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Becca
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| Posted: June 03 2013 at 9:26am | IP Logged
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So, I've been thinking about this for the past few weeks. My home school has changed.. When I started I had all these visions of just spending the day reading lots of good books. No pressure or much structure either just reading a lot. That's what we did up until a few years ago. It was great and I really miss how relaxed we were. In the morning I'd do Math and Reading with the little ones and my oldest would do math and a Latin workbook. We play geography games/chants and just read some bible stories. From the reading we did some copy work and I had my oldest write narrations. They also made some little story books.. and I still have those.  My oldest is creative and would come up with little crafts to do with the books. Okay, so I'm rambling a bit now but I just was emphasizing how relaxed we were and school time was pretty stress free. Now we are doing a traditional grammar, writing, literature, Latin, history and science workbooks even though we are still reading a lot it's more structured to go along with our workbooks and I actually schedule it. I've also realized that even though I don't think every book you read needs to have any work done with it, I keep thinking that it does and expecting output work for each one. Did that even make sense? I feel the stress of our school days. My kids don't like school either and just have a bad attitude about it but I know where they are getting it from. I'm not saying what we are doing is bad in any way, they are learning but it's just different. Then I think well my oldest is doing highschool level work and by highschool there should be structure and it shouldn't just be reading. I keep thinking about the upcoming year and which direction to take. I also question how much will get done without a structured curriculum because of how many kids I have and how young they are, but then I realize that's the point in a way. They all love reading so I know they can do that.. but is it really okay to just read for the content subjects. When I was homeschooled we were traditional but yet we had a lot of free time to explore our interests and read whatever we wanted. See the circles I'm going in.. Anyone have any insight they can share?
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Married to Josh, Mom to 8 kids 11 and under. 
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: June 03 2013 at 9:47am | IP Logged
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Becca wrote:
| .. but is it really okay to just read for the content subjects. |
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Yes, it is
Well, that and narration. You might find some inspiration reading Jen's post on The Balanced Whole of a Charlotte Mason education.
That isn't to say that it isn't structured or even scheduled, though, many unschoolers make it work without schedules. But, the bulk of our learning is simply reading and telling back. That is it. As they get older, some narrations will eventually become written work, but the method is deceptively simple!
I will commiserate and admit that, the more kids I have, the more structure I need to facilitate the learning and the more I lean more heavily on CM's methods and less on the "unschooliness" I like when the kids are younger. Personally, I think it is *more* work, not less, to unschool effectively as children age, but for me, CM is that sweet spot where I can embrace structure and accountability while still enjoying an education that lives and breathes a bit more than traditional approaches typically do.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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kristinannie
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| Posted: June 03 2013 at 11:21am | IP Logged
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This is something that I have spent a lot of time contemplating as well lately. This past year was a little too relaxed. That usually meant that things didn't actually get done a lot of time! However, as I was making our portfolio this year, I realized how wonderful our year actually was. So, I am going to be a little more deliberate this coming year. I am going to schedule readings because I want that list in front of me so I will be more likely to do the readings! That said, I think our school will still be very relaxed.
We are going to do Morning Basket time first. This is where we will cover science, nature study, history, picture study, hymn study, memorization, fairy tales, folktales, religion, etc. Then we will do seatwork which will include math, copywork, a little grammar, Latin, art, and First Communion prep.
We do a family read aloud (usually a saint story) at breakfast. We do another read aloud (usually a fun story ...right now it is Tum Tum and Nutmeg) at lunch. We are starting tea time this year with catechism and a Thornton Burgess read aloud.
We end up getting a lot more read and done, but it still feels very relaxed. My kids narrate most things I read to them. They aren't old enough for written narrations.
I definitely think that narration is fine for history and a lot of other subjects! I think that workbooks have their place, especially in a school with a lot of kids where the teacher must ensure that they have done the readings. You could use tea time or folding laundry time to listen to your older kids' narrations of what they have read. I know that Jen says that her older kids can sometimes even narrate a whole week's reading at once.
I would say that you should pray about it and really take some time to contemplate before making any decisions. Trust that you will do what is best for your family.
Oh, and feel free to disregard all of my advice. I have only been homeschooling for two years!
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Bethany
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| Posted: June 06 2013 at 3:00pm | IP Logged
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Well, if you've seen some of my other posts you can see how much I struggle with this! And we've always homeschooled. I'm a horrible planner and I don't push to finish things. I'm just much too unschoolish for that . SallyT posted recently, I can't find where, about "input vs. output". I find that I start to panic when I focus on the output (or lack there of). I know trying to complete separate subjects for multiple children would be my homeschooling demise. I tried this somewhat earlier this year when I had three levels of AO going. I kept that pace for about 6 weeks before I realized that was ridiculous.
So as Kristinannie said, I'm going to be a little more deliberate this year. This summer we're working on finishing some books we are enjoying while still keeping at the math and reading/spelling. For the fall I going to try to make some kind of plan, probably following SallyT's outline. I like that she's doing Old World and New World at the same time, it seems more interesting. I'm thinking we'll do Ancient Egypt and American/World History from the Westward Expansion forward.
I know local families that are more relaxed, even to unschooling, and more school at home types and all the kids seem to be doing fine. For this year I'm really going to focus on input  .
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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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Erin
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| Posted: June 06 2013 at 4:22pm | IP Logged
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Becca wrote:
| That's what we did up until a few years ago. It was great and I really miss how relaxed we were. |
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Becca
I soo relate to this feeling. You've just described our early years, and when we went through the transition years that you are experiencing I really, really mourned those earlier years. In fact I believe that was what triggered my burnout years.
I still struggle with finding the balance between relaxed and meeting the needs of our highschoolers. Though I have learnt that I will no longer compromise on learning the basics well with our younger children, alas I too often did that 
We now have two children at College (Catholic Liberal Arts) and they are doing quite well, which helps me feel a bit vindicated, but then I still second guess myself and wonder, should I be doing x and y with them?
Becca wrote:
| .. but is it really okay to just read for the content subjects. |
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You know I really could have written your post many times over the years, these are the thoughts that circle around in my head. And yet just yesterday I had a conversation with ds14 and once again it was highlighted to me the importance of learning via reading.
Ds 14 seems to spend most of his time reading (considering he didn't read independently until 9 helps me take a deep breath) and I worry, "is he doing enough?". As I read to the younger children about Egypt and asked questions, he jumped into the conversation and was able to rattle off so much detail and knowledge, his mind is a sponge and he retains all he reads.
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Erin
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: July 09 2013 at 2:14pm | IP Logged
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Reading, narrating, copywork, dictation. The weekly science experiment or nature walk. Daily Mass. Keep. It. Simple. This is my mantra this year. I know other methods work well. I know success looks different for every family.
But when I start to feel overwhelmed at all our failings with notebooks, timelines, lapbooks, projects-in-general... I try to look at the big picture of educational history. Not to romanticize the past, but so very many bright students were educated in the US with nothing more than a few books and a slate and some chalk.
I know my children are learning. I know our temperament struggles in this family too. I also know my limits with Baby #6 arriving smack in the middle of January. If I am not realistic with sticking with what works for us... (Which essentially is morning basket, independent math and Latin lessons, a bit of writing and independent reading) we will crumble and fall into the trap of comparing our school with those that crank out impressive notebooks, lapbooks, etc.
No, as for me and my house, we will be relaxed this year. Process focused not output oriented.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Relaxed homeschooling
