VP, CC, or MP

[sle22]

I want to do a Classical Approach next year. I have looked at Veritas Press, Memoria Press, and Classical Conversations. I was actually asked to help start a CC in my local area. I was asked to be director. I am not even sure if this is the curriculum I want to use. I want something that is very academically challenging for my dd. My dd LOVES reading and would be content with a book in his hands at all times. If I do the VP I was going to do the graded curriculum that you do at home, and MP also looks good. My main concern is that in a lot of the sample plans they have the kids reading 1-4 chapters a day, and my dd will read 2 Boxcar Children books a night if I do not shut his lights out so I want to know that he is reading enough. I am aware that I can supplement with other books, but would love if the curriculum had a lot of reading already. Any suggestions would be great. I already help run a local homeschool group and do not know if I have time to help get CC started, but may be able to find the time somewhere :confused: if it was a great education for dd. Thanks in advance for your input :001_smile:

[bethben]

I started a CC group in my town without ever having participated in a CC group. It's hard to be the first one "plowing the new field" so to say. It was a very hard year for my family - mostly the time involved each week. As a director (many tutors in the program also have this schedule), I started planning for the group and the day away Tuesday afternoon (also some weekend time), got to the church at 8 am to set up, didn't leave until 3:30 that day, and then spent Thursday trying to recoup from CC (my adopted daughter really just needs right now to not be gone from Mommy so long). I also had childcare issues with my oldest son. So, after really losing 2 1/2 days a week out of our homeschool to CC, I just couldn't sacrifice that anymore. We are not going back.

 

The woman taking over is also very organized, but her youngest will be in 6th grade so no little people. Since it's been here a year already, it seems to be more smooth sailing for her which is great. I think it's very doable to start up a group, but just realize that your homeschool will have a 4 day work week and you will have much more to prepare unless you can delegate it. If you stick it out past the first year, it will be MUCH easier. I just couldn't due to my family situation.

 

All that being said, I like CC in that they did get to work on speaking in front of people and I realized how much they were capable of memorizing. We will be continuing some of the memory work next year and adding to it - poems and more Bible verses. I will be co-ordinating it with Tapestry of Grace.

 

Beth

[Dawn E]

I would not let the reading issue deter you. My dd is a big reader, too. I have her read for 30-40 minutes during schooltime. I assign the books for that time. However she reads a ton on her own. There are so many great, quality books for kids. I'd just put together a book basket for free reading.

 

MP is a Latin-Centered curriculum and one of the tenets of that philosophy is "multum non multa": not many things but much. Consequently, there will be fewer books but deeper study. Personally, as fond as I am of MP, I do not think literature is their strong suit. There is too much of a fill-in-the-blank comprehension drill to their guides for me. However I do like their book choices and the idea of spending some quality time with a few great books.

 

You may be more interested in a literature-centered approach like Sonlight, Beautiful Feet, or Ambleside Online. These may not necessarily be "classical" in philosophy, but they can definitely be incorporated into a classical curriculum.

[G5052]

Keep in mind that CC is primarily a framework of memory work. You'll still have to fill in everything else.

 

We did CC plus Sonlight for four years followed by CC plus BJUP for a year, and then this year did CC plus Veritas. The BJUP is the only part I'd change. Veritas was a better choice for us, but I don't think that it would have been as successful with very young children. For us at least, Sonlight was better then. MP is newer of course.

 

And yes, I'd think long and hard before offering to start a CC group. It is a huge amount of work, and your children are only young once. I've been asked over and over to direct at all levels, and I've never felt led that way. Remember -- a need is not a call. Just because they ask and there are people who want a group, doesn't mean that you should direct it. I can't forsee doing it anytime soon even though the demand is there.

[sle22]

Thank you so much for your feed back. After a lot of thought I think I am going to pass on the CC position. I am still looking into Veritas Press. I did look into TOG and I need more organization. I very scattered mainly because I am busy a lot, I am capable of writing my own lesson plans because I pulled curriculum this year (Easy Grammer, Singapore, Apoligia Astronomy, Write Shop, Spelling Workout, Wordly Wise, State History, Progeny Press, ect.) I would rather have something that has a little less planning. Any suggestions on VP? Also thanks for the imput on MP. I had not heard a lot about them. I am fairly new to homeschooling....5 months new :001_smile:

[Ohmomjacquie]

We are doing mfw next year. Very little planning needed. I think after much research I'm going to have my dd do the vp books for reading but not the comp guides.

[iafrmgrl77]

Looks as though you have decided to pass up the CC position. I think that is wise. Our family participated in CC for two years, and when we moved, I was asked to start up a new group in our area. I LOVED CC, but after watching my friend struggle with directing a group and trying to keep up with everything else, I knew there was no way I could do it without taking way too much away from my little ones. They ARE the reason I am home educating, after all!

 

We did Sonlight alongside CC, and I loved the way they complimented each other. We would come across an event in our Sonlight reading, and one of my children would belt out a CC memory song that went with it, or say, "Mom, we had that timeline card!" CC gives children great "hooks" to hang new information on as they go along. I had to cut back on the amount of work we were doing in our home school, due to moving, deployments, and a new baby, but this next year I plan to go back to combining Sonlight and CC. We will not be joining a group (we are moving AGAIN, and there is one available), but we will do the memory work at home.

 

VP does interest me. As much as I love Sonlight, I am always browsing! Lol!

[PeterPan]

Have you tried the VP_Elementary yahoo group? That's going to be a good place to get feedback on the Scholars lessons. I haven't used them myself, but the feedback seems generally quite good. People like the integration of skills across the subjects and that they feel confident what they're doing. Sometimes it's the springboard they need to start doing things themselves the next year.

 

We really enjoy the self-paced online history from VP, so that would also be something to consider. I'm not a history buff, so the online lessons take the topics WAY beyond anything I was able to do with my dd, lol. But if you enjoy teaching it yourself, I'm sure the Scholars lessons will be great there.

 

The assigned reading for VP is going to tend to be non-fiction or just select fiction, the most important fiction. That's only a starting point for a really precocious reader. You then have the entire VP catalog to chose from. We also used the TQ guides to give us even more literature to go with our history. In the VP catalog you'll notice they actually mark all the books for what card the book goes with, making it easy to coordinate your literature. What I did for years was just post a post-it note on each book with the card number it corresponded to. Then I put them in order on the shelf and pulled the books that went with what we were studying. I tried to have books above, on, and below her level, because you never knew what would really strike her.

 

So to me, VP is IDEAL for an advanced reader. It gives you this framework and makes it easy to go up and down, adding and adjusting. TOG is great too. Just depends on what you want and what features are most important to you right now. You're talking good choices, not choosing between bad things, kwim? And yes, sounds like you made a good decision not to pursue the CC leadership position. Lots of work if you don't know it's what you want. Better to have your freedom. :)

[mom2koh]

I know it's not an endorsement for the the full VP curriculum but we LOVE their literature selections. I use their lit guides and selections for our literature. Also, I use their history lit. selections as our go alongs for SOTW. Usually I can find a good deal of these through our library. I can't afford their full curriculum so use as much as I can. I've been very happy with it. If I could afford the whole curriculum I would use it in a heartbeat. ;)

[trishalinn]

We have also really enjoyed vp. We particularly love th history and bible curriculum. We've also been using some of the iew stuff they recommend like phonetic zoo and swi-a and those have worried really well for us. I feel like vp offers a very comprehensive education.