Fall 2016 CM Loop Schedule Prep

Today I worked out a loop schedule for the first term of our Catholic Charlotte Mason homeschooling curriculum for the fall. This might seem like jumping the gun, because May isn't even over yet. But after I wrote up my curriculum plans for submission to our local superintendent, and then added a few more things to it, there did seem to be quite a formidable list of books, despite my efforts to streamline. Then it occurred to me that this curriculum list could be used for the entirety of Level 3 in a CM education, which is grades 6 & 7, roughly ages 11 to 13. (See Mater Amabilis for guides to the levels.)

In other words, I can be thinking in terms of the next two school years overall. And when I decided to determine which books I would use to begin the first upcoming term, things suddenly seemed more manageable. I update my loop schedule whenever there is a change in books or materials being used, printing it out and checking off the items as we go along. The Writing Loop is part of the Daily Core, rotating through the five types of writing each week. The Extended Loops may take up to two weeks to complete.

For the coming school year I added a "morning basket" to the Daily Core, in order to be sure to work in poetry, art, and music appreciation, and some informal dancing. It still all fits on one printed page! And who knows, maybe we will accomplish everything on the curriculum list in one year after all. At any rate, the important thing is that I have a solid plan and a way to implement it, and I won't be worrying all summer about the logistics. So I hope this is helpful to those who are trying to work out a similar type of CM schedule, to see how all subjects can be fitted in. I look forward to feedback and questions in the comments section! 

Catholic Charlotte Mason Loop Schedule, 2016-2017 Term 1 

Daily Core: (open with prayer & devotions)

- Literature: King David and His Songs (Windeatt); Anne of Green Gables series (bedtime)  

- Morning Basket: poetry, music, & art appreciation; dance

- Book of Gratitude reader (Seton vintage reprint)

- Hamilton’s Arithmetic

- Piano practice

- Spanish

Writing Loop (using poems, hymns, prayers, Bible verses, and passages from reading books for copy work and dictation):

- copy work

- dictation

- grammar workbook

- written narration or letter writing

- cursive writing (Seton Handwriting 3)

Extended Loops:

Religion loop:

- The Baltimore Catechism

- The Rosary in Art (Seton): picture studies; Rosary prayers and mysteries from New Testament

- The Loyola Treasury of Saints or Journeys with Mary (De Santis)

- Bible History for Young Catholics (Old Testament, Seton)

Humanities Loop:

- Natural science: nature walks & nature notebook; animal classification cards; The Story Book of Science (Fabre)

- A Child’s Geography of the World (Hillyer) and map work/visual enrichment

- The Care & Keeping of You or The Feelings Book (American Girl, health)

- Fifty Stories from Ohio History (Martzolff)

- Memory Work

Weekly:

Gym & art classes at Catholic school; piano lessons; religious ed. class

Spring CM Curriculum Updates

Spring did finally arrive after an unwelcome return to winter, and Beezy and I have experienced some enjoyable days doing our homeschooling lessons on the porch. Tulips are in full array in our yard right now, and the crab apple tree will soon be in fragrant bloom, as will the honeysuckle bush. I'm going to go out to the backyard today and visit my favorite, the lilacs, to see how they are coming along. I look forward to the sweetness of pears from the tree now flowering. These signs of life do cheer me so!

Another event that always delights my spirit is Beezy's annual spring piano recital, which we attended yesterday. She was one of three homeschoolers among the 14 performing students. All of these young people give me hope for our society's future, as they display the dedication necessary for learning to play a musical instrument. They must have a strong sense of commitment, self-discipline, patience, creativity, and humility, all qualities of character that will serve them well--that will indeed be necessary--in adult life. Beezy and her dad and I were privileged to share the special day with great-grandparents, grandparents who traveled from Cleveland, and a cousin with whom Beezy is very close. 

Today I made adjustments to our Catholic Charlotte Mason loop schedule. To keep it simple, I have designed it to fit everything on one printed page. Sometimes we get through all of the extended loop items in one week, but if it takes two, that is fine. It's more important to take our time to enjoy and assimilate each subject rather than rushing to fit it all in. The writing loop is easily accomplished in a week, often being done in only four days.

A Book of Gratitude is a reprint of a vintage Catholic reader from the Faith and Freedom series and is available from Seton Home Study's 5th grade book list. This contains a nice selection of saint stories and classic literature and poetry. We finished reading Saint Isaac and the Indians (Lomask), which I highly recommend, especially in connection with Canadian history. I didn't want to begin another historical novel for read aloud literature this late in the year. So we will be using Fifty Stories from Ohio History, a vintage book found at our own library, until school finishes at the end of May. We will then pick up where we left off in the fall. Reading one Psalm to close our homeschooling lessons each day has been a wonderful addition to the curriculum.

I removed Tea Time Fridays from the schedule, simply because it wasn't often happening. Instead I put Spanish into the Humanities Loop. Poetry and hymns are worked into copy work and dictation lessons, and I added letter writing (correspondence) to the writing loop. This way all of the previous Tea Time items are still a part of the curriculum, and if we go on a field trip or have some other activity planned for Fridays, those subjects are not left undone. The only thing I still need to incorporate is a handicraft. We have a needlepoint project begun long ago that still needs to be finished, so I think I'll bring that out on rainy afternoons and evenings when we have nothing going on and want to stave off boredom.

I am considering switching to Saxon Math for next year and was excited to find that I could order it through the library system! If I like it, I will just use a library copy rather than buying the textbook. With my special teacher library card, I can keep items out for an extended period and renew several times. I will occasionally have to send it back and reorder it, so we can use our Total Math workbook in between, which we will not finish this year.

Except for the Seton workbook for 6th grade that goes along with the Baltimore Catechism, which we may use to focus on particular tenets of the Faith next year, I don't think I'm going to need to purchase a single book! Most of what we will need to continue with our studies we already have, and the rest is available through the library. How amazing is that?!  As always, please feel free to ask questions or share your impressions in the comments at the bottom. Here is the updated schedule:

Daily Core (beginning each day with prayer):

- Reading: A Book of Gratitude or Rover by Jackie French (Viking historical fiction) 

- Math lesson

- Piano practice

- Literature read aloud: Fifty Stories from Ohio History (for lesson time, with oral narration and/or discussion); Anne of Windy Poplars (bedtime)

- Old Testament Bible: Psalms (closing reading)

Writing loop (using poems, hymns, prayers, Bible verses, and passages from reading  books for copy work and dictation):

- copy work

- dictation

- grammar workbook

- written narration or correspondence

- cursive writing (Seton Handwriting 3)

Extended Loops:

Religion loop:

- The Baltimore Catechism

- The Rosary in Art (picture studies, Seton)

- New Testament Bible: Rosary mysteries (and prayers); the Acts of the Apostles  

- Saints: The Saint Book (Newland) or Journeys with Mary (De Santis)

Humanities Loop:

- Natural science: nature walks and notebook; zoological cards; The Story Book of Science

- A Child’s Geography of the World and/or map work or visual enrichment

- Memory work/recitation

- The Care & Keeping of You or The Feelings Book (American Girl, health)

- Spanish

Weekly:

Religious Ed. Class at parish church on Wednesdays

Gym and art classes at Catholic school & piano lessons on Thursdays

Art, lunch and recess at Catholic school on Fridays

Catholic Charlotte Mason Loop Schedule

Shortly after posting my weekly Charlotte Mason schedule for the current fall term, I began reading Sarah Mackenzie's Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooer's Guide to Unshakable Peace. Sarah is a Catholic mother of six, and she writes at the blog, Amongst Lovely Things. Who wouldn't wish to have unshakable peace, yes?

Last night I encountered this idea of "looping subjects", and my world was rocked! As I mentioned in the previous post, I often end up doing a particular subject on a different day than I have planned in my schedule. I have been finding it very useful to have the schedule nonetheless, so that I make sure to work everything in during a given week. In reality, I have been looping and didn't even realize it!

Sarah explains on p. 41, "The concept of looping is simply this: Instead of assigning tasks to certain days of the week, list tasks and then tackle them in order, regardless of what day it is."  In my opinion, it isn't even necessary to do them in order. Simply check each item off as you do it, and the next day choose another one from the list.

Sarah advocates using short loop schedules, with three to five items on each. You can also put an item in a loop more than once. I was up late last night working this out--so excited! I typed it up today and made copies for myself, so that I can start a fresh list each time I get through all the loops. Sarah says the time frame will likely be one or two weeks.

As you can see, my Daily Core items are reading, math, piano practice, literature read alouds, and writing, which has its own loop. The Extended Loops are for subjects in religion and the humanities, which are basically what remains to round out our liberal arts curriculum. You can read the details of the resources we use in the original schedule. Most likely, in addition to the Daily Core, we will include a task from each of the Extended Loops, for a total of seven subjects worked on per day. Today we did two in religion and none from the humanities. Sarah emphasizes that every subject does not need to be done every day, for the whole year long. Don't you feel more restful already?

In case you are not familiar with the "tea time" concept, that will be forthcoming in the next installment! I do hope this inspires you to create your own loop schedule. For ideas on how to accomplish such a thing with a large family that includes very little ones, get Sarah's book. I highly recommend it!! 


Daily Core:

American Cardinal Reader

Math lesson

Piano practice

Literature read aloud: Leif Erickson the Lucky (for lesson time, with narration and/or discussion); Anne of Green Gables (bedtime)

Writing loop:

copy work

dictation

grammar

word making w/ movable alphabet and sentence writing

cursive

Extended Loops:

Religion loop:

The Baltimore Catechism

The Rosary in Art (picture studies)

New Testament Bible reading (Rosary mysteries and decade prayers)

The Guiding Light (Old Testament Bible stories)

The Saint Book or Loyola Treasury

Humanities Loop:

The Story Book of Science

A Child’s Geography of the World (or map work/visual enrichment)

Nature walk or nature notebook

Memory work/recitation
The Care & Keeping of You

Tea Time: poetry, music, Spanish, baking, correspondence, handicrafts

Weekly:

Religious Ed. Class at parish church on Wednesdays

Gym and art classes at Catholic school & piano lessons on Thursdays

Art, lunch and recess at Catholic school on Fridays