old

[Paisley Hedgehog]

.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Paisley Hedgehog
More questions

[abacus2]

I'm sorry, but CC = ?

[tuckabella]

I'm sorry, but CC = ?

 

Classical Conversations

[cdrumm4448]

I am looking into CC and am balking at the start-up costs. I mean, wow! for all the flashcard sets, memory cd's, and the guide, I am looking at around $300, just to get started in Foundations. Does CC have any sort of bundle packages for new users?

 

ETA: And for you already using CC, what do I really need to begin? I don't have a group in my area and will be doing it own my own. My ds is a visual & audiory learner who does great with flashcards and audiobooks, so I will want all of those resources. And what's the difference between the Audio 2-cd set and the Memory Work Resource CD?

 

The audio cd set is just audio. You can play it on a cd player at home or in your car. The MWR cd is a computer cd. It has visuals to help with the memorization.

 

CC *is* expensive, but the materials are used throughout Foundations, so you're not buying everything new each year. They don't bundle because people often buy used, so can pick and choose what they need to fill in from the store.

[Susan in MO]

Hi Shari,

 

Keep in mind that you don’t have to buy everything in the catalog and remember that this is a multiple year curriculum. For most, it will last through many years with many children. The materials are also non-consumable and can be resold when you are finished using it.

 

It is also not necessary to buy all the materials in catalog. In Foundations you will need to buy the Timeline Cards and the Foundation Guide which equals 150.00, although, I do recommend having the 30.00 audio CD (but it is not necessary.)

 

For us this is an extremely inexpensive curriculum because we have chosen to use the curriculum as a jumping off point, meaning we research and build on the material covered throughout the year. In fact, rather than the drudgery most people tend to make out memory work to be it has established delight based learning in our house. My children only spend a couple of hours a day on memory work, math and language art and the rest of their day is delight driven.

 

We delight in reading historical readers/science books we find at the library. We love to listen to our Story of the Word CD’s over and over again (sometimes all four in a year!) Have you ever read a book, or a historical event and been able to follow it on the map in your head? This is what studying and memorizing the Geography has done for us. We now are part of the story; we are so familiar with the area that we can visualize the rivers in the right location, the mountains being crossed, the battles crossing empire lines.

 

So all in all, CC's curriculum can be quite inexpensive. We consume very few materials in this house. Please feel free to PM me if I can be of any assistance.

 

Susan

Edited April 1, 2011 by SusaninMo
Correction

[Mandy in TN]

I am looking into CC and am balking at the start-up costs. I mean, wow! for all the flashcard sets, memory cd's, and the guide, I am looking at around $300, just to get started in Foundations. Does CC have any sort of bundle packages for new users?

 

ETA: And for you already using CC, what do I really need to begin? I don't have a group in my area and will be doing it own my own. My ds is a visual & audiory learner who does great with flashcards and audiobooks, so I will want all of those resources. And what's the difference between the Audio 2-cd set and the Memory Work Resource CD?

We started CC this semester and I only bought the Foundations Guide. I made my own memory cards on index cards. When to enrolled, in our enrollment folder from our CC director there was a CD with most of the memory work chanted or to song. This was just a little something local. It doesn't contain the history sentence, but our folder did have a list aligning Kingfisher and SOTW to the history sentences. I have the Usborne IL Science Encyclopedia and Write Source's 6-8gr Sciencesaurus. This is all we have used this semester. Well, this and our handy-dandy whiteboard.

 

If I tutor next year, then I will join CC connected and blow everything I am paid to tutor on purchasing everything.

 

If I don't tutor, I will purchase the MWR computer cd and make my own memory cards from this resource. I will hope that we get a little audio CD in our folder. If not, I will also purchase the audio CD.

 

For the first year without a CC group, I would suggest the $50 Foundations Guide, the $30 Memory Work Resource CD, and the $30 Audio CD. I would make your own cards. If this is going to be primarily memory work, then this is all I would purchase.

 

If this is going to be a schedule for your history and science studies, then I would also purchase resource material for those subjects. (like a science and history encyclopedia- CC suggests some material for cycle 3) If you want to do the music, art, and science experiments, then you need a tin whistle, Classical Music for Dummies, Drawing with Children, Discovering Great Artists, and Janice Van Cleeve's 201 Awesome Experiments.

 

The first year, I would focus on the history sentences and wouldn't bother with the timeline at all. (the two are totally separate) If your son likes singing with hand movements, get on youtube and learn the song along with one of the many videos- no VP cards necessary.

 

HTH-

Mandy

 

HTH-

Mandy

[lindsrae]

If you want to go really, really bare bones, by the Memory Work Resource CD. Listen to it and use it on the computer. Save the time line memory cards for next year. The Foundations guide it great, and I think it is essential if you want to see the whole scope and sequence and get the rationale behind the memory work. But if you want to just "try and see," just get the MWR.

[LND1218]

They used to - it was the guide, the VP cards and a tin whistle because that's all you need. But many people get the cards or guide used.

 

You don't need it all!!

 

If you are joining a community, skip the audio and Memory Resource CD and go with the online connected community. You can make your own CD and use their online tutorial. The only drawback is that is internet based and it doesn't work when you don't have internet. The upside is it's internet based and you can access it from anywhere. It's very inexpensive for families who belong to a community.

 

The flash cards are nice, but we don't use them much at all. You can make your own. You can get the pdf for about $15 and print them.

 

You use the materials year after year after year. So it's really cheap.

[Mom0012]

I did it at home for a number of years with both of my kids. All you really need is the Foundations guide and the VP cards. I bought the audio cd, but hated learning the material with songs, so I never used it. I did make my own tapes, chanting the memory work. I'm not familiar with the memory resource cd.

[marbelinchen]

CC IS expensive. The book "Foundations" will last throughout your time in foundations, so do the timeline cards, but since CC is on a 3-year cycle, you will need three different sets of memory cards/audio/memory resource CD - if you choose to buy them. I agree CCC (=CC connect online, I think $70 per year for CC members) is a wonderful way to go. If I'm not mistaken they have the songs and chants in a way that you could burn your own CD. Big advantage of CCC: Many people, especially tutors post tons and tons of additional material. I personally would buy the audio, at times it's the only thing we listen to in the car, and CCC.

 

The timeline cards are also expensive. You would only need them for a visual learner or if you want to use Veritas Press' information on the back of the cards. A family in FL has produced a great CD with all timeline card songs in the CC order (it's not the Veritas Press order, so don't buy their CDs). That CD was all we ever used for the timeline cards.

 

Keep in mind that the program itself also costs some money. In our case over $300 for the program, $50 for registration, $50 for material, 1-3 love offerings for the church where we're meeting, and now also an insurance fee. This does not include Essentials, the afternoon program with IEW, grammar, and some math.

[momee]

"CC *is* expensive, but the materials are used throughout Foundations, so you're not buying everything new each year."

 

Exactly why you should just go bare minimum unless you are positive you are doing more than one year. Both my girls had a strong distaste for it...I was surprised by that so I say give it a semester at least before making major purchases.

 

I bought the timeline cards - over 100 and heard later that's one element you don't have to do if you don't want to. :(

[G5052]

I was told that they discontinued it because most people couldn't afford that much $ up front. I have several friends who bought the guide and the first two sets of timeline cards, and then later got the rest of the cards and a few other things.

 

When we started with CC, there were no CD's or cards, and we did just fine. My last Foundations child actually prefers the cards for drill over the CDs, but younger ones enjoy the CDs, so keep that in mind.

[MeganW]

A family in FL has produced a great CD with all timeline card songs in the CC order (it's not the Veritas Press order, so don't buy their CDs). That CD was all we ever used for the timeline cards.

 

Could you share info on how to buy this?

[Adriana E.]

I notice you don´t mention the Teacher´s Manual for the Timeline Series ... do you know if it´s any good?

[staceyobu]

I bought the foundations guide, tin whistle, and veritas press cards. You could go without the veritas press cards and practice the timeline using the youtube videos. I didn't get any memory work cds. When you join cc, you can get online access to their stuff for $6 a month. I joined for one month and downloaded all the history, math, and latin songs off the website onto my iphone for just the $6 the online access cost me.

 

I would get the guide, whistle, and cards at most starting out. See how you like to review and talk to other moms about how they are practicing. Then order the additional stuff if you want it.

 

The good thing is, the guide, timeline cards, and whistle are used every year. So, if you do it again next year, your material expense will be much lower. This year I am only buying one extra tin whistle for DS. Much better.

 

:lol: (because DS wanted a smilie)

[profmom]

If you want to go really, really bare bones, by the Memory Work Resource CD. Listen to it and use it on the computer. Save the time line memory cards for next year. The Foundations guide it great, and I think it is essential if you want to see the whole scope and sequence and get the rationale behind the memory work. But if you want to just "try and see," just get the MWR.

 

That really could work -- just buy the Memory Work Resource CD! You would have all the memory work for this cycle, except the timeline.

 

We did Foundations this past year and will continue next year. My ds-6th grade doesn't like to memorize with music, so we ended up not using the CDs at all -- oh, except he did decide to use the presidents song at the end. For this year, we used the Foundations guide, flash cards, & tin whistle. The flashcards were used more by me than him -- it was easier for me to quiz him with the cards, stacking the ones he knew into one pile and the ones that needed work in another. We used the VP cards indirectly because we were required to have them in order to receive the unofficial weekly printouts with timeline motions developed by a nearby group.

 

For next year, we'll be starting our dd-1st grade and expect to use the music CD.

 

I really like the History Highlights (with a page of background info for each history sentence) and the Science Snippets (just a "snippet" of info to go with each science topic). These are found on the Resource CD.

 

I haven't tried CC Connect.