| Author | |
Elizabeth
Founder
Real Learning
Joined: Jan 20 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5595
|
| Posted: June 15 2007 at 8:32pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
SuzC wrote:
This may need a second new thread  ...but several have mentioned using CHC in the early years and then switching in middle school. What did you switch to? Is there a curriculum that you found to be a natural transition from CHC?
I have a CHC middle schooler (I always thought of 6th being the first grade of MS, but CHC starts with 5th) and I find myself looking at MODG and Seton, because I know they've graduated "strong" students (hopeful for a scholarship or two down the road  ). CHC doesn't have the years behind it for proof, but I'm not ready to abandon ship.
Advice? |
|
|
__________________
Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Bookswithtea
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2621
|
| Posted: June 15 2007 at 11:16pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I have the middle school lesson plans...then again I have K-4th CHC lesson plans too.
I am HOPELESS when it comes to buying plans and then tweaking them beyond recognition. I could never honestly say "I use primarily CHC" even though I take ideas from the manuals all the time.
I like owning the middle school lesson plans to skim through. There are some neat ideas in there. Fwiw, I think the middle school plans are fairly academic...no less so than MODG (whose history tends to be limited throughout the years and whose middle school science is very very repetitious). Lingua Mater in the 6th grade is not easy unless the child is gifted in language arts. There is a lot of writing in the 7th and 8th grade history plans. Many say that the life science used in the 7th and 8th grade is very difficult (MODG uses the same program in the 11th grade for biology along with some supplements). I do think there is still a need for formal grammar in the middle school years (I think I read they have another level of LOG available now, but I don't use those anymore...they weren't working for us). The lesson plans assume you will add history literature to the program...its not all listed out for you like a MODG syllabus would have. And there isn't the same focus on poetry, memorization and latin that you see in MODG.
I'd say try to find the lesson plans used if you can (and maybe a used MODG syllabus, too?). That way you can glean from both?
Regarding Seton...our one year experience with 8th grade in 4 subjects convinced me that this program is NOT for my family.
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SuzC
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 531
|
| Posted: June 16 2007 at 12:25am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thank you, thank you ~ Elizabeth for moving my question and Books for sharing wisdom.
There is only so much trial and error I can put on my oldest and it helps SO much to have the path well-tread before me!
Thank you both for taking the time to help me along.
__________________
Suz in TX
dd~12, dd~9, ds~8, ds~6, ds~4, ds~1
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ALmom
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 18 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3299
|
| Posted: June 16 2007 at 1:28am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Books, your post made me smile because it sounds a lot like me. I have lesson plans galore - CHC K- highschool, MODG most grades, Kolbe 5th, 6th and 9th and 12th and will be getting 7th and 10th. I also have some old plans for particular things from ST. Thomas Aquinas School (the things I liked and thought would help me, I saved, the rest I finally chunked). I look at the Seton catelogue for ideas and order lit guides from Hillside. Oh, I also have plans from RC History.  Even when I am enrolled (we are with Kolbe now for older children but I don't do my reporting with them - just use their advice, plans, and paper reviews), we never follow anyone else's plan very closely. I call it major tweaking - not sure if anyone would recognize what we do. Sometimes I line up all the plans and hodgepode what I like from each, along with whatever my latest education trail is - currently it is Montessori at this house and of course what is working for the particular child in question. Also if something isn't working, I have some ideas to grab from right away - it is easy to ditch one approach and try another when the plans are sitting right there. I enrolled with Kolbe because they are the only ones who will review papers (any papers whether they are on their plans or not) and still let me free wheel it like I do. I could get my dc diploma from them if I wanted, we have, it seems, always met their requirements. I just don't see a need to spend a week pulling out the sample work to send it in after we already have it with our local school, so I just get the diploma/transcript from our local school and whatever support I want from Kolbe. I really don't care whether the transcript says Honors or not. I decided that we will send an addendum with the next child's college application and attach booklists, textbooks used, references from co-op teachers, etc. so the college can see the real benefit of what we've done. I don't think honors whatever adequately describes all this child has done.
Now, I do like to glean things from the CHC middle school plans, but don't know if I would have purchased them if I'd seen them beforehand. It just wasn't detailed enough for me  . Now don't ask why I want detailed plans when I don't follow them anyways. Let's just say it is a quirk of mine. But basically, by middle school, I really was looking for a bit more support. The children, by then, generally have surpassed me in a number of areas, so I need someone to tell me what I don't know not a general assign a paper on the French revolution kind of thing. I love many of the ideas in these plans - but the early grades were far more valuable for me and I used them more (though still tweaking heavily). I guess it was that there was enough that helped me over weaknesses that it was worth it to have them and repurchase them for additional children. LOG did work for us, but I don't remember what grade we used them - may have started a bit later than their recommendation with some of ours and I do have Level E on order for one of mine as it will be simpler to do if this works - but if it doesn't then plan B is already here - with Winstons which isn't in any of the lesson plans I have . I know the 13 yo needs something more like Winstons so it is here for him but I can just as easily pull another in if I need to.
A lot depends on what kind of support you are looking for. You can get plans fairly inexpensively from all kinds of providers. By middle school, dc are showing some of the inclinations that may let you know future direction. Having accreditation is totally irrelevant around here so I don't worry about that. As long as you end up with some sort of transcript at the end of high school and good test scores, colleges are happy to take our dc. I wouldn't advise enrollment in Seton unless you really want to totally ignore their timetable, etc. and don't care whether or not they have a grade for you on record OR you really want to totally delegate the education of dc to "the school" and just keep them home under your watchful eye. It drove us nuts the year we did it in 6th grade - and I was on the phone with them constantly. I didn't like their history, could we substitute this for science, etc. Couldn't we do a different paper topic. They were very kind (and more flexible in middle than high school) - but we were mismatched and I'm sure they were about as nuts as I was when it was finally over. I made it work but it was stressful. We didn't do it again (till dd said she wanted detailed plans for high school and we tried it once again with the same result - only less freedom to maneuver), although we have successfully signed up for single courses that met a particular need - my favorite to do here is a year of grammar - doesn't really matter which year. We pick one and take 2 years to do it.
Ok - the disadvantage of having so many plans is that you get so enthused about this and this and this and -- before you know it, your ideas are pie in the sky dreams that are so out of touch with reality. One of the reasons I signed up for Kolbe is the reality check when I speak with them at the beginning of the year. They have been very, very helpful and very honest about content of materials. They do not tell me what to do, but they do help me be realistic and often guide me to some great resources after I describe a child and what is not working in whatever. I also come here - but the big problem with that is that I might try to add in more stuff to do and not leave enough time for dc to find interests. It is all about striking a balance. My middle schoolers want more structure and direction than in the earlier years, so I need something a bit more specific (yet open enough for them to carve out things their way, too). I was most concerned with accountability, paper evaluation (my dc write better than I do so I cannot help them much) and someone that I could call up for advice in a quandry or when I wasn't sure whether we should just drop something or plug along a bit more. It has certainly worked for us - and the books on their reading lists are worthy books, but I am free to substitute my own too and I do. I've substituted entire courses. Our 5th grader wants to do the history plans for CHC while our 7th grader is doing an Anne Carrol book which Kolbe has plans for (I may use some of the plans but we won't be doing any of the answer the question stuff and they know it and have never batted an eye. I have booklists to go with each chapter and ds will make a timeline. I figure we won't realistically get through the book this way but that is OK with us. If it works well, we'll just finish it the following year. If I were with Kolbe, I'd simply copy the timeline as it stood each quarter and that would be my written sample, unless dc actually wrote something about it.
Hope that gives some ideas about how to make things work. You may not need the support I do, so the plans that work for me (all of them and then some) may not suit you. Look at different ones and how they are laid out, what details they give in the plans and whether or not this is helpful to you. With Kolbe, there are some great Lit plans that discuss some of the basic elements for a short story and for poetry. I never could have done anything like this on my own - and certainly didn't know where to look for it, so having it convenient in a lesson plan is nice. Others find the detail too restricting (especially if they cannot ignore what they don't want to do or what doesn't work for them) and prefer more open ended things (CHC and MODG are more open ended in my opinion). Seton is the most detailed (at least in terms of listing every single thing they want dc to do - but not so detailed in defining how to analyze lit which is what we needed)but you cannot just use their plans. Kolbe gave me sample tests (but I am free to change them, use them or not as I see fit), specific paper topics with a bullet for points that should be covered (helpful for books in highschool that I just cannot read or don't remember enough about), options for doing different histories, maths, etc. each with plans from them - OR you can substitute your own program and that is fine too. Their high school plans were quite helpful. The middle schools were helpful, but I'm thinking I'll end up using Hillside guides a bit more in middle for the lit portion. See I'm still tweaking.
Well this is long winded. I sure hope it helps some. Bottom line it takes a bit of trial and error to come to something that fits.
Janet
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Tina P.
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 28 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1638
|
| Posted: June 16 2007 at 8:20am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Hi, Suz. I like the CHC Middle School lesson plans for the Growing the Virtue Tree part. It's like an in-home retreat. I explained some of the benefits and drawbacks of the middle school lesson plans in this thread. But as Books does, I
Bookswithtea wrote:
| am HOPELESS when it comes to buying plans and then tweaking them beyond recognition. I could never honestly say "I use primarily CHC" even though I take ideas from the manuals all the time. |
|
|
There's always *something* that draws me to buy CHC lesson plans. In middle school, it's the Virtue Tree and timelines. In K-2nd, it's the character cards and sacrament prep. And third and fourth were just for consistency's sake. Actually, there must be something in there that I thought I couldn't do without, I just can't remember off-hand. My current 4th grader is just tagging along with the 7th and the 6th. I don't expect as much out of him, but I sometimes think this is unwise because he might feel like the class flunky, though he is quite intelligent. It's just very difficult for me to juggle all these age and ability ranges. It's easier when they're younger and have less to cover.
I *have* purchased the LOG level E because this is one area where my kids struggle with *any* program. It's not available yet, so I haven't seen it. So far in LOG, we seem to just zip through the levels.
I never have bought MODG lesson plans. I just buy the books I like the younger grade science books (Science in the Kitchen, with Plants, etc.), split how many pages or lessons we can fit into a year, and figure out things that we can read and do *around* those lessons to amplify them. I think using MODG (maybe until you reach high school age) by using just book lists ~ check out the Emmanuel catalog ~ and without buying lesson plans is doable.
But, again like Book says, try to buy whatever lesson plans you decide upon used. It's a lot less of an investment if you decide you don't like it in the end.
__________________
Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
Mary's Muse
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Bookswithtea
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2621
|
| Posted: June 16 2007 at 8:37am | IP Logged
|
|
|
ALmom wrote:
| I enrolled with Kolbe because they are the only ones who will review papers (any papers whether they are on their plans or not) and still let me free wheel it like I do. |
|
|
Its definitely not necessary for Jr. high, but so far, I am really happy with NARS...I have complete freedom to choose coursework (including religion credits) and I also have complete freedom to choose how I am going to grade the work, too. This worked better for me, only because Kolbe does not allow high school credit for work done at the high school level in the 8th grade.
ALmom wrote:
| Ok - the disadvantage of having so many plans is that you get so enthused about this and this and this and -- before you know it, your ideas are pie in the sky dreams that are so out of touch with reality. |
|
|
I will concurr on that point. I have to work very hard to schedule slightly *less* than I think we can accomplish in a school year or I burn out.
This year I am really excited about my 1st communion prep. plans though! 4 days a week/30 weeks worked out to using CHC's first communion prep one day a week (I skipped the section on the saints as we are doing Little Flowers this fall), Elizabeth's first communion notebooking ideas (altered, of course, because I just can't help myself ) two days a week, and Catholic mosaic one day a week.
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
helene
Forum Pro
Joined: Dec 10 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 304
|
| Posted: June 16 2007 at 8:40am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I don't buy plans and I don't write them. I buy books I like instead. The book is the plan. I try to find a core text to use and then on our weekly trips to the library we fill in with living books on that subject. This has been our mode of operating for 10 years. Some tried-and-true middle school texts that we have used as a "spine" for our studies include:
All Ye Lands
From Sea to Shining Sea
Lingua Mater
Concepts and Challenges in Earth Science
Concepts and Challenges in Life Science
Concepts and Challenges in Physical Science
(these Concepts books can be had in 3 beautiful separate hardback texts for about $10 each if you search them on campusi.com, at least that is how we got them)
DK Eyewitness Books on various subjects in history and science
Lingua Latina
Wordly Wise books (as spelling slowly morphs into a study of vocabulary)
and then we always have several read-alouds and individual reading from the E. Foss reading list!
__________________
Happy Mom to five girls (20,17,13,11and 4) and five boys (19, 15, 10, 8 and 6)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
KackyK
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 22 2007
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1811
|
| Posted: June 16 2007 at 5:45pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'll probably kick myself for not knowing/remembering this...but what is NARS?
Thanks,
KackyK
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JennyMaine
Forum Pro
Joined: July 26 2005
Location: Maine
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 209
|
| Posted: June 17 2007 at 5:02am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I have friends here in Maine (where NARS is located) who use this and love it. I'm praying about doing our high school years this way.
NARS
__________________
--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
teachingmom
Forum All-Star
Virginia Bluebells
Joined: Feb 16 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2120
|
| Posted: June 18 2007 at 11:18pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
helene wrote:
Some tried-and-true middle school texts that we have used as a "spine" for our studies include:
All Ye Lands
From Sea to Shining Sea
Lingua Mater
Concepts and Challenges in Earth Science
Concepts and Challenges in Life Science
Concepts and Challenges in Physical Science
(these Concepts books can be had in 3 beautiful separate hardback texts for about $10 each if you search them on campusi.com, at least that is how we got them)
DK Eyewitness Books on various subjects in history and science
Lingua Latina
Wordly Wise books (as spelling slowly morphs into a study of vocabulary)
and then we always have several read-alouds and individual reading from the E. Foss reading list!
|
|
|
We've used quite a few of the ones listed above for my rising 8th grader thus far. I am pleased with the Concepts and Challenges science course dd has used this year, and we will continue with another next year.
I would add:
Latina Christiana (for 6th and 7th grade)
Henle Latin (for 8th grade)
the 4 "Prove It!" books and saint biographies for religion
Image of God middle school texts for religion
History and literature reading daily from living books
Also, after have my oldest use Lingua Mater over one year in 7th grade, I plan to have her complete Warriners 3rd course over two years for 8th and 9th grade English. My rising 6th grader will use Lingua Mater over two years (6th and 7th as recommended by CHC) and I will supplement with CHC's Language of God.
Edited to add: I chimed in here to respond to your request for ideas for middle school plans. I have to admit that I've always made up my own plans, so I am not someone who used the CHC plans for earlier grades and then moved into something different.
__________________
~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: CHC or not in middle school?
