miracleone Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 In the past, I've used several different curriculum to homeschool and we're also in CC. We mainly use CC as a memory program but we didn't allign it with what we study at home. However, I am re-thinking if it's worth to continue CC this coming Fall. Some people have actually streamlined their curriculum to just using CC materials and getting supplemental reading materials (for history, science and art), have a Math program. They said that their kids retain more because they are studying what they are memorizing and that it has simplified their homeschool. Has anyone done this? Do you think the kids are getting enough or more than enough education when using CC as a spine? We are going to do Essentials next year too. I heard that it's a complete L.A. program (minus spelling) Any advice? I appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snipsnsnailsx5 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I don't know the answer. :) It will be our first year for CC this fall. However, the money we'll be spending on it - I'd REALLY like it to be the spine for our homeschool. I think it would be easier on our schedule anyway, rather then doing CC memory work, etc and then another curriculum on top of that. I'd love to hear the answers and suggestions for those that do use CC as a base/spine. :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryanne Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 We are currently in our 5th year of CC. Ds is in 5th grade and dd is in 2nd. I have never tried to use CC as the spine and just supplement with books from the library etc. I know many families successfully do this, but in our house 1 of 2 possibilities would happen if we did this: Either, it not be sufficiently rigorous for us as we struggled to keep up with the pace of CC and to keep up with getting library books on topic. Or, I would end up spending a lot of time (time I don't have) pulling together the necessary resources and planning it all out to get the rich, meaty curriculum comparable to the purchased curriculum choices we've made. Instead I have tried to purchase curriculum that loosely correlates with the broad topics of the year: Cycle 1 (ds in 1st): Ancient History (Sonlight Core 1), Life Science (from Living Learning Books-LLB) Cycle 2 (2nd): Medieval History (Story of the World Book 2), Earth & Space (from LLB and Apologia) Cycle 3 (3rd & K): American History (Sonlight Core 3 and part of Core 4), Physical Science (parts of books from God's Design for Chemistry & Physics), Library books for Ker Cycle 1 (4th, 1st): Ancient History (Tapestry of Grace Year 1), Life Science (Easy Classical) Cycle 2 (5th, 2nd): Medieval and Early Modern History (parts of My Father's World Rome to Reformation & Exploration To 1850), Earth & Space (God's Design) Cycle 3 (next year: 6th & 3rd): US History (My Father's World Exploration to 1850 finish and 1850 to Present, Physical Science TBD Hope this helps you figure out what's best for your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmama Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 The previous post was so helpful -- thank you! We are in our first year of CC. We are using it as the focus for our history and science curriculum. For math and LA, CC does very little (the exception is Essentials -- you will get tons of grammar and writing with it). I spend a little money on books/reading for each to supplement at home, but I haven't found a need to buy a huge curriculum. I'd rather use things like Usborne encyclopedias, which will always be helpful, and getting things like readers/SOTW2 used versus investing in a separate packaged hundreds-of-dollars curriculum on top of what we're already paying for CC. This year was Cycle 2, and we are doing SOTW2 (skipping some chapters) and Usborne Encyclopedia reading for history. For science, in the fall we did astronomy, and in the spring we are doing a little with physics, mostly from the book Gizmos and Gadgets, plus the Usborne Science Encyclopedia. Next year (Cycle 3, American history) we will use Queen Homeschool's America's Story as our base (actually using some this year about Columbus, Native Americans, etc., instead of those SOTW2 chapters) plus lots of readers ala Sonlight. America's story is here and also Rainbow Resource: http://www.queenhomeschool.com/productpages/History/livingworldhistoryframe.html We also live an hour from Williamsburg and Jamestown, and so my plan is to do a lot of the colonial period through summer field trips this summer, so that we can start with the Revolutionary War in the fall and somewhat keep up with the CC history. For science, I'm still on the fence but leaning toward portions of Elemental Science Biology for the fall (human body is the focus in CC). Honestly, though, we don't do much with science at home -- maybe one day a week. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jozi Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Last year I did CC and the full Sonlight curriculum. It was crazy and I felt like we didn't do well at either. This year we are using CC and supplimenting with reading from: Everything you need to know about World History homework .................................................Science..................... Kingfisher Encyclopedia Story of the World Mystery of History That, plus the Science Snippits and History Highlights is so great! If I hadn't purchased those books, I would never have time to go to the library weekly to find information on each of the weeks' topics. Plus, for their presentations, sometimes they will get some books out on one of the topics they are learning in order to find out more about it. I also get out Sonlight's readers and read alouds from the library and work that in with our 1st Language Lessons and All About Spelling for Language Arts. We do AWANA review and a daily devotional for Bible. I use Math U See. I feel like this is a very comprehensive program and a lot cheaper and more manageable than buying another complete curriculum. Hope that helps! Joelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OK Family Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 This is my family second year in CC. Along with memorizing our timeline cards and memory cards, I read Story of the World. There are 4 volumes. Even though the chapters don't line up (although I think someone has done the work "read this chapter to go along with this week") I have noticed as I am reading each chapter both my 7 and 4 year old will say hey Charlemagne is on one of my time line cards. I know the memory pegs are being laid, very important. We also sometimes read from Kingfishers History Encyclopedia (the timeline cards will say for more info look in these books...) Other than that we don't do any other history, CC does alot of history which we love. Science I do not supplement. We focus our homeschool on reading, writing, math, spelling and of course our CC memorization. clear as mud..? I do order our reading books from sonlight, I like having them all ready to go with the schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam112198 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama2Boys Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 This year we have used CC as supplemental fun and for social reasons. My boys really look forward to CC day every week. The rest of the week we are doing WWE and FLL, along with Sonlight Core 3 read-alouds and readers. It has worked out fine. Like other posters have said, next year will be Cycle 3 with a focus on American/Modern History. I plan on continuing CC with Sonlight Core 4 for read-alouds and readers. Hope this helps. Good luck with your decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mert Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I have a blog post about CC that tries to answer some of these questions, but I think it is best used as a spine, especially for science and history (we don't use it as a spine for anything else). Here is a thread I started showing how we developed a lapbook to go along with the history this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susesmiles Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Interesting, thanks for the info ladies :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamedesignmom Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 :bigear: Actually, this is the main issue I'm confronted with as I'm considering enrolling dd7 and ds 6 in CC next year. I've fallen in love with TruthQuest History, which begins with American History for 1st-2nd grade, and want to use it next year. Would my dc be permitted to start with Cycle 3 and then go back and do Cycles 1 and 2? ______________________ Game Design Mom married to Game Programmer Dad Playtester 1 dd 7- S.F. Math, ACHOTW history, mix of lang. arts curr. Playtester 2 ds 6- Aspie, ps kinder coming home in two months Future playtester ds 3- enjoying planes trains and automobiles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 you can start with CC whichever cycle you want to. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamedesignmom Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Bonus! Thanks for responding. Game Design Mom married to Game Programmer Dad Playtester 1 dd 7- S.F. Math, ACHOTW history, mix of lang. arts curr. Playtester 2 ds 6- Aspie, ps kinder coming home in two months Future playtester ds 3- enjoying planes trains and automobiles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mert Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 If you're actually doing the CC classes once a week with a group, you don't have a choice. Everyone is doing cycle 3 next year. Then the following year everyone will go back around and do cycle 1. ~HTH :bigear: Actually, this is the main issue I'm confronted with as I'm considering enrolling dd7 and ds 6 in CC next year. I've fallen in love with TruthQuest History, which begins with American History for 1st-2nd grade, and want to use it next year. Would my dc be permitted to start with Cycle 3 and then go back and do Cycles 1 and 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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