I started HSing when my now 19yo was in 9th grade. We did “School-At-Home” with ABeka’s DVDs, because that was all I knew. I want to change that with my youngest two. Now with that thought in mind, let me ask some questions, please. 1. I am really drawn to CLE for many reasons. But how do you keep “worksheet” type curriculums programs from becoming “School-At-Home?” 2. I want my younger two to grow in being able to do their work independently, but still want to be a part of their learning. So, if you can just put worksheets in front of them and leave them be, where is the interaction? 3. Isn’t just as important to consider my teaching style as it is to consider the child’s learning style? I mean if my child is a kinesthetic learner and I just don’t do well with “hands on,” don’t I need to take my teaching style into consideration? One would think after HSing 5 years I would have all this down. Thanks for any input you might have or a slap upside the head just telling me to get it together.
Hi! You've home schooled high school! Wow not sure I can give advice! I'm already impressed. As for CLE. This is my first year with it and I am super happy and will be using it again next year. This year was for ds 8 and dd 4. I have not been through the K or 1st stuff so it is a little hard for me to speak directly to those curriculum. Honestly I was really turned off by the thought of a work book program when we began therefore my first year was quite eclectic. The thing I love about CLE is I feel firmly that we are covering all the necessary bases and planning for me is so super easy! We school four days a week with CLE and do music, home school group all that good stuff on a fifth day. It is not hard to complete their curriculum at that pace if you don't do some of the test and things. As long as ds did well on the self check we skipped test. I have a fairly independent learner who would prefer to figure things out on his own rather than me preaching it to him. CLE can be very very student lead. We have more fun "learning" together when it is not school. Cool library books, TV shows, cooking, etc. As for your teaching style - totally consider it! I'm not saying ignore your child's strengths just know your weaknesses as well. I've come to discover I'm not the hands on gooey messy home school mom I'd like to be at times. They are better off with me being less crafty and sane than loosing it daily. Hope that helps some. I feel rather all over the place tonight.:lol:
Thanks for the encouragement Valleyfam! Don't be impressed with the High school stuff. Like I said we used ABeka DVD's with my oldest! However, I find High School much easier than this elem. stuff! My first year with my 6yo is quite eclectic and it just doesn't seem to be working. I think for two reasons, 1. I am afraid that I am just missing things and 2. I am a worksheet kid of girl! Plus like you, to my dismay, "I've come to discover I'm not the hands on gooey messy home school mom I'd like to be at times." Do you only use CLE now? And for your youngest, are you using the ABC series?
Valleyfam, I thought it funny about your independent learner. I also use CLE and most of mine really aren't as independent as I'd like them to be. That said, CLE is for students to go ahead and do. There is some teacher/mom interaction but not much, unless you have children like mine that want you holding their hands all along the way. I actually have to push mine to go ahead with the lessons. I think it really depends on your child. CLE does make it easier to learn because of how explanatory they are when they introduce new concepts. I'd say give it a try, it's not like it's one of those expensive curriculums that ends up being useless to you. That's another plus about them.
Thought I'd also mention this thread: http://www.homeschoolspot.com/showthread.php?t=29921&highlight=christian+light I replied there as well and so did some other CLE users. It might be helpful.
Obviously, the younger the student, the more teacher-attention and direction is needed. Whenever I can, I *allow* (encourage? push??) the students to do as much as they can do independently, even my first-grader dgs. Even he has become more independent as the year has progressed. Then I do all the checking of their answers, and we only have to discuss the stuff they got wrong. If they got it right the first time, they've probably got it, right? But with Other People's Kids, all ages and all levels, there's no way I can *teach* 6 or7 different lessons a day to several different kids (plus the planning and recordkeeping, etc.) and maintain my sanity. Some can, and do it well, I am not one of them. Sometimes we do things a little diffeently - like "oral reading class" - we generally don't do as the reading course suggests, because we read to each other briefly all day - sometimes in reading but also in science and social studies. Sometimes I "introduce" and then turn them loose to do their independent part. Sometimes I just give the assignment to "read and do" and just talk about it later. So far it seems to be working for most of the kids. I've had those who didn't want to be independent workers, and that didn't work, but most of them really do want to learn. Even though we're more school than homeschool, we're more "one-room school-y" than public-schooly. The kids listen in on each other's lessons, share opinions and observations, and sometimes what we do is whole-group regardless of level. The kids usually get to pick what they want to do when, from their assignments I list on the whiteboard. Sometimes part of the lesson is drawing/coloring - very popular with the three I currently have - even if it's not "art class". And since the primary-grade CLE illustrations are mostly line drawings, the kids can color their workbooks when the lesson is done.
I so agree with you about High School being easier. We did not use a DVD program so I did do some teaching but even then it was more discussion than anything else. I am looking foward to when dd is in high school (although then she will be almost grown up and I do not want that :lol: ) We use Sonlight so I get my interaction but I also have things that dd does on her own. Math we use Saxon and she reads the lesson and will ask questions if she does not get it so that is pretty much on her own. Dd also does worksheets for Grammar and Science on her own. We also use BJU's Bible just for the worksheets (this way dd can get hands on with the Bible), MCP's Maps Charts and Graphs, along with CLE's Music. Those dd does on her own. At co-op she gets to do classes that have those hands on activities that I am not great at doing at home. I am sure she would love more of them but I just cannot fit them in or do I enjoy them alot. To me it is just finding the curriculum that will ballance it the most for you.
Thank you for this! Do you like CLE's Music? Will you tell me about BJU's Bible and why you just use the worksheets?
Okay....this is all personal opinion...so take it for what it's worth, okay? I believe any curriculum worth it's salt will take a student from being a teacher dependent student to an independent learner through stages. Obviously, the early years are very teacher dependent, but as they age, mature, and gain abilities to read, reason, etc, I think it is very reasonable to expect a child to be an independent learner. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to by a "boxed" curriculum to get a child to be an independent learner, though either - although there are good ones out there that go through the progressions (AOP, CLE, BJ, etc, which look a lot like "school-at-home", but with tweaks can be more hands on - add projects, add videos, add field trips to enhance the learning). I would say that all three of mine are independent learners - in that I do all the scheduling and they do all the work. I spend very little time "teaching", but TONS of time interacting. I help when needed. Even my 1st grader, who is a good reader is very independent, I do still sit with her for two subjects. And I always sit with her in Math to make sure she has the concept down before she works on the worksheet. But she does the seatwork very independently. I hope this makes sense. My 7th grader was an extremely independent child. When we started homeschooling, she did not want me to "teach" her. So we used AOP Lifepacs when we started out because she wanted to do it all herself. It worked. And for her created a serious independence and ownership of her own education. She now helps me chose certain of her curricula (not all, because I base everything off of History), I let her chose the reading books that go along with a unit, I let her pick her art projects and research projects that go along with the unit, etc.). My middle, a 5th grader, needs a little more guidance in CHOOSING the projects, but he does them completely independently. Does this help? LOL Our "interaction" and spending of time together is more when they're done they're official school work.
Krista... What do you use for history? This is my most difficult subject to buy for. My girls love for me to read, talk, and discuss history with them . They understand it much better... so... I wind up "teaching" two different history lessons... I use CLE for Language Arts and Reading/ Lit. I love them and the girls are doing well with them.
CLE music is good for teach the basics of how to read music. It is fairly easy for dd to follow along. As for Bible we do the daily Bible readings from Sonlight's schedule. I wanted something where dd could be a little hands on and looking stuff up in the Bible on her own. She will do the reading if need be for BJU or just the verses needed to complete the worksheet. I do not do the entire lesson that is in the BJU teacher's book because we already discuss the Bible reading we start our day with. Does that make sense? Next year I am not sure if we will still use BJU or just what Sonlight provides (have to check it out at convention) or go with something totaly different. DD loves doing the BJU but as the grades get higher it looks like you really need to do the lesson so that may not work for us.
I will reply to the teaching style vs learning style--- learning style must always win. We have to over ride our own styles to teach for some of our kids. but since each one learns a bit different than the one before you get more than one chance as long as you get more than one home schooler. You can always insert your style to bring out differences but if it is not working, shelf your style over thiers.
We are using Ancient History and the Bible by Diana Waring. I do not follow it the way they recommend, though!!, LOL!!! I love that it teaches to different intelligences. Each unit, they pick an art project and research project. I try to set a unit as 4 weeks. I got the elementary book for my youngest so she can join in too!
