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Those who do the omnibus program...Classical conversations thinking about going to VP self paced program


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I am considering taking my 8th grader out of the challenge program and start the VP self paced omnibus program. If he has completed CC challenge A and B which omnibus program do you suggest starting??? Anyone have any wisdom to offer or have done the same thing? Thanks

Edited by NADIAKNAPP8
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  • 2 months later...

My daughter did Challenge A & B and then I moved her to Wilson Hill Academy.  The have classes called The Great Conversations.  They are amazing and live!!  The self-paced Veritas press classes are great but for high school you really want them having conversations.  Check Wilson Hill out.  It it amazing.  Bruce Etter, who is the teacher on VP self-paced Omnibus 1 & 3 is the headmaster and teaches some of the classes.  In 9th grade my daughter took 3 classes, TGC1+4, Fundamentals of Academic Writing & Physics 1.  In 10th grade she took TGC 4, Logic 2, Algebra 2, Honors Chemistry, and Spanish 1.  Next year, she will take TGC 6, Rhetoric 1, Honors Pre-Calculus, AP Biology & Spanish 2.  It is so much better than CC!!

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Agreeing with Ibell.  We did Challenge A and B, followed by a year of doing our own thing with SL Core 100, etc. and then moved over to WHA for 10th grade when we discovered it.  I love how CC prepares you well for WHA, but the addition of Master Teachers in WHA is simply amazing.  It is a trade-off going to online classes instead of a room full of kids, but we have been very pleased and so appreciate the passion, mentorship, and knowledge of WHA instructors.  Specifically, both CC and WHA value truth, beauty, and goodness in their classical christian education model, and it was fairly easy to move from Logic 1 in CC to Logic 2 at WHA.

However, I do know at least one family that moved from CC to Veritas Self-Paced classes and they also were very happy with the switch.

Blessings,

Brenda

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3 hours ago, lbell said:

My daughter did Challenge A & B and then I moved her to Wilson Hill Academy.  The have classes called The Great Conversations.  They are amazing and live!!  The self-paced Veritas press classes are great but for high school you really want them having conversations.  Check Wilson Hill out.  It it amazing.  Bruce Etter, who is the teacher on VP self-paced Omnibus 1 & 3 is the headmaster and teaches some of the classes.  In 9th grade my daughter took 3 classes, TGC1+4, Fundamentals of Academic Writing & Physics 1.  In 10th grade she took TGC 4, Logic 2, Algebra 2, Honors Chemistry, and Spanish 1.  Next year, she will take TGC 6, Rhetoric 1, Honors Pre-Calculus, AP Biology & Spanish 2.  It is so much better than CC!!

Yes, we did almost exactly the same thing.  Agree with this sentiment exactly.   

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Have a friend looking at CC F&Essentials next year for her 6th grader and then Challenge A&B in 7th & 8th. (They expect to go to the public high school for 9th-12th.) Would anyone be willing to share why you're moving from Challenge to Omni or Great Conversations? Please PM, if that's easier.

Thank you so much!

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On 6/17/2018 at 10:10 PM, yvonne said:

Have a friend looking at CC F&Essentials next year for her 6th grader and then Challenge A&B in 7th & 8th. (They expect to go to the public high school for 9th-12th.) Would anyone be willing to share why you're moving from Challenge to Omni or Great Conversations? Please PM, if that's easier.

Thank you so much!

Tried to send this pm, but it wouldn't send.  Anyhow here is my reasoning...

We decided to switch after challenge B for a few reasons. First my son was tired.  It is non stop and didn't give a lot of time to go further into topics that interested him.  It was difficult to scale down without falling behind.  Second, it is difficult to add other subjects without falling behind.  He really wanted to study Spanish and his tutor wanted him to continue learning vocab and rules for Latin so he could participate in class.  Finally in the end his whole class made the decision to not return for challenge 1 and possible come back for challenge 2.  They don't make it easy to adapt the program to your child's needs.  I enjoyed the program and the discipline of it but it was tough and we just needed a break.  To me it felt like public schooling at times with the learn it and move on without an opportunity to dig deeper into things. So that is my opinion.  Like I said we may go back for challenge 2.

Nadia Knapp

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On 6/16/2018 at 8:06 PM, lbell said:

My daughter did Challenge A & B and then I moved her to Wilson Hill Academy.  The have classes called The Great Conversations.  They are amazing and live!!  The self-paced Veritas press classes are great but for high school you really want them having conversations.  Check Wilson Hill out.  It it amazing.  Bruce Etter, who is the teacher on VP self-paced Omnibus 1 & 3 is the headmaster and teaches some of the classes.  In 9th grade my daughter took 3 classes, TGC1+4, Fundamentals of Academic Writing & Physics 1.  In 10th grade she took TGC 4, Logic 2, Algebra 2, Honors Chemistry, and Spanish 1.  Next year, she will take TGC 6, Rhetoric 1, Honors Pre-Calculus, AP Biology & Spanish 2.  It is so much better than CC!!

We have limited internet access.  I'm going to look into this though.  Thanks

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We’ve used and been happy with WHA’s Great Conversations (Omni) courses and an Escondido Tutorials’ Great Book course.  My daughter will be trying a CLRC Great Books course this coming year. We’ve heard good things about it. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/17/2018 at 11:10 PM, yvonne said:

Have a friend looking at CC F&Essentials next year for her 6th grader and then Challenge A&B in 7th & 8th. (They expect to go to the public high school for 9th-12th.) Would anyone be willing to share why you're moving from Challenge to Omni or Great Conversations? Please PM, if that's easier.

Thank you so much!

 

I was actually a tutor and director of CC for several years. My daughter started CC in 3rd grade. She did Essentials and went all the way through Challenge B in which I was the director. There are things I really like about CC and things I’m choosing to do differently. Since starting CC, however, I feel there are better options. Here’s a synopsis.

1. Essentials – My daughter told me not to do Essentials with my son who is 5 years younger because she never mastered english grammar. Most Essentials tutors use the analogy that Essentials is like throwing spaghetti against the wall. Not all of it will stick, but some will. The problem we ran into is that not enough stuck. I wish I would have done Analytical Grammar with her while she was in Challenge A & B, but I “trusted the system.” I know they consider Latin grammar, but it didn’t help in retaining everything necessary for high school writing.  

With my son, I chose to do Easy Grammar in 3rd grade to introduce each part of speech. This year for 4th grade we used Winston Grammar and he learned to parse sentences one part of speech at a time. I can’t tell you how much I love Winston Grammar and how much easier it is than Essentials. Next year, he will do LA 2 at WHA.

I do like IEW but I prefer Writing & Rhetoric by Classical Academic Press because it allows for creativity. My son started Writing & Rhetoric 1 in 4th grade and will be doing W&R 3 next year.  He is a boy that didn't like to read and write.  He now loves writing class.
http://www.scholeacademy.com/#

My sister in law is doing IEW online through IEW.
http://iew.com/events-classes/online-classes

My son will be doing W&R 3 with Classical Academic Press AND LA2 with WHA next year because I like how they compliment each other.

2. Challenge A – This was a great year for my daughter to learn to study and self-govern. Fortunately, she had a tutor that actually taught them in class which is a no – no, but it made it worth taking the class. I won't have my son do Challenge A because I think it's more of a 6th grade level.  My daughter had to work hard in hight school to make up for the inadequencies.

3. Challenge B – I did Challenge B because of Logic & Mock Trial. Current Events ended up being a highlight too. One thing that drives me crazy about CC is the pace of the work the kids are suppose to do. They don’t expect kids to master it the first time. I believe less needs to be done at a higher level. You need to learn to study for mastery. My son will do online classes with Classical Academic Press and Wilson Hill.  If you do Challenge B, I'd recommend doing WHA Logic 1 with it. 

4. Challenge 1-4 – Science and math are a year behind especially if your child wants to pursue a STEM career. I have learned, if possible, students should do Algebra in 8th, Geometry in 9th, Algebra 2 in 10th, etc. so they have covered what is necessary by the time they take the SAT & ACT.

Physical science, used in Challenge 1, is an 8th grade curriculum. It’s ok if your child is not STEM bound.

There is no true history curriculum. They read historical books and documents but there is no context. Tutors are not suppose to add to the curriculum so it’s up to the parent to fill in the historical gaps which few have time or the knowledge to do. I also think you need to start with ancient history, move to medieval history, etc. to understand our constitution with is studied first in Challenge 1.

I know many like CC, but I guess it basically comes down to – I want more. I also want the freedom to change curriculum I don’t like and choose inspiring teachers/classes for my children.

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On 6/17/2018 at 11:10 PM, yvonne said:

Have a friend looking at CC F&Essentials next year for her 6th grader and then Challenge A&B in 7th & 8th. (They expect to go to the public high school for 9th-12th.) Would anyone be willing to share why you're moving from Challenge to Omni or Great Conversations? Please PM, if that's easier.

Thank you so much!

 
 
 
 

 

I should add that CC is behind expectations of most brick & mortar schools.  If you are planning on your child going to a regular high school, I'd do a college prep online school.  We've had great experience with Wilson Hill Academy which is accredited, but there are others out there.

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