How TWTMish is your homeschool?

[dragons in the flower bed]

How much does your homeschool conform to TWTM recommendations? I'm not talking about specific book recommendations, but the content and the form of your homeschool. Include in your calculations all of the years you've known about TWTM (so, if you used A Beka before you knew, don't count that, but if you had read TWTM and only decided to use it last month, figure that as a lower number). Also include your plans for the future (so if you want to use TWTM for logic stage only but your kids are eight, count that).

[Amy loves Bud]

Edit: Nevermind, it's a poll, I understand now.

 

We are very close, except for the way we do science. We just finished our 5th year of hsing, and we've been pretty close all along.

[Jenny in Atl]

I'd say a little more than half. Only odd thing is we have used the SL history rotation, but if we HS for HS we will be on the 4 year rotation 100%. :D

[Lovedtodeath]

I started out not wanting to start grammar so early, but after receiving WWE I changed my mind. I love TWTM for science. We are not studying Latin, which many would probably flame me for.. still deciding between French, Spanish and/or ASL. And I am doing one year of culture before starting on the 4 year history rotation, and then focusing more on the US for the last 2 years but supplementing with SOTW. We will probably only get through the rotation twice because I have a couple of WP programs I will be sidetracked with in 6th and 7th.

 

Oh well, all I know is I keep researching this and that philosophy and curriculum and I end up back with TWTM suggestions. I even end up switching to the exact curriculum recommended in most cases.

So I don't know if 80-100 really applies. :glare: Maybe I should have gone with the next one down. But because I not only agree with the philosophy, but I ultimately use most of the curriculum and books, I chose that.

 

A poll was a great idea. I hope my explanation for my vote is welcome. :chillpill:

[Deeke]

We used to do TWTM almost to the book, I'd say about 100%. After a few years I just outgrew it I think and my kids were not enjoying it at all. The only things we really follow are history and science chronologically, but in a very relaxed way. It makes so much more sense to me than learning bits and pieces of history all willy-nilly. So I say about 30%, maybe even less now.

[Jenny in Florida]

Ha!

 

I just went through and tried to make a list of the traits I associate with a "true" WTM-type approach, and this is what I came up with:

 

Three distinct developmental stages

Chronological history

Studying literature in its historical context

Making Great Books the backbone of the student's reading

Heavy emphasis on written work - copywork, dictation, outlining, reports

A rigorous, liberal-arts curriculum

In general, a "parts-to-whole" approach

Studying Latin

Studying a modern foreign language

A reading and inqury-based approach to science

Formal teaching of logic and rhetoric

Lots of memorization in the grammar stage

 

I then assigned us a percentage grade based on how closely I feel we stick to the WTM recommendations for each of these traits. Some of them, we definitely flunk. For example, I didn't start trying to implement TWTM until my daughter was well past the grammar stage, and I did very, very little memorization work with my son. So, I gave us 10% on that last item. And we do a lot less writing than TWTM recommends, so I gave us only 50% on that.

 

In other areas, though, I think we do pretty well. We do, for example, study history chronologically (although I've been known to take a few liberties with the specifics of the dates for each year), and we do make real books and Great Books the foundation of our literature studies and tie those selections closely to history. Our scores ranged from 70-90% on some of those.

 

Then I added it all up and divided by 12 (the number of traits I listed), which gave us a score in the high 70s.

 

I actually feel pretty good about that.

[Suzannah]

I confess, I didn't actually do the calculations to determine what percentage of our coursework is from WTM. Let's see, it's probably easier to say what we do that's different. Here's what we use instead of the WTM recommendation:

 

Classical Writing

Apologia Elementary Science (in conjunction with WTM science recommendations)

All About Spelling (just starting this next year for first grade, low-vision DD, but use Spelling Workout for DS)

 

And then some of what we do or will be doing next year was recommended in the first edition of WTM but not the second:

 

Latin Primer (worked really well for DS)

Abeka Grammar

Introductory Logic

 

So take that as you may.:seeya:

[Haiku]

I voted 80-100%. We just started K and 1st grade on June 30th. I didn't do anything for my 6 year old for K last year, so this is our first "school" experience. I think we're pretty much doing everything the way it's layed out in WTM.

 

Tara

[WTMCassandra]

I voted 60-80%, but I think we're right around the 80% mark. I didn't feel quite confident enough to vote 80-100%, though.

[Scarlett]

I put 30%, but who really knows since he is in a VA using K12. I love the classical method and try to implement it in my daily life with ds.

 

I got my WTM book back recently and got all sad reading it because I wish I could have done my own thing instead of using the VA.

[clwcain]

I put none. To the extent that anything we do maps to TWTM it does so accidentally. Nothing against it. Just not our thing. YMMV.

[Targhee]

I voted 6-30%. We are definitely on with language arts and math. I am only going to do 2 history cycles the same as WTM, the first four years we're doing more general social studies (geography, community, US and some world history). Art and music are important in our homes, but they aren't explicitly in my curriculum yet (grammar stage kids). I am definitely of a different mind when it comes to science and won't be following the grammar or logic recommendations.

[Maverick]

I like your method, Jenny! I think we are in the 60-80% range in terms of methods. If I counted only specific curriculum recommendations it would be much lower, but imo it's about the philosophy & method, not particular books.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

Voted not at all. We have leaned toward CM early on. I do think that the two methods are compatible with the copywork, dictation, narration, and things like that. We just have stuck with what worked.

[Michelle T]

I put none. To the extent that anything we do maps to TWTM it does so accidentally. Nothing against it. Just not our thing. YMMV.

 

 

I did start SOTW this year and plan on reading through all four books. Other than that, I don't follow any WTM methods. Nothing against WTM, it is just totally unsuitable for my very ADHD/LD son.

 

I just like hanging out on the boards!

Michelle T

[Plaid Dad]

We're classical here, just not TWTM-style classical.

[Laura Corin]

TWTMish aspects:

Chronological history, using SOTW

Parts to whole Latin instruction

Modern foreign language

Lots of reading of classic books linked to history

Memorisation of poetry

Some logic study

 

Anti-TWTMish aspects:

Low English grammar

Low dictation and copywork

No outlining as a note-taking skill (outlines used for essay planning).

 

I put myself down as 30 to 60%

 

Laura

[Closeacademy]

We're really more LCC than TWTM. We do Latin, Math, Grammar, Spelling and SOTW. I tried TWTM science but it didn't work for us. Currently, we are doing more independent research topics and I am having my dc find the answers in books for all those little lapbook questions.

 

Really except for history and science we are about 80% LCC.:001_smile:

[Wendy in ME]

I will be starting my 4th year homeschooling and have finally found my style this past year. We started with Abeka but it is just so simple and done for you. It is all anyone around here uses. I think it provides a good, thorough education but it just isn't my style. I could just send them to school for workbook after workbook. Last year we found the WTM approach and I really love a lot about it and I still refer to the book a lot for ideas but I have found my home with some crazy combo of LCC and CM. I love the Latin focus and stream-lined scheduling of LCC but I also love the artist and composer studies, the Plutarch and Shakespeare studies, and the real focus on narrations as a means of evaluation. I just can't stay away from the Ambleside, Simply Charlotte Mason, and even the MFW sites. We are doing tons of great reading and notebook pages with this approach and the boys really are retaining the information so well and they are very proud of their notebook narrations and illustrations.

[JaniceO]

We are just getting started, but I picked 60-80. We aren't using the recommendations for science this year. I picked Singapore My Pals Are Here for science because I figured it would be easier our first year. All I've done is look through it so far and I'm pretty sure we won't be coming back to it next year. I will look more closely at the WTM recs for science next school year.

[profmom]

I like your method, Jenny! I think we are in the 60-80% range in terms of methods. If I counted only specific curriculum recommendations it would be much lower, but imo it's about the philosophy & method, not particular books.

 

Here too. So much curricula has been introduced or improved (like workbooks for CW & TOG Redesigned) since TWTM was last revised. We're using less of the curricula recommendations, but reading Jenny's list reminded me of how much influence TWTM has been.

[Strawberry Queen]

I went with 80-100%. My dd is going into 3rd and we've had a bit of time to get used to things. I have found that what the WTM recommends is a good fit for our family. When I've tried doing other things they have flopped. My dd is so happy that she can do FLL3 and then 4. She really likes it. I even wanted to switch to WT this year to streamline things for LA but dd really dislikes the samples so, we'll keep going the way we are until it doesn't work anymore.;)

 

I love to look at other methods when I'm feeling sick of school and winter in February. WHile the other methods have their appeal, WTM version of classical really fits my overall goals and philosophy or education, so I keep going back.:D

[Melissa in Australia]

I would love to be 100% and aim for that, but my children have dyslexia, and HATE writing, so it is modified to a lot less writing.

[gandpsmommy]

I wasn't sure how to vote. We've been heavily influenced by TWTM. It was our first introduction to classical education and I am so grateful that it led us down the path to where we are now, but we have chosen to have a more Latin-Centered Curriculum. We began grammar instruction early on, using FLL, because of reading TWTM. We're doing a four year chronological history cycle, as outlined in TWTM, using SOTW. We did a parts-to-whole phonics program, but I can't remember whether I ordered it before or after reading TWTM. We approach writing in the way suggested by TWTM, using WWE.

 

We have never done science the way TWTM recommends. And we don't do nearly as many narrations as the book suggests we do for science, history, and reading. But we have incorporated more narration into history this year.

 

We've always done our own version of things, but we did use TWTM as our starting point. Last year, while doing first grade with dd I just felt that we were spreading ourselves too thin, that we weren't able to do everything that we were trying to do well when we were putting so many subjects on the same plane. After reading LCC I really was able to look at education differently and to prioritize subjects in our homeschooling.

[sagira]

After voting, cock your head to the right and see the results -- what a nice bell curve we have! :D

 

I voted 30-60%. I'm mostly CM, but CM is fairly close to TWTM as well, just a bit different in approach. More relaxed I guess.

[Rosy]

Using Jenny's list, we do (or will do at the appropriate time):

Three distinct developmental stages

Chronological history

Studying literature in its historical context

A rigorous, liberal-arts curriculum

In general, a "parts-to-whole" approach

Studying Latin

Studying a modern foreign language

Formal teaching of logic and rhetoric

Lots of memorization in the grammar stage

 

And do not do (but are working toward):

Making Great Books the backbone of the student's reading

Heavy emphasis on written work - copywork, dictation, outlining, reports

A reading and inqury-based approach to science

 

I put 60-80%...we use pretty much all the resources recommended in TWTM, and we do a lot of Bible study, but we also have a lot of "twaddle" in our home...I don't love that, but at this point getting rid of it isn't a priority, I'm hoping it gradually goes away as we focus on quality literature. And DD doesn't read nearly as much as I'd like her to. But I like the education they're getting and am confident that it's far better than if they were in school or if we were using a less rigorous or non-Classical method of education.

[8filltheheart]

I answered 6-30% b/c we are classically oriented, just not WTM version of classical. (so I just estimated that there was probably about that much overlap)

 

We don't do cyclical history. We don't focus on Latin. However, we are very much focused on learning to think and higher order mental skills vs. base knowledge.

 

I love the Ignatian definition of classical. That fits me. :)

[Paula in MS]

I voted 80-100%. I think there are a lot of curriculum choices that you could use and still be within TWTM guidelines. For instance, we use Abeka phonics which is not recommended; however, it is very similar to OPGTR and is highly phonics based. We use Abeka spelling (phonics based) and grammar which is well taught. We also use Abeka math. Beyond that we study history and science as recommended. She is doing copywork, narration and beginning dictation. We also do an artist study and have music lessons.

 

I got my WTM book out and started looking at it again. I think it is important to look at why she chose the recommendations that she did, not necessarily the recommendations themselves. For instance, they stress the importance of memorizing math facts in the grammar stage. A math program that emphasizes this, would probably be within guidelines.

 

Paula

[WTMindy]

We follow very closely to the ideas in WTM, but not all the same curriculum suggestions. I have not been able to bring myself to do all the outlining suggested in history and science for dialectic for my 6th grade dd. I'm afraid it will kill the love of learning we have worked so hard to achieve. We are using TOG, which I feel matches up very well with WTM methods. I still use it as my main reference book and plan to all the way through.

[Allearia]

I voted 80-100%. We use just about every book published by Peace Hill Press. We love the grammar, Latin, and memorization, which are things we may not have included in our homeschool without WTm. (With a big thanks to LCC for inspiring us to add Latin in - I wasn't sure we were going to do it just based on WTm - we just can't let go of all the other extra stuff we enjoy so much.) Narration, dictation and copywork have also been great for ds. We are kind of starting Writing Tales but still doing some of the Writing with Ease and will still use those methods for writing about history. And of course our favorite is SOTW. We don't do science the exact way outlined but we are finishing our first pass through Life Science and will do Earth Science/Astronomy as recommended for the second year, so even though the curriculum is different the content is the same as recommended. We also use math that is not recommended in the book but since WTm recommends doing math I also feel that is part of the method.

 

A big Thank You to Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer for inspiring me and enriching our lives so much! We would never have started homeschooling without this book. :001_smile:

[runningirl71]

I voted 80-100% as for the past 4 years we have followed TWTM almost to a tee. I would even keep my book out on the table, thumbing through it every couple of days!

 

Starting this year, we've moved more to an LCC model and yet I am keeping to TWTM philosophy, but maybe not methodology. We still study history chronologically and use the 4 year rotation, but we do all our history for the week in 1 day. Same with Science. So, marking off for changing methodology, I would probably put us at the 80% mark.:)

[Lovedtodeath]

I got my WTM book out and started looking at it again. I think it is important to look at why she chose the recommendations that she did, not necessarily the recommendations themselves.

 

:iagree:Exactly!

 

Plus, if you don't look at TWTM often, you forget exactly what she recommends and start thinking that you have to do it all. Many programs that are put together for you are actually more work than doing things TWTM way.

[KrissiK]

I got the book over a year ago, but just started Kinder with my boys. I voted 80-100% because basically they recommend a good phonics and a good math program at this age and that's about it. So, that's what we're doing. We're doing A Beka, which is also on the list of recommended phonics and math program. Now, I'm not saying I'll stay with TWTM next year, but, this year we're good.

[Mama Lynx]

I got the book many, many years ago.

 

Hmmm. We do the four-year history rotation. We use FLL and WWE, and Susan's writing suggestions for middle school (not the curricula she recommends, just the ideas). We use SOTW for the younger students.

 

However, we place more of an emphasis on Latin; we also teach Greek early. We place more emphasis on myths and fairy tales, and classical works. We are extremely informal about science.

 

Where does that put us; half and half?

[mamato4girls]

I voted 30-60% but here is what we follow...

Three distinct developmental stages

Chronological history- somewhat Older DD's coming out of private school

Studying literature in its historical context

Making Great Books the backbone of the student's reading

Heavy emphasis on written work - copywork, dictation, outlining, reports

A rigorous, liberal-arts curriculum

In general, a "parts-to-whole" approach

Studying Latin

Studying a modern foreign language- will be doing this soon

A reading and inqury-based approach to science

Lots of memorization in the grammar stage

[fivetails]

I voted in the "not at all" category - I've never read TWTM and we're most definitely not classical...we've got more of an eclectic approach here, picking and choosing whatever fits us the best. :)

[Colleen in NS]

Many programs that are put together for you are actually more work than doing things TWTM way.

 

:iagree:

[jamnkats]

Ha!

 

I just went through and tried to make a list of the traits I associate with a "true" WTM-type approach, and this is what I came up with:

 

Three distinct developmental stages

Chronological history

Studying literature in its historical context

Making Great Books the backbone of the student's reading

Heavy emphasis on written work - copywork, dictation, outlining, reports

A rigorous, liberal-arts curriculum

In general, a "parts-to-whole" approach

Studying Latin

Studying a modern foreign language

A reading and inqury-based approach to science

Formal teaching of logic and rhetoric

Lots of memorization in the grammar stage

 

I then assigned us a percentage grade based on how closely I feel we stick to the WTM recommendations for each of these traits. Some of them, we definitely flunk. For example, I didn't start trying to implement TWTM until my daughter was well past the grammar stage, and I did very, very little memorization work with my son. So, I gave us 10% on that last item. And we do a lot less writing than TWTM recommends, so I gave us only 50% on that.

 

In other areas, though, I think we do pretty well. We do, for example, study history chronologically (although I've been known to take a few liberties with the specifics of the dates for each year), and we do make real books and Great Books the foundation of our literature studies and tie those selections closely to history. Our scores ranged from 70-90% on some of those.

 

Then I added it all up and divided by 12 (the number of traits I listed), which gave us a score in the high 70s.

 

I actually feel pretty good about that.

 

It is amazing how colored by perception we all are. I voted, "not at all" because i've never read the book (it is on the list of books to get from the US) and according to most of you all we probably "unschool" though I call it "homeschooling" due to my gentle encouragement of academia (which IMO is very much NOT unschooling). :)

 

But looking at your list, I identify with

 

Three distinct developmental stages (I understand the concept but don't know how this is established formally in homeschooling)

Chronological history (yup; finished World History and starting Ancients this year but the boys and I keep getting distracted by WWII as we're finishing Japan and China right now)

Studying literature in its historical context (nope; don't formally study literature)

Making Great Books the backbone of the student's reading (oh yes, definitely)

Heavy emphasis on written work - copywork, dictation, outlining, reports

(ok, we just do copywork and dictation, so very light empahsis)

A rigorous, liberal-arts curriculum (not rigorous at all)

In general, a "parts-to-whole" approach (not sure what this means)

Studying Latin (my 14yo and I are doing that this year)

Studying a modern foreign language (we live in Mexico and I teach the kids Spanish ala OPOL)

A reading and inqury-based approach to science

Formal teaching of logic and rhetoric (I'm planning on this with the boys later this year)

Lots of memorization in the grammar stage (nope, don't do this at all but the girls kind of do it naturally)

 

So even though I voted "not at all" it looks like it would be more than that...