8/7/14
I'm breaking from my nightly Ebay packaging ritual to do a little personal post about a significant change in our homeschool journey. It is rare during these days of summer, but I have posted about Classical Conversations throughout my blogging journey, though some posts were private since they had pictures. Now that the door to CC is closed, I want to bring it all full circle.
I've been selling a lot of old Classical Conversations materials of late, as well as loads of other items. My flash cards from our first year in the program, which happened to be cycle 3, will go out tomorrow. My oldest was in 2nd grade for her first year of Foundations, though we had her at 3rd grade for her other work at home. She memory mastered, and this was when Bible was taught by the tutor in the classroom and Bible was required for MM. I'd give her tutor's name but haven't asked her if I can, but she sure was a jewel. It was the start of 6 years wrought with friendship, learning, growth, and support. Many families came to the program because of my telling them about it and supporting them. Tutoring was a joy to me, and I'd gotten to where I wanted to tutor Essentials even. That was the creme De la creme for me personally; my understanding of grammar really grew during those 6 years and I looked forward to the challenge. I even had an offer to tutor it, which made me feel good. The students were a pleasure to work with, I loved the moms, and my kids had great friends. I chose to tutor on and off so I could keep my finger on the pulse of the program and my children's lives. In short, we were a fully invested family.
The program gave us a helpful framework with which to work out the rest of our academic week, but when it came time to evaluate Challenge, it was just not challenging enough for our student. We start Latin in elementary school, and our goal is Algebra I in 8th grade, so off the bat 2 subjects weren't going to align by the time we reached 7th grade. Having been saved out of Catholicism, Henle Latin just would not be a suitable consideration for us anyway. We also like to have Logic taken in 7th grade to help with Algebra, and to reason through the life situations and knowledge that happen at that time of life. It was hard to realize the reason we'd begun CC was actually the reason that student of ours didn't continue with the program.
In time the Lord revealed we needed to end our time in CC all together, so it happened that our oldest memory mastered 5 times, our middle student did 4 times, and our youngest only did 1 time. I'd had enough of the time lost in order to accomplish memory master, so for our last year in the program I actually told my 2 enrolled kids they were not allowed to go for it. Sounds crazy, but it is a lot of work and I needed a break. I also wanted them to focus on other things academically. I still required them to know the material, including Bible, but there was no need to go for perfection.
I didn't feel like it was impacting me- not getting ready for CC this year- but as I packaged up memories tonight, the reality of the most important chapter of my homeschool life closing, hit me. The reality of not being able to reopen a life-chapter is real. This is one of the difficult parts of raising children, programs changing, and the Lord leading in a new direction. We can't go back--my kids are older for one thing, and I don't want us to be going in different directions one day a week for another school year. Because of academics and extra curricular activities, the weeks were jam-packed last year and the kids and I never got to be together learning and having fun. At this point, losing an entire school day is unnecessary for us to know the memory work. My kids know how to memorize effectively on their own, and while they won't do presentations weekly, we can do them several times on our own and get plenty of practice.
Never having my kids in public or private school, I feel strongly about them being in a solid Christian environment for learning while they are young. I want them to bond and form friendships without worry they will be bonding with someone who believes in evolution, is Mormon, or is Catholic. As adults they will witness to such people, but as kids, my hope is for them to form relationships with people who will one day be the counselors they'll go to when they need advice (wise counselors) as Scripture says. I want them to hear and see adults defend the truth of God's word when it is challenged so what we are teaching at home is validated and re-enforced. While I love opportunities to share the truth, a homeschool educational group is not the forum I'm interested in doing that because that place is for my kids to be nurtured, encouraged in the truth, and to have the truth modeled by the adults they see. I don't have to pay for opportunities for my kids to rub elbows with the lost, that happens for free all the time.
In spite of the pain tonight, I know God will provide what we all need. I guess this is what trust sometimes feels like.
May I walk the narrow path, showing my children what it means to have Christian unity~
I'm breaking from my nightly Ebay packaging ritual to do a little personal post about a significant change in our homeschool journey. It is rare during these days of summer, but I have posted about Classical Conversations throughout my blogging journey, though some posts were private since they had pictures. Now that the door to CC is closed, I want to bring it all full circle.
I've been selling a lot of old Classical Conversations materials of late, as well as loads of other items. My flash cards from our first year in the program, which happened to be cycle 3, will go out tomorrow. My oldest was in 2nd grade for her first year of Foundations, though we had her at 3rd grade for her other work at home. She memory mastered, and this was when Bible was taught by the tutor in the classroom and Bible was required for MM. I'd give her tutor's name but haven't asked her if I can, but she sure was a jewel. It was the start of 6 years wrought with friendship, learning, growth, and support. Many families came to the program because of my telling them about it and supporting them. Tutoring was a joy to me, and I'd gotten to where I wanted to tutor Essentials even. That was the creme De la creme for me personally; my understanding of grammar really grew during those 6 years and I looked forward to the challenge. I even had an offer to tutor it, which made me feel good. The students were a pleasure to work with, I loved the moms, and my kids had great friends. I chose to tutor on and off so I could keep my finger on the pulse of the program and my children's lives. In short, we were a fully invested family.
The program gave us a helpful framework with which to work out the rest of our academic week, but when it came time to evaluate Challenge, it was just not challenging enough for our student. We start Latin in elementary school, and our goal is Algebra I in 8th grade, so off the bat 2 subjects weren't going to align by the time we reached 7th grade. Having been saved out of Catholicism, Henle Latin just would not be a suitable consideration for us anyway. We also like to have Logic taken in 7th grade to help with Algebra, and to reason through the life situations and knowledge that happen at that time of life. It was hard to realize the reason we'd begun CC was actually the reason that student of ours didn't continue with the program.
In time the Lord revealed we needed to end our time in CC all together, so it happened that our oldest memory mastered 5 times, our middle student did 4 times, and our youngest only did 1 time. I'd had enough of the time lost in order to accomplish memory master, so for our last year in the program I actually told my 2 enrolled kids they were not allowed to go for it. Sounds crazy, but it is a lot of work and I needed a break. I also wanted them to focus on other things academically. I still required them to know the material, including Bible, but there was no need to go for perfection.
I didn't feel like it was impacting me- not getting ready for CC this year- but as I packaged up memories tonight, the reality of the most important chapter of my homeschool life closing, hit me. The reality of not being able to reopen a life-chapter is real. This is one of the difficult parts of raising children, programs changing, and the Lord leading in a new direction. We can't go back--my kids are older for one thing, and I don't want us to be going in different directions one day a week for another school year. Because of academics and extra curricular activities, the weeks were jam-packed last year and the kids and I never got to be together learning and having fun. At this point, losing an entire school day is unnecessary for us to know the memory work. My kids know how to memorize effectively on their own, and while they won't do presentations weekly, we can do them several times on our own and get plenty of practice.
Never having my kids in public or private school, I feel strongly about them being in a solid Christian environment for learning while they are young. I want them to bond and form friendships without worry they will be bonding with someone who believes in evolution, is Mormon, or is Catholic. As adults they will witness to such people, but as kids, my hope is for them to form relationships with people who will one day be the counselors they'll go to when they need advice (wise counselors) as Scripture says. I want them to hear and see adults defend the truth of God's word when it is challenged so what we are teaching at home is validated and re-enforced. While I love opportunities to share the truth, a homeschool educational group is not the forum I'm interested in doing that because that place is for my kids to be nurtured, encouraged in the truth, and to have the truth modeled by the adults they see. I don't have to pay for opportunities for my kids to rub elbows with the lost, that happens for free all the time.
In spite of the pain tonight, I know God will provide what we all need. I guess this is what trust sometimes feels like.
May I walk the narrow path, showing my children what it means to have Christian unity~
Wisdom: "I want them to bond and form friendships without worry they will be bonding with someone who believes in evolution, is Mormon, or is Catholic." Certainly, adulthood brings ample opportunity to witness after our children are firmly rooted in their faith. Years back at ages 8 and 9 we joined a group that required parents sign a statement as to our Christian faith, however, weeks into this while on a trip the girls first encounter was with a family of Buddhist. We did not return.
ReplyDeleteAgree this is not an issue for adults but sowing the Word into their precious, tender hearts is of the utmost importance. God will bless He always does! On a side note, glad you're back I enjoy the delicious recipes! Already salivating in anticipation of Autumn: Pumpkin soup, Acorn squash with milk, butter and a dash of cinnamon - a family fav in our home.
You are such an encouragement to me. I really appreciate you taking time to write. I hope and pray things are going well there. I appreciate your friendship and that we'll meet in the Kingdom one day. God bless you, and thank you again. Blessings to you and yours
ReplyDelete