Back to the Basics with Classical Conversations

Our family has been in four Classical Conversations communities in the past four years.  I have had the privileged of being "just a mom", a tutor, and a director of various communities.  It's been a wonderful time as I have made friends all over the area, been inspired by different types of people and learned under different styles.  I am grateful for my time at each community.

Some friends seem to think I'm a "CC Veteran", but I don't see myself that way.  I still struggle.  Do I Really (I mean REALLY) trust the memory work the way CC encourages me to?  I think I do...that is, until I start to question.  I have learned that questions are a great thing and to not be afraid of them.  So, it's ok to really question our homeschool decisions.  It allows us time to really think about why we have chosen this path and if there is anything that needs changed.

Do I doubt, that maybe my children aren't learning "enough".  Do I compare with our neighbor's kids, or other homeschooled or private school kids?  Yes, sometimes I catch myself in the trap of comparison, which only breeds fear, discontentment, and frustration.

As we begin our 5th year of CC, and my second as a director, I will be honest...I have struggled this summer with doubt.  Doubting whether the memory work is enough.  It all seems so simple.  And it is.  It ought to be that way.  Why do we always work to over complicate things?

I am thankful for articles, books, conversations, and friends that have encouraged me these last few weeks.  The Memory work IS enough.  Drill the memory work, this is what prepares them for Essentials, and later for Challenge.  I was not educated classically...and so it can be easy to fall into the system I am more familiar with because it was the system I was in for 17 years.  It is very important to continue to read and learn about the classical method.  There is always more to know!

This year I feel the pressure of adding our third child into our CC day, as well as my final year to prep my 3rd grader for Essentials (ahhhh...someone make it stop!  I can't believe she is a 3rd grader!!!).  I am choosing to take time to organize before the school year begins, despite the fact that my personality would prefer that I "wing it" like always.

I have decided to jump on the "Notebooking" band wagon and give it a shot.  I love binders (that love started when I worked in advertising, it's the one thing I took away from that job).  My kids seem to love binders, probably because of my influence.  So, I am choosing to organize binders and pray for our year.

I have taken a mish-mash of advice from different CC bloggers and put together with what I think will work for my children.

They already got to decorate the front of their folder.  Nicole chose a tornado theme.  I don't know???

All three have a binder with dividers (you will see that my dividers are still not labeled...that is me rebelling against over preparation).

Each child has a little pouch in the front for their supplies.  I am hoping that they understand that these have been set apart for school and it will decrease the frustration of looking for a pencil.

All three will have Timeline, History, English, Science, Geography, Latin, Math, Fine Arts, and Field Trips.
My 4 & 6 year old will also have a section for our PALs reading program (different post)
My 8 year old will have a section for Presentation and Spell to Write and Read

We will be focusing on a lot of copy work this year. Almost every subject will have a page each week for the kids to trace, write, and draw.

Basic copywork for the younger kids.  This might take Nathan 2 days to complete...that's ok with me for now.

 My 4 year old is learning basic handwritting skills.  He basically has a binder "for fun" because his sisters have one and he wants one too.  I do not expect him to do the same amount of work as his sisters.  I do want him to practice handwriting, and recite the memory work with us.  He will participate in his reading program and will listen to our read alouds.  Otherwise, I am happy with him playing with cars, trains, and building with his blocks.  He is four and should play...a lot.

Trace one day, try to draw the fact on the back the next day

My 6 year old will be tracing memory work one day, and then writing it in her best handwriting the next.

After tracing one day, Hannah and Nicole would rewrite the next day

My 8 year old will be focusing on her cursive this year.  She will be tracing in cursive, and then writing in cursive.  I also want to teach basic editing skills and rules.  She gets really emotional when I edit her work, so I have decided that I will type out the history sentence each week with mistakes (like capitalization, spelling, and punctuation) for her to correct and help to reinforce those rules.

Nicole is not "required" to learn her multiplication tables yet, but I want her to.  This is in her math section for daily review

I don't know why this is sideways...but a sample of Nicole's cursive practice...courtesy of a great mom on CC Connected.

This was also on CC Connected.  This will be a fun change for Nicole for Science practice

On top of our memory work, Hannah and Nicole will continue with their math program (We use Saxon).  Nathan and Hannah will work through their PALs reading program, and Nicole will continue in Spell to Write and Read.

We will also read a lot.  Read out loud, read silently, read to each other, listen to audio books...read, read, read.

So wait...that doesn't sound like a lot of school work.  Break it down for me:
Copywork-            15 minutes
Memory Work -    30 minutes
Math -                   30 minutes
Reading/Spelling    20-30 minutes
Read                     30 minutes

Yep, our "official" school time is probably only 2 hours a day.  Doesn't sound like much, does it?  I really think it doesn't need to be much more.  We are dealing with quality memory work, solid math, and a great reading/spelling curriculum.  We will also read far more than 30 minutes on most days.

So, yes....friends who have little ones, I think this is enough.  It's hard to consider though, isn't it?  Kids are in school for over 6 hours a day...but think of the quality time you get with your little ones.  I strongly believe that play and chores are an important part of a child's day.  We could stop right there at let it be "enough".

However, I know my kids.  They are used to this homeschool thing and have already discovered that learning happens even when we aren't sitting at our school room table.  I do plan on adding more. My ideas are found here  But, when life gets crazy....I know I can go back to THIS and be perfectly fine.