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Anyone used Classically Catholic Memory?


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I haven't used it, but I am joining a new co-op that will be using it in the fall.

 

It is basically a Catholic version of Classical Conversations.

The subjects and content are slightly different, and are described on the web site.

Their timeline contains several saints and other significant events for Catholics.

The latin is all prayers and hymns, no grammar.

 

The teacher's manual, student text, and timeline cards are *beautiful* with full color artwork on every page.

 

I am really excited about this program and the co-op. It will be our first experience with an academic co-op.

 

Do you have any specific questions?

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Do you have any specific questions?

 

I do!

 

-What history program are you using? Or does it really not matter? I would be looking at buying the 3rd year of the cycle as we just finished the Middle Ages. I am planning on my oldest doing Famous Men of Modern Times from Memoria Press, along with literature that corresponds with that time period.

 

-Could my 1st grader truly participate? He has had no history, and I wasn't really planning on doing any formal history with him this year, although we will likely read from A Child's History of the World (because the boys love it) and they frequently listen to SOTW Ancients on CD.

 

-I would be doing this at home. Do you think it is worth it for home use?

 

-Would you buy two student workbooks and a teacher's book? I hate to buy things that aren't necessary, but I don't mind spending the money if they are books that will get used.

 

-Do you recommend buying the timeline cards?

 

-And finally, if you had it for home use, do you really truly think you would do it regularly? I love the idea of having them commit all this to memory, I just want to make sure it is a realistic program. I would say we tend to be pretty disciplined about our schoolwork here, but there have been a few programs that I've purchased and wondered later what I was thinking. I don't want this to fall in that category!

 

Thank you for your help! I am really excited about this option!

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-What history program are you using? Or does it really not matter? I would be looking at buying the 3rd year of the cycle as we just finished the Middle Ages.

 

I don't think it matters what history program you use. There are two parts to the history: history sentences and the timeline. You work through the entire timeline every year. It is only the history sentences that are aligned with a specific time period.

 

According to their web site, the 3rd year isn't available yet, and won't be until August.

 

-Could my 1st grader truly participate? He has had no history, and I wasn't really planning on doing any formal history with him this year, although we will likely read from A Child's History of the World (because the boys love it) and they frequently listen to SOTW Ancients on CD.

 

Your 1st grader could participate. It's all just memory work. 1st graders can memorize, even if they don't completely understand what they are memorizing.

 

-I would be doing this at home. Do you think it is worth it for home use?

 

I couldn't say. It varies from family to family. I think that the materials are high quality and worth it if you use them.

 

-Would you buy two student workbooks and a teacher's book? I hate to buy things that aren't necessary, but I don't mind spending the money if they are books that will get used.

 

I would only buy a student text for a child who is reading.

The student text has each selection of memory work in large type on a single page. It's isn't a "workbook" as there are no activities in the student book. It's non-consumable.

 

-Do you recommend buying the timeline cards?

 

YES!!!! They are beautiful!!!! They are Catholic!!!! They are just the right size (4x6) with just enough info!!!!

 

-And finally, if you had it for home use, do you really truly think you would do it regularly? I love the idea of having them commit all this to memory, I just want to make sure it is a realistic program. I would say we tend to be pretty disciplined about our schoolwork here, but there have been a few programs that I've purchased and wondered later what I was thinking. I don't want this to fall in that category!

 

We already do memory work regularly so we'll just be adding this program to what we already do.

 

Thank you for your help! I am really excited about this option!
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I am purchasing the timeline cards for my rising 7th grader and k'er.

I had already bought the Classical Conversations cycle 3 CD-ROM, but I didn't want to order the VP timeline cards.

We're going to get the alpha year material the following year to line up with SOTW 1. I love the fact that it is broken into a 4 year cycle.

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Have another family do it with you; choose a day and time and plan for 3 hrs. Then you'll keep to it ;)

 

Would you do this every other week? I might be able to get at least one family to join us for that, but every week would be unlikely. I think I might need to buy this and do it at home this year, then next year try to start a coop with like-minded families... our current coop is all fun and games, which has been fine, but by the time my oldest is in 4th or 5th grade I would like for coop to actually be a time that he learns something!

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Would you do this every other week? I might be able to get at least one family to join us for that, but every week would be unlikely. I think I might need to buy this and do it at home this year, then next year try to start a coop with like-minded families... our current coop is all fun and games, which has been fine, but by the time my oldest is in 4th or 5th grade I would like for coop to actually be a time that he learns something!

 

I would have done it with you, if I didn't have my co-op and I lived near you. Our kids are around the same age.

 

I'd say one week you introduce and then the next week you have more of other work and a "review" of the work. Why don't you see if your co-op would add a memory time of .5 hrs. You could do half the work one week, half the work the other week. I think you could do something that would work out...

 

Of course, I'm Protestant, but if you move to Oregon, I would consider doing parts of it with you!! ;) I actually would love to look at it, if anyone around here purchases it!!! I think this is a great competitor for CC and also, less micro managing, which is lovely :)

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That would sure be nice to have someone to do it with- we are the sole Catholic hs'ers here. The one other family is currently moving. I don't think my prot friends would be keen on it!

 

Why not look and see; do the "agreeable" parts together. Fun and almost free due to not having "dues" to pay upward... I would do it as a protestant.... I would perhaps not do the Timeline and would have to look at the Church history perspective... but we would have enough to agree on to do it together :)

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I was looking at this again and I really like it but the Science seems really detailed and I don't know that he would get that much out of it- wouldn't I need to explain the terms. I don't see memorization without understanding it at all, of course it was a small sample on the site though. Anyone else have insight? I have wanted memory work and I like how it is all together. I love that there are Latin prayers and such. I also like the History focus as we are doing SoTW which is obviously not Catholic.

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No help here...but the program looks fantastic! :D

 

I have not done any formal memory work with my children. Does anyone have an opinion on if it would be worth doing just a few parts instead of the whole thing? I have a feeling it would overwhelm us to jump into this program with our already full schedule. I'm thinking maybe just do the religion, Latin, and science (matching with our earth science) or wait until August, buy the Gamma year and do religion,Latin and history and maybe the Great Words (we are studying early American history). I don't think I can spend $50 on the timeline cards this year...but will budget them for next year.

 

Thoughts?:bigear:

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No help here...but the program looks fantastic! :D

 

I have not done any formal memory work with my children. Does anyone have an opinion on if it would be worth doing just a few parts instead of the whole thing? I have a feeling it would overwhelm us to jump into this program with our already full schedule. I'm thinking maybe just do the religion, Latin, and science (matching with our earth science) or wait until August, buy the Gamma year and do religion,Latin and history and maybe the Great Words (we are studying early American history). I don't think I can spend $50 on the timeline cards this year...but will budget them for next year.

 

Thoughts?:bigear:

 

You could easily do just a few parts of it. You can even mix and match parts from different years. Whether or not it's worth it is up to you. Only you know your budget and schooling needs.

 

For what it's worth, the Great Words II in the Alpha year would probably match up well with early American history. It includes a poem by Longfellow and excerpts from the "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech. (I don't know what the Great Words are from the other years.)

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Here's an idea ...

 

Some people set up binders for memory work with dividers for daily, weekly, monthly review. Sort of like this, or this, or this.

 

You could easily incorporate the info in Classically Catholic Memory into such a system. Simply remove the spiral binding from the student text, and place the individual pages behind the appropriate divider in a binder.

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the Science seems really detailed and I don't know that he would get that much out of it- wouldn't I need to explain the terms. I don't see memorization without understanding it at all, of course it was a small sample on the site though.

 

The sample science pages is from the teacher text. The memory work for the student is only the shrot question and answer at the top of the page. The rest of the text on the page is instruction on how to teach the info, explaination of terms, suggestions for additional activities, etc. If you do it on you own, you could go as deep as you want for your kids to understand.

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I called and spoke with the author of the program and I found she was very helpful in answering all my questions... and I am totally sold on the program now! However, I want year 3 in the rotation, so I have to wait until August to order, but she was very confident it will be available around August 15th as they will be using it in their own co-op this fall.

 

I asked her about science, since it appears some of the science memory work will be new information for my children. She said that in her own family they are using the science to form their science curriculum for the year, so whatever the topics are in the program are what they will study. For other families, she said the science topics serve as review. She added that the science section has a lot of additional information as she does not assume that the teacher/parent is a science expert - which I very much am not. I am very happy with our current science curriculum and we are learning a lot. I think I will use the science memory work and try to find library books that correspond to the topics, but I don't plan to go beyond that for now.

 

As far as the price, my (very limited) experience over these past few years of homeschooling is that you generally get what you pay for. Having younger children though means that I will get to re-use this in the future, so the cost is really not bad when I divide it up that way.

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Guest RebeccaR

I was/am in the co-op with the family that designed CCM. Our co-op does it every other week for three hours. You could do it with just your family if there aren't other Catholic homeschoolers in your area, or you could do it with Catholics that don't homeschool, either doing it on weekends or over the summer.

 

All of the supplies are of really high quality and very useful, but if cost is going to prevent you from using the program, it would be possible to do the program with just purchasing the Teacher Text.

 

We used the CD a lot, that is really how my kids would memorize the material. When we are going places, I play the CD then have them repeat it in parts, alone and together until they memorize it. The maps and the timeline cards are also really helpful.

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  • 1 month later...

Bumping to say that we just placed an order with Classically Catholic Memory, and Year 3 is available. :)

 

I'm looking forward to using their materials. Not sure if we'll do the work by ourselves or with another family. We have a plethora of Catholic homeschoolers around here, but it's hard to find people who are willing to commit to a regular schedule.

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  • 6 months later...

I was just going through & updating the bookmarks on my computer & ran across this again.

 

Update on people who have used this? I don't know if I can add yet *another* thing onto our plates, but this would mesh in well (esp. for my dd2 & dd3) with our science & history next year.

 

:bigear:

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  • 3 months later...
Guest cryste

Hi, I am looking for quality materials to use with my co-op and this looks great, however, we are not Catholic. Is every subject integrated with Catholic influence or just the bible and history?

 

thank you!

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Hi, I am looking for quality materials to use with my co-op and this looks great, however, we are not Catholic. Is every subject integrated with Catholic influence or just the bible and history?

 

thank you!

 

If you're not Catholic, CCM is not for you. There is no religion in the geography, great words, math, and science. However, the religion, latin, timeline, and history are heavily Catholic.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
bumpin back up...How long do you find you actually spend on ccmemory each day? Would you recommend buying the map sets or just print them off yourself from free resources?

 

I spent 15-20 min on Monday morning. Then we listen to it every time we are in the van (5 min each time). At a minimum I'd get the CD's and student text. Next I'd add in the timeline cards followed by the maps. I wouldn't recommend the teacher text unless you like planning units. I'm open and go all the way, and I love this.

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I spent 15-20 min on Monday morning. Then we listen to it every time we are in the van (5 min each time). At a minimum I'd get the CD's and student text. Next I'd add in the timeline cards followed by the maps. I wouldn't recommend the teacher text unless you like planning units. I'm open and go all the way, and I love this.

 

Thank you, not looking to do lots of planning myself either. The open and go aspect is appealing with a low time commitment.

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  • 1 month later...

My family and I are currently doing CC and like it...but I would love it if Classically Catholic memory really was the equivalent...can someone tell me:

 

is classically catholic memory as academically rigorous? Does one program require more memorization than another?

 

and what about the songs? my daughers loves the CC songs and I have to admit that I am thrilled with the timeline that she can do...does Classically Catholic memory have the songs and are they just as good? (ie memorable?)

 

any thoughts appreciated.

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I've used both CC and CCM for a few years each now, so I think I can answer those questions.

 

The CCM songs are memorable, but not unique and as professional as CC's. We still sing and use them, even if some of them are awkward and tricky to sing. The point is that they are memorable! The timeline song is new to CC, with the publication of the CC timeline this year. CCM does not have a timeline song on their audio cds, but if you look on YouTube you should be able to find where at least one co-op is setting it to music by week. On the CCM audio cds, the history, Latin and math (skip counting) is set to a tune.

 

Memorization-wise, CCM is just as rigorous as CC. Slight variation in subject matter. For example, there is no English Grammar component to CCM. There is, however, a religion/catechism component. In CCM's Latin, you are memorizing Latin hymns and prayers, versus CC's is Latin grammar and vocabulary. CCM is 18 weeks over 4 cycles. CC is 24 weeks over 3 cycles. The amount of material covered is the same.

 

The BIG difference is that each CCM co-op is just that: a cooperative among like-minded families. It is not a tuition-based program with a national organization of communities (as is CC). If you want a community with trained/paid leaders, CC is the way to go. With CCM, you are on your own unless you luck into (or start yourself) a co-op with experienced families. If you're comfortable with doing the memory work on your own, then this won't be an issue.

 

Also, the CCM books suggest things to use for the fine arts component, but there is no official fine arts component. Most co-ops I know of do music and/or art in addition to the CCM memory work.

 

I love the science in CCM, as the science experiment/projects are laid out in an easy to use way, multiple suggestions are given (different complexity levels) and always directly correlate to the science memory work for that week. I much prefer the whole science component of CCM (having done CC's for all three cycles). CC's science memory work is fine, but the experiments/projects rarely line up and are more of a "scatter shot" approach covering various the various branches.

 

Hope that helps.

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This is really helpful--thank you!! I think this answers a lot of my questions...

 

my "concern" is more with the subject matter or the reasoning on how Classical Conversations chooses the parts for the history timeline. We are using CC and I love it...i also have to say I love having the group because it is a good chance for my children to be able to play with others. Reading over the history cards, I wish they would give more credit to figures like Thomas Aquinas and Benedict (Thomas synthesizes Aristotle and is the first to bring him to the Western World) and Benedict and Monasticism pretty much saves all the great classical works we have been studying!!)...

 

but I guess I can always add that. How many people are doing CCM co-ops...do you think that will take off in the next few years? And is it super expensive to add CCM cards to CC info?? Just thinking

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I am not familiar with CCM, but I am using Aquinas Learning at Home this year. Aquinas Learning is a "classical education mentoring program combining a once-a-week meeting with four days of studies at home with the primary educator, the parent." (quote from the AL website) We are doing the "at home" version this year while considering the possibility of opening an AL Center in our town next year. You may want to check out the website:

http://www.aquinaslearning.com.

 

Laura

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We are doing our second year of Aquinas Learning. I think it is closer to a Catholic version of CC than CCM when using it in a group setting since it is based on a paid-mentor style group setting. If you are interested in the CC experience in a group setting, an Aquinas Learning center could be a good fit.

 

Overall, we've liked AL. It is 27 or 28 weeks of material via 3 cycles. It has memory work for history, geography, Latin, grammar, science, catechism, and math. It also provides instruction in handwriting, spelling, philosophy, and writing (using the IEW program). Music, art, and science experiments are also part of the AL program. Also, there is a "Good Books" discussion at each session that engages the children in Socratic style discusssions, usually based on short stories but which also includes four longer works each year read at home. (The Hobbit was our last family read aloud discussed at AL.) Al provides visual aids for all the memory sentences, along with activity sheets for each subject. The science program provides detailed lesson plans based on the BFSU program, which I really like. They do have songs for some of the memory sentences, but not all of them.

 

I have also heard very good reports about CCM. In fact, another homeschooling group I'm involved in is going to morph into a CCM co-op next year. I don't know how I am going to choose between the two!

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I wish they would give more credit to figures like Thomas Aquinas and Benedict

 

The CCM timeline has cards for both Thomas Aquinas and Benedict.

The Beta year history sentences mention Benedict and several other saints, but not Aquinas.

 

How many people are doing CCM co-ops...do you think that will take off in the next few years?

 

My CCM co-op is in its second year and doing well. I can easily see more CCM co-ops starting in the next few years. It fits a great niche. It's more flexible than CC, Catholic Schoolhouse, Aquinas Learning, or Regina Caeli.

 

And is it super expensive to add CCM cards to CC info??

 

When I bought the timeline cards they were $50 for all 144.

 

is one group better at providing hands on activities and support? I like all the additional CC info I see on line but it's 60.00 a month for CC connected...is CCM that organized yet?

 

CCM does not have something like CC connected. The teacher texts have some teaching helps, especially for the science and history, but it's pretty limited.

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We are doing our second year of Aquinas Learning. ... The science program provides detailed lesson plans based on the BFSU program, which I really like.

 

Can you tell me more about these detailed lesson plans for the BFSU program?

What do they include? Are they available to people who aren't registered with Aquinas Learning?

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Can you tell me more about these detailed lesson plans for the BFSU program?

What do they include? Are they available to people who aren't registered with Aquinas Learning?

 

They include a streamlined version of a lesson based on BFSU (basically each cycle of AL now has it's own flow chart weaving between the different threads of BFSU) made to be as parent-friendly as possible. Also, included are suggested activities, book lists, and links to related websites and videos.

 

(I put together the related books and materials lists and tried to include mostly free websites and videos, but also included links to pertinent lessons/material from paid resources I know many homeschoolers use, such as BrainPop. It is nice just to have everything in one place. Also, I'm working on cross-referencing materials in Yesterday's Classics to the corresponding lessons since many of our families use these materials as well.)

 

I believe these are only available to AL families, like the rest of the materials.

 

I agree that CCM seems much more flexible - and it is cheaper!

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