Classical Conversations: Our Top Ten Reasons After Eight Years (Part One)

It’s spring. The time of year when more and more people are frustrated and reconsidering what schooling should look like for their family for the upcoming year.

As our family is finishes up our eighth year with Classical Conversations, I remember clearly the trepidation I felt as I went to that information meeting the spring of my oldest child’s kindergarten year. I went to CC’s practicum and had no idea really what I was signing up for. I had gone from hard-core, publicly schooled, full-time working woman to part-time, homeschooling person? Trust me, I get it.

If you’re considering beginning Classical Conversations, looking around for answers, or just looking for encouragement to continue, you’re in the right place. Use this information to guide you during this journey… And a few insights into what I wish I had known.

10) Family Is the Focus

Classical Conversations is lifelong family learning at its finest. The memory work with this program is the same no matter the age, and while the six year old is definitely learning at a different level than the ten year old, they both are memorizing the same baseline facts. In CC, your elementary kids of all ages learn together, and life becomes so much easier when you aren’t juggling different curriculums. We’re all in the same historical time period reading about the same people. For science, the whole family can dive deep into the solar system or animal classifications together. I can’t imagine trying to juggle multiple kids and multiple historical periods for learning.

In addition, you get to know the families at school as a unit. There are weekly family presentations which introduce all the families in your community. You will know your kids’ friends, their parents, and their siblings simply by being in class with your children. Play dates are a family affair because you all know everyone, and the kids all get to see their own friends while you talk to your parent friends. Drop off programs don’t offer this.

9) Tutors Offer Accountability

Homeschooling can put you in a bubble with your kids if you don’t fight it. And let’s face it, sometimes our kids don’t listen to us – not only as parents but also as teachers. You both need someone else speaking wisdom into their lives.

In Classical Conversations, the design for the Foundations program is that the tutor to encourages and shows parents how to work with their own kids on the memory work at home. Foundations is not a typical teaching class for the kids with explanations and projects as in traditional school. The memory work is being introduced and reviewed through games and fun activities; the deep dives are for you to do at home as their true teacher. Their spongy brains absorb the facts at CC while having fun.

In this small group of kids, the tutors know your kid, their strengths and weaknessess, and are always available to give parents extra support. Having other grown-ups in their lives will give them more even more adults to pour into and love on them. Because of this, my kids are comfortable around other grown ups. I love to watch them comfortably sit down next to their grown up friends and speak like equals. To come home from class talking about what their tutor said. The respect is mutual.

In CC, I benefit from adult peer pressure to help me make sure my kid is doing “school” with as they recite memory work and complete Essentials writing papers. Every week, I have a tutor to “report” to. Even if they don’t really know which kid knows their memory work, at least someone else has a peek into my family life. That keeps me on track. This mom doesn’t want other parents to know of her slacking tendencies! I pay a tutor and pretend that she’s holding me accountable. It’s sad but true.

I always encourage new homeschool families to find a community even if they are not a part of CC. Homeschooling is hard without people! It’s so good for the kids to know that they are not the only family living this way and that there are people like them. My kids’ best friends are homeschool kids.

At least once a week for 24 weeks a year, I know we will be around similarly-minded families living life together. The kids have friends who also think learning is fun and who sing history songs on the playground. They get to hear about new hobbies during presentation and explore the woods at lunch while squawking tin-whistles at each other.

Most homeschoolers don’t homeschool at home. Being in a Classical Conversations community means field trips, play dates, summer activities, and friends.

Not to mention, the kids often want to work harder at home in order to be able to play the review games better each week in class. There’s a benefit to seeing the other kids know their work. Kids also don’t want others to think they don’t know the material. Kid peer pressure at its finest.