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Bethany
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| Posted: May 08 2013 at 2:11pm | IP Logged
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Ok. So a little background. We've always homeschooled and on our best days you would call us eclectic/relaxed homeschoolers. Other days we are definitely unschoolers. However, that is exhausting me. I don't think I can do unschooling justice because I'm not a high energy, go and do personality. I'm really feeling the need for more structure and lessons plans. I cannot pull together lesson plans, no matter my desire to do so. I'm terrible at trying to organize and make everything work  . Add to all this that I have a 3rd grader who is really struggling to read. We recently started using AAR and she is getting better, but we are still a ways from independent reading. My 5th grader, who won't be 11 until June, shouldn't have too much trouble. My 1st grader is very sharp and won't have any problems with any 2nd grade work, it might be too easy. Then I also have a 5yo who is dying to have school work with Mommy.
I'm using AAR with the 1st and 3rd grader and that is going well. My 5th grader is using AAS and that is fine. They are all using Math Mammoth which "I" like. I don't think they would care much what math they were using. So now I'm thinking of next fall and I really want to have something spelled out with minimal substitutions. I'm tired of thinking about homeschooling . I've bought CHC is the past, but the reading was to quick for both of my oldest. Now, I think my oldest could jump in and the 7 yo would do fine with 2nd grade. I would have to piece together what I think my 9yo could handle. But then there is Memoria Press's new full curriculums. I like the look of those, I would just keep using our AAS and MM. I would probably use the 3rd grade curriculum for my 9yo and with help I think she could do it.
I've always liked the "idea" of MODG but have stunk at implementation. I also think it seems harder to jump into. It seems to make more sense if you start at the beginning and proceed through.
I've also looked at Seton and Kolbe. I'm just paralyzed with indecision. I really want to pick something, make it work, and not think about any other programs. Deep down I know there is no "perfect" program and that all will be fine in the end, I'm just suffering from overload  .
So any helpful advice or recommendations. I would love to make a decision and spend some time over the summer getting everything organized. That would take me all summer!
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Bethany
Wife to Mike, Mommy to Amelia (6/02), Sarah (10/03), Martha Grace (10/05), Rebecca Anne (12/07), Laura Catherine (3/10) and Reed Michael 7/4/14.
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Mom21
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| Posted: May 08 2013 at 2:49pm | IP Logged
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Bethany,
We use Seton and we really like it. I like that it is totally prepared for you. The support is really good and I like the fact that there is accountability, not to mention we get report cards, transcripts, etc. Contrary to what some may think, Seton DOES allow substitutions. We use Teaching Textbooks for math and just submit the work on a special quarterly report form.
We used CHC when our son was young and while I thought it was good, I found that as he got older it was a bit too relaxed. The content was still very good but I thought there could have been more "meat" to it. Like you, I don't want to come up with ideas on my own. There is an abundance of lessons with Seton, but don't feel like you have to complete everything.
I was considering MODG when trying to make the switch from CHC. Seton really appealed to me and once I made the decision, I never looked back.
Would you have an opportunity to attend a conference this spring/summer? I enrolled our son with Seton at a conference and it was really helpful to talk to a Seton rep.
Good luck to whatever you decide!
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Kathryn
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| Posted: May 08 2013 at 4:09pm | IP Logged
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It sounds like you are really just at a time when your oldest ones are transitioning about of that "relaxed" school time and needing more of that structured time. I don't know how to offer any particular program but it sounds like one of the boxed curriculums would work but you still might have to probably "tweak" it. I think that's just what we have to do if you think of yourself as as homeschool "manager" of your children's lessons. Any teacher would really need to adjust or adapt lessons according to the class. What makes it so hard for us is we're not adjusting for 1 class, we're adjusting for each child in each different level. 
You have all girls and they're all close in age and doesn't sound like you have any learning issues to work around so do you teach any subjects together? That way maybe you wouldn't have to tweak things too much.
I think the hardest (for me, like you) with the boxed curriculum is the implementing. And when we fell behind, I felt more discouraged and we got further behind. To me, the boxed sets were really "school at home" and didn't mesh with my more CM DESIRE. So, again, anything requires implementing...I think there was even a post on that a few weeks back.
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 08 2013 at 4:32pm | IP Logged
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Well, I think you will likely have to tweak whatever you do
Are you interested in a more Charlotte Mason/literature based approach? I ask because Ambleside now offers their curriculum by week in Table Form, which really would make is SO much easier to implement and come up with your own daily lesson lists. To keep things simple, I would probably just take the Bible line and substitute your catechism and saints reading and be done. With Ambleside, you could feel freed to use a lower level or even have your 9 and 7 year old do the curriculum together since you would be reading a lot of it to both of them (say, Year 2, for instance).
You can fill in the chart for any of the other subjects with programs that have their own lesson plans (like you are already planning to do with AAR and MM).
I like Mater Amabilis as well, and again, you could put your younger two in the same grade together except for their math and whatnot, but it isn't laid out quite so neatly, and since you say lesson planning is the problem, Ambleside might be a better fit. I think they just posted the tables today, as a matter of fact! So it is fresh in my mind 
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Bethany
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| Posted: May 08 2013 at 5:11pm | IP Logged
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Wow, Ambleside must have just done that! I'll have to look. We've been loosely using AO since the first of the year, but I'm tired of juggling so many books. Maybe I'm just tired. I followed AO's advice and did not combine the 9 and 7 yo, so that makes for quite a bit of individual reading to them each day. There are also a couple of books I would read with my 10 yo so that added to the load. I think to make AO work for me I would need to combine some things, like poetry. Only one poet instead of three. I think mainly I want to move them toward more independent work but I know my 9yo isn't ready for that. If I had something laid out and organized for my 10 yo, I think she could be pretty independent. Right now she just waits for me to tell her what to do. I wish I could make beautiful color coded charts like some ladies are able to do, but I'm a miserable failure in that department.
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Bethany
Wife to Mike, Mommy to Amelia (6/02), Sarah (10/03), Martha Grace (10/05), Rebecca Anne (12/07), Laura Catherine (3/10) and Reed Michael 7/4/14.
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Martha
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Woohoo! I love me a pretty chart!! I'm ridiculous happy about AO's chart. 
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Martha
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Yes, they're all ours!
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JennGM
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| Posted: May 09 2013 at 8:50am | IP Logged
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Is there a link to this on Ambleside? Are you reading the forum to find out about this?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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Martha
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| Posted: May 09 2013 at 9:09am | IP Logged
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Yes, if you click on schedule next to each year, it pulls up the chart for each term.
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Martha
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 09 2013 at 3:07pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| Is there a link to this on Ambleside? Are you reading the forum to find out about this? |
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I found out because someone I am friends with on Facebook follows Ambleside on Facebook, liked the post announcing it, and it came up in my newsfeed.
Clear as mud?
But yes, you just click their regular sidebar link for "weekly" and at the tope of the page are links for each chart, as Martha said.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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mariB
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| Posted: May 10 2013 at 5:26am | IP Logged
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Someone on this forum recommended easy peasy homeschool and we love it (...especially the science and history activities. We are doing 3rd grade year 2 and loved the poetry in the language arts)! We'v been homeschooling for 16 years and I have to say, using easy peasy as an outline is wonderful.
With that being said...one of the things I will never ever regret and continue to do is expose our kids to many many living books. Our 21 year old is doing great in college and has said that the best thing about our home education is that huge roster of books! That means reading them aloud to the kids, and the kids reading independently when they are able, and tons and tons of books on tape!
Daily rule of thumb for us:
-everyday something having to do with our faith/prayer
-Math
-and a good book
Blessings,
Marianne
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marib-Mother to 22ds,21ds,18ds,15dd,11dd and wife to an amazing man for 23 years
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Maryan
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| Posted: May 10 2013 at 5:45am | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| Is there a link to this on Ambleside? Are you reading the forum to find out about this? |
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On their curriculum page, they have all the years with two options: Book lists or weekly schedule. Some of the weekly schedules are in table format, for example Year 5 has a weekly format in a table, but year 6 doesn't appear to have one -- just a list of assignments for 36 weeks.
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
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Maryan
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| Posted: May 10 2013 at 6:02am | IP Logged
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I start with MODG when I'm making my plans, then I move to Mater Amabilis, Ambleside, and a few other places to fill it in!
MODG has a 32 week schedule which I think makes it more doable? Since there's more time built in your school year, I have a friend who would then insert one week of science from time to time rather than squeeze it in.
I always dream of following someone else's plans, but The only problem I have with set programs is that sometimes it's harder to combine subjects to teach multiple kids at one time. So I end up writing my own lesson plans every summer. I know that maximizes Mommy time with each child.
Prayers for figuring out what you want to do next year!
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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Mrs. B
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| Posted: May 10 2013 at 4:56pm | IP Logged
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Your not alone, by the way. I am also awful at making plans and can never figure out how to chart anything.
This coming year the kids are going to be taking two science classes outside the house, they will do Teaching textbooks and Khan academy, and I'm not sure what else.
I don't want to think about homeschool either. 
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dd-10, ds-8, dd-5, ds-2
and a bunch of rabbits, a pack of dogs, a clowder of cats, and some fish.
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Bethany
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| Posted: May 11 2013 at 10:24am | IP Logged
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So after doing a lot more thinking and accepting that I'm a horrible planner, I went and looked over at SCM. I love they way her history lesson plans are laid out. They use the living books, but would give a hair-brained mom like be some guidelines. However, I'm looking at the modern times plans and see there is a long study of Billy Graham and Nelson Mandela. Both wonderful people I'm sure, but that would just leave me with a lot of tweaking again. So then I remember RC History!!! I've looked at it in the past but felt like it would be overwhelming to me  , but now they have daily lesson plans  !! I would want Volume 4 and that is coming out this summer in installments. Does anyone know if that would be only in ebook form? I'm really beginning to dislike ebooks. I would prefer a paper copy. I try to keep my ipad up and the computer to a minimum during the day or the 3yo is all over them.
So, how is this sounding so far?
RC History Vol. 4 for everyone
10 yo: Math Mammoth, AAS, & SICC-A from IEW
9yo: Math Mammoth, AAR & AAS
7yo: Math Mammoth & AAR (I think she would do fine with a different spelling or phonics. I might choose something else that isn't so Mom intensive)
5yo: ??? I could use AAR or their Pre-program or I could just wait
Also, does RC History include any Science? I'm not big on formal elementary science, so if not we'll just fill in with picture books and nature read alouds.
I also need to think about Religion/Catechism. I think they're tired of Faith and Life, so we need a change.
What am I missing? Any suggestions?
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Bethany
Wife to Mike, Mommy to Amelia (6/02), Sarah (10/03), Martha Grace (10/05), Rebecca Anne (12/07), Laura Catherine (3/10) and Reed Michael 7/4/14.
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CrunchyMom
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Fwiw, Michelle is working on Daily Lesson Plans to go along with Mater Amabilis as well, but I'm not sure when they will be available. MA doesn't combine histories like SCM, but it would definitely cover Religion/Catechism, though, MA uses Faith and Life.
For religion, I have been using a combination of Saint Stories, Bible stories, and Catechism. So far, I've been alternating a "living catechism" year with a "Rote Memory/Baltimore Catechism" year. So, for 2nd grade, we used the St. Joseph First Communion Catechism, for 3rd, St. Patrick's Summer, 4th will be Baltimore Catechism No. 1, and so forth, plus weekly Bible and Saint Stories.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Wheatheartaca
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I can't wait until MA does daily plans! I've considered using AO and Simply Charlotte Mason but I have shyed away because they're not Catholic.
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Wheatheartaca
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| Posted: May 28 2013 at 10:51am | IP Logged
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Hi Bethany! I'm curious if you chose a provider? When I started reading your post I had to look at the name of the poster because I thought it was me!! Lol
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Erin
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| Posted: May 28 2013 at 3:32pm | IP Logged
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Bethany wrote:
Also, does RC History include any Science?
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No it is purely history. Oh actually we did the Ancients and there was one volume recommended, 'Science in Ancient Mesopotamia' (I think I got that right) but it was a fascinating book. more recommended for the middle/older children I think from memory.
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Erin
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Bethany
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 11:55am | IP Logged
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No, I haven't and I'm not sure i will or could. We are just so all over the map in abilities that it would be difficult to plop anyone down in one grade level. My 2nd DD is really struggling with reading. I'm ok with it because she is improving, just very slowly! I also think I was just having a major panic attack, which happens once or twice a year and then I calm down . We were also following AO at the time in three different levels and with two not reading independently and my oldest still needing time, it just is too much. My thought now is to continue with what's working relatively well (MM, AAS, AAR, copywork) which also need to be done separately and try to do most everything else together. I'm thinking maybe I will like RC History vol 4, so I'm trying to be patient and wait for it.
You know, I've also realized I'm just a die hard, more radical than some, homeschooler/unschooler. I don't really believe in grade levels and being "behind". We don't follow a school year calendar and I don't begin a "school year" with photos and new pencils. Sometimes I feel very guilty about it all. When people ask if we're done for the year I just kind of smile and nod. At our house there is no beginning or end. I don't worry about finishing a book by a certain time so they can move to the next one.
So for now we're reading SOTW 4 over the summer and maybe we'll begin RC History in the fall. And who knows what else.
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Bethany
Wife to Mike, Mommy to Amelia (6/02), Sarah (10/03), Martha Grace (10/05), Rebecca Anne (12/07), Laura Catherine (3/10) and Reed Michael 7/4/14.
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SallyT
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 3:15pm | IP Logged
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Bethany, I think we're kindred spirits! I really like what you sketched out above for your crew. Your two oldest are very close in age to my two youngest, whom I've more or less just combined across the board at this point -- technically they're 4th and 5th grades, but increasingly it's just easier for all of us if I treat them as if they were in the same grade. They aren't in the same place in every subject, but they really do better as a "class" than separately. My youngest daughter, who is a couple of months younger than your second (she's a 12/03 baby), has also been a struggling and reluctant reader. Things are much, much better, and I'm seeing a lot more independent reading in her future, but I am glad we didn't have to use a standard third-grade yardstick this year to measure her as a person.
We also do very little formal science in the elementary years -- I have science/nature read-alouds in our "basket," and each child has something to read independently, and occasionally we do something hands-on, but mostly I think of all of that as just a way to give them some schemata for thinking about the natural world as they encounter it on their own in their outdoor play, or through things like gardening. It's just to plant seeds in their minds. We basically unschooled science through all my now-15-year-old's primary years, and he now lives and breathes biology -- he's taken two college semesters of bio, but all his spare-time reading is also science-related, and he just landed a summer job as a vet tech, which is giving him a chance to deal with really big organisms (like horses) up close and personal, as well as to talk science-shop a lot with the vet as they're riding around the countryside from job to job. So . . . he doesn't seem to have suffered from any science-neglect on my part.
For religion/catechism, we've mostly done what I guess you'd call "living" religion -- lots of saint stories, Saint Patrick's Summer for "formal" catechism, etc., in addition to Mass and Adoration, which I always think are their own best catechesis. Lately we've been reading Amy Welborn's Book of Heroes, which looks at lives of saints in the context of the Cardinal Virtues, and that's been a lot of fun. I am planning to add in memory work from Classically Catholic Memory this coming year, so we'll have some memorization of catechism via that program, as well as memory work in other areas.
I've never done well with either AO or MA as written, mostly because I don't like having my younger kids in separate levels, and because we're always at some other place in our history study. I like to keep everyone together, even my 15-year-old who is on his own schedule, for the sake of good dinner-table conversation! So I find some good read-alouds, and then I scour the AO and MA lists, Emmanuel Books, the "Read Your Way Through History" blog, and any other resources I can think of, and from those I create my own lists so that we have a continual supply of literature related to the desired era to get us through the year. Greece and Rome have been great years, because alongside our history reading we also read things like _Archimedes and the Door of Science_ and _Galen and the Gateway of Medicine_ as integrated history/science reading.
We also do German -- lately we're using a free online program called Duolingo. They offer any number of modern languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. My husband is a fluent, though non-native, German speaker; my college daughter takes German and wants to add it as a second minor concentration; my 15-year-old studies German, so the rest of us do, too. Some of us are still at a pretty rudimentary level, but again, for the sake of fun dinner conversation, it's nice to have everyone learning the same language.
Anyway, I think your sketched-out plans look great. Just having lots of good books to read and to hear aloud is an incredibly rich education. And I think your model of having a core of independent "tablework" for each child, plus shared read-alouds, is a good one -- it's certainly worked well for us over the years. I know what it is to have panic attacks about the whole thing -- most of us do from time to time -- but truly, it looks to me as though your instincts have served you and your children very well.
Sally
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