Diaper Swappers

RainandRedemption · 03-19-2013, 03:48 PM

I'd love to hear from Mamas with experience with Classical Conversation....

How much time does this take up, per week in classes, and how much per week in related work outside the classes?
How much does it require of the kids doing it? (first grade)

The reason Im asking is that I'd really like to get ds into an "enrichment" class next year, but Im not sure if this would be too much, or right for us. Basically I just want him to be in a class learning with other kids. There are other groups but they are all way too unorganized for us. We go and feel out of place and weird. This is really the only other group I know of in the area so Im thinking about joining.

The thing is though, that we're not looking for anything SUPER structured, or super heavy on information. We'll have a pretty full week already with our curriculum and a small group of homeschooling friends who will be getting together on a regular basis. Oh, I'll also have a newborn!

So ANY info about your experience with this would be helpful in helping me figure out if we should give it a try or if it would just be way too much for us.

TIA!!

7mom7 · 03-19-2013, 03:59 PM

We love CC. Our school day is once a week from 9-12, this included eating a sack lunch with his peers. Honestly we don't spend much time, at all, on CC at home. Sometimes I'll check out library books related to what he's learning. Sometimes I'll put the CD on. I write the memorization work on the white board and we review it for about 5 minutes on the days that we do school work. My kids are so young that I'm not super strict about it but I suspect we'll do more and more as the years go on. I think you can make it as much or as little work as you'd like. My favorite part of CC is the presentations and DS loves preparing for them but that usually happens the night before or the morning of

There are some mom's in our community that do a full curriculum outside of CC but their kids are a bit older. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the geography emphasis that CC offers. DS has always loved maps and he's already able to point out so much on a world map. Next year our campus will offer childcare for infants and toddlers for either cheap or free depending on how many mom's volunteer to work the nursery. IMO it's too expensive not to make it our primary curriculum but we don't have tons of disposable income sitting around either. I'm with you on the disorganization of other groups...no one seems to follow through with what they commit to. It drives me absolutely crazy.

RainandRedemption · 03-19-2013, 04:22 PM

How much does your CC class cost? We don't have a lot to spend either so Im hoping its not too much...

7mom7 · 03-19-2013, 05:25 PM

$75 registration, $50 supply, $50 facility, $325 tuition

lyn1270 · 03-19-2013, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7mom7

We love CC. Our school day is once a week from 9-12, this included eating a sack lunch with his peers. Honestly we don't spend much time, at all, on CC at home. Sometimes I'll check out library books related to what he's learning. Sometimes I'll put the CD on. I write the memorization work on the white board and we review it for about 5 minutes on the days that we do school work. My kids are so young that I'm not super strict about it but I suspect we'll do more and more as the years go on. I think you can make it as much or as little work as you'd like. My favorite part of CC is the presentations and DS loves preparing for them but that usually happens the night before or the morning of

There are some mom's in our community that do a full curriculum outside of CC but their kids are a bit older. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the geography emphasis that CC offers. DS has always loved maps and he's already able to point out so much on a world map. Next year our campus will offer childcare for infants and toddlers for either cheap or free depending on how many mom's volunteer to work the nursery. IMO it's too expensive not to make it our primary curriculum but we don't have tons of disposable income sitting around either. I'm with you on the disorganization of other groups...no one seems to follow through with what they commit to. It drives me absolutely crazy.

what she said! we LOVE CC. CC is the same nationwide. The biggest things that vary will be start time (9 or 9:30 or something like that) and how organized/disorganized the director is. all CCs spend the same amt of time (4hrs) for little ones (Foundations). as they move on to middle & high school, their days will be longer and they will have more assignments. if you look on their website, you will see their fees for each level. the fees are the same nationwide by what i understand. the only fee that will be different is the facility fee

i have 3 boys, ages 8, 5, 3. My 8 & 5 y.o.s attend CC. my 3yo stays home w/dad & will stay home w/dad next yr even though he will be 4 and technically ready for CC (I'm a better late than early mama

). like 7mom7, I don't do a lot of CC at home. we review it a few times a week on a white board, listen to the CDs in the van or in the house (they LOVE the songs!), and supplement some of the material w/videos or books from the library. we have ended up using it as our entire curriculum, except for Reading/phonics & math. I think had I not used it as my entire curriculum, i would have been overwhelmed w/all the things I would have had to do for my 8yo. I love the songs and the hand motions. I love the geography. And I love the skip counting. I also love the presentation. My DS2 is EXTREMELY shy. The presentations have really helped him to come out of his shell. I also like the socialization time my boys get w/other kids. It has filled a need for them and for me. I also like the freedom that CC gives to the parent. You can use the entire curriculum or you can just use your CC time as play time. It's up to you because you are the teacher.

I would advise visiting a community before you committed. Most of the CCs nationwide are having their open houses right now. And most of them love to have visitors.

PrettyinPink89 · 03-20-2013, 08:55 AM

Sorry OP, I hope you don't mind me asking a question here: What exactly is this program and is it difficult to participate in with younger children? I noticed that many of you mentioned that you are also implementing other programs, do you find that it confuses your child in anyway (going back and forth)? Do you think that it would be possible to have a child in this program and also be in college (myself) part-time?

7mom7 · 03-20-2013, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrettyinPink89

Sorry OP, I hope you don't mind me asking a question here: What exactly is this program and is it difficult to participate in with younger children? I noticed that many of you mentioned that you are also implementing other programs, do you find that it confuses your child in anyway (going back and forth)? Do you think that it would be possible to have a child in this program and also be in college (myself) part-time?

Classical Conversations is a Christian based science, history, geography, and arts curriculum. It slightly touches on grammar and math but you still have to purchase a full language arts and math curriculum of your choice. You go once a week to a group class and it is the parent's responsibility to teach the curriculum and reinforce at home. CC has a large focus on memorization in the early years in keeping with the Classical model of education. I suspect it might be a bit confusing if you used a separate history and science on top of the CC curriculum but I can't see us ever doing that. I work nearly full-time from home and I don't find it difficult at all. I don't have time for planning so it really helps that it's all spelled out for me. I have a younger child that is not in the program and there are also families with infants that attend. Most locations have the option for childcare but you are allowed to have a child sitting in your lap if they are quiet. It's not a co-op but with our group the parents are involved with the lesson as needed. It was important to us that our children be familiar with the classroom environment and learning from someone besides mom. DS would probably prefer to go to public school rather than HS so I think it's good for him to see other kids and families that are like us.

PrettyinPink89 · 03-20-2013, 09:27 AM

Thank-you so much!!!

RainandRedemption · 03-20-2013, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrettyinPink89

Sorry OP, I hope you don't mind me asking a question here: What exactly is this program and is it difficult to participate in with younger children? I noticed that many of you mentioned that you are also implementing other programs, do you find that it confuses your child in anyway (going back and forth)? Do you think that it would be possible to have a child in this program and also be in college (myself) part-time?

Im not that knowledgable about it but from what I do know I think it would be a good choice if you are in college part time.

Our main curriculums next year will be ambleside online, miquon math and probably singapore. Science will mostly be reading about animals and birds and nature walks/ nature studies. I don't think it would be confusing to add cc, although it might make our schedule a little more stressful

PrettyinPink89 · 03-20-2013, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RainandRedemption

Im not that knowledgable about it but from what I do know I think it would be a good choice if you are in college part time.

Our main curriculums next year will be ambleside online, miquon math and probably singapore. Science will mostly be reading about animals and birds and nature walks/ nature studies. I don't think it would be confusing to add cc, although it might make our schedule a little more stressful

I will check those out today. DH and I were thinking about the Oak Meadow curriculum and then supplementing with something like CC.

All of this is kind of overwhelming

.

03-19-2013, 03:48 PM	#1
RainandRedemption Registered Users Formerly: windandrainmama Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 5,103 Ratings: 62 Feedback: 100%	Classical Conversation Mamas..... would this be too much? I'd love to hear from Mamas with experience with Classical Conversation.... How much time does this take up, per week in classes, and how much per week in related work outside the classes? How much does it require of the kids doing it? (first grade) The reason Im asking is that I'd really like to get ds into an "enrichment" class next year, but Im not sure if this would be too much, or right for us. Basically I just want him to be in a class learning with other kids. There are other groups but they are all way too unorganized for us. We go and feel out of place and weird. This is really the only other group I know of in the area so Im thinking about joining. The thing is though, that we're not looking for anything SUPER structured, or super heavy on information. We'll have a pretty full week already with our curriculum and a small group of homeschooling friends who will be getting together on a regular basis. Oh, I'll also have a newborn! So ANY info about your experience with this would be helpful in helping me figure out if we should give it a try or if it would just be way too much for us. TIA!! __________________ * Jen~ happy, homeschooling mom to two * Expecting #3 in Aug 2013! * * Trade with me! *

03-19-2013, 03:59 PM	#2
7mom7 Registered Users Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 465	Re: Classical Conversation Mamas..... would this be too much? We love CC. Our school day is once a week from 9-12, this included eating a sack lunch with his peers. Honestly we don't spend much time, at all, on CC at home. Sometimes I'll check out library books related to what he's learning. Sometimes I'll put the CD on. I write the memorization work on the white board and we review it for about 5 minutes on the days that we do school work. My kids are so young that I'm not super strict about it but I suspect we'll do more and more as the years go on. I think you can make it as much or as little work as you'd like. My favorite part of CC is the presentations and DS loves preparing for them but that usually happens the night before or the morning of There are some mom's in our community that do a full curriculum outside of CC but their kids are a bit older. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the geography emphasis that CC offers. DS has always loved maps and he's already able to point out so much on a world map. Next year our campus will offer childcare for infants and toddlers for either cheap or free depending on how many mom's volunteer to work the nursery. IMO it's too expensive not to make it our primary curriculum but we don't have tons of disposable income sitting around either. I'm with you on the disorganization of other groups...no one seems to follow through with what they commit to. It drives me absolutely crazy. Last edited by 7mom7; 03-19-2013 at 04:00 PM.

03-19-2013, 04:22 PM	#3
RainandRedemption Registered Users Formerly: windandrainmama Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 5,103 Ratings: 62 Feedback: 100%	Re: Classical Conversation Mamas..... would this be too much? How much does your CC class cost? We don't have a lot to spend either so Im hoping its not too much... __________________ * Jen~ happy, homeschooling mom to two * Expecting #3 in Aug 2013! * * Trade with me! *

03-19-2013, 05:25 PM	#4
7mom7 Registered Users Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 465	Re: Classical Conversation Mamas..... would this be too much? $75 registration, $50 supply, $50 facility, $325 tuition

03-20-2013, 08:55 AM	#6
PrettyinPink89 Registered Users Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Somewhere in the U.S of A :). Posts: 261 My Mood:	Re: Classical Conversation Mamas..... would this be too much? Sorry OP, I hope you don't mind me asking a question here: What exactly is this program and is it difficult to participate in with younger children? I noticed that many of you mentioned that you are also implementing other programs, do you find that it confuses your child in anyway (going back and forth)? Do you think that it would be possible to have a child in this program and also be in college (myself) part-time? __________________ Canuck Living in the U.S of A. Part-Time Student and loving wife to K , SAHM to E ('06) and our newest addition Baby G ('13) . x.o.x.o. Ever thine, ever mine, ever ours .x.o.x.o Last edited by PrettyinPink89; 03-20-2013 at 08:57 AM.