Anyone used Classically Catholic Memory?

[Guest ShutterbugAJ]

I know this is an old topic, but I've been going crazy trying to decide between CCM at home or join the local CC.  Maria (Ordinary Time), I see that you use Aquinas Learning.  They were my first choice, but I was too late inquiring about them, and they are already filled for the 2013-2014 school year.  You said something in one post about people near you possibly starting a CCM co-op, and if you're in the AL area, I might be nearby.  Are you part of a CCM co-op, or do you know of one in the NOVA area?  I would have sent you a private message, but I just registered with this board specifically to ask you these questions, and I can't send a PM unless I've posted.  ;)  I'm ready to send in the registration forms to CC, but I'd really prefer something Catholic.

[Syllieann]

I am trying to decide between cc memory, catholic schoolhouse, and home use of cc. After looking at the cc stuff, I think there is just too much that would need tweaking. The timeline follows the Protestant path of important events after the reformation, while leaving out important catholic things in modern times such as vatican ii and our lady of Fatima. The science is also a little goofy. Important stuff is conspicuously absent in terms of geology, the definition of evolution is wrong (they use the def of Darwinian naturalism), their list of the parts of an atom is misleading. They include catastrophism in their memory work. The later catechism questions are designed to lead them through a thought process to conclude that if Christianity is true, then anything short of literal ye creatin is wrong.

 

I'm thinking of getting just the cc memory timeline cards and the CDs. Does anyone have thoughts on whether I could do the program with just that?

[rosesinsummer]

Following this discussion.   Does anyone know if it would be possible to go to CC for the community aspects but use CCM materials at home?

 

Any one with experience running a CCM co-op?

 

Thanks for sharing any info/experiences.

[RootAnn]

I think it would be confusing -- the memory materials are different. (CC vs. CCM) I would do one or another. 

 

I have CCM Year 2 materials -- pieces of which I will be integrating into our studies this year. No co-op experience here.

[Kathleen.]

could you use just the CDs if you didn't want to add a full program? Also, if you had to pick between the student text and TM which would you choose?

[Murphy101]

I used gamma level last year and delta this year and love it! Great program, quality beautiful materials, great price. I plan to buy alpha and beta too.

[Murphy101]

could you use just the CDs if you didn't want to add a full program? Also, if you had to pick between the student text and TM which would you choose?

Get the teacher manual then. It has everything the student has in it. Tho the text and photos are much smaller than in the student text, which makes a difference for kids below 3rd grade using it for copy work, which mine do.

 

I don't do a coop either. I can see how it would be easy and maybe fun to coop it. I just don't see the point of adding that additional level of work and organization to my week when we are having fun and doing great without it. Obviously ymmv. :)

[AimeeM]

I am trying to decide between cc memory, catholic schoolhouse, and home use of cc. After looking at the cc stuff, I think there is just too much that would need tweaking. The timeline follows the Protestant path of important events after the reformation, while leaving out important catholic things in modern times such as vatican ii and our lady of Fatima. The science is also a little goofy. Important stuff is conspicuously absent in terms of geology, the definition of evolution is wrong (they use the def of Darwinian naturalism), their list of the parts of an atom is misleading. They include catastrophism in their memory work. The later catechism questions are designed to lead them through a thought process to conclude that if Christianity is true, then anything short of literal ye creatin is wrong.

 

I'm thinking of getting just the cc memory timeline cards and the CDs. Does anyone have thoughts on whether I could do the program with just that?

Yikes. Glad you posted this!

[Syllieann]

In case anyone else is interested in comparing to catholic schoolhouse; cc memory is more of a supplement to what you are already doing while catholic schoolhouse is very complete and could easily serve as the launching pad for your entire program. I was mainly interested in catholic schoolhouse vs cc memory for the songs they have. I didn't find the audio samples to be terribly catchy so I think we are going with cc memory. The science and art books for catholic schoolhouse look awesome though!

[Murphy101]

Yes, CCM says they are a supplement from the start.

 

The CCM website is much friendlier IMO. And I like they have samples and a clear breakdown.

 

I can't find that for Catholic schoolhouse?

 

ETA:

 

Also, I think CCM is very easy to incorporate, but it's also very easy to use it to launch for the year. That's what I am doing.

[Syllieann]

I couldn't find it for catholic schoolhouse so I emailed them and promptly received a generous sized sample.

[Murphy101]

I couldn't find it for catholic schoolhouse so I emailed them and promptly received a generous sized sample.

I will email them, but that's a sad statement of their service from the start. Showing people what they are buying is a pretty basic expectation on the Internet. So when a company doesn't do it, I wonder how long they will be around. The price is more than CCM by approx $50-60, so the cost isn't an excuse for not having as well done a website. But I'm intrigued. :)

 

Out Lady of Victory is the same way. They have some excellent materials but their catalog and website are almost worthless. If I hadn't randomly met someone who showed me enough materials to get me to ask them to send me copious samples, I would have never bought from them. I am not sure how they are able to stay in business, but I hope they do!

[Kathleen.]

Thanks Martha :)

[Guest FruitfulJoy]

We used part of CCM Gamma last year and really liked it. The materials are beautifully done, and it was nice to have memory work that tied into our history cycle and science focus already put together. I was also very pleased with the religion memory work, and chose CCM partly because we wanted Catholic specific memory work. We primarily used the Teachers Manual, CDs and Maps. I pulled copywork throughout the year from this too. We will definitely be using it again this year.

[RootAnn]

could you use just the CDs if you didn't want to add a full program? Also, if you had to pick between the student text and TM which would you choose?

 

I would definitely choose the TM over just the Student Text. I got the whole bundle, but I will probably only use the TM, timeline cards, and possible the CDs - but we aren't using it as a full program. (I haven't listened to the CDs yet.) I have the maps, but won't be using them this year as we're focusing on memorizing US states/capitals and doing Mapping the World Through Art.

 

I'm thinking of getting just the cc memory timeline cards and the CDs. Does anyone have thoughts on whether I could do the program with just that?

 

I would choose the CCM timeline cards over CC stuff if you are Catholic. Less problematic overall, IMO.

[rosesinsummer]

Thanks everyone.  The more I look at CC, the more difficult I think it would be to try to combine with CCM.

 

I'd love a CCM co-op, but doesn't look like it will happen this year.  For those who did CCM at home, can you give me an idea of how you laid out your week?  Or did you spread it out over two weeks?  How much time to present the intro to the memory work for the week, versus daily review?   Do you recommend doing CCM before core subjects or in the afternoon after LA, Math, etc. have been completed?  Any other tips?   

 

I will be using this with a 1st & 3rd grader, with my 3 year old tagging along.

 

 

[Murphy101]

For those who did CCM at home, can you give me an idea of how you laid out your week?

I give a brief intro of everything on Monday morning, then a more in depth discussion of history, science, catechism Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Each day I do a quick drill or game of all the materials. Each day they add one or two subjects to their compositions books as copywork. I also have draw bags for a sort of pop quiz with mini prizes. And once a week they can try for a big prize by reciting everything for the week.

 

Or did you spread it out over two weeks?

Last year I did a week at a time and it was doable, but I will be spreading it over two weeks this year because we have a lot more going on than last year.

 

How much time to present the intro to the memory work for the week, versus daily review?

Monday is the big intro day. Given that I have 4 kids I'm doing it with this year, but also 4 high schoolers and 2 little ones, it takes me about 3 20 minute segments. I break it up so they aren't sitting there for an hour listening to me drone on. We'll go over the religion and prayer and discuss them, then quickly drill the timeline (getting up and shouting, play before or after, do it in rounds etc..) -break for a 10 minutes or so - then I discuss the history. Sometimes this is pretty brief, sometimes it's quite the discussion with flow charts and such on the white board. Pending how long it was, I move on to geography or break for a few minutes. Geograohy is pretty cut and dry. I'll usually already have the maps out during the history discussion. If we didn't break after history, I move on to science. Science might be quick or not. I try to do a simple demonstration if possible and time allows. Lastly, I do the great words II wi the older two, then dismiss them to do their other school work after explaining how and what I expect their copywork to be like. (In addition to the copywork, I might have them copy the maps, or draw a science topic, or illustrate the poem or history.) Then I call the younger ones back in individually, if they left, sometimes they like staying, and go over the great words 1 with each of them and their composition books. Sometimes we make up ways to pantomime the poem. I give them suggestions on what to draw or which art books they can use to help them draw whatever they are wanting.

 

Monday's are quick brief over views of what they are covering. An introduction to get them started. I have the rest of the week to go more in depth in each area.

 

Do you recommend doing CCM before core subjects or in the afternoon after LA, Math, etc. have been completed? Any other tips?

It's going to depend on what works for you. My current plan Tuesday - Friday is to do Latin, French, CCM, then other items. Mondays starts with CCM, because they have tutors for latin and french in the afternoon on those days. However, that's the order of MY priorities. I also start with those because much of my younger ones reading and such are based on those topics. For example, I pulled out FIAR books that cover the prairie life for the first week bc that's part of that weeks memory work. And we will read about plants and do some flower crafts bc of the science in the CCM.

 

I will be using this with a 1st & 3rd grader, with my 3 year old tagging along.

They should do fine if you are consistent in going over it daily. My then 3rd old, now 4 yr old, really enjoyed doing the great words 1 with me. It took her longer to get them down, but she loved doing it.

[Murphy101]

I will email them, but that's a sad statement of their service from the start. Showing people what they are buying is a pretty basic expectation on the Internet. So when a company doesn't do it, I wonder how long they will be around. The price is more than CCM by approx $50-60, so the cost isn't an excuse for not having as well done a website. But I'm intrigued. :)

 

Out Lady of Victory is the same way. They have some excellent materials but their catalog and website are almost worthless. If I hadn't randomly met someone who showed me enough materials to get me to ask them to send me copious samples, I would have never bought from them. I am not sure how they are able to stay in business, but I hope they do!

 

I'm quoting myself to note that Catholic Schoolhouse emailed Thursday thanking me for bringing this to their attention and said they added samples to their website. You can go here and click on the title to view a sample.

 

http://www.catholicschoolhouse.com/store/

[Syllieann]

I'm quoting myself to note that Catholic Schoolhouse emailed Thursday thanking me for bringing this to their attention and said they added samples to their website. You can go here and click on the title to view a sample.

 

http://www.catholicschoolhouse.com/store/

Did you try to look at the samples? I can only view yr 3 and the others just show me a close up of the cover, same as it was before, though it may be a safari issue. I still can't find the audio samples.

[Murphy101]

Did you try to look at the samples? I can only view yr 3 and the others just show me a close up of the cover, same as it was before, though it may be a safari issue. I still can't find the audio samples.

I was asking about Year 3, so apparently that's the only one they fixed. Highly annoying.

 

There are no audios either.

 

Also, I looked at the scope & sequence and found two errors. One, the language arts is listed for year 3 math. Two, both math and language arts have an asterisk next to them, but no where does it explain why. Is language arts the same every year? Does year 3 not have a math component?

 

Also, are the timeline cards for all years the same or are there 122 different cards for each level?

 

Are the books spiral bound or what? In the year 3 science sample it mentions materials in the back of the book being enough for each student. Back of the teacher book or another book? Do they need to be copied or ripped out or?

 

If the folks at Catholic Schoolhouse want me to review their stuff, I'd be interested in having free copies to do that with. But right now, I'm rather frustrated with their site. It comes off as a great idea of a product but I'm frustrated as to what the actual product and service might be.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Loving this thread.  I think we will do Beta this year, as we're doing midieval and earth science. 

 

Can anyone link to the youtube videos of the itmeline for CCM?  I'm not finding anything!

[Murphy101]

I wrote to CSH:

 

 

 

In your scope and sequence, there is an asterisk next to math and language arts, but not an explaination anywhere on the page explaining why.  Is there not a math compenent for Year 3?  Is language arts the same every year?

Also, can a buyer mix and match the program? For example, can I do year 3 religion, history, science, geography, but use Year 2 music and Classical languages?

 

Kathy Responded:

 

Good questions. I will look at having someone add more detail to the scope.

 Yes, the Language is repeated the same each year: Parts of speech, literary terms, homonyms, synonyms, sentences, parts of a letter...
 

Math is included in every year, beginning with skip counting for the first quarter.  After that each year is different: one quarter is geometry, one year being triangles, then quadrilaterals, then circles. One quarter is conversions, again, one year capacity, then, length, then volume. The remaining quarter is odds and ends, one year algebraic things like order of operations, another year statistical memory work, and roman numerals etc.
 

Mixing and matching would not work for the core subjects. The memory work is presented on a single page for each week, so if you order Year 3, you get all the memory work for year 3.  Flipping between books would not be convenient, and would be extra cost. The timeline dependent subjects are completely integrated, meaning that the saints chosen correspond to the time period, as are the artists and musicians. The art and science guides that are sold separately are also integrated with what is in the Tour Guide, so I would not recommend mixing.
 

Other subjects, like Latin, could be done with any year.  I have had people just ignore the Tour Guide and do their own thing for Latin, and that is absolutely fine.

 

The repeating the same thing for math and language arts and timeline every year is mildly annoying to me in both CCM and CSH.  I find the going over multiples and parts of speech every year to be especially tedious because, since neither of these programs are intended to be a full stand alone program, just about any half way decent math or language arts is going to cover those repeatedly already.  Obviously I don't find it unbearable or I wouldn't buy it.  The other areas of CCM make it worth buying for me.  I simply wish the math would be expanded, and likely would feel the same about language arts too for CSH. 

 

My only other note of quibble with the CSH is from the very limited samples of the tour guide, the print looks very small.  I'd rather the graphic at the top be greatly reduced to allow for more print.  It's hard to tell from the other samples of year 3 how much is on a page, but it sure looks tiny.  When i click to view the picture as an entire page, only quarter sections of it come up, as thought that one quarter is one page and the are to the left is a page on the right.  Idk if that is my computer and idevices or formating on their website or what.  This sounds petty I know, but I find more white space or a cleaner page with medium font to be much easier on the eyes of both middle aged mammas and young kiddies. ;)

[Syllieann]

I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on this. Anyone that knows: What are ccm science activities like? Do you feel they are worthwhile for learning or are they more crafty as in fun, but not necessarily demonstrating any concept? Are they easy to do without making a special trip to the store for supplies?

[Murphy101]

The science activities are easy to do and don't usually require Itake a special trip out.*

 

Gamma iirc (it's in another room and I'm pinned under a nursing baby) used many of the activities found in the Janice Van Cleave type books, simple practical common demonstration type stuff in elementary to 7th grade-ish.

 

Delta suggests nature sketches and gathering from nature walks and some simple demonstration type activities. However, unlike Gamma, the first 11 weeks repeatedly reference creating lap books or printing off something from enchantedlearning.com (no link or suggestion, just "activity book" or "labeling sheet") And I'll be honest, I loath lap books. They are a PITA for the mom and I frankly don't think a kid gets anymore out of writing the info on folded paper than they would doing it as copywork and illustrating it. So copybooks are what I go with and my kids love their copybooks. I might pull in an activity or craft once or twice a week, but no more than that. I also get mildly irked when I buy material that is supposed to be "open and go" and every week it tells me to go to a paid membership site to print something off to do. I really don't need to buy a book to tell me I can go online to print off a picture of a plant to label. But that's a very minor irk.

 

For both levels, and I would thus presume the others too, science gives 3-5 activities to choose from each week. Each activity is labeled as about half lower complexity and medium complexity, with some high complexity(rare) every so often.

 

For example week 3 is

 

Take a field guide out and sketch a variety of leaves found. (low)

 

Go to enchantedlearning and select a printable leaf activity book (low)

 

Do leaf rubbings (low)

 

Use science Q and A as copywork in their lap book and illustrate with drawings of different leaf characterizations. (med)

 

I plan to have them gather leaf samples outside, copywork the science in their composition books and do leaf rubbings directly in the book to decorate it. :)

 

There are a few items later... Jello and jellybeans to make an edible plant cell model, seeds and soil, kidney beans... All pretty common activities for an elementary life science semester.

[Syllieann]

Thanks so much for the detailed response,Martha. I'm also pinned under a nursing baby, thus reading this at 2am, lol.

[RootAnn]

Ok, I have Beta, so I'll chime in on Science.

 

Week 1 has four activities - one lower (cutting through a peach), two medium (different colors construction paper or modeling clay) & one higher (peanut butter, powdered sugar, jelly, chocolate chip). These are to teach the layers of the earth.

 

Some weeks only have two activities, but most have three or four to choose from. Most need materials like the above - construction paper, modeling clay, food, household chemicals, sidewalk chalk, craft supplies, etc. Weeks 5-8 says you need a rock & mineral collection that includes samples of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. One of the activities for week 12 asks for you to drop water onto a cotton ball using a 5 mL syringe. The children are supposed to guess how many syringes of water it will take until it starts to "rain" from the "cloud". Week 14 has kids making a wind vane or barometer (medium complexity). 

 

Some of the week's activities have to do with the color pictures in the Appendix of the Teacher's Manual. (Cut them out an laminate them?) Some have kids going on a walk to look for rocks & things. I didn't see any that asked you to print something out from the 'net or make a lapbook.

 

I don't plan on doing most of them because we'll have activities as part of our main science. If I don't have another activity, I might pick one of these. For example, for the layers of the earth, we're going to do the clay balls as described in Science Logic's Unit Study. It is similar to one in CCM, but has more details and a visual to reference.

[Syllieann]

Thanks for the input. I finally ordered. I was really wanting a song for timeline like cc has so i was kinda bummed ccm didn't have a song and I didn't like the csh music. Found this awesome video to go with the ccm cards to spice it up. So excited!

[Murphy101]

An interesting incorporation of sign language, but I'm not sure kids who don't know sign language would readily make those associations. Hmmm. Thanks!

[Murphy101]

Someone wanted to hear an audio of CSH? I found it! Via Pinterest of all things.

 

http://soundproductionsmusic.com/downloads/catholicschoolhouse/Language/

 

I gotta say. That sample blows away by a 100% CCM. My kids are so-so with the CD, but I really dislike it. The singer is very high pitched, IMVHO and it's sung like a lullaby, with equal results.

 

I like the look of the CSH timeline better, but without it in hand, I can't speak to the quality. I dislike that I can't drill with the CCM cards bc the timeline memory is on the front. We just cover it up, but it would be nice not to have to. Maybe. There is some value to having the words and the picture in the same memory snap.

 

Ugh. I'm highly tempted to buy CSH to compare with what I've used in the past and now, but that's a huge risk of $ for something I'm having to work really hard to get details about, kwim?