Has anyone had their dc in Classical Conversations Challenge A or B?

[HappyGrace]

What did you think of it?

[Samiam]

:lurk5:

 

I would also like to know how much more CC Challenge added to your day if you already have a full curriculum plan. ie, we won't switch to Saxon. Would consider IEW, but for the rest, we are set.

[Brenda in FL]

Not yet - but planning on enrolling upcoming 8th grader in Challenge A next year. From what I've been told - the assignments will pretty much take up all his time for the remainder of the week. I'm still hoping to have his involvement with our history studies and I may alter his Challenge science assignments to one paper every two weeks instead of one every week just so that I can fit in some extras that I want covered that aren't covered in Challenge A.

[Karis]

Isn't there a part time option for Challenge?

 

(just wondering if you could opt out of the math or whatever else you did not want)

[HeidiKC]

:lurk5:

[laughing lioness]

It depends a lot on the Tutor, how developed the program (at the site you are considering attending) is and what kind of support there is.

[angela in ohio]

My two oldest were in my Challenge A class last year.

 

The amount of time it takes will vary widely by student. My dc and other dc in the class who were used to rigorous studies found time to take other courses along with the full CC load. Some of the students dropped a course but still coulnd't get it all done. They were not used to deadlines and prioritizing academics, though.

 

There is no way to make a blanket recommendation for or against CC Challenge, because it depends entirely on the tutor. Askt he tutor a LOT of questions: what experience do they have teaching groups, what experience do they have in each of the subject areas (especially math, IEW writing, and Latin,) what is their homeschool philosophy, etc. Sit in on a class and see how the tutor works with students: are they engaging, do they seem to care about the students, etc.

[snipsnsnailsx5]

I'm curious to hear the replies too. We're putting our 12 yr old in Challenge A in the fall.

I really have no clue what to expect. Its a brand new group here so I don't think they even have the tutor yet. I heard they at least have someone in mind, but she has to go through the training still.

 

I'm curious how much to add to his workload. I don't know how much time CC will take. hmmm

[maryanne]

I don't have a student in the Challenge program yet, but I have lots of friends that do. So, take this with a grain of salt.

 

What I hear is that for many students Challenge A is the hardest they have ever had to work before, and that it takes more time than Challenge B. Having said that I agree with the previous poster that it probably depends a lot on the tutor and which site you are at. From what I hear there is a lot of variation across sites.

 

I also know some Challenge students that have added assignments at home, that is, additional history or science or electives in addition to all the Challenge assignments. It really depends on the student.

[jamajo]

My daughter is currently in Challenge A. It has done wonders for her in terms of motivation and organization. The first couple of weeks was hard as it was her first full year homeschooling and she was not use to so much work. I took her out of PS second semester 7th grade. Technically this is her 8th grade year. We had no time to add anything to her course load at home other than Easy Grammar and listening in occasionally to her siblings' history lessons. It was my plan to enroll her in Challenge B but after doing a tentative high school plan I decided to do something different. What I liked best about CCA other than what I already mentioned is the positive peer pressure and collaboration with her peers and oral communication skills practice. This was DD first exposure to Latin as well and that was a real treat. The only thing I didn't like was the Catechism memorization.:tongue_smilie:

[smjlangley]

I realize this is an old thread but was wondering if there are any of you just finishing up Challenge A and what your thoughts were on it now.

 

My son will be starting in the fall. We just finished up our first year with CC so he only has 1 cycle of foundations and essentials behind him but I think he's ready.

[Heather in VA]

My oldest did Challenge B when she was in 8th grade. After about 2 weeks we moved her up to Challenge 1(which is supposed to be high school). Neither program was close in volume to work what we were doing at home or would it have been enough for me to give high school credit for it had she actually been in high school. I'm sure it does depend on the tutor as well. I'm sure it also depends on how much work you have been doing. There were others who found it to be a lot of work.

 

Heather

[Omma]

Thought I'd give this topic a bump. My ds will be doing Challenge A in the fall (as an 8th grader). We have an option to add Apologia Physical Science on the side and I don't know if we should or not (a friend wants our dc to meet for the experiments during the year). One new item this year in Classical Conversations is: The Lost Tools of Writing curriculum (to replace IEW), so I am not sure how that new class will affect the overall workload. It's our first year with CC, so I am thinking that I probably shouldn't add anything else, as the tutor says CCA will require about 6 hours a day on the other 4 days of school. I also planned to add in MFW 1850 to Modern since we did Exp. to 1850 this year and I already own it. This same friend also has a dd the same age as my dd and we discussed the girls doing Apologia General Science experiments together, too. Meanwhile, my dd will be doing Foundations and Essentials (she turns 12 in Nov.). I think it could work for her, but I am leaning toward scratching the whole Apologia get-togethers since we will be brand new to CC. Any thoughts? Obviously, I am also trying to process how my ds will advance in science when he will be starting CCA as an 8th grader.

[TarynB]

Thought I'd give this topic a bump. My ds will be doing Challenge A in the fall (as an 8th grader). We have an option to add Apologia Physical Science on the side and I don't know if we should or not (a friend wants our dc to meet for the experiments during the year). One new item this year in Classical Conversations is: The Lost Tools of Writing curriculum (to replace IEW), so I am not sure how that new class will affect the overall workload. It's our first year with CC, so I am thinking that I probably shouldn't add anything else, as the tutor says CCA will require about 6 hours a day on the other 4 days of school. I also planned to add in MFW 1850 to Modern since we did Exp. to 1850 this year and I already own it. This same friend also has a dd the same age as my dd and we discussed the girls doing Apologia General Science experiments together, too. Meanwhile, my dd will be doing Foundations and Essentials (she turns 12 in Nov.). I think it could work for her, but I am leaning toward scratching the whole Apologia get-togethers since we will be brand new to CC. Any thoughts? Obviously, I am also trying to process how my ds will advance in science when he will be starting CCA as an 8th grader.

 

 

Omma, in case you didn't see it already, I've linked another recent thread below on Challenge A. It was interesting for me, especially in regards to doing a different math program besides Saxon, and the feasibility of adding science to a Ch. A workload. Hope it helps.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/471380-cc-challenge-a/

[Brenda in FL]

Thought I'd give this topic a bump. My ds will be doing Challenge A in the fall (as an 8th grader). We have an option to add Apologia Physical Science on the side and I don't know if we should or not (a friend wants our dc to meet for the experiments during the year). One new item this year in Classical Conversations is: The Lost Tools of Writing curriculum (to replace IEW), so I am not sure how that new class will affect the overall workload. It's our first year with CC, so I am thinking that I probably shouldn't add anything else, as the tutor says CCA will require about 6 hours a day on the other 4 days of school. I also planned to add in MFW 1850 to Modern since we did Exp. to 1850 this year and I already own it. This same friend also has a dd the same age as my dd and we discussed the girls doing Apologia General Science experiments together, too. Meanwhile, my dd will be doing Foundations and Essentials (she turns 12 in Nov.). I think it could work for her, but I am leaning toward scratching the whole Apologia get-togethers since we will be brand new to CC. Any thoughts? Obviously, I am also trying to process how my ds will advance in science when he will be starting CCA as an 8th grader.

 

 

Apologia Physical Science will be done in Ch I. We really have not had the extra time to do anything additional. As far as science goes - I decided to stick with the CC progression. He will have the 3 sciences 2 with a lab requirement needed for college admissions. And if we decide to do an extra year before graduating then he will get an additional science. My son also started CH A in 8th grade. Because he has a summer birthday and I know a lot more about him now than I did when he started Kindergarten - we may add the extra year (besides - it looks like CH IV may be the best year and if he graduates after CH III he'd miss it!) Of course things may change over the next couple of years . . .

[Omma]

Thanks for sharing, TarynB and Brenda in FL. I am going to wait on adding anything else to Challenge A, as I want my ds to have the best chance of success in completing the program as is. I am starting to realize that the whole point of middle school is to really develop research and study skills (at least that is going to be my main goal/emphasis for my ds this coming year as an 8th grader), instead of just accumulating knowledge for knowledge's sake. He's going to be doing a whole lot more writing than he has had to do up to this point, and I think having an audience to hear his writing via doing presentations in class will really propel him forward in areas that I'd like to see get developed this coming year. As for MFW History, I think I am going to put that to the side for this coming year and do MOH 2 (and maybe some of MOH 3) with my 6th grade dd instead, since CC will be covering Cycle 2 and it'll simplify things.