What does CM look like? A day at your house?

[dragons in the flower bed]

I'm having a hard time visualizing how picture study, poetry, productive free time, nature study and whatnot are integrated into a regular day with several children, housework, and math and whatnot. Can anyone post their CM-ish schedule and/or a link to a book or blog or website that might help?

[ChicoryChick]

It's been a while since I read this book so I dont know how fully it would answer your questions, but though it is fictitious its a good read for anyone interested in the CM method...

 

Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola

[Lenora in MD]

Well, here is my schedule:

 

8:30 - bible read aloud with all the children. Scripture memory using the system from Simply cm website. Sing this term's hymn from ao.

 

9:00 - older children do chores while mom gets 4 yo dressed and does "school" with him (mostly montessori type stuff, discovery toys games, puzzles, 100 ex lessons)

 

9:30 - Mom does math, reading and grammar with 10 yo ds. We use Shiller Math, clp nature readers and fll3.

11 yo dd works independently on math (singapore and miquon), grammar (queen's), writing (writing strands or written narration), spelling (phonetic zoo), 7 yo dd practices piano and does handwriting (hwt) or copywork, and etc.

 

10:30 - Mom does read aloud from ao year one with 10 ds and 7 dd. They take turns narrating after each paragraph and at the end of each chapter. (poetry is included here). 11 yo dd continues to work on her schoolwork, she independently does the reading from ao year 6 (this includes poetry too!). She has to do two written narrations per week on something of her choice from ao.

 

11:00 - Mom does reading (elson readers), grammar (fll1), math (shiller) with dd 7. dd10 does handwriting (hwt) or copywork, etc, and math facts practice on the computer.

 

12:00 - lunch

 

12:30 - Mom does read aloud from nature study book (burgess bird book right now, fabres insects next)

 

1:00 - quiet time in our rooms (mostly done so mom can take a nap!)

 

2:00 - depdending on the day of the week, mon & tues - history with all kids using sotw 1., wed - homeschool chorus, thurs - science (apologia astronomy)

 

3:00 - free time

 

4:30 - take dd 11 to ballet.

 

5:00 - make dinner while other kids play

 

6:00 dinner (dad picks up dd on way home from work)

 

7:00 - more chores for everyone

 

7:30 bedtime bible reading

 

8:00 bed

 

We only school mon- thurs. on Friday, I participate in a cm co-op. We do art and picture study, science experiments for astronomy, nature study.

 

For music, we just listen to classical music a lot, have the classical kids cds and love them, also have used the Wheeler books. Sometimes, we have a special afternoon tea on Fridays, and do music study then. Kids love it, I am often too tired out by the end of the week!

 

Hope this gives you an idea of how one person does it.

[Jill- OK]

...think about this, and do a blog entry.

 

Ours is really, REALLY relaxed though, lol, so don't get too excited. ;o)

[Pretty in Pink]

our CM style is pretty laid back, but here's what we do:

 

we have two blocks of lesson time during our day, 9 am thru noon, then again from 2 to 3ish pm.

 

we use apologia science which if you are not familiar is a mastery approach. last year we did a whole year of astronomy. this year we are doing a whole year of zoology "flying creatures." i run an astronomy club for our HS group that meets monthly at our home as well. the apologia texts have so many experiments and hands on activities. my ds is out at least once a week poking around in nature for an assignment, but even when he's just out playing, he's always stopping to study bugs and stuff that he has studied.

 

we do not read poetry daily, though my ds enjoys writing it and given a choice of writing assignments he often chooses to write a poem. he takes part in a poetry workshop that meets twice monthly.

 

productive free time - as much for my own sanity as for their intellectual development, each child is required a minimum of 60 minutes quite time each day. my 4yo uses this time to "read," my 9yo is often off in his room working on an invention (he has a sketch book full of them and has even designed a logo for his "company" lol) or he likes to build web pages in MSWord, etc.

 

when it comes to art we do lots of arts and crafts, though we try to save them for fridays which is a free day at our house. i also encourage my oldest to participate in art classes offered thru our HS group or community.

[King Alfred Academy]

bumping this post with the hopes of receiving more replies... :)

[LindaOz]

but this is a rough idea of how we have been organising our days.

BTW I have kids in 7th, 6th, 4th, 2nd and K with a 3yo as well. Our school year has not long started here in Australia.

 

:)I like to start with us all together for a bit of Bible memory and read-aloud. We are currently reading The Long Winter which the olders have already heard and read themselves but they still like being involved here. My dc often draw, do craft, knit etc while I read.

 

Next, dd12 and dd11 go off to do their Bible, Math and LA. They know what to do each day because they have a daily schedule with what pages to read each day on it. They also have literature/history/science readings etc scheduled each day and some of these require a written narration. They do French and Latin as well.

 

Meanwhile, dd9 and dd7 go off and read their Bible reading for the day and write a short narration in their Bible journals. I read from a children's Bible to dd5 and she narrates to me while I write in her Bible journal. She then colours a picture to add to her narration.

 

I have a morning reading also scheduled for dd9 and dd7. It may be literature, history, or nature reading depending on the day. They narrate and may also do a picture narration or written. They also work on math and LA work, copywork etc. I like to have these two dc read aloud to me from a McGuffey reader and poetry as well.

 

:)Mid-morning we grab morning tea and go outside for exercise: sometimes games together, or athletic stuff.

 

After break/exercise we continue with whatever is scheduled for that day. On Mon and Tues we all do Australia History together (dd5 and ds3 usually sit at the table with us and play playdough etc). Other days the olders will continue with science/history/lit readings and narrations, while I do similar readings with the others, then they narrate, write, draw etc. about what they learn.

 

:)We have a lunch break together, then after lunch we all have Quiet Time for an hour. The older four all have a certain amount of literature reading to do during that time, but then can either continue to read or choose something else to do quietly in their rooms or lounge room. I read to my 3yo before Quiet Time then he usually falls asleep on his bed during this time. I have a free hour to do.....whatever......... On Fridays they write in their personal journal during QT.

 

I am making Fridays our Nature Study, art appreciation day. I've really only just started Nature Study but deciding we are getting in the car and actually going to a park to search for bugs etc is great. The kids love it. Take jars and let them collect. I have given them a visual arts diary each for a nature notebook and have bought a nice set of pencils that are only for nature books. So far, their entries have been great.

 

:)After QT is mostly free-time, although music practices need to be done then too. Sometimes they just play outside, or work on a project they have thought of during their morning readings. They cook, do craft, play with pets. It was one of my aims this year to give more time for them have fun with their interests. So this is my way of promoting this.

 

Anyway, sorry this is so looong. It was just hard to describe in a shorter way. Please ask if anything doesn't make sense.

[Jill- OK]

I love much of Ms. Mason's philosophy, but it isn't the whole of what I do with younger children. Our approach/schedule is pretty relaxed, but here's how we incorporate many of the things you mentioned into our time...

 

Picture Study - Not a true CM approach, but I like to play a game we have, that uses art cards and close-ups. (I blogged about it not too long ago.) We also have a collection of art postcards that they paw through. Nothing real indepth, just appreciation.

 

Poetry - I simply read poetry to them, from time to time. No memorizing.

 

Productive Free Time - This is one of the things I believe strongly in for young children; free time. I'd like to teach them more handicrafty things to engage in, but I haven't been very consistent. (My attempt to teach them to knit was quickly abandoned.)

 

Nature Study - This is rather easy for us, with woods out back and a pond (not much of a pond *right now*, but they did find some tadpoles to bring inside). I have Comstock's guide, and we use it from time to time to look things up, but I don't really pull together formal lessons from it. I probably seriously underuse it, as a resource, but I'm satisfied with most of their nature study being delight-led. They don't have a nature notebook, per se, but their copywork is based on what we do for history and science. Their copybooks are lined on the bottom half, with the top blank for drawing, and so much of the art that they create in the notebook is based on what they've written about.

 

The biggest thing that I appreciate about CM is the focus on short lesson times, and a variety of subjects. I also use songs as a means of teaching foreign language (the Teach Me series of tapes has familiar songs sung in the target language and English, and I think they're wonderful), which I believe is a Charlotte Mason idea for younger children.

 

Anyway, that's about it for the part of our homeschool that looks Charlotte Mason-ish. :o)