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faiths13
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Hi! I recently found the CM love and I have kind of just thrown myself into it. I want to get more organized though and I would love some help. I just got the 'Planning Your CM Education' book, but I need a little more help. I am trying to coordinate things for the next year.
So I want to try to make things go together. I was thinking of starting with history and then having things go along with it - books we read, learning about science of that age, geography of the different parts of the world we read about, classic literature about the time, composer and artists study from the period. Im not sure if that is a good idea or not though.
Also, I do not know where to start for history. We did Ancients last year because someone gave us the Story of the World Vol 1 and I knew nothing of CM or classic education. I would really like to keep my two oldest children on the same history schedule to make things easier. (11 & 13) Should I just move on to Middle Ages, or re do Ancients more in depth now that I know what I am doing?
Also, I am still a little worried about grammar. We haven't done any formal grammar since starting with CM style. We are mostly reading lots of books - classics, history, etc. And we are doing copywork, narration and I want to do dictation. Oh and we are doing Emma Serls ILL. Should I add in more formal grammar?
Thanks!
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seeker
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| Posted: Feb 15 2012 at 7:39am | IP Logged
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I'm not much of one to listen to since I only started hs'ing this past year (The other ladies here at 4Real are such a wealth of knowledge!). However, I did want to throw out my opinion about the history: I would just move on. If you are planning on doing the four year rotation you'll go more in depth when you come back again. I am using RC History, so we are doing history on a four year rotation as well.
I've heard lost of good things about ILL; Mine are 8 and 4 so we didn't do any grammar program this year, but I picked up Simply Grammar at a used book store and I'll do that with my older next year.
It sounds like you are doing great!
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Mackfam
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First, welcome to you faiths13!!  It's great to have you here with us!
I'll try to tackle a few of your questions.
faiths13 wrote:
| I was thinking of starting with history and then having things go along with it - books we read, learning about science of that age, geography of the different parts of the world we read about, classic literature about the time, composer and artists study from the period. Im not sure if that is a good idea or not though. |
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Absolutely this is a good idea! In a Charlotte Mason education history is the pivot upon which the entire curriculum turns. So once you've chosen a period of history to study - the literature, science, art, composers - can all spring from that period. You need not feel confined to that in a subject though.
faiths13 wrote:
| We did Ancients last year because someone gave us the Story of the World Vol 1 and I knew nothing of CM or classic education. |
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I enjoyed using Story of the World I with my kids a few years ago. We enjoy the narrative style, and my kids really enjoyed the audio version with Jim Weiss.
faiths13 wrote:
| I would really like to keep my two oldest children on the same history schedule to make things easier. (11 & 13) |
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You are a smart, intuitive home educator! YES!!! By all means keep them working and reading from the same period of history! I do the same thing with my older students - the same period of history directs their education; their books are different because they read at different levels, but they read from the same period of history.
faiths13 wrote:
| Should I just move on to Middle Ages, or re do Ancients more in depth now that I know what I am doing? |
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Did you just read Story of the World this past year? Are you still working through Story of the World? With 1/3 of the year still to go, you could always add in some living books this last third of the year - not too many, just a few for their independent reading. Now, where to go from here? If your oldest were the 11yo, I'd probably continue reading some great living books from the period of the Ancients and around the Time of Christ just to cover the period well (because there is some great living lit from that period). But with a 13 yo, you'll need to wrap up the history rotation in the next 4 -5 years. Please (!!!!) just take what I'm about to give you as an idea, not marching orders!!! One idea might be to do something like the following, which assumes your 13 yo would be in 8th grade next year. If not, you might have to adjust and squish a little more, which I think you could do. Also, if you finish out this year reading from Ancient history living lit, I'd probably just do one term of Ancient history reading next year, and then spend the other two terms reading lit from around the time of Christ and the early Church. That would cover the periods fairly adequately.
Next year: Term 1: Ancient living books Term 2: Ancient living books up to Time of Christ Term 3: Time of Christ up through 4th century
Year following: Middle Ages (5th - 11th century)
Year following: Renaissance/Reformation/Counter-Reformation/French Revolution
Year following: American History through the Civil War
Year following: Reconstruction through Modern history
Also, having the children keep up with their Book of Centuries will help them in reading through these periods and connecting the dots of history.
faiths13 wrote:
| We are mostly reading lots of books - classics, history, etc. And we are doing copywork, narration and I want to do dictation. Oh and we are doing Emma Serls ILL. Should I add in more formal grammar? |
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I would probably leave things alone for this year. Sounds like a fine year for a transition. ILL does give some grammar in their exercises. I, too, have some years that are grammar formal, where we focus on grammar a bit more, and some years that are grammar informal. Let this year finish out with copywork, narration and ILL. Continue your CM reading and as you read about dictations, seek to add that in at some point. Try to get comfortable with dictations in your lineup for the day - they should be short (take no more than 10-15 min to study, and no more than 10 min to write the next day), and they can pack a serious punch for spelling, reading aloud practice, and grammar!
IF.....you felt like you had a handle on dictations by the end of this year, you could consider adding in some formal grammar next year. If you did that, don't add anything else like ILL in, it would be too much. CM's copywork, narration (to include some written), and dictation are quite rigorous for a child. Be careful that whatever you add in works with a CM method, or at least wouldn't overwhelm and disrupt it. Remember that CM emphasized proportion in lessons (ie. a child shouldn't be doing an hour and a half of math and 20 minutes in all their other lesson....same with your language arts: a child shouldn't be trudging through an hour or more of formal grammar with 20-30 minute lessons elsewhere). So, keep formal grammar simple.
I have a favorite program I use in my grammar formal years, and I like it so much I can't help but want to recommend it for you to take a look as you consider: Winston Grammar. I don't use the workbook, but rather we use the cards and the lessons and tend to map out the practice sentences provided in the TM, or our dictation sentences. For ease, you could very simply put the 11 and 13 yo in the Basic program next year together and it would work out well!
In the end, try not to worry too much about grammar. If your children are reading wonderful, worthy literature, they are learning grammar!!!! They learn it quite naturally, and in context, through the beautiful writing they encounter!
Well, I hope this post isn't too overwhelming! You asked some great questions, but honestly, I think you're well on your way! Do let us know how we can help you narrow more, or if we can brainstorm in other areas! Welcome again! I'm excited to get to know you more here!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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Mackfam
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Oh, I was cross-posting with seeker! I'm so glad she mentioned RC History! Have you seen their booklists? They offer some wonderful ideas for living history reading!
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Jen Mackintosh
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CrunchyMom
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Have you looked at the free Charlotte Mason curricula available as a guide? Ambleside Online, Mater Amabilis, and Tanglewood would all give you a good idea of where to begin.
History is the spine of a Charlotte Mason education, so I do think that you are on track there. Charlotte Mason had children studying world history alongside national history. You might take a look at Mater Amabilis Level 3 for some ideas.
I find, though, that my own desire to make everything come together leads to a temptation to over plan. While I would certainly reinforce history study with literature choices (it is a living education afterall!), there is nothing wrong with having your art and music studies exist independently of that.
I find it a challenge to marriage the balance between thoughtful planning as educator and facilitator and over-planning resulting in my trying to make all the connections perfectly. If you study Bach and Michelangelo next month, your child will still be able to make thoughtful connections when you come to that point in history. Honestly, there is just a lot more accessible art and music from the high periods of each than, from say, the Ancient era. And while I love Gregorian Chant, Madrigals, etc..., if you were to spend the whole year on the Middle Ages, that's a long time to spend on relatively obscure compositions when studying the Classical greats would probably do more for cultural literacy.
Anyway, I'm rambling, I'm just trying to say that you don't have to over think things.
I'd like to direct you to the wonderful language art posts from Jen at Wildflowers and Marbles. I think that might give you an idea of how to pursue language arts using Charlotte Mason's methods. She has a series of blog posts, and she also has her collection for "Considered Language Arts" as a pdf.
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Lindsay
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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CrunchyMom
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Sorry I cross-posted with Jen, who apparently summarized my entire post with "you need not feel confined to that area." 
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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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seeker
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Jen I actually blushed! Faiths, Jen is a tome of great Charlotte Mason advice!! I suggest you devour her blog; I know I do
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faiths13
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Oh and Sorry - I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Beth and I am mom to 4 boys : )
Thanks for the great advice! : ) We did Ancients last year as in last school year. We were with a charter and I am now finally to the point where I am ready to go on my own. So we started this 'school year' in August, but honestly I spent so much time searching for a way to hs that felt right I almost feel like we wasted all those months until I found CM!
So we finished SOTW vol 1. I have Vol 2, but I dont know if I like it. I find it hard to find things to go with the chapters as it goes along, and I was thinking it would be easier to just go to the library and grab books on the Middle Ages each time we go. Then again, I would like to have things more organized. My schedule is so out of whack I am loosing precious time with my 2 & 4 year olds trying to pull things together each day.
I do agree that not sticking to studying music/art from the time period though. I was a little worried about that because Im not so sure what those periods have to offer in those areas for study, whereas other periods have so much more. One thing I did wish we did was spend more time studying Mythology and all the great philosophers. That is another reason I havent stuck to SOTW - it just grazes over everything. I want to read short bios on lots of different people.
I know that narration, etc can be great, but sometimes I panic and feel like its not enough. lol. I am just pulling myself out of this public school at home mentality (that I was in for over a year!) and I get a little panicky still.
So, with all this great info another thing comes to mind - scheduling. Im not really sure how I should schedule the week. How often I should schedule each of these things. Thanks so much!!
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Mackfam
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faiths13 wrote:
| Oh and Sorry - I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Beth and I am mom to 4 boys : ) |
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Wonderful to meet you, Beth!! I'm so glad you're here! Do consider dropping in some time on our Introduction thread for 2012 to say hello!
faiths13 wrote:
| One thing I did wish we did was spend more time studying Mythology and all the great philosophers. That is another reason I havent stuck to SOTW - it just grazes over everything. I want to read short bios on lots of different people. |
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Well, that's the beauty of setting your own plans -- you can stop to smell the roses! Give yourself permission to stop and read those philosophers and some books on mythology.
faiths13 wrote:
| I know that narration, etc can be great, but sometimes I panic and feel like its not enough. lol. I am just pulling myself out of this public school at home mentality (that I was in for over a year!) and I get a little panicky still. |
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That's ok. It is a big jump from a brick and mortar approach. And in a sense, it does require no small leap of faith. It is enough though, and if you ever become concerned or panic about it, come here and we'll reassure you or share some ideas if you have concerns about particulars.
faiths13 wrote:
| So, with all this great info another thing comes to mind - scheduling. Im not really sure how I should schedule the week. How often I should schedule each of these things. |
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In scheduling, it's best to move from year --> to --> week planning.
First, take your year and consider it in terms. How many terms will you have in your year? There's no right or wrong answer here - I've done 3 and 4 terms before (both have pros and cons).
Now take all the books you'll ask your child to read from for the term, and set them out.
Certain subjects are a given each day, but the book the child reads from may change. This provides variety. My 6th grader (11yo) is currently reading four history books this term.
** Take the number of pages in a book -- divided by the number of weeks in your term. This tells you how many pages need to be read in one week. ** You can further break things down here if you are going to ask the child to read the book twice a week.
** In that case, you'd take the total # of pages to be read in a week -- divide by two, and now you can ask your child to read "x" number of pages in "x" book on Tuesday and Wednesday and have a reasonable hope that they'll finish with the book by the end of a term.
Here is a guide for helping to decide about how many pages to assign:
2012-02-15_133051_Scheduling_Books_and_Pages.pdf
It's important to remember that the above is just a guide. I deviate from it at times, and you need to feel free to do so as well if you use this guide. It's just a compilation that uses the number of pages assigned in a term at one of CM's schools that can be a help when planning. Consider the reading abilities of your children when you ask for a certain number of pages to be read.
I know you have an 11yo, so I thought I'd share my 11yo/6th grader's current lesson plans for our final term of the year:
2012-02-15_132840_Term_3-6th-2012.pdf
I share just to give you a sense of how a day could be scheduled. I'm hoping others will share their lesson plans, too. There are many different formats for lesson plans, and everyone has a preference. I think it helps to look at a variety so you can consider what works best for you! Catherine Levison shares some possible scheduling ideas in the back of her book, A Charlotte Mason Education
A really good resource for beginning to plan a CM education is Simply Charlotte Mason's Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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ekbell
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One way to approach art when studying earlier periods of history is by topic rather the date of composition. For example both the bible and classical mythology have provided plenty of inspiration, so it's often possible to find artwork to match biblical events or myths.
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faiths13
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Mackfam wrote:
faiths13 wrote:
| Oh and Sorry - I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Beth and I am mom to 4 boys : ) |
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Wonderful to meet you, Beth!! I'm so glad you're here! Do consider dropping in some time on our Introduction thread for 2012 to say hello!
faiths13 wrote:
| One thing I did wish we did was spend more time studying Mythology and all the great philosophers. That is another reason I havent stuck to SOTW - it just grazes over everything. I want to read short bios on lots of different people. |
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Well, that's the beauty of setting your own plans -- you can stop to smell the roses! Give yourself permission to stop and read those philosophers and some books on mythology.
faiths13 wrote:
| I know that narration, etc can be great, but sometimes I panic and feel like its not enough. lol. I am just pulling myself out of this public school at home mentality (that I was in for over a year!) and I get a little panicky still. |
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That's ok. It is a big jump from a brick and mortar approach. And in a sense, it does require no small leap of faith. It is enough though, and if you ever become concerned or panic about it, come here and we'll reassure you or share some ideas if you have concerns about particulars.
faiths13 wrote:
| So, with all this great info another thing comes to mind - scheduling. Im not really sure how I should schedule the week. How often I should schedule each of these things. |
|
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In scheduling, it's best to move from year --> to --> week planning.
First, take your year and consider it in terms. How many terms will you have in your year? There's no right or wrong answer here - I've done 3 and 4 terms before (both have pros and cons).
Now take all the books you'll ask your child to read from for the term, and set them out.
Certain subjects are a given each day, but the book the child reads from may change. This provides variety. My 6th grader (11yo) is currently reading four history books this term.
** Take the number of pages in a book -- divided by the number of weeks in your term. This tells you how many pages need to be read in one week. ** You can further break things down here if you are going to ask the child to read the book twice a week.
** In that case, you'd take the total # of pages to be read in a week -- divide by two, and now you can ask your child to read "x" number of pages in "x" book on Tuesday and Wednesday and have a reasonable hope that they'll finish with the book by the end of a term.
Here is a guide for helping to decide about how many pages to assign:
2012-02-15_133051_Scheduling_Books_and_Pages.pdf
It's important to remember that the above is just a guide. I deviate from it at times, and you need to feel free to do so as well if you use this guide. It's just a compilation that uses the number of pages assigned in a term at one of CM's schools that can be a help when planning. Consider the reading abilities of your children when you ask for a certain number of pages to be read.
I know you have an 11yo, so I thought I'd share my 11yo/6th grader's current lesson plans for our final term of the year:
2012-02-15_132840_Term_3-6th-2012.pdf
I share just to give you a sense of how a day could be scheduled. I'm hoping others will share their lesson plans, too. There are many different formats for lesson plans, and everyone has a preference. I think it helps to look at a variety so you can consider what works best for you! Catherine Levison shares some possible scheduling ideas in the back of her book, A Charlotte Mason Education
A really good resource for beginning to plan a CM education is Simply Charlotte Mason's Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education. |
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I actually have the Plannnig Your CM Education book, lol. I just started going over it last night which promoted me to post. I started to worry about how to organize it once I got to the planning your year section, then I started to worry about what i was going to use. Anyway, im having a horrible day today. sigh
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seeker
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| Posted: Feb 15 2012 at 9:51pm | IP Logged
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 Sending hugs your way, Beth! You are not alone; I hear homeschool moms talk all the time about the February burnout it's just that time of year. I'm sure it will hit me soon, but I don't know when.
Remember how I said that Jen is a tome of great advice? I remember she wrote this post. All her posts are really helpful to me. Hopefully this one will help you, too.
Hang in there! 
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li'l macabbey lane: handpainted inspirational art
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Topic: need help organizing
