This curriculum site is just a guide. I am not licensed or have a degree in Child Education.
I do not teach just like Charlotte Mason. I have taken her basic idea and molded into my own. If you are using this page you are probably the same and will take this resource and mold into your own.
Here is a link to the original Charlotte Mason Method http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html#1. She stresses on a classical education based on the humanities. She stresses memorization which I do not put in my curriculum. As a family we memorize Bible verses. Starting in 2nd grade I let my kids choose a poem per quarter to memorize.
I have added Science and Math to my curriculum early on. Check out the Every Day Links to the right of the page. There are two great websites dedicated to the homeschooling using the Charlotte Mason Method. I also do not follow the Mason Method with History. I tend to be a big proponent on American History first and then World History. I do, however, expand out to World History given a specific time period in American History. I will take a day and say "Let us see what the rest of the world is doing!" If you would rather go into world history using the Bible as a guide the Simply Charlotte Mason website has a guide for doing that. I take the Simply Charlotte Mason guide and the kids and I read about ancient civilizations during the summer.
As for artists, composers, and hymns I use the amblesideonline.org as a guide. When doing these "studies" it is mainly just to expose your children to the world of the classics. You don't have to get to involved with these. It is simply looking at the painting, listening to the famous composers, and hymns. Ask the kids what they think. Let them lead on these.
My son has a speech delay and we have decided to home school him. I have enrolled him in a local university's group speech therapy class each week. To build on his speech at home I am taking each subject and emphasising vocabulary words. For example week 1 for kindergarten in Math we are learning all about positions. So while he needs to recognize the positions on his activity sheets he will also need to be able to state which position he is in relative to an object. This is combining thought processing and his speech vocabulary. I know it seems simple, it is, but it will take a lot of time. It is time that will help your child with speech.
Each new skill learned by your kindergartner will just build to more. It is easy to get discouraged in the beginning to see very little progress, especially if you are just starting home schooling. I became discouraged with my daughter because I thought that she should be progressing faster. Then a friend, who is a teacher at a small private school in California, encouraged me just to look at each week and see the success. Also, she stated that I needed to stick with a concept until my daughter got it and not to try to rush it (I was apart of an online school at the time and felt that it was going too fast for us). Some concepts will take longer to learn while others will be very quick. Do not go on to another concept just because it is a new week if your child does not really grasp the meaning. Don't worry, in another week you may find that you can cover two concepts.
School is to be enjoyed by everyone and that includes Mom and Dad. Have fun! You are doing great!
