Upcoming School Year and Classical Conversations

Surprise! It's me again.

I have no idea if any followers still exist out there or not.

Regardless, it is time for me to start blogging again.

I pretty much dropped off the face of the earth last year.....

I found myself in a pretty rough patch of life and to be honest, it would have taken too much effort/felt like a lie for me to search within myself for pleasant things to blog about.

It was a season.

A season I still find myself traveling through and yet, by the grace of God, I'm getting through it and learning so much about God, forgiveness, grace, commitment, and love as I plunge my way forward.

It's amazing how God can take something that is so dark and gloomy and that just downright sucks, and turn it around for MY good. Not necessarily by making everything hunky dory, but more so by what He shows me and reveals to me through His Word, His nature, and His goodness to me- when I don't deserve it.

Today, I am taking the day to just relax. We have NOTHING on the agenda. Did you hear that........

N-O-T-H-I-N-G

Ahhhhh. I'm going to let that sink in again.

These days are so few and far between.

I love to go, go, go, but lately, it seems as though I'm trying to see how much I can cram into one day.



We are enjoying this last month of summer.

As you know, we homeschool and that is something I believe God has called our family to do.

I feel a burden for this. It's not just that I want to protect my kids and keep their innocence intact. I know God Himself gave me this desire because it is so much deeper than a desire. It is a burden. For my children. The most precious little things in my life.

I have never exactly known what path we would take in our journey of homeschool and I am SO excited that we have found the path that we believe is where God has been leading us. I think it was a part of His plan 2 years ago when He uprooted us and moved us to Cartersville.

Classical Conversations.

I love the motto of Classical Conversations----> "To know God and make Him known."

You may, like me, wonder what classical education is:

"A classical education recognizes that we learn anything by going through three distinct phases: learning the words and basic facts associated with the subject, sorting, understanding, and practicing using those words and facts, and finally, using the information by teaching the subject to someone else, writing original essays on the subject or solving problems with the information.

These three phases are called, respectively, grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric."

I had various FB friends who were involved in CC and it always piqued my interest. I would ask friends about it and I always got a variety of explanations about the curriculum. So, as the school year ended last year, I discovered who the director was and I called her up.

As she was talking to me and explaining how CC worked, I just felt the peace of God come over me and I knew this was the path we were to take.

I went the next week and sat in on what would be Dane's class (Kindergarten for those of you wondering. I want him to be the oldest in his class instead of the youngest.) and was absolutely amazed at what I learned! I learned Latin, mathematics laws, the 3rd Law of Thermodynamics, a history timeline, and so much more.

Dane will be in Foundations:

Grammar
This first step in learning any subject is to learn the vocabulary. For example, when you learn to read, you learn the names of the letters and the sounds they make. Classical educators call this the grammar stage. Young children enjoy this phase: they love repeating songs, chanting rhymes, and pronouncing big words. We capitalize on their enjoyment by teaching young students the grammar of many subjects using songs and chants and practicing with friends.

Foundations is the Classical Conversations grammar-stage program. In this program, students receive the building blocks for later learning in science, math, geography, Latin, English grammar, history, fine arts, and public speaking.

There are 3 cycles and students who begin in Foundations as abecedarians (What, you don't know the definition of this word?!?!?! Ok, I didn't either-----> A-B-C-darians, ABC-darians, or abecedarians were the youngest students (then called scholars) in the typical one-room school of 19th-century America, so-called because they were just learning their "a-b-cs". It could also refer to someone teaching the alphabet.) will compete each cycle at least twice, developing greater understanding and mastery through repetition.


This year, Dane will be going through Cycle 3. This is what he will learn (it is all based off memorization):

Geography and History- United States: Columbus To Current Events
Science- Anatomy, Chemistry, Related Experiments and Projects
Timeline- Creation to Modern America (He will memorize this timeline)
Art- American Masters, Drawing
Music- Composers, Music Theory
English- Participles, Irregular Verb Tenses and Clauses
Latin- Translate John 1:1-7
Math- Multiplication Tables, Conversions, Geometric Formulas, Algebraic Laws
Bible Memory- John 1:1-7

I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to be learning as well! LOL

We will do Handwriting, Reading, and Math practice on the side and fill in any other gaps we find along the way.

I am so very excited to start this school year and to watch Dane learn and grow.

We took the Summer to learn to read and Dane has thrived off it. I love the fact that I am teaching him. I never knew I was capable of such a task. What a reward it is to see him enjoy it and for it to click.

If you are a homschooling mom, take the advice I was given--- Don't force the issue. Wait for the child to be ready and show interest and in the meantime, read LOTS to your children. If they aren't reading by age 4, it doesn't mean they won't be smart and if they are reading by the age of 4, it doesn't mean they will be smart. LOL. The biggest issue is that they develop a LOVE for reading and that won't happen if it is forced on them. So, they are ready at 4. GO! They aren't ready till 6, that's ok too.

I really do want to start blogging again and keep up with our homeschool journey for those that are interested. My schedule is super busy with homeschooling, cleaning houses (I have 7 I clean each month and I'm no longer accepting anymore), being a doula (had the summer off and now many moms coming up this Fall-March that I know of), Bible Study (I teach the High Schoolers), and being a wife, mom, and homemaker.

I hope to find time in the quiet of the mornings to sit down and get my thoughts out and record our first official year of homeschooling.

Soooo... interested in CC.... stayed tuned. Our start date is August 26!