Charlote Mason users

[faiths13]

can you tell me about your daily schedule? I am just starting to implement CM philosophy into our hs, and I need some ideas on how to schedule our days. They are still too chaotic! We have been doing copywork, dication, narration, lots of reading, living math, and trying to throw in some science and history.

[hmschooling]

Have you seen Heart of Dakota? It's a CM program with daily schedules! You could at least get some ideas of what a day looks like by looking at samples. Also, look at the "times per box" in the different levels of HOD...that'll tell you how many minutes are allotted for each subject and give you some ideas. The program is so awesome though...so you might want to just give it a go! ;)

[faiths13]

I am trying to just use things that are mostly free at this point - i cant afford a boxed curric. but it looks nice :) I am mostly just wanting to see how others plan out their day using the CM philosophy.

Edited January 24, 2012 by faiths13

[hmschooling]

I am trying to just use things that are mostly free at this point - i cant afford a boxed curric. but it looks nice :)

 

You can get many of the books at the library or used online for pretty cheap :)

 

As for free or very affordable, freelyeducate.com, frugallyeducate.com, MEP Math, Math Mammoth, Confessions of a Homeschooler, Starfall, Shepardsoftware.com, Google Books (you can find Ray's Arithmetic or Serl's language lessons and much more)

 

ETA: Also, if you use google chrome as your browser, there are tons of free apps you can install on the opening page that are educational.

[LindaOz]

I am tending to do things in 'blocks'. Our first block of the day is for skills - math, LA skills like copywork, grammar, dictation etc (not all on the same day), and ds7 reads to me.

 

Then we have morning tea break for about 1/2 hour where the kids go outside and play some sort of game together.

 

The next block is for reading based subjects - history, literature, science, geography etc. The older kids work on their own here, while I read with the younger ones together. This leads to narration and some other sort of response activity to what is read like written narration, pictures, journal etc.

 

Then lunch.

 

After lunch is quiet time for an hour during which they read own literature or free read if finished assigned reading.

 

After that I spend some time with my 3 teens as a group - we read, do logic, current events, some geography, music theory etc (not all the same day ;) )

 

That's about how I run things at the moment. Things I want to do as a group with the younger kids I usually do straight after morning tea because everyone comes inside together and we get together as a group then. Things I want to do as WHOLE family works better at a meal time eg: Bible and composer at breakfast, poetry at lunch. We have whole family read-aloud after dinner but that's not school related. Other CM schedules suggest alternating skills and reading based subjects during the day, but I find with 7 kids that it works better for me to group the skills and reading based subjects together. It means less changing gears and keeps me on track more. The idea of short lessons for young kids can still be applied this way, while the older ones work for longer.

 

Well, that was long and rambling.

 

HTH

[KAM]

Ours is posted here. I started out with Ambleside as our base, but then I cut way way back on everything and combined the kids in most things to simplify. The kids are 11, 9, and 6.

[Mandy in TN]

Here is the schedule from the Parent's Union School 1908.

 

Go for short blocks of time and try to stagger the subject matter. So, if you are doing math and math drill don't schedule those 2 blocks back to back. Also, notice in the Parents' Union schedules that the subjects were different every day- subjects rotated. Here are more details.

 

Notice in Class II that dictation was done 3 days/ weeks and arithmetic was done 5 days/ week. Class II averaged 9yo to 12 yo.

 

Here is information from the Simply Charlotte Mason website. Pay attention to this: "Obviously, our schedules cannot look exactly like Charlotte’s; and they shouldn’t, because we are different people living in a different time and different situations." And pay attention to these bullet points:

 

Set times for work and times for rest/refreshment.

Take a short rest if needed, then continue.

Read aloud after dinner and supper.

Schedule time outside every day.

Keep several books of different styles going for personal enjoyment.

Organize the household early in the day and train your children to help.

 

All of this should set you on your way to creating a CM schedule that will work in your home.

 

However, remember that CM is so much more than dictation or CM materials or CM schedules.

 

My overriding homeschool philosophy is adapted entirely from Charlotte Mason.

 

My child is not a blank slate, but is a whole person complete with his own personality and capacity for good and evil. I respect that he is born whole and that his mind is naturally designed to learn. I can provide the nourishment of education for his mind to grow healthy through a learning lifestyle where he is trained to be disciplined not in subject matter but in life for "education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life."

 

My child must be taught the difference between what he wants to do right now and his will to do what is appropriate/ right. He must also be taught to be careful not to rationalize something to be right simply because he wants it to be so. Along these lines, there can be no true happiness without first taking care of responsibilities. “…the chief responsibility which rests on them as persons is the acceptance or rejection of ideas. To help them in this choice we give them principles of conduct, and a wide range of the knowledge fitted to them.â€

 

"I am, I can, I ought, I will." is the place from which I instruct, because we achieve through diligence not through intelligence or imagination. I use habit training as a road to success, and I exercise this alongside the idea that “perhaps the business of teachers is to open as many doors as possible.â€

 

Gotta love CM.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[momto2blessings]

Have you looked at http://www.simplycharlottemason.com? They have some sample schedules and a free curriculum guide. I also bought their "Planning Your CM Education" book. Very helpful for me to know that all my CM bases are covered and it includes free downloadable schedules. I just pick what I like best from Ambleside and SCM and make my own schedule. HTH some:) Gina

[AngelBee]

We love http://www.amblesidonline.org and http://www.oldfashionededucation.com :) both are free.

[faiths13]

Here is the schedule from the Parent's Union School 1908.

 

Go for short blocks of time and try to stagger the subject matter. So, if you are doing math and math drill don't schedule those 2 blocks back to back. Also, notice in the Parents' Union schedules that the subjects were different every day- subjects rotated. Here are more details.

 

Notice in Class II that dictation was done 3 days/ weeks and arithmetic was done 5 days/ week. Class II averaged 9yo to 12 yo.

 

Here is information from the Simply Charlotte Mason website. Pay attention to this: "Obviously, our schedules cannot look exactly like Charlotte’s; and they shouldn’t, because we are different people living in a different time and different situations." And pay attention to these bullet points:

 

Set times for work and times for rest/refreshment.

Take a short rest if needed, then continue.

Read aloud after dinner and supper.

Schedule time outside every day.

Keep several books of different styles going for personal enjoyment.

Organize the household early in the day and train your children to help.

 

All of this should set you on your way to creating a CM schedule that will work in your home.

 

However, remember that CM is so much more than dictation or CM materials or CM schedules.

 

My overriding homeschool philosophy is adapted entirely from Charlotte Mason.

 

My child is not a blank slate, but is a whole person complete with his own personality and capacity for good and evil. I respect that he is born whole and that his mind is naturally designed to learn. I can provide the nourishment of education for his mind to grow healthy through a learning lifestyle where he is trained to be disciplined not in subject matter but in life for "education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life."

 

My child must be taught the difference between what he wants to do right now and his will to do what is appropriate/ right. He must also be taught to be careful not to rationalize something to be right simply because he wants it to be so. Along these lines, there can be no true happiness without first taking care of responsibilities. “…the chief responsibility which rests on them as persons is the acceptance or rejection of ideas. To help them in this choice we give them principles of conduct, and a wide range of the knowledge fitted to them.â€

 

"I am, I can, I ought, I will." is the place from which I instruct, because we achieve through diligence not through intelligence or imagination. I use habit training as a road to success, and I exercise this alongside the idea that “perhaps the business of teachers is to open as many doors as possible.â€

 

Gotta love CM.

 

HTH-

Mandy

 

thank you so much Mandy :) Great links, and very inspiring quotes.

[faiths13]

Have you looked at www.simplycharlottemason.com? They have some sample schedules and a free curriculum guide. I also bought their "Planning Your CM Education" book. Very helpful for me to know that all my CM bases are covered and it includes free downloadable schedules. I just pick what I like best from Ambleside and SCM and make my own schedule. HTH some:) Gina

 

Ive been thinking about buying the Planning Your CM Education, but talked myself out of it. Maybe it will be the tool I need :)

[faiths13]

We love www.amblesidonline.org and www.oldfashionededucation.com :) both are free.

 

I have seen Ambleside, but not the other. Thanks :)

[kristinannie]

The first thing we do is circle time/morning basket time. We just started doing this when we implementing complete CM this semester and I love it. We do devotions, memorization, calendar, singing, calenstenics (sp?), a couple of read alouds (usually one in German and one on our history or science topic), etc. It is a lot of fun and a great way to start the day. Even my toddler loves it!

 

Next we go into mostly the core subjects. I try to keep lessons short (5-10 minutes, except for math which is about 20 but is broken into two segments). This is a typical day, but we mix it up...SM math 10-15 minutes, reading lesson 10 min, handwriting 5 min, phonics game 10 min, Miquon math 5-10 min, German 5-10 min, ETC if we are doing it, etc. We get all the core stuff in, but always switch things around so that different parts of the brain are used. Short lessons is key. If math is going to take 30 min, then break it up. The times that lessons takes will get longer as kids get older. Mine are still really little.

 

Then we have a LONG break for outdoor play/nature study (if the kids are so inclined that day). This usually lasts at least an hour.

 

We get back together at lunchtime for history/science/picture study. We do picture study once a week. It is the highlight of the week. I use calendars that I buy cheap (right now is a great time to buy them). I cut out the pics and then laminate them with an index card on the back saying the name of the picture, the artist and the year. We love it! Sometimes I will do 30 min of history or 30 min of science, but usually I do 15 minutes of each.

 

Once or twice a month, we will take either an afternoon or a whole day and do nature study. We will do it in our yard or go for a hike or something like that. I am thinking of making this once a week once the weather gets a little nicer!

 

Before nap/quiet time, we do a read aloud and we also do a read aloud before bed.

 

I have found that CM is a much more relaxed and fun way for the kids to learn. They pick up so much from the living books that I cannot believe it sometimes. They will mention something months later and I can't believe they remember it. I know that CM doesn't call for narrations under age 6, but I ask my kids after reading science only what they learned. Then I will write it down for them. They are really good at it. I will add more subjects of narration in next year. They even narrate TV shows they watch. It is pretty funny!

 

Good luck getting your schedule set up. Simply Charlotte Mason has some wonderful seminars you can buy on DVD that are extremely helpful in planning out your school day! I love CM because we can study such a wide variety of things and the kids really enjoy it. Plus, their attention is usually held due to the short lessons.

[faiths13]

The first thing we do is circle time/morning basket time. We just started doing this when we implementing complete CM this semester and I love it. We do devotions, memorization, calendar, singing, calenstenics (sp?), a couple of read alouds (usually one in German and one on our history or science topic), etc. It is a lot of fun and a great way to start the day. Even my toddler loves it!

 

Next we go into mostly the core subjects. I try to keep lessons short (5-10 minutes, except for math which is about 20 but is broken into two segments). This is a typical day, but we mix it up...SM math 10-15 minutes, reading lesson 10 min, handwriting 5 min, phonics game 10 min, Miquon math 5-10 min, German 5-10 min, ETC if we are doing it, etc. We get all the core stuff in, but always switch things around so that different parts of the brain are used. Short lessons is key. If math is going to take 30 min, then break it up. The times that lessons takes will get longer as kids get older. Mine are still really little.

 

Then we have a LONG break for outdoor play/nature study (if the kids are so inclined that day). This usually lasts at least an hour.

 

We get back together at lunchtime for history/science/picture study. We do picture study once a week. It is the highlight of the week. I use calendars that I buy cheap (right now is a great time to buy them). I cut out the pics and then laminate them with an index card on the back saying the name of the picture, the artist and the year. We love it! Sometimes I will do 30 min of history or 30 min of science, but usually I do 15 minutes of each.

 

Once or twice a month, we will take either an afternoon or a whole day and do nature study. We will do it in our yard or go for a hike or something like that. I am thinking of making this once a week once the weather gets a little nicer!

 

Before nap/quiet time, we do a read aloud and we also do a read aloud before bed.

 

I have found that CM is a much more relaxed and fun way for the kids to learn. They pick up so much from the living books that I cannot believe it sometimes. They will mention something months later and I can't believe they remember it. I know that CM doesn't call for narrations under age 6, but I ask my kids after reading science only what they learned. Then I will write it down for them. They are really good at it. I will add more subjects of narration in next year. They even narrate TV shows they watch. It is pretty funny!

 

Good luck getting your schedule set up. Simply Charlotte Mason has some wonderful seminars you can buy on DVD that are extremely helpful in planning out your school day! I love CM because we can study such a wide variety of things and the kids really enjoy it. Plus, their attention is usually held due to the short lessons.

 

thanks! i like the idea of the circle time. i have all ages kids, but it does seem like a nice way for us all get connected together in the morning.

 

and i know CM says short lessons, but I have been struggling with that. And deciding what to do daily vs weekly on some subjects. Its nice to hear you are doing short lessons and they work well. And the mixing it up. That is one thing I have forgotten that is important.

 

What is SM math?

[karensk]

Have you seen More Charlotte Mason Education: A Home Schooling How-To Manual by Catherine Levison? In the appendix, there are sample weekly schedules based on grade levels as suggested by Charlotte Mason and then Catherine's own schedules that she used. I liked seeing how much time Mason's 6th graders spent on each subject, etc. Then you could create your own schedule using whatever books and curricula you have.

 

I made a weekly chart using MS Excel....if you're interested, I can email a blank one and/or a sample one to you. It's really an assignment chart with the subjects and the schoolwork for each child. The times are not designated.

 

HTH!

Edited January 25, 2012 by karensk

[kristinannie]

thanks! i like the idea of the circle time. i have all ages kids, but it does seem like a nice way for us all get connected together in the morning.

 

and i know CM says short lessons, but I have been struggling with that. And deciding what to do daily vs weekly on some subjects. Its nice to hear you are doing short lessons and they work well. And the mixing it up. That is one thing I have forgotten that is important.

 

What is SM math?

 

 

 

SM = Singapore Math This isn't a CM type math. She suggest using purely manipulative based math for the first several years, but we are a mathy family so we part ways there!!!!

 

 

Circle time really is a great addition to our homeschool. We were never getting to memorization and calendar and this made it easy to always do that. Plus, this is a great time to do your family read alouds and just have some special family time at the beginning of the day to start things out right. This was my inspiration for circle time/morning basket time. I really think that the family spending some time learning together first thing is such a great way to do it. We do homeschool at least in part to have more family time! I have heard of others doing an afternoon teatime as well with older children where the kids all come together and narrate what they read in their independent reading while they have a snack or tea and cookies. It seems like something I would love to add in when my kids are a little bit older (especially if I still have babies that will be napping then!).

 

If you are really interested in CM, check out the 4real forums. Most of the people on the forum are Catholic, but you definitely don't need to be Catholic to go on there. There are great lists of living books in different subjects and a lot of great support. These are the ladies that really helped me gain the confidence to do CM. A lot of them have graduated kids who have used CM so I know that it does work! CM takes a leap of faith. It is definitely not the normal way of schooling, homeschool or otherwise, but I do feel like it is the best and most fulfilling form of homeschooling for our family! Best of luck! You can do this!!!

[faiths13]

SM = Singapore Math This isn't a CM type math. She suggest using purely manipulative based math for the first several years, but we are a mathy family so we part ways there!!!!

 

 

Circle time really is a great addition to our homeschool. We were never getting to memorization and calendar and this made it easy to always do that. Plus, this is a great time to do your family read alouds and just have some special family time at the beginning of the day to start things out right. This was my inspiration for circle time/morning basket time. I really think that the family spending some time learning together first thing is such a great way to do it. We do homeschool at least in part to have more family time! I have heard of others doing an afternoon teatime as well with older children where the kids all come together and narrate what they read in their independent reading while they have a snack or tea and cookies. It seems like something I would love to add in when my kids are a little bit older (especially if I still have babies that will be napping then!).

 

If you are really interested in CM, check out the 4real forums. Most of the people on the forum are Catholic, but you definitely don't need to be Catholic to go on there. There are great lists of living books in different subjects and a lot of great support. These are the ladies that really helped me gain the confidence to do CM. A lot of them have graduated kids who have used CM so I know that it does work! CM takes a leap of faith. It is definitely not the normal way of schooling, homeschool or otherwise, but I do feel like it is the best and most fulfilling form of homeschooling for our family! Best of luck! You can do this!!!

 

awesome links!! thanks so much :D

[hscherger]

These SCM downloadable and typeable charts are from Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education and are SO useful.

 

http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/planning-your-charlotte-mason-education/links-tips/

[Bluegoat]

We've been doing year 1 of AO. I try to keep to short periods and I try to mix up reading with more skill related periods. We take breaks as reqired.

 

Usually it looks something like this:

 

Piano practice - up to 20 min

Math - 15 - 20 min

Reading selection from AO scheduled and narration

copywork -up to 10 min

poetry

French - 10 min

reading from AO scheduled and narration

spelling - up to 10 min

 

Then we have a time block for Bible study/nature study/drawing/other weekly things.

 

We don't need to cover reading this year so we do just some light spelling and copywork for LA. I had been doing Morning Prayer in a shortened form first thing, and would like to get back into that. Since my other kids are young, the day tends to get broken up.

[karensk]

I am trying to just use things that are mostly free at this point - i cant afford a boxed curric. but it looks nice :) I am mostly just wanting to see how others plan out their day using the CM philosophy.

 

She has tons of helpful info re. CM, including scheduling and organizing at her site, http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/. Her blog is Higher Up and Further In.

 

Here's her page on organization, and here's her sample schedule for their Year One. The way you set up your schedule will depend a lot on which books and curricula you're using. Like for math, I need to specify which pages and exercises to do, but some other programs are simpler where you'd only need to say, do Lesson 32.

 

Would you be setting up schedules for each child?

[Superfly]

We are doing a sort of WTM/CM hybrid. I just started taking CM to heart several months ago so we are still in the process of figuring it all out. This is what our days look like now:

 

We eat breakfast together and then have tea while we read our daily devotions. Then we move to the couch for read alouds. I have a large basket full of living books for all subjects. We usually spend about 45-60min reading. Then we move to the classroom for formal subjects. My girls have LD, so we do a full phonics program which does take a bit longer than CM would recommend. DD8 has a checklist and she works independently doing short lessons. We are doing Miquon and Daily Word Problems for math. We have a large wall calendar and we go over the date, weather, etc. together. I help DD5 do Language Lessons for Little Ones, speech, and Developing the Early Learner activities while her sister works on her own. DD8 is doing LLATL yellow(short and sweet), Daily Geography, and handwriting. Then she does silent reading until lunchtime. After lunch I let them have free time read or to play games, legos or other manipulatives. Then we get together on the couch and read aloud either our history or science, depending on the day. We are doing Apologia Astronomy with REAL Science Earth and Space and Story of the World 2 for history. I usually throw in some other living books that go with our topic. Then we do a hands on activity/experiment. A couple days a week we add on Latin. After that we go outside and enjoy! We have a good size garden out back and birds living out front so they have plenty of opportunity to observe. If it is raining we do painting/crafts indoors(DD8 is really into her knitting loom), and we listen to classical music.

 

This spring we have plans to do nature study at our local nature center and they have family astronomy lessons at the wilderness preserve. I also have several art books on the way that I can't wait to use!

[SorrelZG]

I am continually reworking and refining our schedule. I keep it posted here. The last few days I've actually been using some of the links in this thread to help with that but it's a continual work in progress at this point. I couldn't claim to be purely CM; I guess I would have to say an LCC/CM hybrid.

[fairy4tmama]

Well this was our schedule last term (we are still trying to ramp back up to the same after the holidays:glare:)

 

We are not morning people so we rarely start before 10 AM. First I do individual lessons with kids, rotating who goes first.

 

DS 8 (about 2 hours)-

 

Math Journal

WWE

Serl's PLL

Phonics Pathways

Reading Pathways

Assigned Reading (20 min included in the 2 hours above)

Independent Reading (30 min included in the 2 hours above)

 

DS6 (30-45 minutes)

 

Really Reading or Phonics Pathways

math

reading practice

Language Lessons for the Little Ones

I read a short story and have him narrate(If narration wasn't included in his language lesson)

 

DD4 (10-20 minutes because she INSISTS:tongue_smilie:)

Language Lessons for Little Ones

Math games

I read her nursery rhymes or a story of her choice

 

Usually some time during individual lessons we have had lunch, if not we have lunch after individual lessons and then start family lessons.

 

Family Lessons take between 1-2 hours depending on what we have in our book basket and how much discussion and/or narration we have about our readings. We read a variety of books covering the topics of history, science, world religion, geography, picture study, poetry study, music study, and literature. We don't cover each of these topics every day or even every week but they are the subjects that get covered through family lessons.

 

Hope that helps

 

BTW- there are some really great vintage books out there for free (I <3 google books). You can search this form for vintage books and get some great finds. I also highly recommend First Lessons in Arithmetic and Baldwin Project.

 

Edited January 26, 2012 by fairy4tmama
forgot to add picture study, poetry study, music study

[momto2Cs]

I'll try... our schedule is different because we do all our homeschooling in the afternoon/early evening as I work part-time in the mornings. The kids spend the mornings at my mom's house. She teaches them sewing, cooking, etc., they play games, go to the park, watch documentaries (and The Dog Whisperer, dd8's favorite show), and so forth.

 

For homeschooling at home:

 

ds10 starts with piano practice (20 min)

While he is doing that dd8 does a phonics lesson (20 min)

 

ds10 moves on to spelling (15 min) while dd8 works in Explode the Code (15 min)

 

Then we read a short story or some poetry together (15 min)

 

Math, using Math Mammoth (about 20-25 min)

 

History and/or science - read alouds and narration (20-30 min)

 

Then dd8 does copywork while ds10 works on a (brief) written narration. Oftentimes, I let him dictate his narration to me, then I have him copy it. (another 20-25 min)

 

DD8 then reads to me while ds10 reads to himself. dd8 reads about 10-15 min., ds10 reads for probably half an hour.

 

I also read aloud to them every evening before bed, just good fiction.

 

Then there are the "extras":

 

Monday: art - picture study, generally an art project of some sort as well (30 min)

 

Tuesday: hands-on time for science or history (30-45 min)

 

Wednesday: piano lesson for ds10 while dd8 has a standing playdate with the piano teacher's daughter (also homeschooled) (30 min plus 20 minutes walking back and forth since they live just 4 blocks away)

 

Thursday: nature study (45 min., roughly)

 

Friday: homeschool "lite" - just math and spelling, and reading for ds10, phonics for dd8. We have a long-standing park day on Friday afternoons with a large-ish group of good friends. If it is raining, we'll watch a movie or something instead.

 

Phew!