Classical Conversations- need some encouragement

[jeffcolemanfamily]

From those who have done Classical Conversations before, I need some encouragement.

 

This year we are new to CC and I am both a director and Essentials tutor. I am new to Essentials also. I have 6 kiddos, all in Foundations with two in Essentials. Two of my kids are known special needs with HFA, dysgraphia/dyslexia, and {with one suspected ADHD/sensory issues}, with a very hyper active 4 year old who is LOVING school! :) We love CC and we love Essentials and Foundations so this is not a complaint against CC at all.

 

I am LOVING LOVING LOVING the wonderful families and new friends we have made, the tutors are wonderful and go above and beyond to help our kiddos and my kids ARE LOVING school this year with the CC memory work and geography especially! This has been our most organized year so far. I love that I have some accountability and I feel like our school has more flow to it.

 

However, we are only going into week #4 tomorrow and I. AM. SO. Exhausted.

I feel like something has to give but there is NOTHING I can give up with what we are doing.

 

Two days a week I drive my special needs daughter {HFA, dyslexia} one hour to her reading and vision therapy appointments and an hour home. Two hours for her appointments, so we are gone for about 4 hours. I feel these are very necessary for her and not able to be stopped at this time as they are helping her. However, that means those days we only have half days of school at home. Which leaves us with only two full days at home for school and then our CC day. It feels like we are over scheduled but I feel like nothing we are doing is not necessary. I need a mother's helper or something but can't afford one!! :)

 

I cancelled ballet lessons and guitar because we don't have the time or money for it at this time but don't feel like we can cut anything out. I am worried that we aren't getting enough school time in with the other kids and with some of my special needs kids, they need one-on-one time and their hand held through all their lessons.

 

It's a little overwhelming and although I love what we are doing, I am worried about my ability to keep going at this pace. Is there something else I can do to keep me from burning out that I am overlooking here? I feel like I am always on here asking for help for something but you ladies have always given me such great advice, that I hope this is ok to ask here!

 

Thanks!

[jeffcolemanfamily]

I should have prefaced this with... I am ALWAYS exhausted!! LOL But this is different... its a physical and mental exhaustion. I do get up early every morning and exercise so that I am doing something for me. But even that is tiring! LOL I need an extra 24 hours a week that are kid-free for planning lessons, preparing things for our weekly CC meetings, and lesson planning for our lessons at home, as well as time for me to eat, and then I'd be good to go!! :)

[H_Household]

No suggestions....just a :grouphug:

We are in CC Foundations but not at the Essentials stage yet. I am considering doing Essentials at home...even though I love to program, for the crazy day it would create for our family after being there for Foundations in the morning. I am a Foundations tutor so I also understand the pressure of tutoring but can't imagine also being a director on top of that. Hope you get some peace and rest to enjoy your year.

[Another Lynn]

You have a lot on you! You didn't say what curricula you're using at home during the week, but is there a way you can streamline your week more? On the days you can only do half-days, just hit Essentials homework and math and let all independent readers read in the car and while they wait during the appt. Play your CC cds in the car part of the time too.

 

On your two "good" days, let the weekly CC topics drive your history and science studies during the week. If you have any voracious readers let them read extra historical fiction to give them more context for the history sentences and/or timeline work. Choose science books from the library that expand on the current topic for CC's science. Let the olders read and make a list of important facts - or read and make a notebook page if they like to draw. Let them use this work for their next presentation. Don't forget books on tape or cd for your younger ones!

 

I cannot imagine the amount of work on you as an Essentials tutor and a Director, as well as your family's needs during the week. I would squeeze every bit of benefit from CC and keep driving basic skills forward the rest of the week.

 

Do you have a week off from CC coming up? Can you use that day to rest and to plan so that the next six weeks are lighter for you?

 

I understand about wishing for a Mommy's helper. My house has never looked worse and I'm getting tired of spaghetti, tacos and pizza night, LOL. Hope you can find a way to lighten your load!

[newlifemom]

I'll tell you what I did this year. I ditched a separate science curriculum. I am using the memory work and experiments be their science. I am also getting books from the library for them to read about anatomy.

 

I too am trying to streamline. As far as prep work goes, I have found that no matter how much I prepare during the week, I am always staying up late the night before. Thus, I do not do too much prep. Of course I am only a Challenge Director and don't have the million administrative things that you must have.

 

I like the pp's idea of streamlining. All of your kids are young so I would really consider making CC the complete spine of what you do. Have a math and reading program [for the youngers] and then supplement what you are doing in Foundations with lots of great books from the library. This year is the easiest as far a getting good library books.

 

I would try to make the most of your time. Have you considered once a month cooking? How about a lot of crockpot meals. 'Tis the season. :D

 

I am just so impressed that you are doing this with six kids. I have 4 [with a high school, very independent niece thrown in, and I am tired.] Since it is your first year, I would not do MM and wouldn't push Memory Work beyond the travel time. That should really give you some more time.

 

I don't know if any of this helps, but I will be praying for you.

 

[bTW, have you spoken with your SM? She may be able to give you ideas about streamlining the admin process. Also, delegate. Can someone else set up the experiments? Do you have families helping with set-up and clean-up?]

[jeffcolemanfamily]

Wow thanks for the suggestions and hugs! I do appreciate it!! :)

 

Also, Lynn, for curriculum at home we are using... CC as the spine... this drives our history and science choices. We supplement with readings from SOTW and Kingfisher Encyclopedia and other readers from Sonlight that correspond to American History. Our main focus at home though is Math, Reading, and Writing right now.

 

With my kiddos that looks like this...

 

Oldest, 11 1/2, Essentials grammar, IEW writing, Saxon 6/5, LOF, Sonlight readers, Latin

Next one, 10, Writing 8 Exercises, Essentials grammar, IEW writing, MUS Delta {moving into TT}, Sonlight readers

Next child, 8, Vision therapy exercises, Writing 8 exercises, Math U See Alpha and Right Start B, Seeing Stars, PAL Reading/Writing {only some of this that she can handle}, HWT

Next child, 7, Sonlight readers, PAL Reading/Writing, Math U See, Right Start B, HWT, ETC

Kinder, 5, PAL Writing/Reading, Math U See Primer {getting Saxon 1 for her spine and supplement with MUS}, HWT, ETC

The 4 year old, a little of this and that!

 

These are great ideas about CD in the car. I should be doing that!! I do a good hour of memory work/geography every morning with the kids. We start with pledge, prayer, bible verse memory with sign language, timeline motions and cards, review the weekly memory work often with the whiteboard and CD. They get out their geography notebooks and trace the states, capitals, the world, draw the continents, sing our geography song. It can take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half just for that portion alone.

[jeffcolemanfamily]

Thanks Pam!! Yes, we are not using a separate science although I thought about doing Apologia. It looked very enticing! :) We have Kingfisher Science encyclopedia and a bunch of usborne books on the Human Body so i am fine with CC being the spine for that! We listen to SOTW three times a week, beginning with SOTW 3 and hopefully we'll get through most of that and some of SOTW 4.

 

We read the Sonlight readers/read alouds that go with American History. Not in any particular order so I feel very haphazard in my organization with that. My kids don't seem to mind. Right now I'm reading aloud Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims and The Sign of the Beaver to them nightly. {We're also reading Desperaux for recreation and they LOVE it!} :)

 

My biggest problem is I have only ONE child who is pretty independent in her work and the rest need their hand held, their work checked, and that takes up a huge amount of time in my day! I am switching my 10 year old to TT to hopefully help him be more independent in his math and more confident with it since he has trouble writing out the answers/problems. That 'MAY' free up some time. We'll see! That's why a mother's helper would be sooo nice! Oh if only money were no object... [sigh]

 

And we eat a lot of spaghetti, tacos and pizza!! My kids don't complain but I am getting so tired of it!!

 

I think if I had enough money I would hire myself a cook and house keeper... and then I would be the most efficient and amazing homeschooling mom ever!! LOL

[angela in ohio]

Can you find someone else to either direct or tutor? There is a reason it is CC's policy that you don't do both. It sounds fine up front, but it's just too much (the literal equivalent of being two people at once during the time you tutor.) I thought of it for a moment when we weren't sure about getting a final tutor we needed, but my SM said no way. And I had three independent kiddos.

 

For meals, you can do some partial freezer meals. Find a day each week (or even every other week) to sneak a few hours and make a whole bunch of one thing. Soup is easy, because it simmers after some quick prep. A whole bunch of shredded cooked chicken frozen for sandwiches is nice, too.

[jeffcolemanfamily]

Great ideas for the meals, thank you!! If it was cooler than 100 degrees I might be more motivated to take out my crock pot! It's still 80 degrees in my house though! Yuck!! Maybe in a few weeks.... :)

 

I didn't realize it was CC's policy for me to not tutor and/or direct at the same time. I don't remember reading that. I'll have to go back and check out my contract. My SM never said anything to me about it and encouraged me to tutor and direct. The director that was kind of my "mentor" also tutored Essentials as well so I just assumed a lot of directors did both!! Goes to show just what I know which isn't a whole lot! LOL :)

 

That's a good idea to have someone else tutor, though right now we don't have anyone else that could or that has the training. We are a brand new community!

[MeganW]

We do therapy appts four days a week. Ask at the front desk if there is a room you can use each week to homeschool in. Most have a consultation room that they are very nice about loaning. If you can get 45 minutes of school in during every therapy appt, it helps a lot. My kids have backpacks that they carry to every appt that have all their supplies - small white-erase board, markers, pencils, crayons, etc. I take the main stuff in a huge Land's End bag.

 

We listen to the CC memory work in the car ALL THE TIME. I have "smarty-pants books" (notebooks with the info printed off) in the car, and if they can't recite the info, they are expected to be following along.

 

Too late for this year, but for next year - I LOVE the way our director schedules. We start back to CC when public schools go back - mid-August. We go for 6 weeks, then have a week off. We then do another 6 weeks, and then have a LONG break from mid-November through early January. Another 6 weeks off, then a week break, then the last 6 weeks. So the break is always in sight!

Edited September 30, 2011 by MeganW

[Woodland_Mom]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

You do have a lot on you! Even if you were not involved with CC, there would be MORE than ENOUGH to keep you busy . . . constantly.

 

I've been in CC for 5 years. I've tutored masters kids, Challenge A, and now I tutor Challenge B.

 

If you are able to mentor someone to tutor essentials -- DO! Let your moms know that your plate is too full, and you'd love to have someone step up. I assume that you won't want tutor/direct both Essentials and Foundations next year, so you need to look for a new leader anyway. If there is a mom who would be willing to dive in, I'd bet that your SM would help get her trained somehow -- especially if you explain your circumstances. Maybe someone would be willing to begin in January. That would give them a little time to get their brain wrapped around the program. KWIM?

 

Like other posters mentioned, we do lots of CC in the car, too! Excellent use of time! It sounds like you're spending LOTS of time on geography - with a memory song, etc. Maybe you could shorten that time. I try to keep CC memory work time under 30 minutes so we can focus on other things.

 

For the older kids who are doign Essentials -- drop the other grammar/language arts work that is not part of that program. I see that your oldest is learning Latin. GREAT! But . . . if you need to free yourself up, you could have her drop that. She'll start Henle Latin in Challenge A, B, and I.

 

You could purchase DIVE CD's for Saxon math to help you with math lessons. They only take 10 - 15 minutes to watch and they go over the new material that the student encounters for each lesson.

 

It sounds like you are a very involved, hands on homeschool mom! Good for you! You obviously have a heart to provide a well rounded education for your kids. But remember: none of us can "do it all!" If we're honest, we can always look at our list and find some place that we've fallen short.

 

When things are tough, just try to cover the basics with excellence: reading, writing, and math. --even for your olders! Kids that enter Challenge who can read well, write well, and have a good grasp on math are usually successful.

 

Blessings to you!

[jeffcolemanfamily]

Wow. I came back here after our CC day to more posts of encouragement!!

 

Thank you, this is definitely what I needed! I felt like our day went really well today, even though I was up til almost 1 am preparing last night. :) I really try not to do that but can't seem to stop. I prepare all week it seems like.

 

I don't know if there is a mom in our group that would be willing to tutor Essentials. Only 4 moms are in Essentials this year and there really isn't a lot of time to train. The one mom that I think would be great at it is currently tutoring Foundations and I believe would be overwhelmed with doing both! We are a small 6 family community this year.

 

We do have a six week break coming up and then we break after Dec. 9th all the way until Jan. 13th so that will be a much needed rest. :)

 

Thanks for the suggestions about trimming the Latin and the DIVE CDs. My daughter loves her Latin and would hate it if I took it away. Thankfully she's totally independent with it and I gave her the workbook, the DVD and CDs and she does it all on her own {Prima Latina}. She uses the DIVE DVDs for her math lessons and I just check her work and have her make corrections. She is doing great with that and we just switched from Math U See and she is doing much better and much more independent with Saxon! :)

 

As for the car, our CD player is broken and we can't use it in the car unfortunately. However, I will get our portable CD player and put that in the car I guess instead? I have tried keeping memory work under 30 minutes and I can't! LOL We do the timeline cards, the bible memory verse with sign language, we review and practice the Latin, English grammar, Math skip counting and we use the whiteboard for that {that takes an easy 10 min. or so}, and we do the geography last. My issue is that I have special needs kiddos who would NOT do well with just hearing a song once in awhile in the car. I have to spend extra time with them helping them find each state to trace on the map every. single. time. Go through a song over and over again repeatedly using hand motions and pictures. I have to do the whiteboard and song with the math memory work and I have to use pictures sometimes to help them keep those numbers in their heads {with different processing disorders they have difficulty memorizing but this way is working, its just time consuming!}

 

Because they are each so different and have different learning issues I teach a lot of one-on-one lessons and I think that takes up a lot of time. I am not complaining about that, I am grateful for that time with my kiddos! I LOVE that I have the freedom to homeschool them so that they can learn in the way that's best for them! It's just exhausting for me! As I said earlier, only one of my kids is pretty much independent in her work and I am thinking that at LEAST three of them NEVER will be. Sigh. This may just be the way my kids learn and that's how it is. Can't I just get that extra 24 hour day that I want?! I'll put in my order right now! LOL

[Joyoflearning]

Here are my suggestions, some which were offered by others already:

1. Get the portable cd player in the car to review CC memory work and also get the SOTW CD's and listen to them in the car. If you are okay with coloring in the car (colored pencils?) have coloring sheets in the car for kids to color that correspond if they are interested. (make a folder and print out all coloring sheets ahead of time and keep them in the car so they are always ready to go).

2. On the 2nd day of driving to therapy have one of your children who reads have the CC flashcards and quiz the other children in the car on all CC memory work. Also have them ask comprehension questions from SOTW AG on the chapter(s) that were read. Make a game out of it maybe? ( I mean have the kids make the game, not you because you have enough on your plate). My guess is that the one who asks the questions is going to retain the info the best anyhow.

3. Bring schoolwork with you to therapy to do with the other kids. A MUST!

4. Consider one of the days that you go to Therapy as your "Saturdays" or "non school days" that happens to have an appt. and then use Saturday instead as a "school day". Just make sure that you take a break one of those days as to not get more burnt out. (However, I have my kids listen to cds in the car regardless of the day of the week).

5. Find a way to train another tutor. It might be surprising who steps up if there's no teacher for a class otherwise.

6. I noticed that many people talked about meal planning. If that is easy for you, then awesome! That is something I have just never been gifted to do. My husband used to do all the cooking when we both worked FT. Since being home I felt like I should help more, but I just don't know how to think up something to cook. I started using emealz.com which I love because it's one less thing I have to think about. My husband shops for the things on the week's list and I just follow the recipes. Super easy!

7. Pat yourself on the back, because you seem to be doing an amazing job trying to meet all of your children's needs which can be crazy hard.

[MeganW]

My issue is that I have special needs kiddos who would NOT do well with just hearing a song once in awhile in the car. I have to spend extra time with them helping them find each state to trace on the map every. single. time. Go through a song over and over again repeatedly using hand motions and pictures. I have to do the whiteboard and song with the math memory work and I have to use pictures sometimes to help them keep those numbers in their heads {with different processing disorders they have difficulty memorizing but this way is working, its just time consuming!}

 

We have some learning challenges here too. I usually play the week's work on repeat the whole day before. So on Monday, we will listen to the Week 7 work a gazillion times. Then we have CC on Tuesday, so that is when they will *see* it for the first time, but they have heard it a lot before that. (Yes, I know you aren't supposed to introduce it yourself, but I found that going into it cold, they didn't get anything out of class.)

 

On Wednesday at home, I re-introduce the work using the music and paper (maps, words, pictures, etc.). At that point, they get to add one piece of paper for each section to their "smarty pants notebook" - a notebook with all of their memory work in it. The notebook normally stays in the car to use while listening. They have one page per song. The pages are mostly from the CC filesharing website.

 

On Wednesday in the car, we listen to everything we have learned previously up through the new stuff while following along in notebooks, and keep that up throughout the rest of the week.

 

I don't know how we would do it without the car CD player!!

Edited October 1, 2011 by MeganW

[jeffcolemanfamily]

Oh I love this! What great ideas, guys, thanks!! :] As it turns out I have a son in Essentials class who really needs his hand held with me sitting with him in class, and not tutoring. I have prayed about it and had an epiphany yesterday. The mom in the class that I thought of asking to tutor is not going to tutor Foundations next session as another mom stepped up and asked if she could tutor Foundations instead! So I asked her to tutor Essentials and she said yes right away! What a blessing! We have such great moms in our group! :)

 

The ideas about sharing the week's memory work a day ahead is a great idea and I wish I had thought of doing that first. With my special needs kiddos, that may really help them. They get a little lost during the memory work time and its frustrating for them and the tutors. I will definitely be utilizing the car more often, thanks everyone!! I feel much better!!!

[MeganW]

 

The ideas about sharing the week's memory work a day ahead is a great idea and I wish I had thought of doing that first. With my special needs kiddos, that may really help them. They get a little lost during the memory work time and its frustrating for them and the tutors.

 

That's what we were running into. I don't want them to know it cold ahead of time, but at least to have been exposed helps a LOT. I wouldn't do it with a kid who was likely to say "oh I already know that" or interrupt the teacher or anything, but with a kid who needs that to keep up, absolutely. It really has done wonders for my kids' confidence to be able to easily follow along in class!

[angela in ohio]

That's what we were running into. I don't want them to know it cold ahead of time, but at least to have been exposed helps a LOT. I wouldn't do it with a kid who was likely to say "oh I already know that" or interrupt the teacher or anything, but with a kid who needs that to keep up, absolutely. It really has done wonders for my kids' confidence to be able to easily follow along in class!

 

This is where you really have to know your dc and trust their behavior, because a child that already knows the memory work can really ruin the experience for the other kids (and the tutor,) expecially if any of them have problems with confidence. I talked to parents a lot about this as a Director and asked them to please tell their dc to be kind about it, or to not do it if their dc were too little to understand. We still ended up with a few smart aleks. :glare: Obviously, I couldn't forbid them, but part of joining a group is to think of the group.

 

(Obviously, it is working out okay for you, but I say this for anyone else who reads this and is going to try it.)

[MeganW]

This is where you really have to know your dc and trust their behavior, because a child that already knows the memory work can really ruin the experience for the other kids (and the tutor,) expecially if any of them have problems with confidence. I talked to parents a lot about this as a Director and asked them to please tell their dc to be kind about it, or to not do it if their dc were too little to understand. We still ended up with a few smart aleks. :glare: Obviously, I couldn't forbid them, but part of joining a group is to think of the group.

 

(Obviously, it is working out okay for you, but I say this for anyone else who reads this and is going to try it.)

 

We started doing it ahead of time b/c I was feeling bad for the other kids in our class. The teacher would point to a state and have the kids find it on their personal map, and my kids couldn't do it. Then she would say the state name and capital, and they couldn't quite repeat what she had said, so they would sit there and practice saying the words until they could get them right, even when everyone else was on to the next thing. So I kept trying to hurry them up, and they were irritated. Then they were to trace the outline of the state, and they would have lost the place on the map that had been pointed out 2 seconds before and couldn't find it again. It was just constant - everything they were supposed to do was a struggle.

 

I felt like we were holding everyone else back, not to mention the frustration the tutor had to be feeling (though she never showed it). We don't pre-teach to mastery - just to the minimum needed to keep up with the other kids in class! But for my kids, the preview needed is hearing the week's songs like 100 times the day before. Until they see it on paper, they still won't know it, but at least they can keep up!

[jeffcolemanfamily]

With my special needs kiddos, exposing them to the material the day beforehand {not for mastery as was posted above, but so they are familiar with it} would definitely help them in class. My Aspie daughter and son often have glazed over eyes {one of them is dyslexic and can't read well} so all the reading and trying to learn the songs to the words at the same time is totally tiring and overwhelming. My daughter will crumple on the floor and lay down for the last hour of class because her eyes can't handle anymore. this would really help her!

 

My kids would not say 'Oh I already know that' because they are used to repeating and reviewing all the memory work in class. I think it would help them to be more confident as Megan was talking about and be able to stay up with the rest of the class.

[MeganW]

My Aspie daughter and son often have glazed over eyes {one of them is dyslexic and can't read well} so all the reading and trying to learn the songs to the words at the same time is totally tiring and overwhelming. My daughter will crumple on the floor and lay down for the last hour of class because her eyes can't handle anymore. this would really help her!

 

 

I could have written exactly these words! It gets much better with a preview! :)