classical conversation

We were in CC for 2 years and I tutored one of those years.

There is a LOT of memorizing.

Every week, in class they will be introduced to a piece of memory work for English, Math, Science, History, Timeline, Latin, Bible and Geography. You are supposed to review that at home all week (we didn’t do much of that.)

They will also do a science project and fine arts. Fine arts will be 6 weeks of drawing, six weeks of tin whistle (pretty awful, actually), 6 weeks of learning about great painters and practicing their styles and then 6 weeks of orchestra. Other than the tin whistle, I really like their fine arts program.

I don’t like the tin whistle part because the person teaching it may or may not actually know how to play the tin whistle and they introduce all music theory on an instrument in the key of D and they start with learning the D scale.

I really liked the science projects. They did some pretty fun ones and all the prep work and mess stays there. 🙂

CC has also has a presentation time each week so the kids get practice with public speaking.

The cons are that it’s pretty expensive. Some of the memory work is a bit lame. Math includes skip counting songs (which are great) but also algebraic formulas for 4 and 5 year olds. They memorize parts of speech, states and capitols, some great stuff, but then will do something really dumb like the Bill of Rights all in one week and so summarized that it doesn’t even make sense.

The geography is pretty good and is comparable to CM map study.

The CC approach is much more concerned about filling the bucket rather than lighting the fire, but you can use CC in a CM homeschool, imo, by simply not focusing on filling the bucket at home and just using some of it as a springboard for further learning. We basically used it for enrichment — even while I was a tutor.

The timeline song is great and the timeline cards expand on the information.

Another thing about CC is one campus may be awesome while another is horrible. I liked my campus and had a great director but my sister has had super controlling directors who made like in CC miserable.

But, a good campus with a good director can be a wonderful experience and great support for a homeschool, whether or not you are really doing the Classical Method.

Hope that helps!

The CC approach is much more concerned about filling the bucket rather than lighting the fire, but you can use CC in a CM homeschool, imo, by simply not focusing on filling the bucket at home and just using some of it as a springboard for further learning.

This is what we do with our CC-type co-op.  I base our history and science around what they will be studying in co-op, although I don’t line up the weeks or anything like that (it’s 1850-current times in co-op, so that’s what we’re studying at home).

I find that my kids make many connections week-to-week.  Yesterday when my 7YO was trying to count by 5s, she said, “What’s the 5 skip counting song again?”  Also, earlier in the week my 13YO and I got into quite an investigation after something we read at home conflicted with some of the research he had done for co-op.  We spent hours researching some things about Robert E. Lee and his father.  (It turned out that what we read at home – just a short phrase in our history spine – was wrong, we think.)  I loved his passion and excitement about it.

We had looked into CC when we first started homeschooling, but the price was prohibitive for us, and I wasn’t sure about the philosophy.  The co-op we do was more appealing to me for several reasons.  First, the cost is materials-only.  Second, it is a Catholic program and, although it is not closed to non-Catholic families, we are in co-op with several other families from our church community.  Finally, although we have introduced IEW in the afternoon, overall our co-op is not as intense as CC.  We are in Year 4 this year and it has been great for my kids academically, socially, and spiritually.

We’ve been doing Essentials, the grammar, writing and math game portion with my 11yo. We do not do Foundations in the co-op, but do some of it at home. Essentials is the best grammar out there, hands down. Intense grammar for three years, starting at 9 or 10, which is very-CM idea.

As for the memorizing, I’m seeing huge, huge benefits to it. It really does help my kids make connections. I think memory work can work very well with read aloud a and living books. We’ve been listening to the Little House series for months now. CC’s memory work is a lot like what Laura was required to do. She would sit and study, memorizing the whole history of the US. 🙂

We might do Foundstions with the rest of our kids next year. I have 8, but the oldest is dual-enrolled. I’d have 6 in CC and one in nursery or with Grammy. It would be hectic, I’m sure, and the co-op is not for everyone.

But really do look into using Foundations at home. It can be fine in 30 minutes, with songs and chants. You can pick and choose what you memorize, but you will see the kids making connections. I truly believe that the facts plus the unit study approach set our children up to easily make their own connections.

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

That’s a link to the sale stuff. Cycle One material (that’s this years stuff) is discounted right now.

The Time Line song and the math songs are the same in every cycle.