The end of CC

It was another absolutely wonderful year in Classical Conversations.  

As an educator, I cannot express how much I love and adore this program.  Particularly from a brain-development perspective; the program more closely compliments their natural development than any other method of study I've ever seen.  It is so fantastic to see what the kids know and can do as they learn through the lens of the classical model.  

 

This was Leah's third year with the program, and Logan's first. 

They both had wonderful tutors and had such awesome opportunities to engage with kids they enjoyed.  We always look forward to Mondays!

Each week, the kids memorize 7 subjects: history, geography, math, science, English grammar, Latin, and timeline.  During their community day, they also get a hands-on science experiment, music and music theory, artists and art theory, oral presentation and classical composers.

This year, we studied (mostly) European History beginning with  Charlemagne in 800 A.D., through the Renaissance, World Wars, Korean and Vietnam Wars and ending with the abolition of apartheid in Africa.  SO awesome.

They learned 161 events and people in a chronological timeline.

Over 100 locations and geographic features in Europe and Asia, including continents, countries, cities, rivers and mountain ranges which they have to locate and point to on the map.

24 science facts including biomes, planets, laws of motion and laws of thermodynamics.

Latin verb endings of the first conjugation.

Pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, among others.

Multiplication tables up to 15x15, as well as basic geometry formulas and unit conversions. 

All 44 (now 45) presidents in order.

I tutored a wonderful class of our oldest girls, and it is such a blessing to see what happens when kids stick with the program.  What they know by the time they are 9-11 is absolutely astounding.

One of the greatest achievements within the program is the Memory Master award, which is given to a student who can recite the entire year's memory work - all those facts I listed above - without making any errors.  Leah decided that this year was her year, and we practiced all year so that she could achieve this goal.  

Unfortunately, because of our crazy spring, we ended up missing the last 4 weeks of the program, and because the baby came only a week later and then they did memory master testing the following week... well... 

we never did get caught up.

Poor sweet Leah.

She missed her birthday party, spent three days in the hospital, missed Easter and missed her end of the year dance recital, but the straw that broke the camel's back was not being able to go for Memory Master after she had worked so hard.  There were tears when she discovered she would not be able to take her test.  It broke her heart!

So, we gave her an honorary 20-week Memory Master.  It isn't official and doesn't count for anything, but it sure did make her feel better after all that work!  

Logan did an awesome job as well.  I couldn't believe how much he knew and could remember - especially considering he is only four!  He was almost a memory master; he knew history, geography, Latin and science perfectly without any errors.  It was pretty darn impressive.

So, our year in CC came to a close.  But we're already excited for next year. 

Finishing up CC

On the way to our CC Finale night, Leah very wisely informed me, 

"If I keep practicing diligently, one day I'm going to know everything.  Well... not everything.  But enough for God to trust me with being a doctor."

That child of mine has grown so much this year!  

She is such a studious and intent little creature, I just love watching her grow and thrive. 

The kids have a wonderful presentation which includes two whole group presentations, and individual class presentation.  For their group presentation, they recited part of the timeline, which documents all the major historical events and cultures from creation through the birth of Jesus.

They also memorized Exodus 20:1-17 and presented that as well.

The struggle about being the solo parent at events like this is that I don't often have a chance to do much documenting.  Mostly, what I can do without extra hands available for wrangling purposes is give it my half-hearted attention and try to snap what photos I can for posterity.  

I wont' lie, what I paid attention to most during their presentations was this;

who refused to let me be and had to be taken out of the chapel part way through.

I got back in time to watch Leah's class present some examples of the science facts we learned this year.

Leah was so excited that she got to present the major groups of vertebrates, which are (as she proudly and fearlessly announced): fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds.

A dessert reception always follows, and the kids and proud parents have an awesome time. 

It has been another great year in Classical Conversations.  Leah's tutor was the mother of one of her best friends, and she has grown so much in her capacity for memorization.  We just love that she is being exposed to so many excellent concepts and advanced vocabulary through the classical method of education.  And, it is a huge blessing for us to have the opportunity once a week to get out of the house and fellowship.  

I was blessed to be in charge of this year's yearbook, so I have a ton of fun images from all the CC classes.  Here's just a few of the Leah-specific ones:

Those kids have such a great time!  The tutors are excellent, and make it so much fun for everybody.

We love CC!