How do you keep your LCC from becoming LCC+ everything else we did before?

[gandpsmommy]

I really want to transition our homeschooling efforts to a more Latin-Centered approach in the fall. I was initially very excited about this, not only because it would help us to become truly classical and because we would get to study Latin for the first time, but also largely because it would help me to streamline our curriculum and go more in depth with a few key subjects. I'm having trouble, as time progresses, reconciling in my mind how all of this is going to take place, however. The main obstacles I see are that I still want to do a formal English grammar program, most likely FLL3, and I want to purchase and use SWB's new writing program, and we will continue teaching science (as it is ds's main interest), and I can't imagine cutting out art and music.

 

I do think that art and music will be more of extras, as we will be hiring a piano teacher to give the children lessons and we will be enrolling them in art lessons at a local art museum. But I know that we will also want to continue using Classical Magic for music and doing something with art history. If I don't schedule these, I know they won't happen, so whether we call them "school" or not, they will probably feel like "school", kwim? So, how is this streamlining at all? Am I just adding more to what we are doing? How does all of this really play out in your day-to-day schedules? Am I just being too uptight?

[Faithr]

Hi Terri,

 

I am going to attempt to go from being very unschoolish to LCC and I'm having the same problem envisioning things! My kids all have struggled with language arts so that is the thing that I focus on even when unschooling. They just won't sit down and naturally write or learn to read (late bloomers) so even in my most unschoolish times that has been a focus.

 

As for the other stuff, music does just happen with us and in fact it happens a lot more joyfully once I unschooled it and took it out of the realm of me formally planning it. Especially since your children are so very young, and the fact that you're starting them out with lessons, you really probably don't need to schedule it. It will happen, probably not in a nice neat fashion, but when the kids are most receptive and enjoyment will be the highest. Art history for kids that young is simply getting a picture book out once in a while and poring over it. Or taking them on the occasional fieldtrip. That's all you need, unless your kids are chomping at the bit for more.

 

I am envisioning my day as doing Latin and Math right after breakfast, taking free time to work with the older kids while my youngers play (they gravitate to music, drawing and gymnastics when left on their own). Then after lunch we're going to do a bit of language arts. We'll have a set reading time for read alouds as well as independent reading (this isn't different from what we do now). The free time gets taken up in all sorts of wonderful ways.

 

My trouble with streamlining is that I have teens and little ones and life is so complicated that there really isn't a way to streamline. That's just the season of my life I guess.

 

Maybe Plaid Dad's revised LCC will give up some hints.

 

Not sure I've helped at all . . .

[Wendy in ME]

We switched to a LCC type schedule this year after Christmas break. At times I find it hard to remain focussed and keep things simple. There are so many good things that we could be doing and so many great programs that I just can't seem to resist looking at and dreaming about how we could use them. To help be stay the course, I reread LCC, write out sample schedules and hang out on classical educations boards for moral support. I know the path that I have chosen will provide my boys with a wonderful education and give them the tools they need to go on and study anything they want. I also now that I want to have a pared down schedule because I will eventually have 4 boys to teach. We need to get the most out of every subject that we choose to teach. Basically, I have to remind myself of the reasons I chose this type of curriculum and stick to it. There are many great things out there that I would love to try but I have to accept that we can't do everything and I only have to look at how much happier we are since Christmas to know that giving up a few otherwise great programs has been worth it.

[cajun.classical]

I'm sure others will chime in here and give a much more detailed reply than I have time for right now. I know it seems like you'll be only ADDING to your day if you start to include more LCC type curriculum, but it's not the case if you remember that you don't have to do every subject every day. That has been the key for us.

 

Daily we do Latin, Math, and Classical Writing (because it requires daily work; not all writing programs are this intensive). Everything else is rotated throughout the week. So, if you really want to do FLL and SWB's writing program, then alternate them. FLL Monday, Wed, Frid, Writing Tuesday, Thursday. Some people also rotate Science and History--either weekly rotation or quarterly.

 

You'll also notice if you look closely at LCC that music is not an extra. It is given a daily slot and art is also considered important. Have considered a 4 day school week? We do this and use our "off day" to make time for art lessons and music lessons. We do daily picture study and composer study. We also school year round which makes it easy to get in a lot of the "extras" you mentioned. We might use the summer months to brush up on grammar after completing our WRiting Program during the school year.

 

There are lots of ways to make it fit comfortably without feeling like your days are jam-packed. It just takes a willingness to think outside the box a little and being able to reject the modern classroom model. We may also find once you begin intensive Latin studies that you don't need FLL as much as you thought.

 

HTH.

[Beth in Central TX]

I read TWTM and really liked the approach outlined there, and then I read LCC and really liked the approach outlined there too. I've spent the last year or so trying to streamline our schedule to make it a good fit for us. Right now, I think I'm a mix of TWTM & LCC, but I don't feel like I'm overscheduled, and I don't feel like I'm not doing enough. I finally got to this place though when I moved just a little closer to LCC this winter.

 

Even though we do Latin & Greek in our homeschool, I still continued R&S grammar, and I will stay with this program until R&S 8. I think it's a superb program that reinforces the work we not only in Latin & Greek, but also CW.

 

The changes I made this year have to do with all of the extras I was trying to fit into our schedule. Mainly pre-logic work and Critical Thinking software. These little one day activities crowded our week and I didn't see any real benefit from them; the lessons were spread out and we were constantly trying to remember what we did the week before. Therefore, I dropped them. Our schedule feels more streamlined now. I do schedule some of our subjects 4 days a week so that we can do art and music projects on Friday.

 

Another change I made for next year is dropping formal science in the junior high years. My son will read through a science book, but it's going to be on an informal setting meaning that I won't schedule his lessons. He will just read through the book during his assigned reading time during the day. If he wants to do some of the experiments, we will save those for the weekends. I'm not going to require written assignments either. This approach fit in better with the long-term and short-term goals we have for our homeschool.

 

It took a lot of trial and error on my part to get to a streamlined schedule for our homeschool. We still do more than the LCC model, but we don't do as many subjects as TWTM recommends. It's a good fit for us though, and therefore, will provide the structure we need to successfully homeschool our boys.

[Mamagistra]

LOL Good question! :D

[dragons in the flower bed]

I was initially very excited . . . [that] it would help me to streamline our curriculum and go more in depth with a few key subjects . . . I still want to do a formal English grammar program, most likely FLL3, and I want to purchase and use SWB's new writing program, and we will continue teaching science (as it is ds's main interest), and I can't imagine cutting out art and music.

 

Please, please, don't take this in a snippy way. Imagine me with whatever facial expression says curious, helpful and detached to you. But maybe you don't really want to do LCC. That's okay, too. Sometimes an idea appeals because it's something we can't do, KWIM?

 

Science is my DS' main interest, too, and that's why I feel okay cutting it out. The children will do science no matter what I do. I just buy the books and kits and leave them lying around. They're read or done within 24 hours of passing through our front door. I wouldn't take this approach in high school, but it's amazingly effective right now. I manipulate what subjects they tackle when by purchasing only books or materials on the year's theme, and in the order I want them to learn it.

 

But I know that we will also want to continue using Classical Magic for music and doing something with art history.

 

You could include these subjects in history. Have your kids study the composers at the point in the history cycle when they come up. Make every fourth history lesson an art-of-the-period lesson, or do picture study on history days as part of the lesson.

 

You could also decide that music or art is more important than classical or modern studies and make up a weekly schedule replacing the latter with the former.

 

SWB's new writing program uses the progym eventually, right? So it seems in line with what LCC recommends. As for FLL, if your son needs it, he needs it, and that just can't be simplified.

 

All of this is just IMHO, of course :)

[chaik76]

Please, please, don't take this in a snippy way. Imagine me with whatever facial expression says curious, helpful and detached to you. But maybe you don't really want to do LCC. That's okay, too. Sometimes an idea appeals because it's something we can't do, KWIM?

 

Science is my DS' main interest, too, and that's why I feel okay cutting it out. The children will do science no matter what I do. I just buy the books and kits and leave them lying around. They're read or done within 24 hours of passing through our front door. I wouldn't take this approach in high school, but it's amazingly effective right now. I manipulate what subjects they tackle when by purchasing only books or materials on the year's theme, and in the order I want them to learn it.

 

 

 

You could include these subjects in history. Have your kids study the composers at the point in the history cycle when they come up. Make every fourth history lesson an art-of-the-period lesson, or do picture study on history days as part of the lesson.

 

You could also decide that music or art is more important than classical or modern studies and make up a weekly schedule replacing the latter with the former.

 

SWB's new writing program uses the progym eventually, right? So it seems in line with what LCC recommends. As for FLL, if your son needs it, he needs it, and that just can't be simplified.

 

All of this is just IMHO, of course :)

 

Super good idea for science! This never occurred to me and our son is science-focused. This would so work! Thanks!