This article has been updated and republished from the archives. I wrote it right after our first year with Classical Conversations on July 21, 2011. I have kept several things the same (which means it references Cycle 2 because that was our first year in Classical Conversations), but I’ve also included a few updates because our children are now older. In an effort to be as transparent as possible before you read this article, we also feel the need to note that we are no longer in Classical Conversations. Scroll towards the bottom of this post or click here to read more about that decision.
I didn’t plan on this, but I just had to write this for all of you overwhelmed parents new to classical education:
Last year was our second year to homeschool and our first year within a classical homeschool community. When we started, we didn’t plan on doing anything extra to supplement memory work. After all, during our first year of homeschooling all we did was Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. I figured if I added some history, geography, science, and Latin memory work along with science projects and fine arts (even without adding anything extra at home), it would be a pretty good year.
If you are new to a classical education, I encourage you to read the free e-book an Introduction to Classical Education. Other books that have helped me in educating my children include Teaching from Rest, Consider This, For the Children’s Sake, A Thomas Jefferson Education, and The Liberal Arts Tradition.
Before I hone in on specifics, please realize that Classical Conversations is just one way to educate your children. There are other educational methods and classical programs that equip you to provide a quality education for your children. Don’t ever feel trapped by the idea that this is the superior program or method for all families. God leads us all in different ways, and He has different purposes for each student and every family! Always seek first God’s guidance and direction in your homeschooling endeavors!
If you are in the Classical Conversations Foundations program, you can start with just the bare necessities: The Foundations Guide, a Tin Whistle, a Bible, and a library card (along with a math and phonics program for Grades K-3). You can build your entire curriculum around these items. You can even find free math and language arts programs on-line (in addition to other resources, if you enjoy crafts and other learning activities to supplement these things).]
We started out our first year with the bare minimum. Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and memorywoRk songs. (I’m not even sure I wrote down anything in my planner.) Starting at about 4 weeks into the school year, we ended up adding other things gradually.
For Cycle 2, our extra activities looked a bit like this:
Bible: Because I had previously discovered how much my oldest son enjoyed lap books, we completed one lapbook component per day (or even less than that!) using Hands of a Child’s A Devotion a Day lapbook and a New Testament Lapbook. All I had to do was read the devotions or information out of the lapbook. We eventually found some free Bible-based character lapbooks and file folder games that we really enjoyed playing together as a family. We didn’t try to correlate what we did with Ephesians 6. In fact, we didn’t even FINISH memorizing Ephesians 6…
Memory Work: We listened to the Memory Work CDs ALL the time. I had a copy for the car and a copy for our house. We practiced our timeline with hand motions (that is after falling 9 weeks behind. I just sort of decided to ignore timeline, but then our eldest (at age 7) decided to become a Memory Master, so we had to catch up on 72 timeline events in addition to the new material in the spring. This was before we had the a timeline song.) We didn’t even really practice our memory work using different techniques. We just sang and danced to our songs and did hand motions. (It sounds boring, but it was enough for us!)
That’s it. No correlation of reading topics. No games. No nothin’. I didn’t even create our new-grammar trifold board until about halfway through the school year (when our eldest decided to become a Memory Master).
Fine Arts: Aside from a couple of times when the boys took the initiative to draw something themselves, we did not do anything in this area. I think we practiced the tin whistle once. No music theory at all. Though I can play the flute, I’m not a music teacher. I had no desire to teach or even hear the Tin Whistle beyond our community day, even though it has the same fingering pattern as the flute. When we came to famous artists 2nd semester, we started an artist lapbook but never finished it. Why? Because I had printed everything in black and white. It’s hard to encourage art appreciation with black-and-white printouts. Composers? Hmmm…. well, we went around singing, BAH BAH BAH BAAAAAHHHHH when we studied Beethoven. Does that count as composer study?
Math: We struggled with finding a math curriculum we liked, but we did end up doing one math lesson per day. We even fell behind on skip counting because we didn’t like it as much as history. And that, my friends, is coming from a former high school math teacher and engineer. [Note: In hindsight, I wish we had never skip counted. If I could turn back time, I would have my children learn multiplication fact songs from the beginning.]
Science: We did a lapbook on ecology and on space (1 component per day, which means cut out one little piece of paper, fold it, and write something in it.) Then in the spring, we used Mr. Q’s Elementary Physical Science to do egg experiments and other fun stuff. We had sort of a spontaneous way of supplementing science, as we also do Nature Studies as we find critters on our farm.
English Grammar/Language Arts: We used Total Language Plus and some unit studies on Island of the Blue Dolphins, Nim’s Island, and Grammarland our first year. We didn’t try to correlate our readings at all to memory work. We just went with what we wanted to read. [Update: If I had a second chance, I would likely also use IEW’s Fix-It Grammar and IEW Bible Heroes (click here for the Teacher’s Manual). These have been great resources for our subsequent children.]
I tried to teach David to read with Hooked on Phonics, but, although he learned his letter sounds and how to write them, he was still not reading. The Rod&Staff ABC series worked very well with him as a preschooler. [Update: David learned to read when he was ready using All About Reading. He was not ready at 3 years old like his brother. He was ready at age 6. In fact, he started picking up books to read them by himself at age 7. And now that he’s 12, he even reads unabridged classics in his spare time.]
Geography: We completed a couple of unit studies on South Korea and Norway due to my husband’s work schedule, as he was working there at the time. Our family loves unit studies because they integrate subjects into a cohesive unit to show unity between all learning and subjects in such a dynamic way. An added bonus is that we actually used the South Korean Unit Study as our family presentation in the spring. The rest of the time we just used our maps.
History: We pieced together a lapbook on the medieval period and the Renaissance (one to two components per week) and made 4 paper toys. No history readings, though towards the end of the year we listened to some of Story of the World Volume 4. We also listened to things like Sugar Creek Gang; Swamp Robbers, which usually have the added bonus of learning about science and practical applications of Scripture. And we went on some trips and did some real-life learning that did not correlate with what we were doing at all in CC…
We eventually found a schedule that helped us to be more organized. It worked fabulously, and we were able to do a whole lot more with less effort. But just to let you know, we started out with planning to do NOTHING extra and eventually got to where we figured out what worked best for us. In fact, we followed what the boys wanted to do within certain boundaries while practicing memory work. Once I set out some possible things to do (like a file folder game or a lapbook), they would get excited and take the initiative to do those things.
And our oldest son became a Memory Master in his first year of CC in the second grade. And when we went on field trips or just about anywhere, or when we were reading something randomly over the summer… the memory pegs were there. We were able to connect that piece of information into the file we had created in our brains.
REMEMBER: If you decide not to supplement CC, it’s okay! If you decide to supplement CC, it’s okay! If you decide CC isn’t for you, that’s okay! Focus on developing skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic, read voraciously, and be willing to pursue your children’s interests, and you and your children will walk away with a great education. Regardless of how your family homeschools, never lose sight of the importance of seeking first the Kingdom of God. All the rest will be added unto you!
Have a blessed – and unstressed – year!