Thawing Out From Christmas Break CC Style

Christmas 2014

Our Christmas break is over, and it is time to get back on the road with new CC (Classical Conversations) studies. We started back on week 13 in CC and got the tempo started back up in our house. Our first day back to co-op was a bit rocky but full of excitement. Getting up earlier than our normal time and heading out the door was a little hard. But, knowing that friends would be there helped kick start the day.

What we thought was us running late, or as my oldest sister calls it "Jarnagan Time" was just us being full of excitement.. We got to co-op with about 15-20 minutes to spare. So we settled into our seat, talked with some friends, and waited for our morning announcements. Once we were done, we headed back to class to listen to our tutor teach us about this weeks lessons.

After class was done we headed off to have lunch and let the kids play with their friends. We caught up with friends that came for the day to see what our co-op was like, and talked with friends we hadn't seen over Christmas break. We talked about who was going to the seminar the following night and about how things had been going. Normal chit chat that moms do, you could say..

The next night came and it was time to head off to the seminar. This was my first ever CC seminar and boy was it filling. It consisted of some moms from each of the three CC campuses in our area. We had so much fun, there were times where laughter could be heard down the hall from our meeting room. The amount of information I left there with was awesome! I'll fill you in on some of what I left with.

To start off here are a few verses to check out for inspiration in your homeschool journey. These are from ESV Bible.
Deuteronomy 6: 7: "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."
Colossians 2: 6-8: "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abound in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirtis of the world, and not according to Christ."
2 Corinthians 12:9: "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
1 Samuel: The story of Hannah.
I pray that these scriptures have lifted you up as they have me, and that your cup is filling up and is ready to run over with the blessings that Christ has to offer.

After our reading of scripture and prayer we talked about the different stages of CC. Since our family is in the first stage of CC which is the Grammar stage, my notes gear more with that. We talked about how at this early stage things should be kept simple. It reminded me of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) which I was taught growing up. With CC this just means to focus on the memory work, don't try to dig deeper than that. This stage is meant to put "pegs" in for them the "hang" more information that comes later on. Also don't stress the small things, they will get it. By reviewing 6 weeks worth of information at a time, you give their brain time to absorb things and not get over loaded or bogged down. Along side teaching the skill of memorizing, you should also trust that the memory work is enough. The only thing that we as homeschool parents have to add with CC memory work is math and language arts. This is also why you should not overwhelm yourself or your kids with more than they need with memory work.

If they don't seem to be getting it, just give it time. My oldest has those times where her skip counting takes a little bit more time, but when she gets it WOW! She is super excited and is ready for her high five from mommy. Another too, don't think that reviewing memory work has to be boring or monotonous. Do like one of the moms in our CC community does, have Ninja review. Her boys act like Ninjas as they do review and with every correct subjects review they can get louder and louder; then it is back to super quite like Ninjas again. So have fun with it.. Let your kids give you ideas and run with that. School doesn't have the be 'School', have it in the sun outside doing something fun that gets extra energy out.

If your child is struggling with their math or reading or phonics work, don't stress. Give them time, some studies have showed that kids don't fully understand somethings until they are an certain age. So, read aloud with your kids with books that are above and below their grade level. Let them have free time to read on their own and play. You may be surprised to hear them singing some of the memory work or acting out their History sentence with toys.