introduction and LCC question

[mommyx12]

Hi,
I am Tricia and mom to 12 blessings. Our oldest is 24 and youngest is 9 months. We have homeschooled from the beginning and have been doing classical homesschooling for sometime but this book has reshaped our way of thinking. I have just finished reading The Latin Centered Curriculum and I have a couple of questions and hoping you all could help out here.
The daily schedule talks about doing on Monday, English, Tues, Classical Studies, Wednesday, modern studies, etc, I am not sure of the order as the book is not before me. Anyway, is there any concern that if a child is studying a particular book say in Modern Studies, and only does this once a week....isn't there the chance they will forget what they have learned if they don't do it again for a whole week. I just think my children would be space cases if they did this. What is the idea behind during each section only once a week. Thanks ahead of time and blessings.
Tricia

[matermagistra]

Hi there!

I've only just read The Latin-Centered Curriculum, but I have been adopting this type of schedule for awhile now. It is my meager experience that this approach makes it easier for them to retain because their brains are not crowded out with a zillion different things to study in one day. It is easier to concentrate on the one thing, than to try and remember something that is crammed in and most of the time rushed through to check it off the daily list.

It also makes it a lot easier for you. This type of approach has really helped to simplify our days and especially my planning time. They also look forward to that day's studies because they are not burned out on it by doing it every day.

Your children may respond differently, but mine have thrived on knowing that Thursdays are our History days, and that's all they have to focus on, besides Math and Latin.

Hope this helps!
Marita

[mommyx12]

Hi Marita,
Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate it and I feel much better about this whole thing. You have made it make sence to me. So, in your experience with homeschooling your children you have found this to be true? That they DO retain what they are learning even while doing it only once a week. I really like how you put it, only having to concentrate on that one thing and being so interested their 'eager level' of what to learn would be higher. I am still in the 'application' stage of what I have learned in this book but that one thing is what held me back. I will now get more serious this week on putting together our schedule for the upcoming weeks. At this point we are primarily doing latin, math, penmanship, (I plan on beginning copy work next week), and reading. So now I am looking forward to and trusting in this approach. What you wrote just made so much sence that now it is like I am able to see the bigger picture instead of like you said, 'just getting it done to check it off the list'. Thanks so much again.

Tricia

[matermagistra]

We try and do an entire week's worth of that subject on that assigned day. The great thing about it is that we do Math and Latin first thing. Then we have all day to complete that amount of work. My kids seem to like it better because they have lots of breaks in between...they'd deflate if I made them sit still for all that time to do a week's worth of history, chemistry or whatever. I like it, because while they are having their breaks, I'm having mine too...and it helps me get more stuff done around the house. Because when my house is in the pits, so am I, and I am not much fun to live with.

To illustrate how much they like this set up, I will tell you what my daughter, Tessa, said the other day. We were cuddling in bed the other night and she said, "What's tomorrow?" and I said, "Wednesday." She replied, "Yessssss! That means tomorrow is Chemistry! I can't wait!" That is a true story, believe it or not!!

As I said, I just read LCC, and it stinks in a way, because I had JUST bought a bunch of curriculum before I read it. Now, I want a bunch of other stuff, but have to wait and save for it. Things like Famous Men of Rome, Christian Studies, copybooks, etc. So for now, I am still sticking to my original schedule, which is this:

Monday: Language Arts - DD9- Rod and Staff Grammar, Spelling Workout, Explode the Code 4.5, Copywork, Handwriting, Recitation practice, and we always start with Math and Latin.
Tuesday: We go up to our church building every Tues. morning to help work on our Bible class curriculum. Tuesday evenings we do catch-ups and read-alouds.
Wednesday: Chemistry
Thursday: History (SL's Core 3, Hands n' Hearts History Kits) and Geography (Geography Trails)
Friday: Art projects, catch-ups if necessary, any kind of fun project we want to do, or field trips.

The same for my DS7 except he also has daily phonics in addition to math and latin, as well as copywork.

Marita

[mommyx12]

Hi Marita,
Thanks again and I do have another question. You said you do a week's worth on that particular day of a certain subject. Can I ask about how long that takes?
Also, I know exactly what you mean. Just since last school year I bought 3 different sets of curriculums as I think wow, I really like this, then another comes along and another. My thing, is I just have to stop looking at catalogs!! My biggest purchase this year was the SOW curriculum and I have not even touched it, but I HAD to have it. You would think that after doing this for 19 years I would learn first, the way I want to homeschool, and second, to stop shopping!!! I have 12 children who have homeschooled all the way through so I have tried tons of homeschooling curricula. I should be satisfied at this point with something and stick with it. Oh well, experience is a good thing too other than the feeling I have literally thrown away money and that is not good. But I do really like the way the Latin Centered Curriculum puts things into perspective so maybe I have 'found it' after all this time. Thanks again and have a great day.
Tricia::)

[matermagistra]

Tricia,

I think it really depends. A lot of days I spread it out over the majority of the day...it's not unusual at all for me to save some even for the evenings. It makes it very low-pressure. We have all day to get it done and that usually makes for lots of breaks in between. Other days we're more focused and get it done in a couple of hours, especially if we need to go do something else that afternoon. You can experiment with it and see what seems to work the best for you.

There must be a little bit of a curriculum junkie in all of us, I think. :) I wish I could buy all the stuff mentioned in LCC. Of course, by biggest problem is just that I love books, period. (sigh) Too many books, too little time and too little moolah.;)