amandajh Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 what made you change and what have been your results? I was intrigued by the Charlotte Mason philosophy and learned some things I would not otherwise have learned, but could never really "get it" and make it work in real life. There were also some things in language arts that I just did not agree with. I struggled for a year or so trying to put it all together without finding the real, practical help that I was looking for. I gave up simply because it was not working for my children and gravitated back to the WTM. :) My real turning point was listening to S.W.Bauer's audio lectures. I'm so thankful that I paid that $4! How much sense it all makes now!! She made narration, dication, and living books make sense to me. The stages of the trivium now seem like common sense. ( I have to admit that I had only read the grammar stage of TWTM:001_huh: so I did not see the big picture before) She says.... use this or that book and tell the child to do this or that. I love it! I also like knowing what NOT to expect from a grammar stage child (ie. creative writing, correct spelling transfered in writing, giving their opinion about something, etc.) I am serious.....ALL of my questions were answered by one audio lecture!:D So if you have changed, why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAutumnOak Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I am new to WTM and classical methods and have not veered away yet, but wanted to chime in about Susan's audios...I listened to "Joy of Classical Education" and really enjoyed that talk!...I got a lot out of it and it was the best .99 I spent so far... I would encourage anyone who haven't listened to it yet to get it...It is $1 and is very much worth it :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 How old are your kids? Everything you need to know can't be learned from just the cd's, great as they are, because SWB isn't teaching *your* dc. Your education becomes complete when you start watching *your* dc to see if her ideas match. Unfortunately, sometimes SWB's list of things not to expect are the things your dc wants, and the things SWB says you need to require don't fit your dc. It's ok to veer there too. I think people take different things from WTM. Some take a full plan from it. Others take a progression of skills. For others it's a nice list of books. For others it's a door weight. If you take reassurance from it, that's a good thing. Really though, the key is to watch your dc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandajh Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 How old are your kids? Everything you need to know can't be learned from just the cd's, great as they are, because SWB isn't teaching *your* dc. Your education becomes complete when you start watching *your* dc to see if her ideas match. Unfortunately, sometimes SWB's list of things not to expect are the things your dc wants, and the things SWB says you need to require don't fit your dc. It's ok to veer there too. I think people take different things from WTM. Some take a full plan from it. Others take a progression of skills. For others it's a nice list of books. For others it's a door weight. If you take reassurance from it, that's a good thing. Really though, the key is to watch your dc. Oh, I totally agree that her ideas have to match your children. (mine are 8 and 10, btw) I was having "ahh haa" moments about things we had tried in the past and failed with while I listened to what SWB was saying in her lecture....for example, at one time I was freaking out because my son could spell all the words on his spelling test, but not when writing those same words on a grocery list for me. She addressed that. I had also had both children completely stressed out by creative writing in several different language programs we have tried in the past. She addressed that, too. There were several other things she talked about that made me physically nod my head as I listened! She was just "right on" with MY kids....developmentally and academically. And she was a great encouragement to me by tell me what to do and what to use because I could see most of it working so well for my children. Other ideas in the past may have sounded good to ME but until now I had not read or heard anything that really FIT my kids so well. Like I said before, I had not read all of TWTM (only the grammar parts) and seeing the big picture and the stages explained makes a big difference too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Interesting question. When I started I read about many models of education (classical, Charlotte Mason, unit studies, etc). I'd say that my beliefs led me to a Charlotte Mason style - real books, emphasis on language skills (native and foreign). The hard core (so it seemed to me at the time) 1st-4th is memorization, 5th-8th is logic, etc. didn't sound right to me, because I know from experience how different (but entirely normal) people can be. Unit studies (Amanda Bennett style) were intriguing too, but it didn't fit my personality (I'd over plan and never do). But I kept being overwhelmed. I liked the chronological, whole family history from the WTM. I like artist study from CM. Nature study. Classical music. Memorizing facts. I just couldn't juggle all those balls ... So that feeling made LCC a breath of fresh air. Simple - choose the best to focus on for academics. Let the others be extra, or family stuff; but not add chaos to school. Fewer facts, but the most important ones. The best books, move the good ones to a list to read for fun. Then I tested it: Latin is helping my oldest with English. My kids love the read alouds - same books, but less stress from Mom maybe? :blink: I'm not a 100% anything, but we are finding our groove. My point is that I think many have veered, but it's because it works for them. That's the beauty of homeschooling - to tailor education to the family, the student and even the circumstances of a particular year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandajh Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Interesting question. When I started I read about many models of education (classical, Charlotte Mason, unit studies, etc). I'd say that my beliefs led me to a Charlotte Mason style - real books, emphasis on language skills (native and foreign). The hard core (so it seemed to me at the time) 1st-4th is memorization, 5th-8th is logic, etc. didn't sound right to me, because I know from experience how different (but entirely normal) people can be. Unit studies (Amanda Bennett style) were intriguing too, but it didn't fit my personality (I'd over plan and never do). But I kept being overwhelmed. I liked the chronological, whole family history from the WTM. I like artist study from CM. Nature study. Classical music. Memorizing facts. I just couldn't juggle all those balls ... So that feeling made LCC a breath of fresh air. Simple - choose the best to focus on for academics. Let the others be extra, or family stuff; but not add chaos to school. Fewer facts, but the most important ones. The best books, move the good ones to a list to read for fun. Then I tested it: Latin is helping my oldest with English. My kids love the read alouds - same books, but less stress from Mom maybe? :blink: I'm not a 100% anything, but we are finding our groove. My point is that I think many have veered, but it's because it works for them. That's the beauty of homeschooling - to tailor education to the family, the student and even the circumstances of a particular year. Very true....I don't guess that I am 100% Classical either, when you put it that way. I have pulled artist study, composer study, habit training, handicrafts, and nature study from the CM method into our school. We use and love CLE math, and have never really memorized much except Bible verses. Anyway, I guess I really enjoyed her speaking about language arts because that was the biggest problem I have tried to work out in the past. Everything she said made sense to me and it was as if she were speaking about my children. Well, and her science lecture helped too! LOL I like her ideas on history, language arts and science. :glare: So I guess I am really an eclectic homeschooler, huh? Thanks you all for helping me figure myself out :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Personally...I think most homeschoolers are eclectic ;). We are eclectic with strong classical and Charlotte Mason leanings, but definitely eclectic! I love eclecticism! There is such a huge learning curve in homeschooling, it's great to be able to shift and change as needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anabelneri Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 what made you change and what have been your results? So if you have changed, why? I'm still fairly new (I'm in my 3rd year :lol:) and I started out as a pretty pure WTM follower (though with BFSU, which isn't very WTMish). What I found in the last couple years was that we would cover tons and tons of information and dd was learning a lot, but that somehow we weren't reading enough good literature. I know that the WTM says we should be reading good literature, and gives suggestions, etc., but since it didn't land on our schedule in a concrete way (like spelling, math, memorization, etc. did) it didn't happen. Sweetie certainly read a lot in her free time, but she really wanted more, and I wanted more for her. So now we're on the AO track. But I don't feel like it pulled us off the WTM track; more like it enhanced it. We're still basically doing the same stuff, just with more literature, and scheduled slightly differently. So it really feels like just a "veer" rather than being on a completely different road. I'm not doing things totally CM, though right now it looks like I am because Sweetie already can read and we're not doing any formal grammar at the moment. I do need to compare suggestions for things like logic, latin, and rhetoric, since I'm still WTMish to be concerned about that. Hopefully that's vaguely interesting... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Well, WTM had the organization I felt we needed, but at the same time it was just too much, esp. for the early grades. LCC suggested some balance, and somewhere in between, with a dash of unschoolish non-worry about the content subjects (history, science, etc.), we seem to be finding our way. Next year will look more LCC. We're not doing formal history at all, so that's a major veer away from WTM, but otoh this year we're doing FLL. This year is pretty much "focus on the basics and leave the rest for child-led exploration". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closeacademy Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 TWTM didn't fit exactly with my dds learning styles but last year, I just totally dropped the framework of classical alltogether when I realized that we just weren't moving forward at all. I switched to Oak Meadow as our core, Rod and Staff math and some free online workbooks and lapbooks to round things out and we are so much happier, less stressed and we are making a lot of progress now. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Which SWB lecture did you purchase? I've been thinking of listening to some but I don't know which ones are most informative... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Robyn Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I never was 100% classical. I started out doing mainly unit studies and ideas of my own. As my younger two started getting older, and I had three children to deal with instead of one, I found myself not having enough time to plan everything out from scratch (and find or create all the materials, and go buy them or wait from them to arrive, etc.) and so I decided to start purchasing curricula. I decided TWTM was a good starting point for that. The upside of the change is we got back to lots of learning. The downside is considerably less creativity and fun - for all of us. I'm hoping to strike a balance by using OM next year - fingers crossed. I have enjoyed some of SWBs lectures though, and I too find it comforting to be reminded that my children are young and need not yet spit out pure genius, or even spell "genius" correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandajh Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Which SWB lecture did you purchase? I've been thinking of listening to some but I don't know which ones are most informative... First, I listened to The Joy of Classical Education. It was only $.99 and I thought that was a great deal since going to acutally hear her at our convention would be $35 to just register. Then I listened to the Science in the Classical Curriculum and then A Plan for Teaching Writing: Elementary Grades. I took notes on my computer while listening to the one on writing and plan to listen and take more notes on other lectures too. Hope that helps :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I don't use everything in the order or precisely the way that SWB recommends, but most of her stuff fits us to a "T". Science has been our shortcoming, and in this area we are more CM in our approach. I like the notebooking aspect of it. I believe in lots of memory work in the grammar stages, and my children really enjoy this, as well. On this we have never strayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 oops...double post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 The only reason I haven't 'veered' is that TWTM method works for my kids and it works for me. They are like little advertisements for SWB, lol. However, I think that is just a matter of styles meshing. I read TWTM and I 'got' it. It felt like I was coming home. I held my breath the first couple years because I would have changed if it didn't work for my kids. So far, it has been easy peasy. We are all happy. In fact, every time I have 'veered' it doesn't go well. I am relearning that with ds2. ;) My teaching method motto is "it really can be that simple." Do I use all the same materials she suggests? No. And I don't think twice about it. I use what works for us. But I do use the method and that has worked for us. When things are not feeling right, I have learned I need to go back and recommit to method and it always gets better. And I have pretty much all the audio lectures at this point. DH teases me for being such a hs geek. I find myself coming back, again and again, to "the Joy of Classical Education" and the entire writing series. But, really, they are all useful. The one titled "educating ourselves' inspired my dh to undertake a more rigorous reading list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 First, I listened to The Joy of Classical Education. It was only $.99 and I thought that was a great deal since going to acutally hear her at our convention would be $35 to just register.Then I listened to the Science in the Classical Curriculum and then A Plan for Teaching Writing: Elementary Grades. I took notes on my computer while listening to the one on writing and plan to listen and take more notes on other lectures too. Hope that helps :) Thanks! That does help!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabrett Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I started veering when I found out how long each individual subject curricula recommended took time wise. I think all the curricula suggest in TWTM are the best available, but when you start doing an individual program for each subject in LA like HTW (and all HWT's extras), FFL, WWE, phonics (ORGTR or PP's), finding your own reader to go with the phonics and an individual spelling program......it was too much! I needed an all in one program that integrated all the LA components. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I have been homeschooling my twins from the beginning, and we followed the recommendations of TWTM very closely. It worked great, and I was very excited that they were getting a classical education. Then my youngest came along, and I just assumed I would teach him in the same way. Alas, he proved me wrong. He and classical education do not mix at all. It took me over a year to find a curriculum that interests him. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.