In August of this past summer, during a visit with an old friend down in Kansas City, I stumbled upon a christian homeschooling co-op in my area. “Classical Conversations” it was called, which I thought was a little odd, but the fact that my friend in Kansas City is a successful homeschooler sparked my interest. When we arrived home from KC I got in contact with the director of Classical Conversations Eden Prairie immediately and, despite having no idea what the classical model of education really was, I felt sure and certain that we should become involved. For the most part, I was seeking a social network for myself and for Elijah and Zeke. I guess I really didn’t care so much about the curriculum so long as my two older sons got to hang out with kids their own age.
Since September, though, and even with my very limited understanding of what classical education is, I have fallen in love with it! It is perfect for our family in every way. What I love most of all is that every student – from age four through 5th grade – learns the same material…only how the students interact with the material is different. The youngest students are in the “grammar stage.” Since a young child’s mind is able to absorb tons of information, that’s what they do. They memorize the “grammar” of different subjects like science, math, geography, English, history and (my favorite!) Latin. Next is the logic stage, when children are able to understand how the facts that they’re memorizing – and have memorized – all fit together into a logical framework. Finally comes the rhetoric stage, when students learn to speak and write with originality. They use the grammar they’ve memorized and the rules of logic they’ve learned to express their conclusions in strong, clear language. Wow! (Thankfully we’re a few years away from this stage! It’s not till high school.)
Oh! And also? It’s really, really fun! Most of the grammar is set to music. Here are Elijah and Zeke singing their “Week Seven History Sentence.”
Isn’t that great?
There are so many other things I love about Classical Conversations…I could go on and on. Like the fact that every student prepares a 2-3 minute presentation every week. The topics are different each week; from “What Country in Europe Would You Like to Visit and Why” to “Tell us About Your Favorite Stuffed Animal.”…
Here is a photo of Zeke during his presentation from this past Thursday (Thursday is the day we meet). The presentation time is especially good for Zeke. He has a very real fear of public speaking – as many of us do! – and this fear has been slowly subsiding. He actually enjoyed doing his last presentation, as you can tell from the picture. It’s been good for Elijah too. Each week the students focus on a different aspect of public speaking. Things like eye contact, posture, volume (which certainly isn’t an issue for Elijah!) and adding planned gestures.
And did you notice the music notes behind Zeke? They’re learning the tin whistle! Which, in my opinion, is infinitely cooler than learning to play the recorder. 
And this, to me, is the clincher: that the classical model of education is less about teaching students as much subject matter as possible, and more about teaching them how to learn…for themselves. It’s about giving them the tools -”grammar,” logic, and rhetoric – to grasp any concept. As a homeschooling parent, the one thing that I’m sure of is that I will leave gaps in my children’s education. What if I don’t have time to teach them, um… the five different groups of vertebrates, for instance? What then? Well, my children will be able to fill in those gaps for themselves one day. And that relieves a lot of pressure!
P.S. I have an opportunity to host an informational-type meeting about Classical Conversations if any of you homeschooling moms around here are interested. Let me know!
The boys have been studying weathering and erosion in science recently. This was a fun little experiment in which they observed and recorded the effects of glacial erosion. Very interesting, I must say. Honestly, I’ve learned almost as much as they have this past year.
And while I’m on the topic of weathering and erosion… I feel weathered. Beaten down. Tired. This year has had it’s ups and downs, but it’s been a pretty good experience for the most part, I think. These days, though, I’ve been feeling, for the first time, like I just want to quit. Probably a good thing that this is happening with only three weeks left until our summer holidays begin. Oh boy, I am so ready for summer holidays! Wahoo!
Have you ever heard how pets can be thereputic for children? The eager, accepting wag of a dog’s tail or the soft, content purr of a cat… Being able to just love on something that really expects nothing at all from them…
Ellie is Elijah’s pet. So adorable. He can’t even put her down when he’s doing his school work.
“But I just love her so much! I can’t help it. I have to hold her. Look, I can do my work while holding her. See?”
One of Zeke’s daily school activities is reading to Phoebe and Noah for a half an hour every morning. (Pretty sweet deal, eh?) Zeke’s fluency in reading has improved so much since the beginning of the year. I’m very impressed. Today he read them Curious George Goes to a Costume Party and Curious George in the Big City.
Meanwhile, Elijah has been preparing for a Spelling Bee this Friday. We have a practice Bee planned for this evening. Mommy vs. Elijah. Yikes!
We transformed the dining area of our kitchen into our schoolroom. Cool, eh? It’s bar height, so that the little ones can’t interfere with their older siblings so easily. 
We have officially started school here this week, and it’s been going ok, I think. When I have more time, I will blog more about all the triumphs and difficulties. For now, though, we need to all get ready to go to the airport. Grammie arrives today!
Well, I’ve been asked by several of my near and dear blog readers how our home school practicing has been going…so here’s assuming that those of you in far off places are wondering the same thing.
I’d say…it’s going. Going well? Mmmm…I wouldn’t say that. “Satisfactory” would be a good assessment, I think; as per my expectations…and it helps that I didn’t have very high expectations. (Hee hee) For the past week we’ve been working on establishing a semi-rigid schedule and laying down some ground rules as to what we can expect from each other. I’m really glad that we’ve set aside some time to work through these things now.
Here’s our schedule:
9:00 – 10:00 Language Arts with Mum at home
10:00 – 10:25 Recess
10:25 Head over to the College Ad. Building
10:30 – 11:20 Math with Dad in the Ad. Building
11:20 – 1:00 Prayer Room time/Lunch in College Cafeteria/Recess/Pick up Noah from Preschool 3 days a week with Dad
1:00 – 1:30 More Language Arts with Mum at Home
1:30 – 1:50 Recess
1:50 – 3:00 Science/Music/Art or catch up on whatever
History Lessons will take place 3 or 4 nights a week after Supper with Dad (The history is really fun and interesting. It reads like a story. Dave, the boys and I love it!)
So there you have it. Our schedule in all it’s glory. We’ve more or less stuck to it for this past week and it seems to be working. One thing that is going to make this whole homeschooling thing fun for the boys is the fact that we live on a college campus and Dad’s flexible schedule. It will be nice for them to have a change in scenery everyday to do their math lessons. And how cool is it that they get to eat lunch with college students? Even cooler is that fact that these college student love Jesus and my kids. (Oh, and on Tuesdays they will get to participate in the Prayer and Fasting time that Dave mentioned in the previous post.)
Logistics and rules and all that kind of stuff aside though, I know I’m going to love – already love – interacting with my older kids every day on an intellectual level. And as I’ve actually sat down and worked with them in various subjects I feel my confidence growing. “I can do this!” I often think to myself with surprise. For me, it’s totally debunked the myth that learning should take place in a formal setting with a highly educated person at the helm.
I also can’t help but remember all of the times that I’ve been able to volunteer in Elijah and Zeke’s classrooms… and how little one-on-one instruction really happens. I’ve heard that a very small percentage of a school day in a public school is actually spent learning, and I totally believe it. I’ve seen it.
Another thing, of course, is that students need to deal with distractions consistently in a classroom setting…something that just might happen here in our home school once in a while. …Okay, who am I kidding? Distractions will be happening here consistently too. But, here’s the thing: that’s Okay!
My, oh my…busy, busy, busy! We’ve been moving ahead with all of the logistical details needed to be taken care of in order to start homeschooling this fall. Elijah and Zeke have been doing assessment tests all week and, after attending a showcase for the Minnesota Virtual Academy on Thursday, we finalized our decision to enroll them into that program for this fall. We sent in all of the necessary paperwork to the MNVA on Friday. Hooray!
I feel very blessed to be in one of the fifty states that have a free online school like the MNVA. (There are about 20) It’s a pretty cool program. Not perfect – I plan on troubleshooting my way through it – but it’s free. Like, everything is free. Teacher support if you need it, lots of hands on material, text books…they even ship you a free computer, printer and scanner. The lesson planning is even all done for you, and the daily online assessments will keep us on track and accountable so that we don’t fall behind. I’m excited.
We’re having a great summer vacation too! I love having all my kids together, I really do. I need to start taking pictures for you all. …Oh dear, so much to do, so little time.
Anyway…this is hardly much of a post, but I wanted to let you all know that we are all alive and well.
Later…
Today was the boys’ last day of school. Unbelievable, isn’t it, that a whole school year has passed? I’m flabbergasted.
That phrase, “the last day of school,” has a double meaning for our family today. Not only is today Elijah and Zeke’s last day of school for this year, this is also their last day of public school for… a while.
Yes, we’ve decided it is time to take a huge leap of faith and start homeschooling our children this coming fall. I know, crazy eh? To be honest, the thoughts, emotions and convictions that have lead us to this decision are many and they are turbulent. I’m still sorting through all of them! To echo the ladies with whom I met this past Friday night about starting a homeschooling co-op, “We have more questions than we have answers.” But for now I will just say that I am quite convinced that there really is no other place where I should be channeling my energies right now.
(to be continued…)
Wife to Dave.Mom to 5. Learning how to homeschool and find time to breathe in Life.
