If you use Classical Conversations, can you please tell me more?

[faiths13]

I have just talked to the Director of the local CC program and I am very interested. I am doing some research to find out more about it though. I am looking at doing it with my 5 (almost 6 yr old) and my 12 yr old. For my 12 yr old I think I will do one yr of Foundations before moving on to Challenge. I am just still a bit confused as to how a week works. I know you meet once a week to do a class. I know there is a lot of memory work. I know there is the Essentials class if you want to do a writing program in depth with them and that it costs extra. I have seen some say they only use CC as a supplement and some that use it as the core for their hs. I have been told that once you join you can get a book list to get books to go along with what you are learning.

What I am really looking for next year is a laid out program. I have been told there is some sort of guide that you use for CC, but Im not exactly sure what it tells you to do every week. I would really love something all laid out for me. Also because of the cost I would really love to be able to use it as a full curric with little supplementing (I know I have to at least add math). But I have read there is very little to the history. So I am just very confused!

I was seriously considering using Heart of Dakota for my 5 yr old and Sonlight for my 12 yr old, but I am just not sure. I seem to have been lead to CC and so I want to give it a good look to see what its about and if its right. There are only a couple of spots left right now so I need to be quick with a decision. Thanks!

[fourisenough]

We'll be new to classical conversations this fall, though we've been homeschooling classically for many years. There are many, many threads on this forum regarding CC. I would search the forum and read past threads to get answers to your questions above and many you may not have even thought of yet!

 

I will say we've been listening to the memory work CDs for a couple weeks and my two little ones have memorized the list of presidents already and they beg to hear the timeline song in the car.

[faiths13]

I did read through some threads but opted to post my own questions to hopefully get info geared more to what I am looking for : )

[tm_burriss]

This was our first year of CC and we did Foundations and Essentials. Next year we will do F/E/ and Challenge. My oldest was 12 and my youngest 6 also so we did a year of Foundations/Essentials with my oldest before moving him Challenge. It can be a stand alone/spine if you are willing to flesh out the history and such. Challenge is stand alone. We also use Life of Fred, MM, AAR/AAS, SOTW, GD Handwriting, and other random items with it. Next year I am thinking of doing MFW with CC simply because I am wanting to add more literature and I am not good at fleshing out the history sentences. The website Half a Hundred Acre wood has some good information on CC. The history is just a history sentence like "Taxes, Slavery, unemployment and diseases all lead to the fall of Rome" you would have to supplement with stories and such to explain that. We simply read passages from SOTW and did some activities or watch a video about the time period. There are a few places that you can buy notebooking/journaling pages for the history and you can also use ambelside online to find books that fit the time period. You meet once a week with the tutors (kids grouped by age), they will go over all the memory work for that week and also do a science experiment and an art/music project with the kids. You then spend the rest of the week reviewing/learning the memory work and fleshing it out if you use CC for your spine. HTH.

[TarynB]

I don't have much advice, except to say that the quality of the experience seems to vary *a lot* depending on the diligence of the tutors and the particular mix of kids/families. Also CC can be strongly marketed, depending on your location, which can lead to pressured decision-making. I find that if I make rushed decisions, especially when significant money is involved, regret often becomes a factor later. If I were you, I'd slow down and plan to visit each DC's potential class (when they re-convene in the fall) more than once, including at least one surprise visit. Unfortunately, some tutors get over-prepared when they know in advance that they will have visitors. Of course, the tutors mean well, but does that translate into consistent follow-through? Also, they may tell you they only have a few slots left to apply some pressure, but they also build wait-lists, because many families sign up during the spring's heavy recruiting season and then change plans later.

[TarynB]

Also, the Director you were speaking to should give you one of their catalogs. It lists the books/resources/curricula used for every level so you can see it in detail. They pass out catalogs at my state's conventions to everyone who walks by so I don't know why he/she couldn't give you one.

 

There's also their online bookstore: http://www.stallionpublishers.com/publication.aspx?pid=1203&pkey=idvoxdeus, but the paper catalog seems easier to navigate and see the big picture, for me.

[faiths13]

Thank you so much for the info. It was enlightening. I can see why a Director might put the pressure on to get spots filled - and it would work very well! she told me a little story to go along about how eager mothers often seek her out with a check begging to get into a spot. quite a bit of pressure! but I am not going to just jump into it for sure because of the pressure - I will only do it if I know it is right. It doesnt exactly sound like what I was looking for, although maybe I am looking for the wrong thing anyway. lol!

[Micron4]

I think with your 5 year old you could do CC with very little supplementing. Just add in the 3R's and that would be plenty. With your 12 year old, you would definitely have to supplement quite a bit with everything! It's a memory program--they are not expanding on all the topics memorized. So it wouldn't be as"open and go" like Sonlight would be.

 

I have seen the booklist you are talking about--I get it from my director each year. Basically it is just a list of books that correspond to the weekly history or science topics. So, for example, the first week history sentence is about Charlemagne. It would have several book titles listed about Charlemagne that you could either buy or get at the library to expand on the history sentence that week. I think it also lists the corresponding pages in the Usborne or Kingfisher World History books. If I remember correctly, Brandi at halfahundredacrewoods.com has a similar list on her website. You may want to check it out.

 

As for pressure from directors--I'm sure that will vary. In my area, the CC does book up fast and there is a waiting list. So it may very well be true.

[Brenda in FL]

I think with your 5 year old you could do CC with very little supplementing. Just add in the 3R's and that would be plenty. With your 12 year old, you would definitely have to supplement quite a bit with everything! It's a memory program--they are not expanding on all the topics memorized. So it wouldn't be as"open and go" like Sonlight would be.

 

I have seen the booklist you are talking about--I get it from my director each year. Basically it is just a list of books that correspond to the weekly history or science topics. So, for example, the first week history sentence is about Charlemagne. It would have several book titles listed about Charlemagne that you could either buy or get at the library to expand on the history sentence that week. I think it also lists the corresponding pages in the Usborne or Kingfisher World History books. If I remember correctly, Brandi at halfahundredacrewoods.com has a similar list on her website. You may want to check it out.

 

As for pressure from directors--I'm sure that will vary. In my area, the CC does book up fast and there is a waiting list. So it may very well be true.

 

I agree with this post. If you signed the older one up for Essentials as well, then that would take care of your language arts. However, you will probably want to include the optionals in Essentials that may not be covered in your class. The Essentials guide includes spelling and punctuation/grammar rules - but those are not required to be a part of the weekly class. You would need to add math as well. For history and science you could read through Story of the World and any science books of interest as opposed to doing a full curriculum.

 

You will find that the Challenge program is more what you are looking for. Definitely lays everything out for you. If your 12 year old is an enthusiastic student he may be ready for Challenge now. Or maybe you could decide to wait a year before joining CC if you are just too uncertain about this year.

 

If you can go to a practicum this summer - please do - I think you'll be able to get a better perspective.

 

Around here the communities fill up quickly. An appeal from a director to make a decision quickly is essential if you want a space. The "stories" are not sp they can fill all their spots - that'll happen regardless.

[cintinative]

This past year was our first in CC, and we are not returning in the fall due to money. I have two boys, one who is age 5 (turning 6 in one month) and one who turned 7 last September. They were in different classes. My personal opinion is that CC is a great program but it depends on your child if they will like it or not. It is very academic versus social. My oldest complained it was like "school" (we pulled him out of PS after a year in KG there).

 

I was in my youngest's Abecedarians class almost every week. What they covered was pretty different (in terms of scope and difficulty) than the other older classes. For example, we might mark up a map using dry erase markers in Abecedarians, and in the Apprentice class (my 7 year old's) they would be practicing tracing maps. We did a lot of songs for things in the Abecedarians and there was less of a focus on understanding some of the facts over just memorizing them (for example, the layers of the atmosphere).

 

I was given a breakdown of the CC day at some point and I found that oftentimes our day did not quite match up with that. As you know when you teach seven or eight 5 and 6 year olds, things do not always go as planned. Case in point: my five year old spilled plaster all over himself when we were doing an art lesson. =) So, take those schedules with a grain of salt. My oldest's tutor did a great job covering everything because she kept everything very fast paced. She was also an experienced tutor. I do think there is a difference in who you get as a tutor in how well they present the material and what tools they use, so I want to echo the other poster's recommendation to sit in on some classes. It also helps to get a feel for how the director runs the campus.

 

Many people told me they used CC as their spine and then built everything off of that. I did that with geography, and tried to do it with science. I used my own math curriculum, grammar/writing/reading curriculum, and SOTW. You can match up SOTW with CC but CC is geographic versus time-oriented so when I looked at the match ups (CC will give you the breakdown of what SOTW goes with which week, what pages, etc.) I found that it wasn't something I wanted to do. So, we did memorize the timeline and history sentences but I didn't worry about crafting our history curriculum around them. I just started the kids in SOTW 1 and sometimes things matched up and sometimes they didn't. Eventually we got to things we had covered earlier in CC, etc. I had no problem with that.

 

Personally, I did not enjoy trying to use CC as my spine for science. We jumped around in topics a lot from life science to earth science and back again and I guess it just felt disjointed to me. I found myself longing for a more fluid science plan. So this year we are not doing CC on campus and I am not planning on doing science around the statements. We may cover some of them as they come up in the curriculum I chose, but otherwise they will be extra. I see the value in memorizing the science statements separate from the science curriculum. However, I know of other moms that have no issue with basing their science on the CC statements.

 

If you choose to build a curriculum around the CC foundations guide, let me recommend the Half a Hundred Acre Wood website mentioned previously. Also do some searches on Pinterest--there are tons of boards with ideas pinned for CC stuff. Good luck!

[cintinative]

I am not sure I answered all your questions now that I look back at them.

 

Yes, you will need to supplement with history. Either individual history topics with books or with a curriculum (SOTW, MOH, etc.)

Yes, you will need a separate math curriculum.

Yes, you will need a separate science curriculum or to supplement what they do each week--they only cover about 15 minutes of science a week in CC. You will need to build something off of that or use a curriculum.

Yes, you will need something for grammar, reading, and writing.

 

Yes, they do give you a book list to supplement everything. It just depends if you like doing that versus having everything laid out for you (e.g. a science text versus 20 different books from the library)

[yobella]

If they say space is limited I would believe them. Our community is already full for next year, and they are opening a new one in our town.

[TarynB]

What I am really looking for next year is a laid out program.

 

I would really love something all laid out for me.

 

Also because of the cost I would really love to be able to use it as a full curric with little supplementing (I know I have to at least add math).

 

 

Yes, you will need to supplement with history. Either individual history topics with books or with a curriculum (SOTW, MOH, etc.)

 

Yes, you will need a separate math curriculum.

 

Yes, you will need a separate science curriculum or to supplement what they do each week--they only cover about 15 minutes of science a week in CC. You will need to build something off of that or use a curriculum.

 

Yes, you will need something for grammar, reading, and writing.

 

Yes, they do give you a book list to supplement everything. It just depends if you like doing that versus having everything laid out for you (e.g. a science text versus 20 different books from the library)

 

 

OP, looks like your question has been answered! Great discussion for others as well.

[fourisenough]

I did read through some threads but opted to post my own questions to hopefully get info geared more to what I am looking for : )

 

 

Sorry, I hope I didn't sound flip. I just meant that I, personally, couldn't answer your questions since I'm new to CC myself. I hope some of the responses you received were helpful; they were helpful for me. Even though we've committed to joining a campus, I'm still trying to decide how to handle science. I am leaning toward to using the science cards for narration and jumping off points for a little independent research, a al Creek Edge Press task cards. I have a couple card sets and I'm hoping I can organize them in a way that is relevant to the CC cards. Here's a link, if anyone is curious: http://www.creekedgepress.com

[DiannaC]

I would highly recommend going to a free practicum this summer. You find out what CC's mission is & method for implementing classical education. You can also talk to many different people & see all the materials you need. Just look up where one is in your area.