Paige Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I am burnt out from teaching every subject to each child creatively. I have an ideal in my hand of using the "best" curriculum for everything. I wanted it to be the most fun, most depth, most interesting, etc, and we've ended up frazzled trying to do it all. And...honestly, not doing much of it well because we keep trying to do everything. I'm thinking about trying CLE for language arts (reading, grammar, everything), social studies, and science. We would keep Math Mammoth for math. In my head, this would allow us to get everything we need accomplished with minimal effort from me. My children like workbooks, so it shouldn't be torture. Would CLE be easy and relatively quick? Could they do it with minimal supervision? Part of our problem has been we go to so many dr appointments and therapies each week that our time at home is so irregular and inconsistent and they are wasting hours waiting for siblings while they are in a waiting room. We have a minimum of 5, but usually 6hrs of appointments a week and not always at the same time. I'm thinking we could do the CLE first and then spend time on what they really like which is art and foreign language. I'm imagining that they could even bring their CLE stuff to the offices and do them while they wait on whoever is having therapy or an appointment. I would assign extra independent reading as well, and we'd listen to SOTW during car rides. If you use the CLE light units for LA, science, and social studies, how long do all of those subjects take per day? I know how long MM takes. I will have 3rd and 5th graders. The 5yr old will go to Kindergarten in PS. Also, if you switched from the Grammar Island/Town to CLE, was it easy to pick up on diagramming after doing the 5 level analysis? I know how to diagram so I think it is super easy and intuitive to go back and forth. I think DS could pick up right on CLE 5 without having to go back and re-learn diagramming, but maybe kids find it harder than I think they would? I looked at the diagnostic test already but didn't give it to him. I know he wouldn't know how to diagram if just asked, but I'm thinking once explained, he'd be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 DH was home with medical problems for five months, I was dealing with tough eldercare issues, and I work part-time. It was so easy to throw all the Light Units in a bag and go. It was fine for that period of life, but the science and social studies were dry. We actually continued with the science for several more years because my youngest liked it and enjoyed working independently, but when she finished Science 7 we both agreed to not continue. The science at the level we used was not in the nice Sunrise format, and it was visually challenging and hard to break into lessons. Keep in mind that going this way will mean a lot of grading on your part. I compensated by doing it while waiting at martial arts, but it was tiresome at times. When we had a similar period two years ago, mine were older and better able to manage their own work, so the CLE we used was math, reading, and science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 (edited) If you use the CLE light units for LA, science, and social studies, how long do all of those subjects take per day? I know how long MM takes. I will have 3rd and 5th graders. We used CLE during a year when we were basically without a home (it's a long story). It was perfect at that time. I also didn't have much money to spend on schoolbooks and for $3.20 per workbook...those were the only materials we could really afford. This is probably TMI, but we were living in an RV and then in a hotel, so I needed schoolbooks that were small and portable (and didn't take up a huge amount of space). If I were in your situation, I would use Reading, Language Arts and Science. Keep Math Mammoth. I'd be afraid to use their Social Studies, because I think it's more dependent on their denominational teachings (I could be wrong - if you do a thread search, there were several threads about CLE in the past). Also, concerning diagramming, I thought CLE sold a special lightunit on just diagramming. I'm trying to remember how long it would take us when we used CLE, but this was several years ago and I can't remember. They have a Yahoo Group, too, BTW. If you buy from their store, their flashcards and laminated study sheets (they sell one for LA and one for math) are awesome. We don't use CLE anymore, but we still use the laminated study sheets (and flashcards). Also, we use their English Handbook, which has all the grammar/punctuation rules in it -with examples. Edited to say: This post is a perfect example of how (after 4 yrs of homeschooling) I'm losing my mind. I posted that we don't use CLE anymore and then I pulled out 3 CLE workbooks and handed them to my daughter. My daughter uses Bible Stories to Read, Bible Stories to Color, Going on Eagerly and Hearing and Helping. We also use their K readers right now. Edited June 26, 2012 by starrbuck12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 When I have used curriculum in a box, I have found I prefer to mix and match boxes, so I have a variety of worldviews. All Mennonite/Amish, or all Baptist, or all secular, or all vintage, makes me feel off balance, because none of them are truly representative of me at this time in my life. Back in the late 90's I used the CLE full program with my youngest for about a year, and since we were attending a Mennonite church at the time, it was appropriate then. It might help to substitute some ACE and Alpha Omega for a subject or two. Also check out the Mark Twain and Evan-Moor Daily workbooks. I particularly like the Evan-Moor Daily Science, and have my eye on the Mark Twain daily reading. You might want to lurk at the Robinson Curriculum yahoo group, to hear how people have students self-teach Saxon math, or what they are using instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
journey00 Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I work full time from my home and HS my 3 children and their education falls solely on my shoulders. In September it will be officially one yr since we began our hs journey. Like you, I tried to do it ALL and I quickly got frazzled. I decided to mix some curriculum and take some of the burden off me. I use some of Time4learning (secular) and CHC (Catholic with a Classical bent) and Teaching Tetxbooks for Math. Overall, I'm very pleased and when the guilt rears its ugly head saying that I'm not doing enough I remind myself how much more peace I have. That's my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomandlorih Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I can't answer the CLE question but we were on the go a lot with appts and such last year and I put together a notebook with dd's school in it. Workbook pages, map work, math(not TT but MUS, watched the video at home on Monday).. crayons and pencils in a zipper pocket specifically for 3 ring binders and SOTW cd's in 3 ring binder pockets. The binder and reading books/read-alouds went into a book bag with a zipper bag full of snack, a filled water bottle alongside and she was all set for a long day of "mobile-schooling". It worked out great.. and would be even better with CLE IMHO=D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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