I guess I've never met another CMer who actually did these things. The ladies I visit with just laugh and look at it as a neat commentary of the times. I love the Austen novels for the same reason. Now if someone said you were not using her methods unless you did those things you mentioned---I would back away veeery slowly, and then run. :001_smile: My farmhouse was built in 1870. It is a couple miles from the Walnut Grove of Little House fame and there is a dug out they lived in at the end of the driveway. It looks like any house would from that era--taken right from the pages of Laura's books. We modernized the house, but it still looks victorian from the outside. I have no intention of building fires to keep warm and butchering my own animals ( well, I'll get back to you on that with the current economic status...) in order to keep it authentic, but I can appreciate it's history and preserve the flavor of the farm. I will do the CM method, but it is the high speed wireless and huge capacity washing machine variety.;)

LOL...I agree with you. The only thing that tick me off more than "CM is light," is the mistaken belief that i hold my opinions because I am somewhat misinformed. I have a TERRIBLE habit of questioning "esteemed" writings... I stay away from many homeschool groups because of that assumption.:D One group thinks I am too Christian..one not Christian enough. One group thinks I am too academic...the other that I am letting my kids fail....I am not out to please the herd, just get through this journey of life with some happiness and maybe some aquired wisdom to pass on. I think there is a lot of "cultish" or "herdish" behavior out there...and I agree that just because you find some of her theories out there...there is so much else to glean...eat the meat and spit out the bones ...so to speak. :iagree: This speaks volumes. Everyone who reads her original works is going to get different things out of them and the degree to which they may employ those methods will differ. Some with hate it. That is ok, as with anything else, but it can cause strife if you are vocal about it. Homeschool moms can occasionally be a catty bunch. No one likes people passing judgement on their enthusiasm for a particular method....or religion...or political party. It is a sensitive area. It is personal. We, probably more than most educators, weigh ever choice we make with a heavy heart. What we do matters intimately to us and our families. I don't like the CM method being trashed because someone had a bad vibe or experience with someone claiming to use this method. Like most things, there are two sides to every story. I agree with really reading the original works with a modern interpretation. The times change, but human nature doesn't and so many things are still applicable if you can process them through a modern lens.

One of the reasons for this is that CM focused a great deal of her volumes on the foundation that allows for maximum learning to take place. If you haven't read the original volumes it is hard to understand this. The formation of habit, instant obedience, focused attention, etc are things that come out of the classroom proper and spill into daily life. Learning these skills preceded any formal lessons. CM is a way of life before children start formal academics. These skills are then applied once formal education starts. It is hard to teach children who cannot focus on a lesson or who are slovenly. She incrementally showed parents how to lay a foundation for joyful learning. SWB,Sayers/Socrates/ etc. do not touch on child rearing in their philosophies to the extent that CM does. That is why Andreola covered these things. CM is really a way of life. I don't believe it is cultish, but it does play in to how I discipline and deal with my children. Maybe this broad range application can be misconstued by the casual observer. Reading her writings has helped me to understand them more, as people, and create a better environment for learning.

It looks like there are fewer levels with the Bible grammar program. There are 12 for the regular grammar program. Do you think that accounts for the big jump in skills?

I bought level 5 to do with my 6th and 5th graders with a tag along 3rd grader. I looked over the sampes and it looks like every level over 5 has full review and diagramming with a bit more tacked on each year. I don't think combining is a bad thing in this case.

I just ordered it and it is supposed to be everything you need. The grammar gets pretty intense in the upper levels. If my kids get what is giong on, I will consider it mission accomplished. :001_smile: It was created to pack a big punch in a very little time for the harried teacher----which is so me.

I use the Simply Charlotte Mason organizer every day. I love that I can plug many modern living books into the organizer along with how I want the kids to execute the lesson. I was turned off to CM for a while in the beginning because I wanted some more modern stories. Now I use her methods exclusively, but with Sonlight books and other treasures I find along the way.

I didn't like the choices they recommended for the required resources. I wasn't fond of the readers, phonics, history books, etc. I found myself modifying almost everything except the prayer letters. Eventually I realized I wasn't going to stick with it because of all the modifications I was doing. After I started Bedell I just dropped SOW. Later I added Sonlight for the history and read alouds. I follow the guide very loosely and we take much longer than the guide suggests, but so far the kids love all the books and have fun narrating them. :001_smile:

I used SOW and while it had some really good points (prayer letters were wonderful) it did become far too much work. It is one of those "guide" type curriculums where you have to piece together resources and it quickly can get to be very expensive. It had a nice writing program and it was really nice when we did it, but I had a desire to cover more of the bible each year. It takes six years to get through the bible with SOW. I have used Bedell for many years. I am starting it again with my four year old. I have bagged SL bible lessons in favor of Bedell. In a half hour I can cover bible, science and history. www.bedellcurriculum.com Because it is bible-centered, history that ties in is not chronological. He does tie in all history at appropriate points, but you can frequently jump from American to Egytian history in the same week for example. Because of this I do Sonlight now that the kids are older, but you could just as easily use any other chronological books along side it, like SOTW. Now if you don't mind jumping around in history you don't have to add anything at all. Bedell is meant to be used from grades K - 6, but he also has research questions for children in grades 7-12. He told me that there were eventually going to be more things for high school, but that will be in future additions. Bedell has a distinctly Baptist slant, but we have had no trouble adapting it when necessary.

This is what we are doing. We are just about done with LC1, but I am going to wait for First Form even though I already own LC 2.

Thank you! :001_smile:

Is this something that Yesterday's Classics put together or is this another curriculum by someone else which uses some of the YC books? I can't seem to find anything on it.

I have the same problem! My four year old cannot pronounce the sounds that come from the back of the throat correctly. She says "t" for ck and "d" for the hard g. She can say every other sound correctly. What do I do?

We started with this because our homeschool consignment store gave it away. Even being free my kids didn't like it. I went to Latina Christiana and then was charmed off to Latin for Children. We came back to LC 1 and have stayed there because I learn so much from the DVD's and so do the kids. I don't think LP is bad, but it is very boring, even more so that LC 1. If the LC 1 DVD's were not so wonderful for me I imagine my kids wouldn't have liked them, but my enthusiasm has really helped in this area.

I just ordered this. I got the 5th grade volume to use with my 9 and 11 year olds. I think this will be perfect because I can keep one sentence on the marker board that we "digest" throughout the week. This, hopefully, will not seem like yet another class to tack on and more like a little daily chore like brushing your teeth. It was $43 with the teacher book, one workbook (not needed, but for my own reference purposes) and shipping.

This looks perfect! I was looking for something just like this! :001_smile:

I finally read the volumes and they are not as daunting as I thought they would be. Her language can be tough I'll admit, but she also has some very down-to-earth stories that are pretty easy to get the gist of. I just read volumes 1 and 6. The first covers her philosophy and the 6th (which was written 40 years later) really shows how it was honed over those years. I wish I had read them years ago because every other book is an interpretation of her works. I gleaned so much more of the "big picture" by just buckling down and doing it.

:party: I am so happy to hear that. I just was re-reading the LCC today after reading volumes 1 and 6 of Charlotte's writing over the weekend. I was so engrossed I couldn't put them down.:001_smile: Anyway, I came to the conclusion today that LCC is very CM when compared to her original writings. Savoring a great book and studying latin grammar were a focal point of her curriculum during the "read to learn" stage. I believe she differed on her approach to formal compostion, but in the later educational years I doubt she was light in her expectations. It's nice to affirm the two can be blended. I have been having a bit of a problem keeping up my read aloud schedule.:tongue_smilie:

:iagree: :lol: I love this. I am trying to simply my CM/ Sonlight ways. I am getting bogged down by too many books and my kids' narrations are poor because of it. I just re-read this book and am going to "chill" myself and use 1 (eek, what a change!) book at a time. Many of their SL books are going to be for free reading in the afternoon and before bed.

I second the move to LC 1 instead of Prima for a 10 year old. My boys, 9 and 11, are doing fine with it. If it becomes too much you can always slow it down to a lesson over two weeks. We have done that sometimes and it keeps the lessons well below their stress level.:001_smile: I like to make sure they know the vocab so we spend a couple of days reviewing ALL the cards they have learned. Also, I too use latin for grammar. The idea for the Grammar-land book is a good idea if you would like more. I believe that is a gentle introduction and free is always good. I have heard Charlotte Mason, C. S. Lewis and others learned their grammar from latin. If it works for them, I'm sure we can't go wrong.

:iagree: with Queen's. These books are great and have wonderful creative writing for the ages of your older children. Also Spelling Wisdom from www.simplycharlottemason.com is excellent. We use both and do Simply Grammar (amazon) once a year over the summer for kids 9+. Don't forget to have the kids narrate everyday. :001_smile:

www.simplycharlottemason.com has some great suggestions. She uses one map per year of one continent and has the children put what they know onto a blank map each week after looking at a completed one (like a picture study). By the end of the year they pretty much know it all very well. This is a great long term approach to geography.

First Form can come after LC 1, which is what we are going to do. I think when all the "Form" books are done we won't need Henle 1 (maybe?). I have heard they are planning three or four years. I may be in the minority, but I am not big on diagramming. It is not very CM and I tend to take my cues from there. If I do it it will be a season or two, but not years and years of it. We have used Shurley and I think their form of diagramming works just as well. Again, this was a short little spurt of formal grammar and not the whole curriculum.

So far I haven't seen any diagramming in my LC1 and LC2 books, but there is PLENTY of grammar. I think my kids are getting a very good handle on case, tense, parts of speech, etc. through latin. We are going to First Form from Memoria when it comes out with DVD's. This is all I am planning for grammar.

Have you ever tried a literature-based curriculum: CM, Sonlight, My Father's World, etc? I used CLE for my son in first grade and while he did well, he didn't bloom until we went to a lit based program. He still complains occasionally, but he also forgets that all the good books he reads are actually school. He is more prone to whine about math lessons.