This year we completed Challenge A (7th grade) with Classical Conversations. Today I discuss the things we loved about Classical Conversations and some we didn't. Please let me know if you have any questions!
I’m soooo glad you posted your review. We're planning of homeschooling our children (our oldest will be a preschooler next year) and I had looked at CC but was a bit unsure about the faith related teachings since we're Catholics too. We're very active with our faith, church and apostolate group. So guiding our little ones in our faith is of major importance. May I ask what you'd be using to homeschool next for your younguest? Since I saw your oldest will continue CC :-). Thank you so much for posting again! Blessings!
Cristina O. Zeigler Hi Christina! I’m so happy that you found this info helpful! That’s exactly why I love making these videos. 🙂 Since making this video my oldest finished Challenge B and is now at a classical Catholic high school and LOVES it! Classical and Catholic merge so beautifully together. My youngest is now in a Catholic school as well for first grade. Last year for homeschooling we did My Fathers World predominately. If you look at my video called “Curriculum Ditch” I go into detail about what we used, liked, and disliked for kindergarten. If we homeschool again I will either do Catholic Schoolhouse or Classically Catholic Memory. Let me know if you have anymore questions! ♥️
Thank you for your review. I watched it last year (2018) when we started CC and wanted to watch it again as my daughter will be starting Challenge A next year.. We are nervous but I am trying to have a good attitude. We have enjoyed the social aspect of CC and therefore are sticking with it even though I don't agree with the amount of work they put on the kids. I'm glad to hear they scale it. I had not heard that.
This is great! Thank you. We are starting Challenge A and this is our very first year with CC. My son is going into 8th but we decided to go with Challenge A because of the material and since we were just starting, I feel it would be a better fit. I also love the Geography component of Ch. A as I did a pretty thorough comparison of A and B. It was a tough choice! I used an ecletic approach for the past 9 years so this will definitely be an adjusment. My youngest is going into F and E as well. We're really excited about it!
Thanks so much for sharing your CC experience! Your thoughts are really balanced and helpful. I'm sorry that you didn't find it to be a good fit for your younger daughter. My son is hyper too and, while he had to sit occasionally, his tutor kept the class active so his contact movement wasn't a big issue. I've tutored as well and would never dream of telling my littles to sit and be quiet for 2 plus hours. The goal is to help parents find each child's learning style (kinesthetic, visual, audio, tactile) so each style should be touched on in class.
Jen Zamchiya So glad you found it helpful Jen! That’s why I enjoy sharing these videos. 😉 I honestly think it may have just been the tutors personality, she may have been a better fit with older kids.
Thank you for the review! We are trying to figure out what to do for my daughter next year - 6th grade. Thinking to do it at home or join CC. She's been in private classical christian school for 2 years (expensive), and now in classical charter school (free) where we homeschool 4 days a week and school 1-day a week.
Iryna Boehland my pleasure for doing the review! Cc has overall been a really great experience for us. My daughter started in 7th grade and now is in 8th. It's awesome for helping parents homeschool their kids but it's definitely a lot of work. If you decide to homeschool full time it's a great option. If I had your charter school as an option that would definitely be my choice! 😀
Thanks for sharing this. We have a CC group starting an hour away. Not sure it's worth the travel with the bad winters we have here. Hopefully one will start up closer to us.
The Homeschooling Grammy I’m so glad you found something helpful in my video. CC typically has Shadow days where you can come and check things out. CC was a great experience and led us to where we are now. I’ll be doing an update video soon. 😀
I'm looking into homeschooling and very interested in this program. Thanks for the review. Amazing that they learn the entire globe in geography. If I'm honest, my public education was sorely lacking in geography. We are in Alabama and the state is notorious for being 49th in the nation for education. Yesterday they announced ANOTHER overhaul of education. Cutting out critical resources and opportunities along with common core. It just feels like they are toying with my child's education and those critical 1st 6 years have been wasted. It's time to take this into our own hands. Classical conversations sounds like a good transition.
So sorry to hear about more education cuts in your state. We also lived in a state that performed poorly. Classical Conversations was a Godsend! It was not just great content but it held my hand and showed me the ropes of homeschooling in a structured environment. Make sure to attend a free CC practicum during the summer! :) It helps immensely.
I am in my first year of CC. But we have always homeschooled. I have a 9, 10, and 12 year old. Our first experience has been okay so far. I love the Challenge A program. I am still trying to decide about the Foundations Class. We go over everything here at home first so my kids already know all of the info when they go in... I am not sure it's worth the money to have someone "review" info my kids already know. So next year, we may just do Foundations here at home, since it's so easy to memorize for my kids. The Essentials program is great so far. I may be able to teach that as well by the end of the year. But I am so impressed with the Challenge program!!! 😊
Jenny, in tour experience do you think anew 12 year old can jump right into Challenge A? Or would it be better to do at least a year of Foundations/Essentials first? My daughter turned 12 last month and we haven’t done homeschooling before. She is not particularly advanced academically.
Fellow Catholic here and considering CC - what did you have an issue with in the statement of faith? I dont want to start something if it's going to be an issue later. Thanks!
Good review. I think some of the areas you struggled with wouldn't of been such an issue had she started in foundations. The latin and the geography along with the history. Thank you for the perspective as I am a tutor of my 6 yr olds class but trying to decide what I want to continue with for the next year.
Have you joined CC Connect? They provide seminars throughout the year for the parents. Also you can go back and look at past ones. My family has not made it to challenge yet but each stage builds on another. The Latin in the younger ages is a lot of fun. There are songs to go with a lot of the rules. Hope this helps.
mom of5 yep, I mentioned that in my video, but unfortunately it’s an additional cost. And I’m sure if we had done it in younger years it definitely would have made a difference. Overall, CC was a great experience!
Thank you Amber! This was very helpful. I am considering CC for my 12 year old daughter. It it our first year homeschooling. I am just trying to figure out if it would be better for her to do Foundations/Essentials this year rather than jumping straight into Challenge A. I am worried that she’ll be stressed since she doesn’t know the system or any of the memory work. She just turned 12 in July and she has struggled a little in school, especially in Math. What do you think?
Hi! My daughter was also new to cc in 7th and we started with challenge A. It definitely would have helped her had she known a lot of the systems. We had to scale latin waaay down. But she still did great! I would definitely recommend learning the timeline song and get the cc app to start learning memory work. 😀 let me know if it have any more questions! (P.s. she now is graduating from a classical high school and bc of CC she has done great!)
Great review! We just had our first year of CC with my daughter who is 5...so starting from the very beginning and taking it year by year. :) I’m so bummed to hear that you couldn’t tutor because you’re Catholic. I’m Protestant, but wouldn’t batt an eye if my daughter’s tutor was Catholic...or Baptist..or any other denomination. Really makes me sad for you because you seem like you’d be a great tutor and you seemed so gracious in your response to that.
Hi there! So is there an update for how your 2018 CC school year is coming along? We are also a Catholic family in the middle of our 5th year into it. I feel it’s time for a change ourselves. I’m just not sure what that is yet. My eldest started essentials this year. We are keeping that part for sure.
Hi there! Yes, I made a video called a New Season...Winds of Change that explains it all. Sadly, we no longer do CC, but its only because my daughter now goes to a Catholic Classical high school! I can't tell you how much it has enhanced the classical experience having it be combined with our faith. They teach theology, go to mass, and so much more that CC just didn't have. But I would not have changed doing CC for the world. My daughter was beyond prepared for this high school. I'd love to hear what you decide to do! :)
Have you heard of or have an opinion on Catholic Schoolhouse or Memoria Press? I'm in the process of discerning which classical program to follow for my 9,8, 6 and 4 year olds next year. I hear a lot of good stuff about CC but I'm Catholic as well and don't want to invest in a program if it's going to not be supportive of the faith I've instilled in my kids. Do you think that kids my age would be better off staying at home with another program like the aforementioned or is the CC community worth it, despite the faith issues you mentioned? Thanks!
Anne Gruber Hi there! Yes I’ve heard of both. I’d love to do Catholic Schoolhouse but there’s not a group near us. If there was, we’d go with them next year instead of CC. Memoria Press is fantastic-I know several Catholic homeschoolers who use their materials. I totally hear you on the discernment challenge. CC has been wonderful for us but they offer no theology/religion class which is important to us. They do weave the Bible into the strands, but it’s definitely not the Catholic Bible or Catechism. They have “catechism “ questions and answers but from a Protestant perspective. For us, our children being around their fellow Catholic friends is topping the list as a priority. So much so that we are leaning towards Catholic Classical schools. There are several other homeschool classical Catholic programs as well...St. Thomas Aquinas Academy, Classically Catholic Memory, Mother of Divine Grace, and Kolbe. Hope that helps! Keep me posted! 😉
Seasonal Living I know what you mean. We don’t have a community for classical Catholics homeschoolers either. That’s why I’m so tempted to use CC. We need some sort of socialization but is it worth it? That’s what I don’t know. It’s a lot of money to invest if I decide it’s not going to work in the long run and I’m so tired of buying books that I then don’t get the value out of. You know? Interesting you’re seeing the faith as a game changer for you. I’ll take that with me to prayer. It’s so hard to know what to do. Thank you for your post! God bless 😇
Anne Gruber I completely sympathize with you. You can always go in and shadow for a day or two at CC to get a feel for what it’s like. The socialization was important to us as well but unfortunately CC just isn’t cutting it, for two reasons-no fellowship with fellow Catholic students and also its only one day a week. Depending on your specific needs, CC can be a great option or not quite enough. I wish I could give you the right answer! Lol I’ll keep you in my prayers!
KMEvansRN you get community and someone guiding you through the process plus all the things in my pro list. Having not grown up with this method, I could not have done it alone. For me, it was well worth the money. 🙂
Thank you for the reminder to be aware of non-Protestants in our communities! Cycle 2 the Medieval Ages and Reformation is coming up (Foundations). We don’t want to discredit modern day Catholics who love Jesus! But if our Challenge age children can own their faith so comfortably to discuss and respect their peers’ denominations, that’s what we all want!
I am also dont feel good about religion. We are christian orthodox and we are not on the same page with protestants. Latin is a big no, its going to be our 3rd lg. I was really looking forward to cc. Its big in Russia .
Lexie Robinson Yes, it was. Although I saw that as a sign from God that we were meant to move on and explore more of our Catholic faith. In the end, it has all worked out! ❤️
