HI, During the four years we were part of CC we treated the memory work as the cornerstone of our day. My son began in first grade and was achieving memory master by third and fourth grade. He enjoyed our memory practice time because it was oral and it did not require him to hold a pencil. Some days it was the only academic thing we did but I feel it was substantial. We would get to it first thing in the morning and just drill through all the subjects. If it was week 5, we would go through the first five weeks in each subject. It took more and more time as the year went on. In the beginning of the week I would ask the question and we would repeat it together three times or he could read it aloud three times. By the end of the week he would have it memorized. With the timeline we would go through the whole thing everyday. I would hold up each card and he would say it aloud. Eventually, he would know it bit by bit. During our time off from CC in November and December, we would keep drilling so that we could be several weeks ahead by April and comfortably with reach of Memory Master. For us it was an important goal because memory work was the bulk of our day. But I know many people that treat it as a complement to their schooling and may do only one subject per day. It all depends on what your goals are, for me, I felt that the grammar years were the perfect time for this plus my child was not really crazy about doing a lot of writing. This year he is in fifth grade and we have taken a break from CC for a new baby that will be here soon and because I wanted him to make the shift to more bookish independent work. But I do plan to keep integrating memory work. I am just not sure where to put it now that he has a more formal and longer school day. It would take us about 45 min to get through the memory work. He liked to do it quickly and did not like the sings because he felt it slowed him down. I will say that I feel it was time well spent as I see now that he is not afraid of memorizing long pieces of information and he has great retention.

I was just going to wrap a rubber band around mine... moskitoe

My son is going into his fourth year with CC and will be starting fourth grade. I don't recommend it just as a social outlet because I think there are less expensive ways to get the socialization in. But I do see much value in it if you do CC as your spine curriculum. By that I mean that you would not be trying to add other curriculum on top of CC. It really is meant to be a stand alone curriculum for which you would add just a few things. We never did memory master in the early grades but I know families that have done it with first graders on up. Even with my own son this past year in third grade, doing memory master required about 30-45 min of daily memory review work. I do see much value in it and wish I had done it since first grade. The first and second grade are a great place to start with memory work because the academic load is still light. A day with a little one your age would involve phonics/reading, language skills, math, and memory work. I would consider those basics. I also wouldn't get bogged down with lots of workbooks. Math of course would have a workbook, but second grade is still very oral in terms of work. FLL is is very gentle and easy to work through for the language skills and it covers both grammar and writing. For phonics, I like something like Phonics Pathways that focuses on reading and removes the busy work aspect of workbooks. A curriculum like this would take maybe 2 1/2 hours per day. And thats very reasonable for a second grader. CC covers science and art but you can always follow up at home with that if you have the time. The challenge years is when you really reap the fruit of all the grammar you have sown so I would encourage you to find a CC community with challenge if you decide to stick with it. I think that every community should have a vision for the challenge years because that is really where the program began and grew from. I think that it is the job of the directors and tutors to spread the vision and equip parents so you don't feel like you are going through the motions but with no idea of why you are doing what you are doing. I think that some communities are better at this than others. The summer practicums do a great job of re-envisioing parents for the future. That might be helpful. Also reading "The Core" was helpful for me. On a last note, I too have used Pudewa's Poetry Memorization program because I wanted to add some literature grammar to our day. We do it without the CD and don't spend more than 10 minutes on it and it is going well. I hope that this is helpful and encouraging. If you have any questions let me know. Moskitoe

I wouldn't do report cards unless they were required by my state. I don't use grades at all and don't plan to until at least middle school. The main function of report cards is to inform parents of their child's progress but if you are your child's teacher and check their work on a daily basis, then it would be hard to miss areas of weaknesses. Still, I know everyone has their own system and way of doing things. I would not add this to my to do list.

I'm going into my fourth year as a tutor and we have never had access to the directors portal. We have used the online CC community for our resources. It is 3/month for tutors. I guess I don't know what I'm missing since I have never been on the portal but I have always found many resources on the online CC community site and I'm happy with it.

Hi, I am really interested in HO Ancients 2 but I did not want to use TSOM. What other spines do you know of that could sub for TSOM?

The alternate to that book is Beginning Outlining for grades 3-4 by Remedia Publications. I purchased mine from Rainbow resource for $6 I think. It is a real thin book, only 24 pages. The next step up is Outlining for grades 5-8. I havent used it yet but hope to get to it soon. :auto:

I am looking at purchasing WWE The Creative Writer so I can make writing part of our literature, history, and science rather than one more thing my son has to do. However, I am not very confident that I can make the appropriate selections required in the book. I have a library copy that I am reading and I don't even know some of the grammar she uses to describe the sentences. For example on page 186 you need sentences that have linking verbs with predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives. I have no idea what that is.....I would love to hear some opinions about how you go about finding the right selections and how do you even know what that grammar is??? Should I just go with one of the levels and cut some writing out from our core subjects?

HSITW doesn't function as an entire history curriculum. It focuses only the event that the kit is named for. I am currently working through WWII with my son and he is enjoying some of the activities. Making the maps and the timeline has been fun for him but I can also see how he tires of too much cut and paste. Already I have had to help him cut out some small pieces that he didn't want to mess up. Honestly, most of the work has been done by me as I print out materials and organize everything. There are games that I am not going to print out because it requires so much ink and cutting. Maybe an older child would be able to do this more independently. He is only 9 so he is really on the young end for this lap book. I think an older child might get more out of it. He is also able to do the daily copywork but that is definitely not his favorite thing to do. There is an activity where you print out a newspaper and the child writes articles in it, that activity is beyond his abilities. I am going to push through and complete as many of the activities as we can and hope that he'll come back to it when he is older. By the way, the whole study is designed to last for about a month.

I was on amazon and saw it for 28 I think, but this is something we would keep throughout our logic studies. Still I don't want to spend more than necessary. I will try to look at google. Thanks.

As I am making my list for school next year, I have been trying to settle on a history spine. I am interested in hearing any opinions on the usborne history encyclopedias and the kingfishers. If you have a "The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World: 40,000 B.C. to Present Day" (which is the old one) could you tell me how it compares to the newer red kingfisher history encyclopedia? Are there significant differences between them? I have never browsed through any of these as my public library does not carry them or they are in reference at a far off location. I have not had luck locating these at Barnes and Noble either. I am hoping someone can save me the trouble of having to order and return books I do not want. Thank you. Carolina

:iagree: I wouldn't try to keep up with the history sentences. They go thru time pretty quickly. Our first time thru the cycle I did try to coordinate our history studies to the history sentences but I found that there was a lot we didn't cover that I would like to cover this time. However, we do practice our memory work even if it doesn't coordinate with what we are studying at the moment. I am comfortable with slowing down and savoring more history and literature. My goal is to be in about the same place as they are at the end of the next cycle 3. I do have the new time line cards and I am thinking about centering our history studies around them and going thru the first 50 or so that cover ancient history. Some weeks I may cover one card and some two. I would also follow up each card with SOTW and Kingfisher. But there is still a place in my heart for the VP timeline cards and I am having a hard time letting them go. Last night I was comparing the two side by side and I really appreciate the church history in VP. I think the new CC timeline is weaker there. Those are my two cents.

Anyone????

I have researched several different history programs for my soon to be fourth grader. We will be covering Ancient History next year and I was most interested in History Odyssey level2 because I like the way it follows TWTM method of studying history. The only thing holding me back right now is that I wish it had more bible history. I considered adding MOH Vol 1 to our studies but I am not sure how this would work out. Any ideas?

I am finishing my third year as a CC tutor so I think I have a pretty good idea about pros and cons. I will say that it has definitely helped me to see how much is possible when it comes to accomplishing memory work, a fine arts activity, and a science activity each week. On my own, I would find it very difficult to accomplish those things. I also appreciate having the memory work already selected for me which is something I would never get around to. Without CC, I don't believe that my son would have accomplished so much memory work nor would I have thought it was possible. For the cons: It goes a little faster than I would like. I too would prefer a four year cycle. In the past I have tried to keep up but that has not worked for me. We just wrapped up cycle 3 which is an american history cycle so this year I am going to take my time going through ancient times. I have also had a hard time with wanting to spend more time on a certain science topic but then feeling I have to move on quickly in order to keep up. I am not going to do that this year either. I am going to make it a biology year. Basically, I am adapting a 5th grade WTM curriculum to my fourth grader because it happens to be where we are right now. I also feel that sometimes 30 min is not enough for a science lab and I end up feeling like my son didn't really get it. So if those are the only labs you are going to do then I would follow up with your child with some kind of review. I think that to get the most out of this program, it pays to plan ahead. So if I were you I would try to decide if I am going to keep up with the whole program (which may feel like a blur) or go at my pace and trust that the mental pegs will be there when we get to that. I would also be interested to know how others combine CC with WTM. Hope that was helpful. To sum it up, I have benefitted enough from the program that I am sticking with it for now. Carolina

Thanks so much, very helpful.

Hi Ruth, Your science postings have been so informative, thank you for taking the time...My question is how do you use the scientific method when you are doing something like dissection or watching butterflies go through the life cycle? These are some of the things we will be doing for our biology year and I would like to move beyond demonstrations. Any help would be great! Thanks. Carolina

I am preparing for next year and trying to do biology with my son as described in WTM. I have the newest edition WTM book and I have looked up the science kits but so many of them have poor reviews that I am rethinking this and now considering going with RS4K. Can anyone advise how they did biology as WTM and any kits that would be worth having? Also what science spine would you suggest? Thanks.

We just started the MP NAC in January and I think we will have it done by the end of March. My son really enjoys it and likes to pretend he is the meerkat when he writes. He also likes that after each letter practice, there is a place to draw a picture. That makes it seem like more fun to him. He took very easily to it, but then again, he has never had a problem with handwriting. I would have loved to have bought the software but it is not Mac compatible.

While it has been tough to tutor a group and prepare everything with a baby that was just 6 mths old at the beginning, I have to say that this has been a very productive year. I tutor to offset the cost of my son's tuition. This is the core of our curriculum and along with Horizons 1, SOTW Ancient Times, Phonics Pathways, and Handwriting, our day is full! Of course you could do it at home with the resources listed by others - VP Cards and CC Manual. I would say that it would be too much to expect to be able to pull off the science experiments and art projects every week by yourself. Maybe you could pick and choose the most interesting. Right now, we have two experiments a week, and you still have to make time each week to gather materials. Art has been very messy this quarter and I could never have done it with my baby crawling around at home. I would say that this is not something I do for the social aspect, I really have little time to even chat with other moms. For me it is more about sharing the load with other moms and making it lighter work while growing in the classical method. There is also a lot of motivation for my son to learn his memory work while his friends do the same. Also, we come up with hand motions for the memory work to help the kids. The best advantage for me so far has been the access to the CC online forum. It is awesome and has been instrumental in my son's success. He is only 7 but he is up to date on almost all his memory work. The cost of the forum is about $700/year but you receive a 90% discount if you part of a CC community. There is an online tutorial that he listens to everyday with the songs and with visuals to help cement the concepts. If you are a tutor, you also have access to a wonderful forum with tutor produced materials. Some tutors make songs for the memory work that is not sung on the CD's. Other's make notebook pages, learning aids, recommended hand motions, maps of all kinds for practice, plus all kinds of cool stuff to use in your home school. The limitations of each family are unique and only you know what you have time for. I would definitely challenge you to see this as more than a social time. It will amaze you to see what your child is capable of and it will lay the foundation for the middle and high school years. Remember, grammar knowledge is the foundation for what is to come. However, if you choose to do this at home, I would suggest you have a place where you can write out the grammar and introduce it every Monday. I would leave the current week's grammar up for that week. Then I would have your child say each subject's grammar three times everyday. Try to incorporate visuals if possible. Also, do your VP cards once a day if possible. Then choose a day of the week, maybe Friday, where you will review all the grammar you have done so far. Review your previous grammar at least once a week so it is not forgotten. Also check out library books about your grammar to read together. My son and I have weeks where we can't do all this because someone is sick or life happens but we get back to our routine as soon as possible and it all comes back. The grammar part of our day takes about an hour that is split here and there when the baby allows. I realize that this is not for everyone. Variety is the spice of life and there are many ways to educate our kids. My last bit of advice is that before you make any purchase, borrow a friend's and try to implement it for a month just to get a taste of it.

I am a newbie WTM with a first grader but also part of Classical Conversations, a once a week educational program based upon WTM. This is our first year meeting together but we are a growing bunch with kids from elementary through high school. Some families follow WTM more than others but we are all growing together in this journey.