Classical conversations

[T'smom]

I am considering joining a CLassical Conversations group next year. Ds will be going into the 1st grade and I had planned on starting the history cycle with him this year. However, CC is on cycle 2. I do not want to build everything around CC, I want it to be more of a supplement than a replacement of what I'm already doing.....but should I start with our history sequence to line up with that?

 

I really want to join the group to have a community of other homeschoolers with high standards. I want ds to do the public speaking and the memory work. I want him to have a time to be with other kids and get instruction from someone other than me. What I don't want is for it to take too much time. I don't mind giving it some time every week, but I do have my own stuff I want to do and I don't want to pile too much onto a first grader!!

 

Any advice would be welcomed!

[Missouri Okie]

This is our fifth year in CC Foundations, and we don't use their history sentences as the spine of our history studies. Cycle 2 starts in the Middle Ages but goes into modern times. Its focus is on European history. While it is basically chronological, it covers a wide span of history.

 

To me, its more helpful to tie your history to the timeline, and use the cards as a supplement to whatever else you're using, such as SOTW.

 

Whenever you do happen to read about one of the history sentence events in the course of your history studies (even a year or two later), it's fun to see their excitement as they make the connection.

[mrs.m]

You can use CC solely as memory work. You will still have the freedom to structure your homeschool however you like.

[T'smom]

Ok, so I should proceed as planned with SOTW 1 next year? That's really what I want to do. I want to join CC for reasons that are not really academic. But, it worries me when they say that it's a complete program, all you have to add is math and LA. Then in the next breath, they say "oh, you can do the memory work in 20 minutes a day". Those statements seem to contradict each other. I don't mind doing 20 min/day, but I'm not looking for "complete minus math and LA".

 

Thanks. You guys made me feel a little better.

[2_girls_mommy]

Not to say it is wrong for anyone else, but these are the reasons I have never joined. I can do memorywork (and do) at home. We can stay w/the SOTW 4 yr cycle, at home, and make sure that our memorywork coincides w/it. We can get the community w/other hsers at our co-op and choose classes there w/other moms that have similar standards as ours and skip the ones that don't. And I can teach there on whatever cycle I am on, so my kids have the group atmosphere and the performing in class, but still teach what I want. Plus we do public speaking in other places.

[mrs.m]

Ok, so I should proceed as planned with SOTW 1 next year? That's really what I want to do. I want to join CC for reasons that are not really academic. But, it worries me when they say that it's a complete program, all you have to add is math and LA. Then in the next breath, they say "oh, you can do the memory work in 20 minutes a day". Those statements seem to contradict each other. I don't mind doing 20 min/day, but I'm not looking for "complete minus math and LA".

 

Thanks. You guys made me feel a little better.

 

Have you read The Core by Leigh Bortins yet? When you read it, it will make sense why they say that. And some people really do only use the memory work for Geography, Science, and History especially with a grammar level student. It is a complete curriculum to a number of CCers.

[fourisenough]

I would definitely begin SOTW 1 this year and proceed with the 4-year cycle.

 

I just returned from a CC Practicum and am excited about joining it next year, but I won't end my love-affair with Peace Hill Press curriculum. We'll continue with SOTW, FLL & WWE. I'll do science the CC way (per the Core, recommended by an earlier poster), though. Sounds a little wonky, but I have a good feeling that it will work for us. I've been doing this a while and know myself fairly well - I think CC will address things I've not consistently implemented (memory work) or will work much better in a supportive, on-going community (public speaking).