(Request letter used with permission)
Dear Cherie,
I am LDS and a homeschool mom.  I have been thinking about buying the CER curriculum. and was interested in what you had to say about and how you school 3 days a week. I have felt discouraged with homeschooling lately.  (This is my 2nd yr. with 8, 12, 13 yr. old.) I feel I have been failing them as we have had a lot of upheaval as of late and really laid off school for about 1 mo. (Death in family, move to another house, company etc.) I have used various Charlotte Mason style things and bought a lot of different popular homeschooling books and workbooks. I like the CM approach with literature and all, but felt like a slightly more structure approach might help me. I need a plan to follow and wondered if CER would be compatible with what I have explained. I know it is heavy in history which we are a strong conservative, Constitutional type family.  I guess I want to know if you would recommend CER for what I am talking about. Some structure and plan, yet some freedom to incorporate great literature.  Sorry for the long post, and I know you are busy, but I need some help and info about CER from someone to help me make my decision. Yours, Carol
 

Dear Carol,

Thank you for writing.  I will be happy to help in any way that I can.

The CER curriculum consists of guideline books.  They give a basic structure but allow  the freedom to add your own material.  I like that.  The structure for our family, is group lesson and private studies.  In group lesson we have songs, prayer, scripture study, histories and family reading.  In private studies the children pursue what I feel inspired to have them focus on.  I used Dr. Kimber's program faithful for 7 or 8 years.  One of those years I tried an unschooling approach that lasted from Sep. to Jan.  I didn't like it.  Not enough involvement on my part.  My children did fine but I believe that one of the blessings of homeschooling is the development of the mother in the major role of teaching her children, unschooling didn't help in that area.

This year, so far, I have not been doing the CER curriculum.  I have been focusing only on reading.  Lots and lots of reading.  Family reading and private.  I have two little girls that are learning to read, one of those able to read on her own and the other just beginning.  I have two boys, almost 10 and 13 who are good readers but do not read for enjoyment.  My older children are on their own self-developed program except for scripture study.  My youngest is almost three so she isn't involved.  (I have nine living children but Chani is in college and doesn't live at home.)  I miss the CER but feel that right now I need to instill a love of reading for my boys.  My three older girls read a book every day or two.  My oldest son has a learning disability and reads very little although he loves listening to stories.  I'm concerned that the younger boys don't read because of that example, although their dad is an avid reader, reading 3-5 times faster than I do.

I have been homeschooling since my oldest turned five in 1985.  I can tell you that you shouldn't worry about the interruptions and stresses that take you away from structured learning.  I have found every single year that about mid November through all of January that we take a break.

We start in September, take the break I just mentioned, get back to school by Feb. and end by the first of May.  That is group lesson.  Private studies continues throughout the school year until my children’s friends are out of school.

I believe this it is a fairly normal and healthy pattern in a family school.  Planned or unplanned breaks happen because there are so many things that happen between November and January.  I can't help but believe that it is part of the Lord's pattern.  Study and apply.  Work and rest.

It has been good for my children, I have one in college and my other two daughters do not have any problem learning whatever they wish and holding their own in any adult conversation.  My son is 18 and will be going on a mission for our church in about 9 months (his birthday is September).  Even with his disabilities our pattern of life shows in his ability to put first things first, even when other things are more appealing.  Doesn’t that sound funny?  Sometimes it is more appealing to put school first over family life rather than have it be a part of family life.  More socially rewarding to be able to list all that was done during school roles.  My next son is awesome when it comes to research and figuring things out.  My third boy has a photographic memory but doesn't enjoy the gift yet.

I have had five babies born in the middle of the school year since my oldest started schooling.  I go down to bed/couch during a pregnancy so group lessons and private studies can continue but there are lots of interruptions.  And breaks when the baby comes.  Two of those babies were born in Feb., two were born in March and one in the beginning of May.  We have had a death, last year Neil's dad died in Nov.  He lived with us for the previous five years and died in our home.  We have had a December wedding of a nephew.  We have vacationed at unusual times, working around seminary, our church’s religious class for youth.

I guess I'm saying is that life happens and since schooling is a part of family life it ebbs and flows according to how it fits in with the experience of raising a family.  I do not recommend that anybody put schooling as a top priority except for scripture study.  That would throw the family out of balance.  Balance tends to re-assert itself, and then the mother feels guilty.  (Children rarely feel guilty about re-asserted balance unless it pertains to work)

You have years and years of raising your children.  And then they have the rest of existence to learn what they didn't learn as children.  Keep a long view.  The pattern and schedule of your school must be your choice.  It is anyway, knowingly or passively.  If you accept an outside pattern and can't live up to it, accept a different one!

Nobody on this earth loves your children more than you do.  And Heavenly Father loves them even more than that.  That means that the two of you (and husband too) are more concerned with their welfare, temporal and eternal, than anybody.  He'll inspire you how to manage everything.  And he does not want you to feel guilty.  Part of the task is to magnify YOU as mother and train you for roles in eternity.  Your children will have their turn for that same training.  This time is yours.  So the school schedule should fit your personality, your inspiration for your family, your responsibilities and interests.  Because of your love, faith and consistency your children will thrive.

Does the CER curriculum help you to do this?  Absolutely.  That is why I have done so well with it.  Why am I not doing it this year?  The Lord wanted me to do something different for a time.  Will I return to it next year?  I don't know yet but maybe I’ll even return to it this year.  In my opinion, CER is ideal for adding structure without overpowering the mother.

I do not agree with the developer of the curriculum, Dr. Kimber, (a close personal friend) as to the amount of CER for the home for a year.  He developed it for a curriculum for a private school and feels the same pattern should work in a home.  It was used successfully by many private schools.  It IS perfect for a private school.  But Private School in a separate facility is not the same as teaching within the walls of the home.

In a private school, when a family's STUFF interfere with a child attending, the class goes on for the rest of the students.  At home, when that same STUFF happens, the class stops until things resolve.  So, I recommend 2/3 of the year’s suggested curriculum instead of the full schedule as a reasonable expectation.  That means two histories rather than three.  I recommend that you expect the program to take 4-5 years instead of the three Dr. Kimber suggests.  In private school, the curriculum does complete in exactly three years.

I still do “school” only three days per week.  I have always done it that way.  Either T,W,Th or M,W,F.  But, there is much more to the education of my family than academics.  And it has worked beautifully.  (When I feel guilt, I do more group lesson for a while because the guilt is usually over the amount of time I am spending on my personal projects instead of my teaching role.  If I feel concern for a child's ability in this or that, I have them work on it in private studies.)

I hope I have been some help.  Keep the vision alive by finding your God-given pattern for managing your home and teaching your children.  Establish your schooling to YOU and not to your children or to society.  You are the one who has to keep the flame going for all the years ahead of you.  Or even for just this year.  And you love your children so following inspiration concerning their studies will be natural for you.

I believe that having everything, home and education, geared to the child is out of the order of things.  Let Mom establish it to suit her patterns and allow her the freedom and inspiration to discover what is best for her children, her home, her kingdom under God.

Cherie Logan

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