[Titus2Momof4]

What is it?

What is the difference between a Traditional approach and a Charlotte Mason approach to the 3 R's? I don't think I know what the Traditional approach entails.... I am imagining busy ever-repeating work and workbooks with a required number of problems you have to do, and desks, but that's probably not what you mean.

"It" was referring to the schedule I made up the other day--you know, the one I can't seem to find now.

The difference between the Traditional Approach and the CM approach to the 3R's, IMO: Well, what you're imagining a Traditional approach "looks like" *could* be what it looks like. OR, it could look different. There is nothing inherently "Traditional" -in the homeschooling world anyway- about school desks but for some people, they work (for us, they work--everyone has their own space, and the open-front desks we have are a great way for everyone to keep their own books/journals/supplies together in one handy spot). The CM approach says for the 3R's, you do arithmetic, but in 'short lessons'. You do writing, but again in short lessons and also CM approach is more concerned with quality, not quantity. IOW, whereas a Traditional approach might have a 'handwriting assignment' that day, a CM approach would have copywork of some sort, and would rather see a child copy 2 sentences (or 1) perfectly than see a whole paragraph of half-sloppy. The CM approach would also intentionally include journaling, but so do many Traditional approaches. Now, being a little 'outside the box' that I am, I try to stick to the motto that WE rule our homeschool, our homeschool does not rule us. So while we may use my beloved Abeka curriculum, *I* hold the trump card--not Abeka lesson manuals--as to what we're doing that day (and to their credit, the Abeka manuals plainly state that a first year teacher might wanna follow the guide more closely, being 'new' and all, but that a more experienced teacher might just use the manuals as a 'guide', not a must-do). The Abeka assignment may very well be to finish the entire handwriting page, but if I see that my child "gets it" and is writing the letters perfectly, I'm not going to force her to finish the page (though I will say IMO what they ask of K5 isn't much at all--that does change in 1st tho). AFA phonics, I'm not sure there is much of a difference, but I don't really know.

I agree about TWTM though-I read through it (what I could... ) and didn't see it as much more than suggestions.