Can you share how you implement classical ed/TWTM?

[sunflowerlady]

I am considering classical homeschooling with my dd who is 9 yo and will be finishing up 4th grade. She has been homeschooled from the start, but not with a classical approach. She is an excellent and voracious reader and very good with grammar and loves to write.

 

I read TWTM a couple of years ago, but was overwhelmes, and did not implement it.:tongue_smilie:

 

Now that she is a little older, and I am a more experienced and confident homeschool mom, I would like to try it.

 

Can you share with me how you implement TWTM in your family? Do you tweak it? Do you use different materials than what is recommended?

 

I would love as much input as possible.:bigear:

 

I am having a great time researching.:)

[mamaof2andtwins]

I would encourage you to pick what you like about TWTM and start with that. We picked chronological history. That was a great place to start, and we really enjoyed our time with SOTW.

 

I agree that TWTM can been very overwhelming. I do not take it as a whole, but pick what best suits our goals and philosophies.

 

Jennie

[pbajgrow]

You have to remember one thing, TWTM is a guide book, not a rule book. I freaked myself out with this, but now have settled down. TWTM gives a lot choices. You are going to have to do your research based on how your daughter learns. My daughter is a great workbook child, so we use a lot of A Beka. My son is a wiggle worm so workbooks are not a good idea for him. We use Math-u-See with him along with Abeka phonics and First Lang. Lessons for grammar. Science is pretty much a free for all at the library. We are studying wildlife with books and time at the parks in the summer. History, we have used "Story of the World", but are going over to "My Father's World" next year. I am not a planner and need someone to write my lesson plans for me. MFW will tells me what to do everyday. SOTW leaves it up to you. If I were you I would do more research. If you have things that work, then keep on using them. A great way to research is by pulling up old threads on certain curriculums. I have read many comments on my next year picks like using Rod and Staff instead of Abeka. Sorry this is so ramdom. I am typing as i think of what to write, and my fingers are about to be frozen through to the bone. I am starting to hate winter! Have fun! jen

[Cornerstone Classical]

I agree that you might want to pick the parts that you think would fit you and your dc first.

 

We started with doing all the curriculum put out by PHP.

 

For math we do Saxon

LA-FLL/WWE/OPGTR/ETC I don't do their suggested penmanship which is HWT, I do A Reason For Handwriting K and A then switch to Classically Cursive.

 

History-this year we are doing SOTW 1 but I'm adding to it alot of biblical history and MFW 1st which is also a Old Testement study.

 

Science-I try to search out curriculum that covers topics by grade in the WTM. Like in first grade is Human Body, Animals, and Plants. I found a curr. that is from a christian perspective ( God's Design) they have a book for each one of these topics.

 

Art and Music will be via MFW 1st.

 

HTH:001_smile:

[Cornerstone Classical]

I forgot to add... what helped me is Cathy Duffy's 100 curriculum Picks. The book as a question and answer format to help you know what kind of learner your dc is....then there is one to help you choose which philosophy of education you want to adhere to. After indentifying those two things there's a grid with her top curr. picks and you can find the best curr. that fits those two areas.

 

HTH:001_smile:

[74Heaven]

if you have more than 2 kids, otherwise you might be overwhelmed...

 

I would start with the WTM or SOTW reading lists. If your dtr is a voracious reader, that part will be simple. Then, start with ancients with the 4-yr history cycle and Latin (if your child is 3rd/4th grade). Latin grammar has been such a wonderful thing for us in English grammar in the middle school and high school years. Since we started with elementary Latin ,the whole learning curve has been very gentle. (And I knew no Latin so we started with Latina Christiana (now doing LFC).

 

I think most everyone "tweaks TWTM".

 

HTH

lisaj, mom to 5

[sunflowerlady]

Thanks for the great replies so far. :) I have been reading these boards for quite a while, although I don't post a lot.

 

I plan to save some of these responses and refer to them as I plan. I do plan to continue with my research and we will not start TWTM until the new school year. She will then be in fifth grade.

 

I know most people here tweak TWTM , and that is my plan also. I will definitely try to fashion it to suit myself and my dd. Now that I am more secure and confident in homeschooling, I feel better about TWTM. I know that I can pick and choose and not be bound by what the book recommends.

 

I have been reading about the curriculums that everyone uses and have found some new things I never heard of.

 

If anyone else wants to share how they do TWTM, I would love to hear.

 

Thanks again.

[plimsoll]

I found it overwhelming to attempt to implement TWTM. Instead I use an approach based on LCC and tweaked to meet my needs. This is much simpler.

[Haiku]

I don't really "implement" TWTM. To me, TWTM is a philosophy of education that I believe in. I believe that following the learning stages of the trivium will produce excellently educated kids, so I choose resources and curricula that follow those ideas. I don't see TWTM as a set of rules I have to follow or a curriculum in itself. I see it as a guide along a path to a certain goal. So I don't feel constrained by TWTM's suggestions or overwhelmed by the content, because I use TWTM to guide us, I don't use us to slavishly follow TWTM.

 

Tara

[Colleen in NS]

The main thing I got out of WTM, esp. grammar stage, was to teach basic skills first. Make sure things like grammar, spelling, reading, writing, handwriting, and math skills are in the routine first. Then add in chronological history/lit. reading and one-subject-a-year science reading. And use this reading as fodder for practicing writing skills. Then add in things like science experiments, extra readings, history projects if you like, etc.. Fold in art/music appreciation with history. Add art/music skills if you have time/desire. But the main thing is laying down the academic skills, because they build on each other in the next stage and the next.

 

I was very overwhelmed the first time I read WTM, too, but I find now that once I have a routine in place, once I know how to use a teacher's manual to help me teach something I'm unfamiliar with, it doesn't seem so overwhelming. It's a blast to be learning skills I never learned before and to be able to teach them to my kids and see how they benefit from it.

 

Have fun!

[Colleen in NS]

Can you share with me how you implement TWTM in your family? Do you tweak it? Do you use different materials than what is recommended?

 

Forgot to answer some of your questions. :)

 

I basically started off with teaching skills to ds in grade 1. I do tweak, because some things don't take as long as is scheduled in WTM - you'll find your "groove" as you go along. But SWB says emphatically elsewhere that the schedules in there were not really her choice to put in - her editor wanted her to, for new people. Which did help me. Then I got confident enough to tweak. It's mostly time-tweaking that I do, I guess. I also schedule "tutoring time" with each child every morning. First I spend about 1.5 hours with ds, teaching him all his skill subjects and drilling with flashcards and doing memory work. Then I write down what he's to do on his own (math lesson, Latin exercises, read these history pages, etc.). Then I tutor dd for about an hour, then she completes her math while I go back to ds and work on writing skills with him. After lunch is their reading time, when I give them science/history/artist/composer/lit. reading to do. On Fridays there is less skill work to do with each, so we also try to do a science experiment then, and a drawing lesson. It never goes perfectly, but goes pretty well most of the time.

 

I did pick a different math, I use R&S. Only because I saw a description on here once of how it taught math facts and I liked that. I never saw a negative review of R&S, either. So, I looked at samples and bought it. It only goes to grade 8, so we'll have to find a high school sequence, but I'm working on that. I love R&S's thoroughness and clear explanations.

 

I also use Writing Road to Reading to teach spelling and how to read. This is because my Mom was a teacher of this in public school, so she taught me how to use it, long before I read WTM. Otherwise, I'd probably have gone with a WTM rec.. I've never been dissatisfied with WTM recs and I have most of them for grammar stage! :)

 

hth