A few quick questions about Classical Conversations

[TCoppock]

We have a CC group forming near us and it has sparked my interest. My son will be going into 6th grade next year and it appear like he would fit into the Foundations/Essentials group. I have a few questions/concerns regarding the Essentials group that I am hoping someone on the board can answer for me.

 

1. Is CC suppose to be a complete program besides math for the younger grades?

 

2. I notice that grammar is taught and there will be homework given. Do we have to use the grammar program if we participate in Essentials or can we stick to R&S? I guess what I'm asking is if this is an all or nothing type of program.

 

3. When my son reaches Challenge level is Saxon required? Saxon has not worked for us in the past and I don't wish to try it again.

[dsmama]

I am pretty new to CC as well, but this much I do know:

 

-- For Essentials, the grammar is a complete program. Yes, you could add more, but there isn't a need, necessarily. Focus is on sentence structures, parts of speech, diagramming, and is quite in-depth. CC believes that the parent is the teacher, however, and so if you want to alter things, that is your choice. I recommend speaking with the tutor just to make sure he/she knows what your plans are.

 

-- Writing in Essentials is from Institute for Excellence in Writing. The CC program goes through different writing structures and stylistic devices, so your child will do everything from research to creative word choices.

 

-- CC for youngers (not in Essentials) will still require the parent to do math (as you said) and language arts.

 

-- I know nothing about Challenge. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

As a former high school English teacher, I have been very impressed with what I've seen so far of the Essentials program. Kids will be well prepared for future writing endeavors.

[TCoppock]

Thanks for replying. I'm still not sure if CC is going to work for my family. We really love using Rod and Staff for grammar, however I could definitely use the added hand holding for IEW. We might be better off just finding a tutor in our area for this subject.:sad: I really want this type of program, but more as a supplement. I think the biggest deciding factor will be if during Challenge my son would be expected to use Saxon. There really isn't a reason for me to sign him up for a program that we would drop in a year. Hopefully someone can answer this for me.

[i.love.lucy]

I am about to embark on my first year with CC, so I am by no means an expert. But I've been learning a lot and talking to a lot of people.

 

Yes, Essentials is a complete program. You can certainly still do exercises from R&S if you desire, but it could be overkill. But I'd still do it, if for nothing more than IEW and the classroom setting for the writing skills. I'd discuss these thoughts with the director for your campus.

 

Foundations is simply memory work. We intend to use it as the spine that directs our further studies, but it wouldn't be enough in and of itself. So I am going to flesh out the topics from history and science in more depth with outside sources of reading, movies, projects, etc.

 

I have heard of numerous people who use different math in Challenge. They simply have their child sit in on those lessons, or if it's too disruptive to what they are currently learning, they can sit elsewhere while that part of the program is taught but join in on the rest of it. I think if you were doing that with numerous subjects in Challenge it would defeat the purpose, but I think for math it'd be easy.

 

Hopefully you will get more responses!

[SonshineLearner]

For Essentials, If you're stuck on Rod&Staff, you can do that. There are some sheets that are fun to "learn" to do... but the Dialectic part of doing it in a group..... is really wonderful!! Also, this is a nice transition period towards Challenge.

 

Challenge Saxon.... No you don't have to use it... It's more conceptual... where they go through "how" and "why" things work... problems worked out... and if others are using another way... your student can explain how they got to their answer. There are whole Challenges where no student uses Saxon at home.

 

:)

[Chaqar]

This is my second year in CC Foundations and Essentials as a tutor I agree with the above opinions on the Essentials program. You CAN use R&S in addition, but it might be overkill. You may want to really scale back the R&S requirements if you do sign up for Essentials. One main benefit to Essentials is the group dynamic--your son will have an audience for his writing. This is huge for us and can't be duplicated with just a tutor. I don't presume to know what would be best in your case, but you may want to at least take that into consideration.

 

My understanding of the math portion of Challenge is that most communities typically schedule the math portion on one end of the day so that those who prefer another curriculum can simply arrive late or leave early. I'm not sure if that is a CC policy or if that is just how it is often arranged; ask your director.

[TCoppock]

Thank you all very much for taking the time to respond. I feel a lot more positive after reading them. The director of the program in my area has been great. She actually offered to go for coffee so we can talk more about the program. Knowing that we won't be required to go through Saxon as we advance is encouraging. I'm still unsure about leaving Rod and Staff, but maybe we can do it in a lighter way until I am more comforatable with the CC program. Has anyone gone from R&S to the CC program? How do they compare?

[Jan in SC]

You don't have to enroll him in Essentials. I have two old enough for it, but they won't be doing it, at least this year. We are going to participate in Foundations as a memory program for practice giving short speeches to small groups.