During a recent presentation on Preparing a Charlotte Mason Schedule, and I made a promise to add material from that talk to this blog. I think I will start with last things first — the resources which I referred to.
I talked a lot about the schedules and programmes that the P.U.S. schools used. I think it is worthwhile to really study these. It is a lot to take in, and frankly, it’s taken me years to figure out some of the idiosyncrasies, but it’s definitely worth studying. Furthermore, every year things change: your children change forms, you add another piece of the CM puzzle to your schedule, another child becomes old enough to officially be schooled. It’s important to go back to the true foundation each year as you begin making your schedule.
AO has the original version of the Time-tables, and my reformatted Time-tables as well. I did not change any of the information on the reformatted version. My goal was just to make it so they would all print out on one page.
AO has various P.U.S. Programmes transcribed, and you can find even more of them at Redeemer. Use “search database” and search for “programmes”.
After years of studying the programmes and time-tables myself, I created a matrix of subjects based on the PUS Time-tables and Programmes. I needed a more orderly look at what the students were doing, and found that by re-ordering the schedules I was able to see so much more. Such as what the forms have in common, and how a subject changed over the years. (More time or less, more individual subjects or less.) Print here
“I will refrain from enlarging upon the involved state of affairs when there are children working partly in one class and partly in another; nor will I discuss what happens when one has a child of 10 who cannot read.” – K. Clendinned
We looked at a sample lesson from Plutarch during my presentation. There are MANY more sample lessons in the back of volume 3, and I would strongly advise you to study them. They are not all the same, nor do all of them include the use of a book. There are lectures and a picture talk, history and geography lessons, and even a cooking lesson for handicraft! You can find these in School Education: Volume 3, Appendix V.
Thank you for sharing, Nicole! I didn't take the opportunity to attend your talk because I felt the need to learn more about implementing Shakespeare, but I am grateful for the opportunity to peek in on a little of what you shared. PS – It was wonderful to meet you in person, as I am a regular subscriber of your blog:).
Thanks a lot. I am printing those. I kind of forget the lessons have to be short, as I tend to think we need to add time, and you showed me what is needed is to distribute it well, as CM did.
I really loved your presentation and all that you shared from your personal journey. Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us! 😀
Thank you for putting all this together! It is very helpful 🙂
Thanks so much for adding your forms! I enjoyed your presentation and learned much to (hopefully) implement this year! 🙂
Thank you for sharing this!
Karen
This is great! I had trouble getting a printable matrix. Is there a way you can share it in a printable format? Or am I just mixed up? I'm on a mac.
We use Mater Amabilis with a hint of AO, and though our subjects aren't broken down weekly like AO, the creators have always included weekly, 2x or 3 x a week for the subject which was great going in. Of course this is such a good reminder, along with Christy's article on Brandy's site, to keep to the times. I think it would fix a lot of our frustrations.
Thank you Amanda. I added a link to print out the Matrix as a PDF. Let me know if that doesn't work for you.
Thank you everyone for your encouragement! I'll keep publishing more notes from my presentation. I hope it will help everyone create a schedule that will transform your year!
This is so helpful! Thank you. I subscribed to your blog and I'm looking forward to reading more.
Thank you again for sharing what you've learned!
Thank you so much, Nicole, for this helpful series. Is there any way to receive an excel version of the matrix, so we can adjust it without re-entering all of the data?
Thank you so much, Nicole, for this helpful series. Is there any way to receive an excel version of the matrix, so we can adjust it without re-entering all of the data?
[…] Related: Preparing a CM Schedule Main Page Scheduling Workshop Resources […]
I have one question about form I. Why do they lump history and literature together under the heading of reading? How many days are history, and how many days are literature? Also, where is reading instruction/phonics?
Your scheduling cards and your matrix don’t seem to line up exactly… Some of the times differ (ie: Bible is 15 min on the cards and 20 min in the matrix…science, dictation, foreign language, & singing all differ from matrix to cards) and some things are left off the cards (ie: french song, geography quiz, handicraft, drill/dance, etc). Why?
[…] Related: Preparing a CM Schedule Main Page Scheduling Workshop Resources […]