Has anyone followed WTM "to the T" ?

[InParadisum]

I am curious how the course outlines come to life. Is preparation easy or time consuming? Do your children find the work engaging? I'm the type who would follow the book word by word and I was wondering if anyone else is this way too and has done it.

[EKS]

I remember reading (maybe in TWTM itself?) that if you add up all of the suggested times to spend on various things, it comes out to be considerably more than is reasonable.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't believe even SWB followed TWTM to a T.  There are a lot of alternatives offered in the books so that you can choose what works best for you. 

[ondreeuh]

There is no "T". SWB gives suggestions for curriculum but is very upfront about being responsive to your actual child.

 

At its most basic, she endorses a four-year history & science cycle, grammar instruction from the beginning, scaffolded writing instruction beginning with copywork and narration, formal Latin, systematic math ... I don't do half of those, but I still get a lot of inspiration from her books.

[wintermom]

I think it's human nature to gradually reduce "compliance" over time. ;) In other words, it's normal to start out with lots of energy, content, ambition, and motivation, and over time it will gradually reduce and/or change into something that is manageable and fits well with you and your family. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing, it's just reailty.

[luuknam]

And I'm pretty sure I've read SWB say somewhere that her publisher wanted the daily schedules in the book, but that she didn't do them that way.

[Ausmumof3]

I don't personally think we could get through the day with the recommended daily schedules. I like the general guidelines and recommendations.

[aprilleigh]

I started out pretty close to what she was recommending, but it fell by the wayside pretty fast when confronted with an actual homeschool situation. I modified some things to suit us, completely ignored her recommendations in other places because they made no sense for us, and tweaked a lot. After the first year it was easier to know what was realistic and what was optimistic, and while we try for the optimistic side we don't fret as long as we don't fall below realistic for more that a couple weeks.

[Haiku]

Nope. I thought I would, but what I found is that I teach my kids, not someone else's curriculum/method/philosophy.

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by cathey

[redsquirrel]

What do you mean by follow it to a 't'?  Do you mean the classical method or the suggested curriculum?

 

Preparation time will vary by what materials are used.

 

My kids find different things engaging depending on their age, subject matter etc

 

SWB has some good audio lectures available from Well Trained Mind Press (link should be at the top of the page). You might want to listen to some. She really puts a lot of good information in those.  What I have found is that the classical method give me freedom. I am not chained to a particular curriculum or daily schedule. And, frankly, neither is SWB. She doesn't pretend to be, in fact, just the opposite.

 

I use the 4 year history cycle. We study grammar every year. We study Latin. We focus in on one on branch of science every year. Our literature is determined by our history. We spend the early years doing narration, dictation and copywork. In the middle grades we outline to learn how academic writing is constructed.  But what I do to achieve those goals and our schedule is up to me.

[SilverMoon]

Nope. The short version of why I'm homeschooling in the first place is I make square peg children. Trading school made for round pegs for homeschool built for round pegs didn't make any sense.

 

In our early years I was heavily inspired TWTM and used many of SWB's recommendations. The longer we homeschooled the more my teaching ability and confidence grew and I learned how to spot what would work for us. We don't use as many WTM recs anymore, but I will check to see what SWB suggests when branching into new territory. I'm very thankful for that book.

[karminr]

I am trying to plan out high school & middle school now and figure out how much time is realistic.  The suggested schedule in WTM for high school is daunting as I'm putting everything on paper with our schedule. We did try to follow it as suggested when we first started (3rd & 5th grades) but quickly changed things around and figured out what worked for us.  Ex: an hour of logic was way too much for my kids; they were bored out of their minds.  We reduced it down considerably and found that ~20 minutes was enough and they seem to be getting what they need with that (and more importantly don't despise it). We're venturing into high school for the first time in the fall and I can already see from my daughter's schedule (using the WTM recommended times) that we are probably going to have to cut back the amount of time spent on subjects to be able to fit in everything we need to be doing.  I don't think that we're going to be able to devote 2 hours to history, 2 hours to lit, 1 hour of free reading, logic, 1 hour of math, 1 hour of science, writing, 2 language classes (at an hour+ each), etc. every single day without completely stressing and burning her out.  I'm not sure where our balance will end up. 

 

Preparation for HS has been stressful & time-consuming for me so far, but I don't know what I'm doing. I think once I have the plan set out for the next 4 years, preparation in the years to come will be minimal - mostly just deciding on what curriculum options to go with if we make any changes. 

 

I agree with SilverMoon though - I love WTM and it has made this whole home school journey possible and doable for us, even if I'm not Supermom and can't seem to accomplish everything it lays out that we should be doing in an ideal day.  :)

[aprilleigh]

The schedule the state we live in requires for homeschoolers is ridiculous as well. The number of required hours is insane and clearly meant to mimic a classroom situation where the teacher spends a great deal of time managing the group. We never need the amount of time they require to cover the material, but I "schedule" it anyway. I just do the same thing I remember my teachers doing when some kids were finished early - depending on the class, we were allowed to read, draw, work on homework for other classes, or talk quietly. My son lives for Legos, so he usually opts for extra Lego time, but he likes book time too.