SEPTEMBER 2024 HOMESCHOOL UPDATE || Charlotte Mason Homeschool || 2nd Grade & Kindergarten

[@cindjac2018]

Yes, please a flip through of math mammoth

[@MaryBarfield]

Great! I have it on my “to be filmed” list!

[@cindjac2018]

​@@MaryBarfieldthank you!

[@JoleenGraves]

Girl, I know all about Helene. We are a military family in Tampa. Our base sits right on Tampa Bay and there was some definite damage down here. Fortunately, our place didn’t flood. Now we are preparing to evacuate for Milton. It’s been a roller coaster

[@MaryBarfield]

I’m so sorry you are having to deal with that! Thankfully y’all’s place didn’t flood! Hopefully Milton isn’t as bad as they say it’s going to be! 🤞🤞My father is in Florida on the gulf side too so I’m very anxious about how it’s going to play out😞 Please stay safe!

[@JoleenGraves]

@@MaryBarfield oh no! I’ll definitely be praying for your dad 💕

[@JoleenGraves]

Would love a video about AO and how you plan to incorporate

[@MaryBarfield]

Just posted a video talking about this! I hope it's helpful! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pniwpGZ9r82Ggbc

[@angelique00angelique]

Math With Confidence sounds really fun,but, I kinda thought to myself that it seemed a little too light. I feel like I’m very much like your girls and preferred some more practice and less fluff when I was in school. I think your way of using both math curriculums sounds great! It sounds like your girls are really enjoying school and flying through everything!

[@MaryBarfield]

I thought that too initially about MWC lol, but then we started using it and I realized that it's not necessarily too light, but it has a lot of "fluff". It's actually quite challenging, but dependent on your child's learning style and propensity for mathematics, it might be too much "hand holding" and frustrate them. Not sure if that makes sense? But I think by blending Math Mammoth (more straight forward and independent) with MWC (games, hands on learning) it provides them the best of both worlds, because I think they compliment each other very well! :) However, it's not completely necessary because Math Mammoth provides some games you can use at the beginning of each chapter, it's just not the entire program. At this point, based on my girls learning styles and what's working for us, if I had to choose only one curriculum for time and/or financial purposes, I would move forward with Math Mammoth.

[@CandiceQH]

Had no idea you’re in NC! We are too. I grew up in Asheville (in the Triangle now) and it’s definitely been a rough couple of weeks seeing the devastation.😞

[@MaryBarfield]

Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry about Asheville! My husband went to App State, so Boone, Banner Elk, and the mountains in general over there are near and dear to our hearts. We were initially going to go to Asheville for our anniversary the weekend that Helene came through, but thankfully we decided a few weeks prior, to pivot to another location at a later date due to work and personal things going on. It breaks my heart that it will be a while before Asheville is back to it's lively amazing self!

[@stephenmodicabookgiveway]

For introducing Shakespeare I got some Shakespeare childhood classics in my giveway a while back they are amazing only 64 pages a book

[@SydneyWooten]

We are loosely using WildWood curriculum, so it's not our main curriculum. The last month has been crazy so we've really struggled to incorporate it into our day along with everything else. We are in WNC (Asheville) and still trying to get life back to some sort of normalcy after the storm. We are using MWC 1st grade, and my daughter doesn't like that I have to be involved with the entire lesson. We have Math Mammoth 2nd grade, but it feels like a big leap from where we are now to beginning that. She needs more review of what we are going over now before we continue on to 2nd grade.

[@MaryBarfield]

I’m so sorry you are having to deal with all that. Give yourself grace and time as Helene was a once in a lifetime event. Homeschooling thankfully will always be there, so do what you can, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself. I also think CM curriculums like Wildwood and AO allow for so much flexibility, so that when we do have chaotic times in our lives, we can semi-stay on track and then get back on track easily 🥰. Sending you hugs! Also have you looked at the Skills review workbooks from Math Mammoth? If you want a “bridge” between MWC 1 and MM2, it might make sense for you to take a few weeks to go through the MMReview workbook for grade 1 (make sure she doesn’t have any gaps, but also good review). Also MM2 Chapter 1 is all review from grade 1 as well. Just take your time with it 🥰

[@SydneyWooten]

@@MaryBarfield I didn't see those workbooks on the website. I'll go back and look again!

[@StephanieMT]

I hate tornadoes super scarry. Have bad torndao damage in cities or either side of my city in various years. Im glad you are ok i thought you lived in texas for some reason. We switched out all homeschool curriculum and giving mcguffey a try. Im waiting to see a rhumotologist at end of month to see what autoimmune disease i might have. Super scarry but i hope it all works out ok. We plan to move in new year but i have no idea where.

[@MaryBarfield]

They really are! Thankfully we have only had close calls and have never been in a tornado officially! 🤞 I hope the McGuffey readers works for you! We are loving them! It’s a really great cohesive and simple/no stress way of approaching LA, which will be helpful for you as you work through your autoimmune diagnosis, which I know is tough. It took me a few years to stabilize my health after my hashimotos diagnosis with diet + exercise and even now I still have flare ups which will rock me and make daily life tough for my girls and I. I am sending you positive thoughts and hope you get the answers you need from the rhumotologist!

[@bethanylowe7864]

An AO video would be helpful and insightful. I'm always curious how others use AO with their family.

[@MaryBarfield]

Just posted a video talking about this! I hope it's helpful! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pniwpGZ9r82Ggbc

[@coffeeandhomeschool]

We're also a secular homeschool family and are interested in using Ambleside Online for our 6 year old next year! Would love a video sharing how you plan to use AO and making it secular! :)

[@MaryBarfield]

That’s wonderful! I will be posting that exact video this week! No later than Saturday so keep an eye out for it! 😊

[@MaryBarfield]

Just posted a video talking about this! I hope it's helpful! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pniwpGZ9r82Ggbc

[@coffeeandhomeschool]

@@MaryBarfield Thank you so much!

[@BrekkeEl]

Fellow mid-state NCian. We’ve been doing a lot of relief effort for us. Heartbreaking for our state.

[@MaryBarfield]

It really is 😞 but I will say it’s also shown what an amazing community we have, banding together to provide aid, supplies, etc. to those affected the most in Western NC.

[@brittanyevans2556]

I loved MWC K and 1, but my daughter needed more practice, so we went with MM 1. My daughter said the same thing - she preferred straight forward approach of MM. We ended up going with Saxon Math then... because it is straight forward and has extra practice like MM BUT has a spiral approach, which my daughter needs for retention. This spiral/review is missing from MM. Just wanted to share you are not alone in needing to make math changes.

[@MaryBarfield]

I'm glad you found a math curriculum that worked for your daughters learning style! I math is one of those subjects that you may need to try a few curriculums/styles of teaching math, before you find the right fit :)

[@brookeally1346]

Have you ever heard of the book How to Teach your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig? We are using that along with tales from Shakespeare and my son is having a blast with it and puppets too ❤

[@MaryBarfield]

I haven’t! I will have to check it out - thank you for the recommendation!

[@inquisitivemindsacademy]

We love that book!! I’d also highly recommend the Read Aloud Revival Podcast episodes with him!! They are great!!!

[@brookeally1346]

@@MaryBarfieldof course! I’m learning so much with my boys ❤

[@brookeally1346]

@@inquisitivemindsacademyyes! Her book is also great too ❤

[@kathycabrera7519]

I would love to know more about math Mammoth.

[@MaryBarfield]

Wonderful! My next video will be an overview of Math Mammoth and their main curriculum (as well as touching upon other offerings them have).

[@ashleymurphy4813]

Mary I’m so glad you weren’t affected by the hurricane! My best friend lives just outside of Asheville🙁 Thankfully she’s ok. Question- if you guys are thinking full Charlotte Mason next year, do you think you’ll follow her recommendation for nature study thru grade 5? I only ask bc you guys are loving space science and I wondered what your science plan was. I know you had also mentioned Elemental Sci. So right, I guess that’d be classical science which I know you guys love too. I’m trying to decide if we stick with elemental science next year and do chemistry or if we will go with Mason‘s recommendation to just continue nature study.🤔

[@MaryBarfield]

Oh I’m so sorry for your friend in Asheville, but so glad to hear she is ok! I have heard some truly tragic stories coming out of that part of our state and I just can’t fathom going through all of that 😞. As of right now we still plan to do Elemental Science Biology for Grammar years next year! We will also be following along with AO’s nature study rotation and Nature literature readings for each year, and treat Science as a separate subject (just like Blossom + Root has Nature and Science separate). I know this goes against Charlotte Masons teachings that early years should be focused on observation of our natural world and that’s all that’s needed for Science. However my girls love science (and frankly so do I lol) and I want to lean into that interest for them. I also don’t feel like it will add too much since we are not doing all of the AO curriculum (I.e. we are not doing the recommended Bible readings or pilgrims progress, etc.) which makes time for us to include ES Biology in our schedule. I am leaning towards doing the 5 day per week schedule so they are shorter lessons like Charlotte Mason recommends 🥰. How are you liking Biology this year??

[@ashleymurphy4813]

@@MaryBarfield gah yes, I feel torn on what to do for science! I always figured we would do science on top of nature study. Biology for the Grammar Stage is….good. Honestly, it is, but… it’s a little too much busy work. I will do a review on it soon! I think our plan is to do full botany nature study next year to see if that feels full enough for science and go from there.

[@MaryBarfield]

@@ashleymurphy4813 I totally get it lol. I’m always trying to simplify without losing valuable knowledge (and fun learning lol). I can’t wait to see your review on the ES Biology!

[@ashleymurphy4813]

@@MaryBarfield I think we’ve been using it long enough to do a review! (9 weeks…)

[@kristenpoletti790]

How are you spacing out the Shakespeare plays?

[@MaryBarfield]

We are following the AO year 1 schedule for Shakespeare using the Lambs version of Tales of Shakespeare. The way they are spaced out, it amounts to 2-3 plays every 12 weeks, so easily doable!

[@YasminB-u9d]

We're in the same area. Would you be willing to share more about the homeschool field trip group?

[@MaryBarfield]

Absolutely! Email me at [e-mail] and I can give you details!

[@footedpancake6408]

Do you have a schedule you could share?

[@MaryBarfield]

Hey there! I don't have a strict schedule we follow (like with specific times), but I have a basic structure that I like to follow with small tweaks each week dependent on what else we have going on. I share that in this video where I plan out a week that might be helpful for you? kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3u3lGyjjLJ4gKc