Posted by Cindy on April 18, 2008
How do you schedule a Charlotte Mason-style day?
Short answer: Any way you want! LOL
Longer answer: If we’re talking a true CM day, it will be characterized by the following:
- short bookwork lessons (10-30 minutes depending on the age of the child and the subject)
- daily lessons in Bible, copywork, math, language arts, foreign language
- weekly or more lessons in science, history
- bookwork finished in the morning hours
- afternoons spent outdoors with free play or nature study, handicrafts, reading, etc.
- time scheduled throughout the week for nature study, artist/composer study
I’m not a CM “purist”, but our day usually goes something like this:
Chores – aka Life Skills
Bible
Bookwork – which isn’t necessarily workbooks. This includes everything from math to language to unit study.
Lunch
Family Reading – sometimes quiet time reading
Art/Nature/Handicrafts – sometimes guided, sometimes free
FREE Time
Here are some sample schedules from Simply Charlotte Mason.
I realize this post is fairly vague. Since I don’t do CM education to a “T”, I don’t want to mislead anyone. Also, my opinion as you’ve heard my say 1,000 times, is that your homeschool should be your homeschool. Incorporate what you want to incorporate in a way that really works for your family. A Charlotte Mason-style education is a wonderful path to take with your children, though, I can’t deny that!
Posted by Cindy on December 11, 2007
Here are a few questions I got recently from a blogging friend. Because her questions were really good, I thought others might benefit from the answers. As always, if you have additional advice, feel free to add it in the comments!
Hi Cindy –
I just read your post about having a bad day and it encouraged me to email you with some questions. I know you have a young one too – how is that going? My baby just turned one and is toddling all over creating quite a distraction. I get one kid focused and another turns his/her attention to the baby. I have an area for him to be pinned up in and different toys I bring out – but I’m just wearing myself out jumping from one kid to another. I read recently about someone scheduling individual time with each kid on a different day – but I’m rebelling against such structure. Hey, I love structure, but it seems that schedules like that just set me up to fail. Comments?
I wish I could say I have that all together!! Alas, I think homeschooling with a busy one-year-old is simply challenging. Luckily for me, my oldest can do most of her work by herself. I go over her assignments and she only needs me when she’s stumped. While she’s working, I focus my attention on the seven-year-old. He still needs me a lot! We do math, reading and phonics together. What’s the wee one doing? Crawling all over the room (babyproofed, of course), crawling all over me, pulling his brother’s papers off the table, nursing, eating Cheerios, or napping (rarely!) Keeping the seven-year-old focused is challenging enough. Throw a baby into the mix and some days are crazy!
When we do our unit time or Bible time together, wee one just joins in. Again, trying to steal pencils so he can eat the erasers, tugging on his sister’s pants so she’ll hold him, or pulling all the books off the bookshelves so he can eat the binding. Let’s just say that our concentration level during school has declined somewhat since last year!!
I am often worn out by the end of a school day. But, a few things that help….Try to teach as much together as possible so you don’t have to jump between children. Try to make them independent learners as quick as possible. That way, you won’t have to spend so much of your time teaching them. Be laid back this year, realizing that homeschooling with a baby means less structure and more interruptions. As baby gets older, school will get back to “normal” again. If your little one takes a good nap in the afternoons (mine doesn’t), that might be the best time for school. At least the schoolwork that takes more focus and concentration.
Also, I’ve been a hard-core Sonlight user for the last four years. I bought the curriculum to do Intro to World History and Indepth World History at the same time. Indepth uses Story of the World, which we just love and I find I hardly ever open my instructors guide. I’m actually contemplating going out on my own next year – but I’m scared. I have a 12, 9 and almost 6 year old in addition to the wee one. The 12 year old is miles ahead in writing as compared to the 9 year old. Further, the 9 year old is not interested in lapbooking or notebooking at all – BOY. Suggestions? I’ve done one In the Hands of a Child with my 6 year old and it worked really well. I guess I’d like to be free of that Instructors Guide telling me I’m only on Week 6 of school and it is actually Week 12. I know I can go at my own pace – but its making me feel bad.
It sounds like you are already on a great start to doing your own thing! My son doesn’t get into lapbooks as much as my daughter either. My daughter is miles ahead in most subjects – which makes sense since she’s three grade levels older. When we do a unit, I expect different things from each of them. The ten-year-old is expected to go more indepth. She is given writing assignments or research assignments, etc. that I don’t give my son. I spice units up by changing the approach often. We might do lapbooks for one unit, then notebooking for the next unit. The unit after that might be mostly project-based. When we work on a lapbook unit, I cut out all the pieces for my son. That goes a long way in his cooperation!
It sounds like I put a lot of extra thought into how to make the unit appropriate for each child, but it doesn’t really take that much effort. When I’m writing down all the ideas, I put a star beside things that will work for both kids, an M beside things for Mahayla and a C beside things for Caleb. If Mahayla is given an assignment, I simply find one of the things marked with a C to do with Caleb.
Using Story of the World, you will easily be able to sort out what to do together and seperately. For instance, they might all do the map work, but you might ask your older one(s) to label a few extra things on the maps. When asking the narration questions, you may decide to ask your older child to use one of the questions as a writing assignment, while the younger ones simply narrate or draw a picture.
And finally, yes – yes, be free of an instructor’s guide that makes you feel guilty for taking your time. Life with children isn’t about a perfectly executed schedule. When I try to plan a wonderful schedule, something ALWAYS happens to mess that schedule up. Kids get sick, a meal must be prepared for a friend in need, a doctor’s appointment comes up…….If I depended on a preset curriculum plan, I’d always be behind and always feel guilty because of it. Plus, we like rabbit trails. When my kids get especially interested in something, I like to take time to go further with that topic. Following a preset plan wouldn’t allow me to do that, and what opportunities I’d miss to nurture the learning interests of my children!
In my little homeschooling circle, I’m the one people come to for advice. We dont have a lot of creative homeschoolers in my group. Most use ABekka, so my resources for this stuff is limited. We are plugging along OK this year – but I would really appreciate your input as I know my planning for next year will hit hard come January.
How do you decide what Unit Study’s to do. Do you use History as your guide? Do you do more than one Unit Study at a time? I’ll check out some of your links as well.
I follow (very loosely) the Well Trained Mind’s philosophy for science and history. Basically, that means we follow a four-year cycle for history units and science units. Year one – we study ancient history and life sciences. Year two – medieval history and earth sciences. Year three – early modern history and chemistry. Year four – late modern history and physics. After four years, we start the cycle over again, learning more each time. Since you already use Story of the World, you are on a four-year history cycle.
That’s how I decide the core of our units for the year. I tend to get bored dragging a unit out too long, so we usually have time to add a couple other units that suit our fancy each year, too. This year, on top of medieval history, astronomy and a unit about the earth, we are adding a KY history unit, and doing famous artists and famous composers lapbooks.
I’m not nearly as creative as some people give me credit. I buy good curriculum and surf the internet for good ideas. Put those good things together and pull out the best ideas – voila, a creative unit is born. The more you do this kind of thing, the easier it gets, too. Story of the World is a great “teacher” of what makes a good unit. Great literaure, meaningful activities and teaching things in an understandable order are the basics.
No, I usually don’t have more than one unit going at a time. I tried to follow the Well Trained Mind’s model of doing history three days a week and science two days, but it always seemed inconsistent. Just when we were getting into one thing, it would be time to jump into another. My children seem to “take it all in” better when we smoothly flow through one unit before going on to another. I typically switch unit subjects each time. In other words, if we’ve just finished a science study, the next unit will be a history study.
I’m so glad you felt comfortable asking me your questions. I hope I’ve answered them sufficiently. If not, keep asking! By no means do I have all the answers. All I can do is tell you the hows and whys of what we do around here. Praise the Lord for great resources and this wonderful community of Christian bloggers! Blessings to you!!
Posted by Cindy on November 24, 2007
After perusing Christmas websites, going through my Christmas file folder and searching my computer files for Christmas ideas, I’ve put aside some things that I hope to use this December.
You may be surprised to find this out about me, but when I plan a unit, I very rarely make detailed plans. Yes, I know, this coming from an organizing junkie! 
I usually go through all my resources and jot down things I think would be good activities. Sometimes I’ll organize the activities, sometimes not. For instance - for the astronomy unit we’re working on, I did organize the topics (in the same order they were covered in Exploring Creation Through Astronomy.) But, the extra activities I considered adding to each topic were simply written down under the topic on a piece of paper. When we got to the topic, I would look over my list of activity ideas and we would do the ones that suited our fancy that day.
So, for December, I’ve put together my Christmas basket. I’ve included the books, worksheets, craft ideas, and such that I hope to use at some point during the month. I’ve decided to do a lapbook on the Symbols of Christmas as my main curriculum each day, so all the copies I need are already in the basket, along with a “master list” of the topics the unit covers. Beside each topic, I’ve jotted down the other worksheets, crafts, projects or books that might go along. Each day, I’ll decide which Christmas symbol we’re going to cover and which of the potential activities or projects we’ll also do.
(Learn more about my favorite Christmas books on this post and this post.)
I may or may not get to all the things that are waiting in the basket. In fact, I can honestly say we probably won’t get through everything! But, by the time Christmas break rolls around, we’ll have great memories of Christmas fun with Jesus having been in the center of all the festivities!
One other thing I recently found…..A free inductive Advent Bible study. I spent some time today copying the pages and putting them together in a little notebook. We’ll start the study this coming Monday in order to be finished in plenty of time before Christmas.
Posted by Cindy on August 9, 2007
I’ve been feverishly working on reorganizing our schoolroom. It’s almost finished – quite a task with a 7 month old! As I was putting some things away in my new-to-me $5.00 yard sale filing cabinet, I thought I might share how I keep up with the seasons and holidays during our school year.
I hear these two questions a lot: “How do you remember to plan fun activities for the seasons and holidays?” and “How do you fit seasonal things in with the rest of your curriculum?”
Question #1: I keep seasonal and holiday folders in the filing cabinet. If I find a good idea from a magazine, I rip it out and put it in the appropriate folder. If I find a good idea on the internet, I copy it and put it in the folder. If I see or hear about a good idea, I write it down and put it in the folder. When the season or holiday is upon us, I pull out the folder I need and pick a few things to add to my lesson plans.
Question #2: My children will only be little once. I want to create a sense of joy and excitement about God’s seasons and special holidays while they’re young, so they will always feel a tingle of excitement about them, even as adults. I fit these sorts of things in as part of my curriculum, not on top of everything else. Remember, it’s okay to do things that stray away from the “regular” curriculum. So much of the “fun stuff” covers many subject areas anyway.
For example, the Thanksgiving folder above is open and showing a turkey “glyph” activity. Completing these fun turkeys requires mapping/graphing skills, decision making, crafting, reading and writing. Who could ask for anything better? Getting my kids to do all those things without realizing they’re working and learning is priceless!
I’ve also run across many holiday-based Bible studies that I keep in these folders, too. When I’m looking through the folders and making plans, I can be preparing to add appropriate Bible study lessons for the upcoming holiday, too.
Upcoming seasonal things to think about – apples, pumpkins, sunflowers, Labor Day, Grandparents Day, autumn, Columbus Day…..
Posted by Cindy on May 11, 2007
Do your children ever feel like their school work is pointless?
Show pride in your children’s work by displaying it. Make them feel like their work is worth every bit of the effort they put into it. We want them to feel a sense of pride about what they do, right? We want them to take the time to do their best work, right? My children used to actually say, “What does it matter, nobody but you sees it?”
So I started making a bigger deal of some of their work. When a piece sticks out to me as being extra well-done, or I know they’ve put a ton of effort into something, I’ll put it up in our “gallery”. It’s just a space we have in a stairwell that I reserve for their things only. I change it out frequently and make a big deal of it when company happens to pass by.
Here’s a fairly recent picture of our gallery.
Another thing I started doing was making notebooks and lapbooks more beautiful. In other words, we have a lovely place to store the work, making it seem more special to them. I’m also going to suggest that our co-op have some sort of “Bring Your Best Work” showcase next year. And ask our local library to allow our group to display projects for a week or two. Both of these should give the kids a extra boost of “somebody cares”.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to bribe my children into doing their work well. Nor am I trying to make them feel that they have to have kuddos for everything they do. I’m just trying to make sure that their work is applauded once in awhile. I believe their efforts deserve that. I hope you find exciting ways to encourage your children! I’d love to hear your ideas!!
Related Tags: school work, homeschooling, encouragement
