#classical conversations

How to Homeschool...let's all support each other this school year, no matter our choices. Our worlds have been turned upside down.

I have received quite a few requests lately, asking how to homeschool. The reason for the sudden interest, is of course the pandemic we are living in, and some tough decisions parents and schools are trying to make about school in the fall. So I thought why not do some writing on the topic, as it may be helpful for some of you out there.

The question, “how do we begin homeschooling?,” is quite a…

School’s out and it’s summertime! 

The school year has since gave way to summer, and here in the south, we are heating up nice! 

I have already begun my curriculum search and planning for next year. Homeschool curriculum is ever-changing -- new ideas, alternative styles, etc -- and I am so thankful for it! I love that I have the opportunity to tweak and change things as I need to, based on my little learners. And as with every year, we have done just that. At the end of every school year, we sit down and go over everything we did over the course of the year, and discuss what we liked and what we didn’t.

One thing we really liked was Classical Conversations - Foundations. My Big loved the memory work and the review games I came up with for practice and retention. He is a facts kid, so this was right up his alley! And like it’s name states, it is a great FOUNDATION-al curriculum. Yes, it can be used as a complete curriculum...but the beauty is, you can add as much as you want or need depending on your learner. And I love this about it! 

*The curriculum does state that you will need a supplement of Math and Language.* For our Math supplemental curriculum, we went with Abeka this year, and we liked it. For English/Language, we went with Shurley English, and we liked it. But with that said...we’re still on the fence if we’re going back with either of them, not for any particular reason other than just preference and wanting to explore options a little further. 

I’m a Literature buff and an avid reader. I love the classics as well as some of the new stuff that’s out there, and I love that we can explore them all if we choose. This year, we read Tuck Everlasting, Wonder, The Lightning Thief, and poetry by various authors. We had plans to read a few classics such as Tom Sawyer, Robin Hood and Treasure Island, but I decided to push those to the next year or so. And they’ll fit nicely with our every growing booklist!

For Science, we explored whatever the CC science topic for the week was. This gave us lots of flexibility and room for creativity. My Big is also a creative arts kid, so he was game for this! For History, we went with Story of the World, liked it, and will probably stick with it - the stories were fun and interesting, and we could listen to them on audio on-the-go.

We were part of our communities homeschool co-op again this year. It has continued to grow, which is exciting. They did a lot of fun activities this year, and we’re looking forward to being a part of this special group again next year.

Fine Arts: Foundations covers both Music and Art. My Big explored in-depth character and creature drawing, and he took music lessons (concentrating in piano) and is really loving it! He is working on works by composer Bach right now. He’s a natural and has, not only a love, but also an ear for music and an eye for art. 

Who just attended a Classical Conversations Practicum and fell IN LOVE with MATH again?!

This Girl!  Woot!  Good golly, sheesh, I heart all the maths! 

...kinda.

...maybe.

...well, I failed three different years of it in High School: Algebra 1, Geometry 1, and Algebra 2. Eh-hemm. Math has not always been the Romeo to this Juliet.  Just sayin’. 

So how did I get to loving, learning, and tutoring math to my own kids and the young masters in my CC Community?  Why does one young Miss in my class tell her Mom every week that “Ms. Bee’s favorite subject is math!”?

Well, two things happened & they happened concurrently.  In fact, I’d say that this equation is Commutative:

USBORNE MATH BOOKS + CC MATH = Mom that suddenly gets math!  

I have two children. Two children with different learning styles. Thank goodness for the times table practice pad.  One child needs 700 explanations, 500 tiny cars to manipulate, and a set of hand hewn blocks to stack to get the answer?  That’s ok, kiddo #2 is SO happy to just bang out all her Times Tables, singing the songs, and handing me page after completed page from this pad. Phew!

The Math Dictionaries also helped me not only sound like I knew what I was talking about - I actually found I really knew what I was talking about! Rare, but true! 

There are three Math Dictionaries; First Illustrated Math Dictionary, Illustrated Elementary Math Dictionary, and The Illustrated Dictionary of Math. They all bridge the gap from Old Math to New Math, have pages that are laid out clearly with multiple examples and great illustrations for every problem/concept/principle you’ll come across from K - the High School Years. 

Just check out that fractions page - that’s fraction love right there, from the Elementary Math Dictionary.

I also appreciate the novel workbooks from Usborne - so fun for the art inclined (who don't believe they’ll be good at math, but SO ARE!). Check out our This Is Not Series to see more.

As our school year is beginning to wind down -- we’re on the home stretch, and everyone knows it! -- the teacher in me begins planning for next year. 

I really LOVE this part!

I take a look back at what worked and what didn’t, and I tweak things here and there, striving toward perfection -- something that truly ceases to exist. I know this, yet I strive for it anyway because I want the very best edu for my child. 

Something that really worked this year, something we will be coming back to next year because it really was a homerun with my Big... Classical Conversations Foundations. I knew as soon as I came across this curriculum last summer that it would be a hit! My big loves the memory work and the activities I plan to go along with each subject and topic for the week. (Not to mention, the in-awe expressions and attention he gets from people and peers when he dazzles them with all of the things he is learning each week. It is truly amazing what this kid absorbs...he’s my sponge, after all.) I use a lot of visual aids and hands-on activities to make things more concrete, and we use the audio CD a little each day to help us with our memory work -- if you have a MERLD kiddo or a visual or auditory learner, I can not recommend this curriculum enough. It is awesome! (*I am not a spokesperson for CC, just a pleased parent and homeschool mom.*)

We supplemented the math portion of CC with a sustained math curriculum (Abeka), and it has worked just fine. Though, I’m still on-the-fence if we will continue it or switch to another curriculum for next year. No concerns about it really, just depends on Big’s likes/dislikes. My teacher heart can’t help but to come up with and implement cross curriculum supplemental activities, all geared toward top goals and standards. And it seemed he got more out of the activities than the workbook lessons. Again, nothing negative, just going with the kiddo’s vibe.

For English/Grammar, we used Shurley English. Again, it worked just fine. Though, I’m not sure we’ll be continuing this next year either. Still weighing options, and picking Big’s brain. He really liked the jingles, but I could tell that the monotonous delivery of each week’s activities (sentences, vocab, etc) began to bore him. Though, he still gets excited every time we break out the English journal (almost daily now) to journal creatively and for writing assignments. That brings me to what I plan to hone in on more next year -- writing. He is extremely good at all things English (grammar, vocab, structure, etc.), but he really loves creative writing. 

Literature, we’re still exploring...always exploring. I have an extreme love for literature. Always have a book in my hand (or at least within reach). And I have tried to impress that upon my kiddos as well. Though we read all year long -- winter, spring, summer, fall -- I like to choose a few that we read aloud together during the “school year” to discuss more thoroughly for teaching/education purposes. I really like classics, but I also try to include a variety and more popular reads as well. We take our time with these, and really utilize them. This year we have explored Tuck Everlasting and Tom Sawyer (two of my personal childhood favorites), Wonder, Treasure Island, and we will be winding down the year with Bridge to Terabithia and Indian in the Cupboard (two more of my personal childhood favorites). During the year, we have also explored poetry, and plan to next year as well. 

History has been easy peasy this year. We have used Story of the World. It is fabulous. Especially great for auditory learners, as they have an audio CD as well. They also have an activity book that provides discussion questions, ideas and hands-on activities to further concrete each story in the history timeline it follows.

Science is super easy for us because I am definitely a science girl. We supplement the science portion of CC with visuals, videos, hands-on activities and nature study. 

For Fine Arts, we take Art and Music lessons. Big’s choice of music has been piano -- he’s my easy-listening, classical dude. He plays very well by ear, and is working hard to master all things chords (major and minor). He is doing fantastic, and really loves it! He spends a lot of his free time rearranging songs and composing from memory. And as for art, we plan to dive more in depth next year, as he really enjoys this creative outlet -- he’s always been my creative kiddo!

We are looking to find a physical activity or sport to get involved in. We haven’t decided on that as of yet, so next year’s activity schedule is still a little up in the air. Though, we have talked about trying out some options this summer as sort of a trial run. So, we shall see...

Something I have yet to touch on is the preschool stuff we’ve been doing with my (now) Middle. My two year old is a little sponge just like his older brother. I am very much a ‘let kids be kids’ momma! I let my kiddos explore and learn. We are in a constant state of play, learn, and grow. We color, we play, we build, we dance, we sing, we learn. Sometimes for visual fun, we pop in a Preschool Prep DVD (Colors, Shapes, Letters, etc), or break out the super fun and colorful flash cards and play games. This method seems to be working, because my Middle knows/recognizes all of his letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. Family and friends are quite amazed by this little guy as well (as they should be!). We plan to continue our play, learn, grow fun next year as well. 

Classical Conversations #9: Bullying as Peer Pressure, and Could CC Compromise Homeschooling Laws in Canada?

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We have found that there are quite a few things we are missing through this transition. Here are a few:

1) Our family back home- mostly Mimi and Papaw and our pups! Being gone for a whole month is tough on everyone!

2) We miss our friends!! Our church family and our Classical Conversations Community. We miss our 4-H friends and Karate friends and close-by friends and long-distance friends!

3) Assuming that appliances will automatically just “work.” Not having to get a gas tank when your stove runs out, not having to boil drinking water. Not having to light every single burner. Every.Single.Time.

4) Our kids miss sitting face-forward in the actual car, not backwards in the trunk. We tell them it is good for their character. Hey, I loved riding in the back of our station wagon when I was a kid!

5) Ziplock bags. Yep.

6) Closets. ALL the closets.

7) Shower curtains. We’re all European-style down here... we’ll save you the pics of that, though!!!

Classical Conversations #8: Personal Story and Financial Nightmare

NOTE: This is part of a series that began with these earlier posts:

Classical Conversations #1: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Classical Conversations #2: What Led You to Join a Classical Conversations Homeschool Community? #ClassicalConvMadeKnown

Classical Conversations #3: Leaders Delete Comments and Block Commenters Who Don’t Toe the Line

Classical Conversations #4: A CC Veteran Gives Advice…

I feel this organization uses Christian families for gain, and hides behind Christ while they line their pockets. I also feel they run in a cult-like manner, slowly brainwashing families into seeing what isn’t there.

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NOTE: This is part of a series that began with these earlier posts:

Classical Conversations #1: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Classical Conversations #2: What Led You to Join a Classical Conversations Homeschool Community? #ClassicalConvMadeKnown

Classical Conversations #3: Leaders Delete Comments and Block Commenters Who Don’t Toe the Line

Classical Conversations #4: A CC Veteran Gives…