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Classical Conversations?
- This topic has 19 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 7 months ago by
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Melanie, so well said !
I did Cc for the first two years of homeschooling snd loved the community. However, my bright child started to dislike learning. I believe, for me, I needed CC to give me something to start with to hep me homeschool.
After gaining confidence and immersing myself CM philosophy, my children are happier and we are enjoying learning.
I don’t have anything bad to say about CC. But I do feel, if you’re truly passionate about CM methods, CC doesn’t really fit.
CM certainly isn’t all about rainbows and lollipops. I love its structure and disciplines. If there is no structure using CM, then I would have to say, something is awry.
I couldn’t have our household function or learn much, if there wasn’t structure or accountability.
Blessings,
Renee
Great recent article by Karen Andreola which touches on the subject:
http://momentswithmotherculture.blogspot.com/2017/02/glow-of-intellectual-life.html?m=0#.WNZf9zz3aaM
We did CC our first year hsing.
Melissa
Hello! This is my first time posting but I’m a long-time lurker on this discussion forum. I’ve used Charlotte Mason materials with my son, and we’ve been part of a CC community so I’d thought I’d add my two cents from our experiences. I agree with a lot of what’s been said, both positive and negative, about CC. What ServingwithJoy posted especially resonated with me. The CC classroom is very teacher-led and structured, for example, memory work had to begin at 9:30 sharp, everything had to be repeated 7 times, etc. The children do get to interact a little during review games and science experiments, but even the science experiments were sometimes merely demonstrated by the tutor.
I think CC is a great program with beautiful materials, and it provides opportunities to meet other families. Having said that, the following are good things to keep in mind:
1. I recommend reading through all of the memory work, especially the history songs, before you join a class. While I understand the benefit to all the children learning the same material, I found some of the history songs (about 1-2 per cycle) too macabre for small children to be learning. There are songs about French aristocrats having their heads removed by the guillotine, Aztecs performing human sacrifices, and Muslim terrorists blowing up the WTC. I would have preferred my son, at that age, to be gently introduced to history through learning about famous people, not memorizing the names of all the major wars and atrocities throughout history. So that’s probably my biggest regret with doing the program.
2. In my opinion, and just in what I have experienced, classical education seems to appeal to highly organized, type A moms who like to run a structured, highly academic home school. CC encourages “drill and kill” memorization and mastery of the material. To me, it conflicts with my idea of gentle, or child-led, or letting your child learn at his own pace. I remember a post on this forum several months ago written by a mom who was struggling with her daughter who had no motivation for school work. The responses were so gentle and loving, and encouraging her to set aside the work and reconnect with her daughter, as opposed to her friend’s advice (whose kids were in CC) to just make her sit down and do the work. I’m not trying to vilify her friend, or to say that Type A moms are bad! Heavens no! I admire women who are more organized and goal-oriented than I am! And I’m sure there are plenty of CM moms who are Type A. I’m just saying, know who you are, how you like to motivate your children and how you want your home school culture to feel.
3. CC does update their material from time to time, so expect to reinvest financially in the workbook, timeline cards, etc. when there are updates. I’m sure CC genuinely wants to improve its curriculum and is not just trying to make money, but it’s something to keep in mind.
We were in CC for three years, and then we dropped out a few months into this year, mostly because my son has always struggled in classroom settings and he was getting more frustrated and disruptive. He was recently diagnosed with ADHD, Aspergers, and dysgraphia, and I think he was struggling to keep up this year with copying off the board and drawing. If my son didn’t have these issues, and we had made close friends with other families, I’m sure we would have stayed, even with the drawbacks to the program.
Blessings to your family, and I hope you find what works well for your children.
We have completed 2 years of CC. I’m not a CM purist mainly because I haven’t had the opportunity to figure it all out and get in a good routine. That said, another thing to consider when reading of others’ experiences with CC is the community with which they were/are involved. There is great variation amongst the communities in regards to how much “community” you get, how much things like Memory Master are pushed and of course differences in tutor personalities/approaches. Yes, there are standards…all communities use the same materials, things are to be repeated 7 times (though truthfully I don’t notice how many times they repeat each memory peg nor do I think the children do…they are just enjoying singing, showing what they’ve memorized, dancing around, etc.), amount of time spent on each thing, etc. My community is pretty laid back. We have some Memory Masters but not many, and it definitely is not a situation where I feel pressured to have my kids do it or even feel pressure if we don’t manage to review any of the memory work for the week, and they are clueless during review time. Some of the moms are very friendly, others are not (possibly shy). We don’t do a ton together, but I know of communities that spend a great deal of time developing relationships outside of community day. I would not worry one bit (in the Foundation years and probably even when they can start Essentials) about it stifling a love of learning…every child I’ve seen in the program loves it. My girls would probably rather do that every day than sit with my irritable self reading lovely books, lol! Challenge is a whole different ballgame, but I do believe the kids that do it really enjoy it (obviously some won’t). I had the opportunity to judge a debate for one of the Challenge I classes…it was a pleasure to see & hear how well these 14/15 year olds were able to organize and support their arguments, how well they spoke and that they seemed to take pride and enjoyment in what they were doing. Truthfully, at least in our community, you can spend as little or as much time on CC as you wish (this even includes Challenge though it would defeat the purpose at that level if you didn’t have your child completing a majority of the work because this is where the “Conversations” portion of Classical Conversations comes in)…this year, we’ve popped the CDs in the car while driving here & there, listened to some in the house, pulled out the Timeline cards and put them in order, read some living books related to people we’ve learned about (not necessarily this year) and much of this is prompted by my children because they enjoy it. If your main goal is friends, you really need to visit the community you’re thinking about, talk to people about what they do together (& how often) outside of community day and perhaps see if you can get together with some of the families a few times before deciding to join…I don’t think any of the money is refundable (including the registration), and you may find that your family fits right in or you may find that it is not as much a community as you had hoped for.
Elsnow6
I absolutely LOVED our community. It was what was most difficult about leaving. We were super close; we shared prayer time together, served the community together, did amazing field trips, had a mom’s retreat every year in Estes, shared our trials and struggles, and just truly had the most amazing bond.
I agree that not all CCs can be created equal. When I moved and was looking heavily for another community. I decided to commute to my old one because I could not find one that lived up to the original.
Even though I ended up embracing a different teaching philosophy, I can not say enough about my group. I am still friends with the lovely women!
I also loved the presentations required for all ages (even 4 year olds). This was amazing and to this day, my kids love to speak and recite poetry or things they have learned something about. After only two years, they stand up straight, they look the audience in the eye, and they speak clearly. I think presentations at a young age is an invaluable skill. Loved that part.:-)
I do have a comment about kids loving the classes though. I think this is was part of my decision as a whole, but certainly not the main reason. I had the opportunity to assist in upper level foundation classes (My kids were abecedarians, so really young.) I was struck by the sheer consistent complaining of the class to recite their work. We had amazing tutors and it was pretty consistent, when I visited other classes, to get a fatigue look when the memory work came up. Enough for me to take notice. This bothered me, because I was already seeing this in my son and he was quite a bit younger.
Anyway, I know I found a gem in the CC group I originally joined. I feel super blessed to have shared those two years with them.
Blessings,
Renee
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