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Classical conversations at home...


Gentlemommy
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So, CC appeals to me, but I can not afford the close to $1000 to have both dd's join. :( Would I be able to pull it off at home? If I bought the book, the timeline cards, and the audio cd? Is there an audio cd for cycles 2 and 3? I only see cycle one on the website...

Would I need the memory cards? Is that basically the TM in memory card form? Is everything in cc set to music? Like, aside from the history timeline, does the grammar/science portion come in song form? My dd's LOVE singing, and they memorize songs really well. My older dd loves her bible verse memory thing they do at church, and she studies them on her own time. She is so proud to be one of the kids who has all her verses memorized lol. I think she would enjoy CC, or at least the premis of memory via songs...I know I could sign up for the cc connected forum, but not being part of an official cc group, it would cost $60 per month. I suppose I could do it for one month and download as many songs as possible during that time...but I hate to spend that money if it's not really going to be helpful. I'd rather just buy the CDs, if they make them for each cycle. Plus, I want to do the history as we study it, rather than arbitrarily, kwim? If anyone has done cc at home, could you give me some pointers? Thanks!!

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There was another thread on here recently. It seems to me that the social support is one of the strengths of CC. You could get her book out of your local library or used online and read through it to see if it's the sort of you can do. To me, it seems WAY complicated, especially compared with the DIY/simplicity approach of SWB/WTM. Okay, WTM isn't necessarily simple, but if you listen to and read SWB alongside, you'll see that it's not nearly so structured as it seems at first. CC seems totally structured and imo, that's a weakness if you're trying to do it at home.

 

But that's just one opinion.

There are other ways to do memorization. Have you checked out Andrew Campbell's Living Memory? A bit expensive, but all the memory work you can shake a stick at for every year of education. ;-)

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Yes, I have that book. ;-) I think what appeals to me about CC, is that it's all laid out for *me. I can see what we should memorize each week...and at this stage in life, I need that direction lol. Plus, I love that I could use music, my girls love love love songs and actually memorize lyrics really well. And, I love the visual component of the timeline cards to go along with the memory work. I don't know about having them memorize the history sentence though...from what I can see in the TM, it's kind of random. It doesn't go along with the timeline cards for that week...which makes no sense to me. I'd have them memorize a sentence that has to do with the history we are currently studying.

 

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I don't have an answer for you on this, but share a lot of your feelings! I have wanted to post something like that, too. I am relatively new to my current area, but honestly it feels like it can be hard to meet people if you don't do CC. It feels like peer pressure, lol. But I do see merits to certain aspects of the program, and the history cards and songs are a big part of that for sure.

 

Will be following this topic for sure! (And Gentemommy, I'm curious how old your kids are, too.)

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My kids are 7 (almost 8), 4 (almost 5), and 2.5. The older two have birthdays with in a month or so. I do think I will just try this at home. I see the value in memory work, it is something my dd (7) is actually good at...she's had such trouble with "schooly" stuff, that I'm always on the look out for things she will be successful in.

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Gentlemommy, i'm giving it a shot doing it at home this year. We just started after Christmas break and so we're only on week 3. I have an older copy of the TM (it was really cheap) and I printed out the changes from the Cc website. We do a memory board, I got the idea from half a hundred acre woods blog. I don't set mine up exactly the way she does, but my kids love it. I didn't buy the CD's, I did buy the MP3 audio download of the history timeline. We use the VP timeline cards because we already had them, i'm not sure if we'll switch to the new cards or not. My 5yo. has an easier time doing the memory work, but my 10yo. is getting it and miracle of all miracles, my 17yo. joins us and he loves doing it too! I do have plans to make "smarty pants" books for them this weekend, I got that idea from another poster on this board. It's a notebook with their memory work for the week on one page, they pull it out and look over it, when mom is busy working with another student or in the car on the way to practices, appointments, etc.... I hope this helps, if you have any more questions, I will answer to the best of my ability.

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My kids are 7 (almost 8), 4 (almost 5), and 2.5. The older two have birthdays with in a month or so. I do think I will just try this at home. I see the value in memory work, it is something my dd (7) is actually good at...she's had such trouble with "schooly" stuff, that I'm always on the look out for things she will be successful in.

 

 

This is what prompted me to try it at home.

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Des, thank you SO much!!! That is very encouraging! I'm certain I'll have more questions lol. You also reminded me of another question...I can do this and just get the 3rd edition used right? The changes are available on the CC website? That's fantastic! I hate to spend $60 on a very.similar TM, when I could get last years for $20! I know if I went with the 3rd edition, I'd need the VP cards, but would the audio cd still work, or are the tricks totally different? The audio I cd for cycle one is on sale right now, $24, so I was thinking of starting with that to see how the kids like it...if I get the current CDs, and the older manual, will they line up ok? Thank you so much!!!

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Yes, you could use the third edition, i'm using the second edition. Yes, the changes are available on the website, you do have to search for them a bit. The CD would be different, but that hasn't seemed to matter to my kids, as a matter of fact, we have one of the VP memory CD's and they listen to both and don't seem to have a problem.

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Would I need the memory cards? Is that basically the TM in memory card form? Is everything in cc set to music? Like, aside from the history timeline, does the grammar/science portion come in song form? My dd's LOVE singing, and they memorize songs really well.

 

Does anyone know the answer to this? Is there any kind of a support group for CC at home? -- I guess specifically like some of those ideas Des mentioned.

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Does anyone know the answer to this? Is there any kind of a support group for CC at home? -- I guess specifically like some of those ideas Des mentioned.

 

 

I think that if you have the 4th edition the memory cards are not needed because they have the timeline list in the guide. I've also heard that having the "Resource" CD makes the memory cards unnecessary.

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OK, so part of the little memory cards concept is that the kids are using those to quiz themselves and reinforce. So if you didn't buy the memory cards would you make your own? Or would you come up with other ways to "drill" and reinforce?

 

I did buy the current history cards, so would I probably want to use the 4th edition book because earlier editions use VP cards?

 

And then what about the music component? I know there is the timeline song, but is science and grammar memory cards all set to music on the music CD? I'm not sure exactly how the Resource CD differs from the cycle/music CD (although I you can print your own cards from the Resource CD). I will have to look into that. Thanks!

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OK, so part of the little memory cards concept is that the kids are using those to quiz themselves and reinforce. So if you didn't buy the memory cards would you make your own? Or would you come up with other ways to "drill" and reinforce?

 

I did buy the current history cards, so would I probably want to use the 4th edition book because earlier editions use VP cards?

 

And then what about the music component? I know there is the timeline song, but is science and grammar memory cards all set to music on the music CD? I'm not sure exactly how the Resource CD differs from the cycle/music CD (although I you can print your own cards from the Resource CD). I will have to look into that. Thanks!

 

 

I "think" the difference between the two CD's is that on the resource CD you can print out all of your memory work and use it to make your memory board/notebook or just as your general memory work. Yes, I think the science and grammar is set to music on the audio CD. I'm not at all sure if they've had the time to work in the new timeline cards yet, I do know that in the 4th edition they have the "fact" listed, something they couldn't do when using the VP cards. You could make your own memory cards if you wanted to.

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There is audio for all the memory work; however, there are no songs for science or grammar except for prepositions. It is strictly spoken. The newest edition of cycle one audio CDs does have the timeline set to music as well as the history and latin. I would LOVE the science set to music...maybe one day.

 

I would also recommend this laminated map. It is much better than the maps in the back of the guide. It is only available for cycle 1 at this time.

http://www.classicalconversationsbooks.com/trtagecy1.html

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So, Des, could you give me a run down of what a typical day looks like? When I look at the guide, I see the subjects in boxes with the facts they need to memorize. Do you just read each box aloud, a few times, and have them chant it with you? Do you do all the memory work one after the other? Is there review built in? So, after week one, do you ever go back to that memory work? About how much time do you spend on everything per day?

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Well, I "attempt" to make it as close to a real Cc environment as possible, so we have a Cc day. I chose Monday to be our day and on Monday, I introduce the memory work, we chant each box 3 times each, since we have time we will usually put our memory work into context by reading the pages that correspond to the topics in the Everything You Need to Know books (we only use these because we already have them), then we do some math, maybe a notebook page or listen to a chapter in SOTW depending on our mood. We also do the science project, but we haven't started doing presentations and we don't do the art yet. We do all the memory work at one time, there is no built in review, but on Monday's we review the previous weeks memory work and your smarty pants book will help with review. Yes, in a manner of speaking you do see the memory work again because depending on the ages of your children, you will get two cycles with the memory work and you also review it in highschool it's just not the main focus. We "attempt" to spend 3 hours on Monday, but it's only about 20 to 30 minutes the rest of the week. Here's what I try to have my weeks look like with the memory work:

 

Monday--review last weeks memory work, Introduce new memory work, do art and science

Tues.--review timeline, history sentence and english grammar

Wed.--review Bible, latin, Geography

Thurs.--review science, math

Fri.--review all (if we have time)

 

I also need to mention that we do more of an LCC approach to homeschooling so doing the memory work really doesn't add a whole lot of time to our day. My boys listen to the timeline songs while they play and at bedtime.

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We do this at home. We listen to the CDs in the car and she listens to them during rest time. Then once a week we watch the youtube videos with hand motions and songs. We also use the link on the hundred acre woods site

 

I would love to have a commuinity that was close enough for us to drive to.

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