Classical Conversations at home--help me think

[Moxie]

I love the look of Classical Conversations, I'm not so crazy about the price tag. What would I need to try to re-create something like this at home for less then $600?

[Renee in NC]

We do not have a group locally yet, but some of the mothers are using the Foundations guide and the Memory CDs to do the memory work themselves. You would also need the VP history cards.

[Mom0012]

We did the CC memory work at home for a number of years. All I had was the program book and the VP cards. Really, to me, the point of joining the coop is if you want the accountability and social contact. At least that's what I think about the foundations program. I don't know anything about the upper levels.

 

Lisa

[homeschoolally]

Have you looked into tutoring a class? That will cover a good portion, depending on how many children you have, of your tuition.

 

You could recreate the Foundations (morning) program by puchasing the manual and VP cards and doing the memory work at home. There are also suggested art and science projects you can do. I've read quite a few posts on the board about people doing that. But, if you're going to spend that much time on your own doing the 'work' it seems practical to me to just tutor your child's class at CC so they get the benefit of the 'classroom' experience.

 

For us, CC is much more about the 'event' itself than about the academic stuff. If you're in a good group, it is a lot of fun. The memory work doesn't seem quite so much like 'work' when it is done in a group setting.

 

Good luck! I'd be glad to answer any specific questions if you have them.

Edited February 11, 2010 by homeschoolally

[Moxie]

Have you looked into tutoring a class? That will cover a good portion, depending on how many children you have, of your tuition.

 

You could recreate the Foundations (morning) program by puchasing the manual and VP cards and doing the memory work at home. There are also suggested art and science projects you can do. I've read quite a few posts on the board about people doing that. But, if you're going to spend that much time on your own doing the 'work' it seems practical to me to just tutor your child's class at CC so they get the benefit of the 'classroom' experience.

 

For us, CC is much more about the 'event' itself than about the academic stuff. If you're in a good group, it is a lot of fun. The memory work doesn't seem quite so much like 'work' when it is done in a group setting.

 

Good luck! I'd be glad to answer any specific questions if you have them.

 

The problem with tutoring would be finding childcare for my youngest 2 kids. We are already in sooo many activities that provide fun and social time so we really don't need that (especially for $600!!). I'm just looking for fun ways to accomplish the memory work.

[homeschoolally]

The problem with tutoring would be finding childcare for my youngest 2 kids. We are already in sooo many activities that provide fun and social time so we really don't need that (especially for $600!!). I'm just looking for fun ways to accomplish the memory work.

 

Yes, I noticed after I posted that you had a little one and another on the way! That would make tutoring tough. If you're a creative mom, you shouldn't have any trouble making most of the memory work fun. I'd get the Resource CD, it is a Power Point with all the memory work, and center things around that. If you don't care about the science/art, you could probably just get by with that one $35 item instead of buying the guide, (costs around $60 I think) too. If I were doing it at home, that is the route I'd take. :001_smile: You don't need an audio CD also, the songs are all on the PPT disk.

[Moxie]

Yes, I noticed after I posted that you had a little one and another on the way! That would make tutoring tough. If you're a creative mom, you shouldn't have any trouble making most of the memory work fun. I'd get the Resource CD, it is a Power Point with all the memory work, and center things around that. If you don't care about the science/art, you could probably just get by with that one $35 item instead of buying the guide, (costs around $60 I think) too. If I were doing it at home, that is the route I'd take. :001_smile: You don't need an audio CD also, the songs are all on the PPT disk.

 

 

Oops!! I need to update my signature; my baby girl was born last October!

[angela in ohio]

I love the look of Classical Conversations, I'm not so crazy about the price tag. What would I need to try to re-create something like this at home for less then $600?

 

You could do it with just the VP cards and the Foundations guide, but the CDs are really nice to have. You could skip the Foundations guides and just get the CDs for each year if you don't care about having it written down for you.

 

The Foundations guide would also tell you all of the science activities and music/art activities, so if you want to do those, too, the guide will be helpful. You could just get the Van Cleeve science book, Classical Music for Dummies, and Discovering Great Artists and pick your own projects, though. All you would be missing would be the tin whistle instructions, and you could get a beginner's tin whistle book that would actually be more in depth.

Edited February 11, 2010 by angela in ohio

[monalisa]

We're in CC this year, but I'm contemplating not doing it next year and just doing the memory work at home. I'm not convinced its a good use of a whole day honestly (for a 1st grader that is) and then I spend the whole week feeling "behind". Part of it is that I use CC as a supplement, not the core of my curriculum.

 

I would buy the foundations guide, the VP cards, the Audio CD's (it DEFINITELY helps to be able to listen to these in the car!!!) and the Resource CD. If you don't want to spend that much $, don't get the Resource CD. I think you'd miss the Foundations guide, because that shows you what you're doing week by week. You can subscribe to the online community, C3, but I think it is pretty expensive.

 

I have all of the above except the resource CD, and if I do it at home next year for Cycle 2, I will buy it. I wouldn't recommend the flash cards unless you are a flash card loving family, or like to play jeopardy type games with these sorts of things (we aren't/don't so that was a waste of $ for me).

[kbpaulie]

Do a youtube search on CC video clips and you'll find some things that might be useful.

 

KB

[LND1218]

At our CC we have childcare, and as a tutor, it would pay for tuition, child care, books and then some.

 

But sure you can do it at home.

[laughing lioness]

If you want to do what CC is doing, buy the Foundations Guide and CD's, along with VP cards. If you want to do something similar, buy Living Memory by Andrew Campbell.

[Moxie]

If you want to do what CC is doing, buy the Foundations Guide and CD's, along with VP cards. If you want to do something similar, buy Living Memory by Andrew Campbell.

 

Can you tell me more about Living Memory?

[helena]

oops!

[katilac]

You have several kids, so you could easily duplicate a lot of the group atmosphere people pay for with CC. We do memory work every day at home, and it's one of our favorite parts of the day - - I have 2 dds. Some people need the accountability a group provides, but we find it easy to incorporate memory work into the day. We just read from the binders, and if I haven't updated them, I call it a review week ;)

 

I personally wouldn't like the fact that the CC memory work is 'set' and so you are either gearing your other studies around it, or memorizing facts in isolation. (in the group situation, that is; I don't know how easy it would be to adapt it at home). I did buy a used cd from CC to use as a resource; I wanted to see how they did their history sentences.

 

My preference is to select our own memory work. Living Memory is an excellent resource, the "what your nth grader needs to know books" have a lot, and you can also just pick facts from whatever books you are using for each subject. Our memory work is usually a few steps behind our subject work; that is, we would memorize what a lever is after doing simple machines in science, not before.

 

Someone asked about Living Memory: it is "a classical memory work companion" put together by PlaidDad from these boards, aka Andrew Campbell. You can find it at lulu.com.

 

It has memory work in the following subjects: Latin, Greek, math, grammar, composition, literature, religion, geography, world history, US history, civics, natural sciences. It has a bit of info on memory work itself and how to set up a binder, etc. I kept thinking it wasn't worth the money when I could gather this info myself, but I finally caved, and it is SO worth the money to have it all ready to go! It has vastly simplified prepping copywork and memory work.

[dsacco]

I bought the foundations book ($50) and then found most of the VP History cards used.... I plan on using it along with TOG. I believe I have officially talked myself out of joining CC (many reasons - but the day of the week is a huge one)

[laughing lioness]

I wanted to 2nd what Katliac said about Living Memory. I like it better than CC beacause it is set up by category and it's easier to do sequentially. One of the things that bothered me about CC was the cycles and how "out of order" things could get. A K student was learning the definintions of gerunds, while never having learned the definition of noun.

Also, with CC the history sentences cavort all over the place. Basically the science and hisotry follow the Scholastic Geography and History books they recommend. In other words, they leave a lot of important info out (not surprising if you do 24 weeks times 3 cycles- that's only 72 history facts/science facts, etc.

Living Memory is one of the first books we replaced after the fire.

[MIch elle]

Do you use the CC memory cards or the memory work CD's?

[laughing lioness]

We do use the Vertias Press cards and memorize the title and dates. CC has you memorize titles. For my money, it's worth the extra effort to memorize dates with.

We have the CD's for all 3 cycles and we play Cycle 1 every now and then this year (we are on ancients) but I like Living Memory so much better so we are using that much more than CC.

[moskitoe]

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.

[AngelBee]

I do not fully get what CC even is. :blushing:

[SonshineLearner]

I have to say that I love CC although if I put it together, I'd choose a four year cycle. :-)

 

Carrie

[taraxacum5]

Great question! My 2 oldest children were in a CC group last year and they really liked it. This year we use CC at home and it is much better for us. I am better able to tailor our memory work to our curriculum, and I am able to stay more engaged with the CC material. It is fabulous as a spine for memory work in the grammar stage. We use the memory cds, and memory cards, and VP history cards. We began to use VP history, and like being able to memorize VP cards in order. I like the efficiency of using the program at home it has worked great for us without the added costs and time involved with a CC group.

[LisainVirginia]

We are doing CC for the first time this year and will probably do it again next year - not so much for the curriculum but b/c my kids like it and the benefit is in the group interaction - doing presentations, just being around other kids once/week, etc. It's a financial stretch but works for us right now.

 

To be honest, I wouldn't try to do it at home. You could...but for less $, you could make up your own stuff (i.e. Google 'skip counting songs' or 'history songs') to match what you are already doing, for far less money and it would integrate into your curriculum better. Of course, that's with almost a full year of hindsight built in. To me, the benefit is the interaction and community, not the material itself. But you certainly could do it at home using all the ideas mentioned by others.

 

BTW, our group has free childcare for younger siblings - the moms rotate on a nursery schedule. Doesn't always work with nap time, etc., but it's only once/week for 24 weeks.

 

Good luck!