Classical Conversations??? Tutor???

[Country Girl]

I am interested in learning more about Classical Conversations. They were at a convention I attended recently and I was very interested in their program (Foundations level). I would love to hear how they are working for you and your family, how you work this into the rest of your schooling, how much time you spend on the memorization etc.

 

Also, if you are a tutor can you fill me in a little more on that? We don't currently have any co-ops in our area but the rep said that she is working on hiring a director for our area and then tutors. She asked me if I might be interested in that and suggested I think about it and get in touch if I am. I think I am interested in being a tutor if a class starts up near me but I'd love to hear more about what is all involved, time commitment, compensation etc. You can pm me if you'd prefer.

 

Thanks!

[Another Lynn]

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28861&page=2

 

I think I've linked you to a previous thread about Classical Conversations. My lengthy response is on page 2. I tutored this past year during a VERY rough pregnancy. It was hard - mainly because I felt so sick all the time. Tutoring under normal conditions would not be so bad (well, I did have the youngest group, and I may not have prepared as much as those with the oldest students), but *I* didn't like the way it effected how we *had* been doing school. (I won't repeat everything here... you might check the linked thread).

 

Feel free to pm or email me if you want to discuss it more!

[Country Girl]

Thank you very much for giving me the link to the other discussion and your thoughts. I really appreciate your honesty peppered with grace :). The points you made regarding just trying to "tack on" CC to our school life versus changing the way we do school to incorporate CC makes a lot of sense and is, what I think, the major think I need to figure out.

 

Thanks, and as I go through the thought process more I may send you a pm with additional questions.

 

Thanks!

[G5052]

Here's a link to my CC blog which explains why we're involved and what I do to prepare for tutoring: http://www.airlieacademy.blogspot.com/. I would suggest that you read it it actual chron order from the start in 2007 as I begin by explaining why we're involved.

 

For us it's been the glue that ties everything together, and the push that has kept us going. As I indicated in the thread linked by "Another Lynn," I would say that those who become unhappy with CC find themselves uncomfortable with their model of neoclassical homeschooling (which has some differences with what is outlined in the WTM book) and/or don't mesh with those in the local group for whatever reason.

 

I am one that does not try to match what we do at home with CC. My children make a lot of connections nonetheless, and frankly I don't have the time and energy to do that :001_smile:. I tend towards a somewhat Latin-centered approach with an emphasis on Latin and the 3 R's anyway for K-6th, and then hopefully my darlings will be in CC's Challenge Program.

[Country Girl]

GVA,

 

Thanks for the link to your blog. I'm going to try to get some time today to read through it and see how CC is working for you.

 

I would say that those who become unhappy with CC find themselves uncomfortable with their model of neoclassical homeschooling (which has some differences with what is outlined in the WTM book) [/Quote]

I was wondering if you'd mind expanding on this a little and explaining what you think the differences are? Or do you discuss this on your blog?

 

Thanks!

[G5052]

Obviously it goes much deeper than I can explain in a post, but basically CC follows a 3-year cycle and puts memory work (i.e. grammar) at the forefront. WTM follows a 4-year cycle and puts history at the forefront although they have an element of memory work as well. Neither is "right" or "wrong," but really a matter of preference and priority. The CC language arts program (Essentials) is very compatible with WTM goals, but has the child writing from history content in the IEW books versus the week-by-week history content of a WTM program.

 

For me, the CC approach is more doable than WTM. We focus on memory work and the 3 R's plus Latin and the rest is gravy in our home. I work nearly full-time part of the year and have a disabled husband, so doing full WTM-style homeschooling had to go by the wayside several years ago. I'm hoping that we'll be able to stay with CC all the way through.

[NCMom]

Here's a link to my CC blog which explains why we're involved and what I do to prepare for tutoring: http://www.airlieacademy.blogspot.com/. I would suggest that you read it it actual chron order from the start in 2007 as I begin by explaining why we're involved.

 

 

Just wanted to jump in here and say thank you! I start my training for tutoring Foundations and Essentials tomorrow and your site has been a big help to me.

 

Thanks again!

Georgia

[Kathie in VA]

This will be my 3rd year with CC-Foundations and 2nd year tutoring. I have lots of friends from our chuch in this program so that has helped in our decision to join. I probably wouldn't have joined otherwise as I was really more interested in the 4 year history cycle and narrative history. The first year I tried to just add it into our school day but it became to much to review all that memory work and do all our reading and narrating for history. Last year I decided to read our spine from one history sentence to the next and then work on our presentation. This lasted thru the Middle Ages, it was just too much reading too quickly. Then I decided that we would just read about each history sentence and they would make their presentations based on what they learned. This worked well for us. I finally found a way to add the depth that I wanted. We did similar work for science sometimes.

 

Next year my 3rd grader will be in Foundations, 3yr old in the nursery and my older two will be at home with me and taking a few other co-op classes. I'm still not sold on the Challenge program so we might do Sonlight core 100-Am History in Depth so we will all be studying the same timeperiod for history.

 

I like tutoring because it gets me more involved. I "need" to be familiar with all the memory work which helps me work with my kids later.

 

hth

[Another Lynn]

Obviously it goes much deeper than I can explain in a post, but basically CC follows a 3-year cycle and puts memory work (i.e. grammar) at the forefront. WTM follows a 4-year cycle and puts history at the forefront although they have an element of memory work as well. Neither is "right" or "wrong," but really a matter of preference and priority.

 

:iagree: I think this is part of the reason I felt CC didn't work well for *me.* I'd rather have the history focus than the memory focus. Very good explanation!

[Country Girl]

Obviously it goes much deeper than I can explain in a post, but basically CC follows a 3-year cycle and puts memory work (i.e. grammar) at the forefront. WTM follows a 4-year cycle and puts history at the forefront although they have an element of memory work as well. Neither is "right" or "wrong," but really a matter of preference and priority. The CC language arts program (Essentials) is very compatible with WTM goals, but has the child writing from history content in the IEW books versus the week-by-week history content of a WTM program.

 

For me, the CC approach is more doable than WTM. We focus on memory work and the 3 R's plus Latin and the rest is gravy in our home. I work nearly full-time part of the year and have a disabled husband, so doing full WTM-style homeschooling had to go by the wayside several years ago. I'm hoping that we'll be able to stay with CC all the way through.

 

Thank you very much for expanding on this. It helps to compare it with something I am a little more familiar with.

 

Thanks!

[Country Girl]

This will be my 3rd year with CC-Foundations and 2nd year tutoring. I have lots of friends from our chuch in this program so that has helped in our decision to join. I probably wouldn't have joined otherwise as I was really more interested in the 4 year history cycle and narrative history. The first year I tried to just add it into our school day but it became to much to review all that memory work and do all our reading and narrating for history. Last year I decided to read our spine from one history sentence to the next and then work on our presentation. This lasted thru the Middle Ages, it was just too much reading too quickly. Then I decided that we would just read about each history sentence and they would make their presentations based on what they learned. This worked well for us. I finally found a way to add the depth that I wanted. We did similar work for science sometimes.

 

Next year my 3rd grader will be in Foundations, 3yr old in the nursery and my older two will be at home with me and taking a few other co-op classes. I'm still not sold on the Challenge program so we might do Sonlight core 100-Am History in Depth so we will all be studying the same timeperiod for history.

 

I like tutoring because it gets me more involved. I "need" to be familiar with all the memory work which helps me work with my kids later.

 

hth

 

Kathie,

 

Thanks for your input. It is good to hear the different ways that families are using this and making it work for them.

 

Thanks!

[Ohio12]

Maybe this isn't possible for you, but you should try to go visit a day at CC to see if it is a good fit for you. I think it is a great program for many reasons, but decided it wasn't a good fit for our family.

 

To me the pros are:

-meeting other like minded hs families

-kids learn lots of great information

-behavior standards are high

-kids have to give presentations

 

Cons are:

-too much memory work, not leaving time for in depth understanding (my dd is not a fast memorizer)

-taking a day away to sit in a classroom all morning (and parents have to stay and watch)

-quality really depends on the tutor you get...one I watched was excellent, one was so boring for 3.5 hours that I almost fell asleep

-ours is also 30 minutes away (con for us)

[Ohio12]

you should also search cc on here. i have seen a lot of threads with a lot of good input.

[Country Girl]

Maybe this isn't possible for you, but you should try to go visit a day at CC to see if it is a good fit for you. I think it is a great program for many reasons, but decided it wasn't a good fit for our family.

 

To me the pros are:

-meeting other like minded hs families

-kids learn lots of great information

-behavior standards are high

-kids have to give presentations

 

Cons are:

-too much memory work, not leaving time for in depth understanding (my dd is not a fast memorizer)

-taking a day away to sit in a classroom all morning (and parents have to stay and watch)

-quality really depends on the tutor you get...one I watched was excellent, one was so boring for 3.5 hours that I almost fell asleep

-ours is also 30 minutes away (con for us)

 

Thanks for laying out the pros and cons that you have found for your family. It is very helpful to see what is working and not working for everyone. I wish it would be possible to visit a nearby class but they are just trying to get them started in our state so none exist yet.

 

Thanks!