are listening in and adding to their nature journals.  We are also loving Physics 101 dvds and science kits from Home Science Adventures, neither of which are necessarily considered CM.  We tend to fit in more nature studies when the weather is good and focus on handicrafts or indoor things in the winter…although we still try to get outside as often as we can.