Latin Centered Curriculum, Educating the Whole-Hearted Child, WTM

Here is the link http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/laying-down-rails-charlotte-mason-habits/ It is a book about establishing habits in your children - taken mostly from Charlotte Mason's writings. You can see a sample at the link above. I like it because it is a nice outline of the habits CM writes about, with helpful ideas on how to implement them.

I punched two holes in the top to run 2 rings through - one in each corner - that is how they show them on their demo I think.

1) I allow more time now than I used to - I have resigned myself to the fact that we will not begin school before 9 - and it has taken a lot of stress off of me - I don't feel behind like I used to when I tried to get us going by 8. As for routine before school - we get up, do chores (feed pets, straighten rooms, empty trash, empty dishwasher), eat breakfast, clean up kitchen, then begin. 2) We usually only break for 30 minutes for lunch - they don't need more than that to eat, and I usually combine lunch with reading or our composer listening. 3) don't have an "official" start and stop time - but I shoot for 9 am to begin school for everyone - we all start with Bible together. As for when do we finish - sometimes by lunch , sometimes not before 5pm. It all depends on what we are working on, and what the weather is like (they spend several hours outside each day, so I often let them have a long afternoon break then come back to finish, or a morning outdoor break in the summer and spend afternoons inside when it is too hot). My kids are 10 months, 4yrs, 7yrs, 9yr 4) activities - this is one I am really struggling with right now - we have piano on Monday (teacher comes to the house, so it is not really an interuption), and gymnastics on Thursday afternoon. We have the option for a co-op twice a month - 2 hours on Thursday afternoon, which I am still deciding how we will participate. Last, we have soccer for 8 weeks in the fall and spring which involves one practice and one game per week. I usually have them drop gymnastics during soccer season, it is just too much running otherwise. 5) I only schedule 4 days per week - my husband works long hours and often has a day off during the week, so I know that we will never manage a 5 day school week. That said, I stay very flexible - since his day off floats, we do not have a consistent weekly schedule. Instead, I look ahead for the week, determine what I feel we need to accomplish, and plan it out only a week ahead. I have a checklist of what has to be done for the year, but I do not try to schedule it out weekly - otherwise I will find myself very discouraged when we fall behind. We have not really had a hard time getting through lessons, but I do not use a lot of textbooks that are rigid with a set number of lessons. We will be using MOTL, so I have a list of all the concepts they need to learn, and we will move through one at a time and mark them off as they are accomplished. Mostly we just work at the pace of the kids, and manage to get through it fine.

We have been doing level 4 over the summer - I have been teaching it to my kids and my nieces/nephews who are not homeschooled - they have all loved it! I did not end up showing them the DVD's, because after watching them I decided I could teach the concept myself more quickly, and since I had a large group (7) it was faster - the art projects themselves take a good hour for the most part. They are wonderful, and fun, and I highly recommend this program. I am so glad someone on this board convinced me they were worth trying out!

great advice - we spent twice as much time on Middle Ages than ancients, and I plan to compress American/Modern history into a shorter time.

Nothing but life!!!! Story time, finger play, songs, games with siblings, play time, lots of independent play time, and definitely agree with establishing routines. Focus on behaviour, obedience, good habits - leave the phonics skills until they are 5-7 years old.

good stuff, most of it, just a warning though, it is VERY reformed theology - so if you are not reformed protestant, it will probably not appeal to you. He is very hostile to the orthodox and catholic faiths (he was an old family friend and was Eastern Orthodox briefly, and actually was the one who first introduced my family to Orthodoxy, but he has gone back to the protestant church and his histories will be very biased to the reformed perspective). Just an fyi, make sure you agree with reformed protestantism or you will probably find much of his stuff difficult to use.

Depends on the child. With my son, we skipped most of the writing, with my daughter, she loved the writing, so she did most of it.

I SO agree!!!! That is part of why we veered off of the WTM cycles and started moving to LCC. Stories, stories stories until 2nd or 3rd grade, then you can start "studying" history. I wish I had realized it with the first one, but am so glad the next 3 I have a much better focus on what is important in the early years.

We used a lot of her ideas over the past few years. I really loved her Tanglewood Planner, and it is what I modeled my own planner on (I got one of hers, then ended up creating my own based on her style.) It has been great. The book selections are pretty good, but I have never used the reading schedules, just spent lots of time years ago reading everything on the site. It is no longer kept up, and she is NOT adding any new schedules, but it is a good resource for ideas.

our favorite is illustrated by Milo Winter - I have a paperback copy and then I have a nice hardback copy, with lovely color illustrations, and nicely written tales including the morals.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book! I remember reading it myself and my kids loved it!

here's a link to a list I wrote the other day on this topic toddler ideas

Math on the level - you do not need to buy any kind of manipulatives for this, just use anything you have. As for do you need all the extra, it is NOT extra, it is the program. I don't think they even sell the books individually. As for placing a child, with MOTL, you would go through the concepts list, and check off the ones you know your child knows. This will be obvious for most things, but as you become uncertain about a concept, that is where you include it on the 5 a day review. If the child misses b/c does not understand, then that topic needs to be taught/retaught. There are no "workbooks" with this program, it is completely teacher led, hands on, real life math, with review problems provided. It is up to you to actually teach each concept, and the guides provide methods for you to go about teaching. It does seem a bit overwhelming, but it is not as hard as it looks! Also, MOTL offers a 60 day money back guarantee, so you can order the set, take the time to really look it over, try it out, and return it if it just does not work. They have a very clear sample week in the guide that takes you through how to use the review charts. Also, there is a wonderful yahoo group that has a number of people using the program who have some great advice, and the author posts quite frequently too, so she is always available to answer questions. I have to say, I am pretty sold on it, I think it is a great way to teach math!

two ways we store maps - in our school room we have a futon/sofa, so I have a large cardboard file folder designed for teachers to store bulletin board decorations, and I put maps in that, and slide them behind the sofa. The other thing we do, is I have one of those free standing hanging chart stands, and I have had grommets put into some of my maps (Kinkos will do this for about $1) and I can hang them from the chart stand.

I like the plasticware containers where the lids snap down on all four sides (found these at Target). They come in various sizes and hold all of our math manipulatives.

In K and 1st I really have not used anything other than objects to count, dice and home made flashcards (with sticker addition/subtraction facts, not numerals). My 3rd used Singapore last year, but I am planning to use Math on the Level with both of them this year.

WOW!!!!! You win the prize - my unending gratitude! I cannot believe it, but that is exactly the one I was looking for :) Thanks!

Last year I printed off a scope/sequence of a program, without the name of the program anywhere on it. It was designed to be used in middle school 6-8th grade as a transition year history. It is broken down into 4 quarters, and starts in Egypt and takes the child all the way through to the present. It correlates geography, science and language arts with the historical period. What I printed off was a table that listed each history period, and the correlating topic in the other subjects. I cannot for the life of me remember where I got this, and thought it might sound familiar to someone. I think it was a unit study style program similar to TOG, but cannot be sure! Sound familiar to anyone? Thanks!!!!

We used ETC with Bob books and easy readers once they each got the concept of blending down. And to get that we just used magnetic letters for extra sounding out practice.

Thanks for all the great replies - I guess I need to just really think it over. I agree, they have to learn about competition, and I think we really have very little sibling rivalry. Glad to hear from all of you!

For some reason , this is such a big issue for me. I love the idea of WTM cycle where all children study the same period. Especially when they are older, I can see how great this would be to allow for discussion, interaction, group work etc. BUT. Last year I read what Ambleside says about having all the kids working on the same things (age appropriate of course) - and it really has stuck with me. They point out how hard it is for the younger one, since no matter how well they do, the older one will do better. I can see this with my oldest 2, they are only 2 years apart, so it would be so easy to do the same things with them for history, science, geography. But, I don't want the younger one always comparing her work to big brothers. Especially since they both love to draw and color and do projects, and of course it is obvious which pieces have been done by the younger one. Does this worry anyone else, or am I just stressing over nothing. I know first hand the effects of sibling rivalry (I am the older, and have been reminded over and over how my sister never felt she could do anything as good as me). So, is it worth missing out on the great experience we could have working together or should I just not worry about it?

Well, that is the approach the Famous Men of ... series takes (they are in progress for a modern times one, but not soon enough for this year I imagine :) ) I think that is the very best way to do it, teach it through the lives of those who impacted the time period. Go for it!

I do agree about the atmosphere thing, there seem to be fewer nasty little cat fights on this board, since it is not so obvious when a fight is occuring, and people don't see it to add their 2 cents :) I do like that, as those got really old on the other board. Also, people don't seem to flame you as bad here (or maybe I am just missing it :) )