Classical Conversations?

[Alice]

Does anyone here participate in a Classical Conversations group? I am looking into it for next year. My son is 4 (will be 5 in 11/08) and I think he would enjoy a little more social time...I'm not really worried about "socialization" but I think he would like a little more time with other kids. I've been thinking about joining a homeschool co-op and had heard of this and thought I'd check it out.

On the website they seemed almost too focused on memorization. Also, I wasn't sure how the subject matter would fit into whatever else we're doing. Mostly I'm just looking for something where we (as a family) can meet other homeschoolers in our area and have some fun doing it. I'm not sure if this group would be too formal/academic for those purposes.

Any experience?

[Linda...inOwasso]

We do CC at home. I use most of their memory work but I like to *tweak* it just a tad. For instance, my dd's memorize poetry instead of CC's history sentence. I think memorization is very important and we work on it daily, but if you do CC in a group setting, your little guy will be doing some very intense memorization. CC groups only meet for 12 weeks in the fall and another 12 weeks in the spring so in order to get everything in, they have to memorize a huge chunk of work each week. My family home schools year round for the most part so I can spread it out over a longer period of time. My children are capable of memorizing the work in 12 weeks, but we found it to take up too much of our time and my dc weren't retaining the information. Slowing the pace down has allowed them to retain everything they've memorized (which is the point of memorization in my opinion.)

If there's a group meeting in your area, call the director and see if you can come by and watch one day. Best of luck in your decision!

[Pster]

How do you do the memorization using CC? Do you just listen to the cd's? I've thought of using their mem cd's for our memorization too.

I was just interested in doing it at home at our own pace.

ty

[Pster]

Linda - I just found another post where "we" were discussing CC.

I am still curious as to how you work their memorization into your weekly schedule. Maybe it is something as simple as just listening to the cd.

Also...and I know I've read it somewhere I just can't find it thru the search ....but someone posted that the cd was hard to use because of the way it was set up. It is all mixed up by topic or something? But someone had answered back saying there is a version 2 and that it is easier to listen to?? Do you know what I'm talking about by chance? Are there 2 versions of the cd's? Is one easier to listen to? Shoot - wish I could find where that was posted so I could make sense! I will keep looking but maybe you know what I mean.

ty!

[GVA]

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2551&highlight=Classical+Conversations

It is very memorization-focused, a bit academic. I almost think than a local co-op might be a better choice if you're looking for social contacts.

[Kathie in VA]

There are two audio cds: one by week and one by subject.

hth

[Alice]

Thanks for the info, especially the link to the previous conversation. The local group here is having an information meeting and open house next week. I think I'll go and check it out but I think I may be leaning more toward a co-op or homeschool group.

Kathie in VA...I think I saw that you are a Classical Conversations tutor in Va...where are you?..I'm in Falls Church, VA.

[Kathie in VA]

Hi Alice,

We meet in Leesburg, which is a bit west from Falls Church but there is one out your way.

As the kids in the group get older there is the option of trying for "Memory Master" which is testing to see if you remember the material by the end of the year. Most kids the age of yours don't even consider that option. They just learn the new material weekly and if the tutor is good with her time then they get to play games that review the past 6 weeks material.

If you're worried that they are focused too much on memorization then you're probably right. Memorization is the main reason for the class. It is a lot to memorize but it's really not beyond these kids.

How does it fit into your curriculum at home? That's up to you. Some will just do a separate history study like SOTW and just use CC for the memory work, wkly presentations, art and science labs. Others use the history sentences to lead their study of history at home. I sometimes have trouble with this because it does go fast. So instead of following along with one narrative of the time period(s), I'm finding it easier to just research history each week based on the sentence.

You can probably do the current weeks memory work by just listening to the Audio CDs or watching/listening to the power point CD. You will need to do the timeline cards and bible separately as they are not on either CD. About 20 min may be all you need. I do find that we need more then that to do the reviews as the year goes on.

hth