We are about six weeks into our new school year and I am making some changes!! My home school is very Charlotte Mason inspired but I am not what some would call a Charlotte Mason Purist. That means that I do not try to cross every “t” or dot every “i” as far as this home school method is concerned. I love every part of this method but I do not feel strongly about covering everything she did or focusing on it as much as she did. I am a firm believer in the fact that you have to make plans according to what best fits your children and your family. With that belief in mind I felt led to do a little tweaking to our Charlotte Mason inspired school plans for this year. (Just in case your curious HERE was my original school plans)
What am I changing:
1. I am not focusing on one Artist every six weeks. I am going to use the book Discovering Great Artist and pick one project to do every two to three weeks. Each project focuses on a different artist and along with the project they have a short bio on the artist. The only resource I will include is showing a few pieces by the artist from a book or from the Internet.
2. I am not concentrating on one Composer every six weeks.
3. I am not concentrating on one Folksong every six weeks.
4. We will continue to focus on one Hymn every six weeks.
5. We will also just listen to a variety of Folk songs, Patriotic Songs, Composers and styles of Classical music (see Classics for Kids ), the Psalms put to music (see Sons of Korah), a variety of Christian music and introduce music styles from different countries, cultures and historical periods (See Making Music Reference Articles)
6. I am not going to concentrate on one poet every six weeks, I will just read poems from a variety of poets. (one poem a day)
7. I will not have a different nature challenge every week but we will get out in God’s Creation weekly. We are also starting a natural history study by using Considering God’s Creation along with the book called 106 Days of Creation.We will complete one maybe two lessons a week. I had started the 106 Days of Creation last year but we didn’t complete it, so we are starting where we left off.
8. I am also going to start using Spelling Wisdom for my oldest who is now in the third grade. This covers; Spelling, Grammar, Handwriting and memorization skills.
9. We will have a Spanish lesson daily. I will use The Easy Spanish Curriculum (I was supposed to being doing this since we started but I haven’t been =(
10. I will continue our Astronomy study with Exploring Creation through Astronomy but the change will be to only do one lesson per week.
I think that is all the changes for now. I pray that I am right and that these changes will fit us better! Sometimes a change is just what the doctor ordered BUT I do not want to make changes if they are not needed. I encourage you to really evaluate the reason your thinking about making changes. You do not want to change with the wind because that wouldn’t be good for your children or for yourself and that can get expensive and frustrating when the changes don’t end up fixing the problem. Though when you have come to a place that you feel strongly that changes are needed than move forward and don’t look back!!
So has anyone else already decided that you need to do a little tweaking to your school plans? If so please share what changes your making and maybe even why your changes!
I like what you described; like you I’m not a Charlotte Mason purist…a big fan, and I do incorporate much into our homeschool. For us, dictation is the thing that I have the most trouble with. My little two just are not good readers or listeners, so when I get ready to do dictation, I get flustered. I know it is a maturity issue and will come with time and age….
Glad to have found you on twitter! 🙂 (thenormalmiddle)
Lindsey,
Thanks for sharing! How old are your kids? Dictation doesn’t come until maybe 3rd grade (that could be pushing it though for some kids)and normally 4th grade. Yes, you are right maturity is an issue in so many ways but thank the Lord each year it should get better!
Thanks for sharing this. It’s good to know that with homeschooling we can change what’s not working. 🙂
I am going to get that astronomy book. We’ve been studying the solar system but the book we have just isn’t cutting it. 🙂
I love that astronomy book!! Even if I didn’t teach it, it would be an incredible reference book to have to pull out when your kids were just curious =)
I had been concerned that my oldest son, an eighth grader, was not getting enough “formal” science from me! Ha! (How easy it is to be deceived!) So, I had enrolled him in Alpha Omega’s online Monarch curriculum. Oh, my! Unfortunately, a healthy amount of money later, I discovered that my child, who normally LOVES science, was crashing and burning.
Thanks to Tricia’s post reminding me of the beauty of Answers in Genesis’ recommended science curriculum, I pulled it off the shelf and we are back on track. He is now all smiles and “loving” doing science again.
I’m almost embarrassed that I had fallen for the deceit of my heart in thinking that he needed “something more.”
Angie, your post today, reminds me that it is OK to change course when we have a greater purpose in mind.
Thank you, new friend!
I am so glad you came across Tricia’s post she is a huge inspiration!!!