Yet another Classical Conversations question

[Kim in SouthGa]

Is all the memory work put to music on the audio cd for each cycle? Are the songs too cheesy for a 13 year old? (we are thinking of doing this on our own) Do they use the VP audio cds for the history timeline or is the history timeline song included on the cycle cds? Are the powerpoint/resource cds worth the money?

thanks

[katilac]

:lurk5:

 

I, too, would love to hear opinions on the audio cds! Why oh why don't publishers use more samples? *sigh*

[G5052]

My oldest (about that age now) did Foundations for three years, and never liked the songs at all. There are songs only for the history sentences, Latin, and skip counting. The rest is just recitiation (still helpful for pronouncing the geography IMHO), and they don't include the timeline because that "belongs" to Veritas Press. In the guide they're not even allowed to print the card titles, just the number and colors.

 

My oldest did fine just memorizing without the songs. My younger one loves the songs, and I used them in class each year that I was a tutor. In the fall I'm tutoring a class of 12-13 y.o.'s (mostly boys), and I'll try the songs but will drop it if they don't like them. Some people have their kids drill themselves using the Powerpoint. I'll probably do some of that this year, but in the past we didn't find it as useful at home. I did use the maps that come with the Powerpoint for class though.

[Kim in SouthGa]

so do they just chant the timeline or have they made up their own song for the vp cards?

trying to decide if I can afford this-if I have to buy all 5 sets of VP cards and all 5 VP audio cds, plus the CC guide and cds:tongue_smilie:

[SonshineLearner]

You could save a bit by buying the older foundations guide and just making corrections. Easy...what I would have kept using, if I wasn't a Director.

I say that it's a great thing to do at home, and the songs aren't THAT bad:-) Just from listening to it around town and on the way to CC, all my kids learned most of the songs. (And the two oldest weren't in CC classes.)

Carrie

[Hen]

a cc group unexpectedly is forming in our area, okay, unexpected to me...I just heard about it, and we are seriously considering it.

 

Questions....if you have 3 kids in foundations, would you be able to use just one set of the vp cards sets?

 

I am thinking you can't use the vp memory songs, since cc has mixed up the order of the cards, correct?

 

If you have 3 kids in foundations, but have 1 who would probably be in the next level up (she is starting 7th grade)...is she in another room during the time we are meeting, or does she stay longer after lunch to do her stuff, and we just hang out waiting for her?

[kls126s]

Our audio CD just lives in our car and that's about the only place I play it. My kids do like the songs but they are younger. I think they are catchy and although they may verge on cheesey, it comes off as good-silly to me (imho). ;) Again, mine are younger though.

 

Our kids just chant the timeline. I did not buy the VP cds figuring I'd already spent enough.

 

The resource CD - if you're willing to do a little work you could get by with just this. It includes all the songs, although they are not in order by week and are not in a format that would play on a cd player. I know moms who have taken an evening and used itunes or something and rearranged them into weekly playlists and ripped them to cds. If you have the technical know-how you can save some money that way.

[G5052]

Foundations is in the morning and is for PK-7th. Some people register their 7th graders who haven't done CC before in Foundations, and some put them in Challenge (a full day program for 7th and up that runs at the same time as Foundations and Essentials).

 

Essentials is in the afternoon, and is for 3rd-7th with some not doing it for 3rd. It's the writing and English grammer portion and more like a traditional classroom compared to Foundations. You can do Essentials and not Foundations, just Foundations, or you can do both Foundations and Essentials. Most directors do afternoon programs for siblings that are Essentials because CC policy is that you cannot leave a child under 12 without a parent on campus, and parents are expected to attend Essentials if at all possible.

 

Challenge is an all day program for 7th and up, and functions like a cottage or one-day-a-week school with them taking over the majority of the curriculum choices. The parent is in charge of determining the depth and quality of the assignments though.

 

You'll need to check with your director as to what is available on your particular campus though. We were at a campus last year that had a full Foundations program, two Essentials classes, an afternoon program, and Challenge A and B. That campus is now in a transition and may not have any Challenge classes in the fall. The campus we will be going to actually has a much smaller Foundations and Essential program, but full Challenge A and B classes. They may not have a formal afternoon program, but will rotate the parents that are there in the afternoon through to supervise play time. So the specifics may vary.

[Hen]

thank you, this was very helpful! I just had a call back from the director, and she answered some questions, too. I am thinking I will have my 7th grader in the foundation program this year, the director said that would be fine, and then maybe next year put her in both foundation and essentials or challenge. The Director was very enthusiastic about challenge, she had her 7th grader in last year.

 

I am thinking for the sake of finances, to have my 7th grader in only one program. This is very, very unexpected and not in our budget at all. She suggested that they have an opening for tutor...funny, I was praying for an unexpected check in the mail:lol: I will have to think and pray about it. I am not a natural classroom teacher, and I have no idea what the program is like..so I am leaning towards no. Now I am struggling with being a good steward of an opportunity to not tax our family budget, kwim?

 

My husband is on board, and the mom of my bonus student is on board too- I think we are going to do it! (sign up, that is!):D

 

I am so thankful for this board, it was only because of this board that I knew what Classical Conversations was...in a vague sort of way..and I was able to come here and do a board search to learn more about it.

[elfinbaby]

The songs are cheesy but they work. My ds (10) certainly doesn't run around singing them but they have helped him memorize the work. However, he'd be fine w/o them. I recommend joining the C3 community so your ds can take advantage of the powerpoint and other resources available. I think he'd prefer it. Check w/your director before you sign up. She'll talk to you about subscription pricing. Oops I see you are doing this alone. Well in that case, I'd definitely skip audio and get the memory resource cd. The songs will be on that as well. You just won't be able to listen to them in the car (which I'm guessing would be unpopular anyway:D).

 

1 copy of VP cards is fine. We don't sing the VP songs since their order is different than CC's. However, we do have hand motions that the kids do to remember them. You can make up your own. Setting the words to actions seem to help the children remember the cards better.

 

As for tutoring, if it's for Foundations then I think it's totally doable. You will not be expected to come up w/lesson plans or collect materials (our director does that for art/science). More than anything, you will just present the material in a fun way that is age appropriate for your class. You'll get ideas from training. Essentials and Challenge tutors have a lot more prep imo. My ds was in the 8-9 yr. old class and our tutor fleshed out some of the information for them but, honestly, there is too much to cover to go into anything in depth. That's what the parent's do when they go home.