Why I Love Classical Conversations

 

I have been asked at least 5 times in the past month about my thoughts on Classical Conversations, and I finally got around to writing up a little ditty to answer that question.

Bottom line: I love CC.  Love it.

I have a lot of reasons for loving it, but here are a few.

1) It gives me an actual, weekly support system and I get encouragement from other moms doing the same stuff. It gets me out of the house (because I would actually like to be a hermit, please) and gets me into a community where I can grow and my kids can grow, too. The interaction and blessings I’ve had from the other moms in our group have been invaluable.

2) It’s hard work – which is good for me. It’s not the kind of hard work that means I’m loading tons of stuff on my plate, but it’s the kind of hard work that means I have to be disciplined and organized. I have to plan, and make a system that works for us, and make time every school day to help the kids with their memory work. In the past years, I’ve taken it “easy” and just done the basics with the memory work, but as Jordan (7) enters this next school year (I don’t actually know what grade he’s in – it’s a mixture of 2nd/3rd grade stuff) and Jack (5) is definitely in 1st grade, I’m incorporating our history and science with CC memory work, so that means I am doing real life school planning – yay!

 

3) The material is fantastic, and since we don’t have the local option of a good Classical Christian school, this is what we are going with. Alex’s dream is to start a good Classical Christian school here, but for right now, we are happy with CC and the material and methods. I love the history and science cards and all the art they get to do at class. Also, the science projects they do weekly have been fantastic, and I appreciate someone putting together hands-on science since that is not my forte.

4) Finally, I love that this system helps me make a framework for my curriculum choices and builds into what I’m trying to do with the kids, as far as goals for their education. It also stretches me beyond my natural capacity and pushes me a bit to set goals higher than I might choose for myself. For example, I wouldn’t naturally focus on geography as heavily as CC does, but this helps me to see that geography doesn’t have to be as intimidating as I think it is.

I know this is long, but I hope it makes sense and gives you an idea of our experience with CC. If you think of anything I didn’t answer, or you have any other questions about our CC experience so far let me know!