Scheduling

A word on scheduling a CM education:

Almost all lessons are short!

A guideline might be:
Y1-Y3= 10 minute lessons
Y4-Y5=15 minute lessons
Y6-Y8=30 minute lessons
Y9-Y12=45 minute lessons

We have two family-gathered time periods (we call them Consilium-- it means "Council" in latin.)

We try to teach using what we understand of the Socratic Method in these moments, and to build family culture as we do. Instead of "teaching," we ask thought provoking questions and let the children grapple with truth themselves.

Because Charlotte taught that "education is... an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life," we believe strongly in adhering to the principles that provide the most educational atmosphere, discipline, and life possible. The core of our family life is hard work and prayer.

Further, because she taught that "habit is ten natures...." we strive to provide an orderly environment founded on work and prayer,  and also to give habit instruction.

That being said, we have young children and a crazy, missional lifestyle and absolutely NOTHING goes as planned, so this "schedule" is used more like a routine, and that routine may, from time to time, be dropped in favor of some very basic survivalist work. It's a process....

Charles Spurgeon said that "by perseverence, the snail reached the ark."
A little bit of work, every day, over a long period of time will be much better than a large amount of work here or there. We believe school shouldn't be drudgery, shouldn't be complex, shouldn't be overly draining. Satisfaction comes from good work, well done.

This is our routine:

We combine subjects as much as we can, but unlike other families we did not combine our children in years. Each of our child does their own work. The family culture, however, is one of education, so they are exposed to many different things throughout the day.

We do our religion subjects as a family.
We pray the liturgy of the hours and the rosary together each day, and also discuss the daily mass readings at our meals. We have chores (service), as well as habits instruction (virtues) and study Catechism together around the breakfast table. This takes religion "out" of the curric-- the only thing we do are the Bible readings that are scheduled individually and a Catechism reading that is scheduled for Sundays.

We also do science, nature study, music, shakespeare, plutarch, art study, art, and sports as a family, in the morning.

We do the "hard stuff" first-- arithmetic, catechism and grammar/reading/phonics, but we vary it's order. Then we enjoy the rest of our time pursuing living ideas made accessible, mostly in very good books and outdoors. :)

Other scheduling issues:
Some families find that they can combine years or combine subjects. In our house, we stay true to the AO schedule, and keep each student in their own year. The younger years (which we are in!) are hard because it's a LOT of reading aloud for mom, but it's worth it in the end, so I'm just keeping the goal in mind. It will only be a few years before my older students are off on their own. ;)

If you plan on keeping your kids in their own years, respectively, then try working with each one individually for 1-2 hours per day while the others read, play, or do chores.