Everyday Educator - Faces of History: A Good Time for All
00:00:00.000 | (soft music)
00:00:02.420 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:06.180 | of the Everyday Educator podcast.
00:00:08.820 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:10.540 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:13.900 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:17.460 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:20.300 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:23.780 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:26.060 | this homeschooling possibility
00:00:28.040 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:31.920 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:35.520 | But don't forget,
00:00:36.860 | although this online community is awesome,
00:00:40.300 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:45.280 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:49.720 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:53.760 | Well, listeners, it is that time of year.
00:00:56.820 | We are buckling down.
00:00:58.980 | We are back into the midst of our studies.
00:01:01.580 | We are immersed in science fair projects
00:01:04.940 | and the beginning of mock trial,
00:01:07.940 | the coming up on are we gonna go from memory master or not
00:01:11.580 | in foundations and in essentials.
00:01:14.340 | We are coming up on the Faces of History project.
00:01:18.860 | I feel like a lot of you listeners
00:01:21.420 | have a love relationship with Faces of History
00:01:25.660 | because it can be a lot of fun
00:01:27.700 | for you and for your students.
00:01:29.660 | But I think that probably some of our new listeners
00:01:33.460 | have a little trepidation when it comes to Faces of History,
00:01:37.060 | wondering what is this exactly?
00:01:40.260 | How can I best help my child?
00:01:42.900 | And honestly, can my child really do this?
00:01:45.780 | And so I have as my guest today
00:01:48.980 | one of our academic advisors, Courtney Bradshaw,
00:01:54.500 | and she is going to share some big encouragement
00:01:58.140 | with you parents as you prepare your child
00:02:02.920 | to participate in Faces of History.
00:02:05.620 | Courtney, thank you so much for sharing today.
00:02:08.620 | - Thank you for having me, Lisa.
00:02:09.820 | I'm excited to be here.
00:02:11.520 | - I'm excited to hear what you have to share.
00:02:15.100 | I have seen some amazing Faces of History projects
00:02:20.100 | come through over the years.
00:02:23.560 | Sometimes I see them on the Facebook page
00:02:26.580 | and sometimes even on the YouTube channel
00:02:28.660 | and in my own community.
00:02:30.920 | And I watch these kids have a blast doing this.
00:02:35.920 | And I also, I'll be honest,
00:02:38.320 | I watch some parents start out very nervous
00:02:43.240 | about the whole process.
00:02:44.980 | So I want us to talk all the details
00:02:49.240 | of the Faces of History project.
00:02:51.640 | And I think that you are going to be able
00:02:54.000 | to help us see the delight in it,
00:02:56.820 | both from the parent perspective
00:02:58.860 | and from the kids' perspective.
00:03:00.760 | So I want to start out.
00:03:01.700 | I want to just lay the foundation
00:03:03.500 | 'cause some of our listeners might not be
00:03:06.460 | part of the Essentials Program yet.
00:03:09.680 | And they're just kind of looking forward.
00:03:12.360 | What's ahead, what's my child?
00:03:14.100 | So they may not know very much.
00:03:15.940 | Give us the purpose of the Faces of History project
00:03:20.680 | for students.
00:03:22.360 | - Well, the Faces of History project
00:03:24.420 | is the capstone event for the Essentials Program.
00:03:29.420 | This is where we celebrate students
00:03:32.280 | for all that they have learned throughout the year
00:03:34.940 | in their writing abilities.
00:03:38.140 | So they will take all the things they've learned to research
00:03:42.740 | and write a five-paragraph essay
00:03:45.100 | about a particular person in history.
00:03:50.000 | And then they will present that to their community,
00:03:55.000 | as their families, or it can be a big event.
00:03:59.820 | Sometimes it can be small, depending on the community.
00:04:03.100 | But the main purpose is that five-paragraph essay
00:04:07.820 | and learning to do a research paper.
00:04:10.460 | And then it's to celebrate the students
00:04:13.060 | and what they've learned.
00:04:13.900 | - Oh, my goodness.
00:04:15.260 | - Yes.
00:04:18.140 | - My goodness.
00:04:19.100 | Okay, so some, I can picture it now,
00:04:21.840 | some of our listeners are saying,
00:04:24.460 | a five-paragraph essay, a research paper,
00:04:29.020 | but don't you understand?
00:04:30.400 | My child is nine years old, or 10 years old,
00:04:34.760 | or my child is a beginning writer.
00:04:37.700 | It sounds amazing.
00:04:42.320 | And I especially love what you said,
00:04:47.120 | the purpose of celebrating our students
00:04:51.280 | and the growth they've experienced through the years,
00:04:55.860 | through the year.
00:04:57.000 | So parents, listeners, if you are freaking out right now,
00:05:02.520 | just take a deep breath and calm your heart.
00:05:06.120 | And we're gonna walk through that a little bit more.
00:05:08.920 | But I wanted you to know at the outset,
00:05:11.760 | what is this all about?
00:05:13.160 | I love it.
00:05:14.000 | So we're celebrating the students' growth
00:05:15.720 | in writing by letting them,
00:05:18.600 | well, so all the elements are what?
00:05:21.840 | You enumerate them better than I do, Courtney.
00:05:23.880 | Tell me all the elements of the project.
00:05:26.600 | - Well, the elements of the project are,
00:05:29.240 | to begin with, would be writing the five-paragraph essay,
00:05:33.440 | which they have learned throughout the year.
00:05:35.680 | This isn't something we're springing on them right away.
00:05:38.500 | They've built to this through their writing
00:05:42.760 | and the Essentials Program.
00:05:44.440 | - Yes.
00:05:45.560 | - And then if you choose to do this,
00:05:48.540 | it is an optional project.
00:05:51.100 | If they choose to do this,
00:05:52.140 | they may present their character or the paper,
00:05:55.720 | whether it be by reading their paper
00:05:58.600 | or by choosing to use an outline or a memorized speech
00:06:03.600 | to tell what they have learned in their research.
00:06:09.760 | - Now, I know that some families
00:06:14.440 | and some communities get kind of elaborate,
00:06:18.080 | and I understand, like I had,
00:06:21.080 | especially one of my daughters was way into
00:06:24.600 | pretending to be different characters,
00:06:28.960 | and she would really get into it.
00:06:30.780 | So she wanted costumes and props and all of that.
00:06:35.780 | Is that part of Faces of History?
00:06:39.800 | - It can be, but yes.
00:06:42.480 | When we are presenting, a lot of times the students
00:06:45.020 | like to dress up as their character and bring a prop.
00:06:50.020 | Sometimes they might even do a tri-fold board to help.
00:06:55.120 | It depends on the way that they choose to present,
00:06:58.600 | because different communities present their characters
00:07:02.040 | in different ways.
00:07:02.880 | Sometimes it is on stage, in front of an entire group.
00:07:07.880 | Sometimes it may be a wax museum,
00:07:12.280 | where people come around to different characters
00:07:15.840 | at different times.
00:07:17.760 | So depending on how the community
00:07:20.040 | is celebrating Faces of History
00:07:21.680 | will depend on how much the student may want to do,
00:07:25.440 | whether an elaborate prop is not for everybody,
00:07:30.120 | but it can be nice and it can be fun.
00:07:33.340 | I know my daughter, she and her character
00:07:36.000 | based on the costume that she found
00:07:38.800 | before we ever even started.
00:07:42.200 | - Yes.
00:07:43.320 | You know what, and that is,
00:07:44.880 | thank you for being honest about that,
00:07:46.600 | 'cause sometimes you do let the props drive the choice,
00:07:51.240 | and that can be fine.
00:07:53.680 | I mean, usually do children,
00:07:58.680 | do the students themselves choose?
00:08:02.160 | Well, I know that that's part of what parents
00:08:08.120 | might help their kids to do.
00:08:11.120 | When do families usually start working on Faces of History?
00:08:16.120 | - Well, the Faces of History project
00:08:19.120 | is at the end of the year,
00:08:20.880 | usually between weeks 19 and 21
00:08:23.700 | is when you really buckle down
00:08:26.520 | and start working on Faces of History.
00:08:29.540 | However, a lot of times, starting now,
00:08:34.600 | over the break, the winter break,
00:08:36.440 | or even beginning, now that we're getting back
00:08:40.200 | into the groove of essentials,
00:08:42.840 | they will pick their character
00:08:44.580 | and then begin getting to know that character
00:08:46.520 | through books and through their research.
00:08:49.680 | So that's when it begins, when you start it,
00:08:52.940 | but nobody's late if they have not
00:08:55.160 | even picked a character yet at this point.
00:08:57.320 | - Yes, that is what I wanted to drill down to.
00:09:02.320 | What if we haven't started late?
00:09:05.120 | Are we just totally behind the eight ball?
00:09:08.640 | Is it too late for us?
00:09:10.840 | That's very encouraging, Courtney.
00:09:14.520 | So maybe what parents do now
00:09:19.520 | is start asking their children
00:09:24.640 | if there's somebody they're interested in.
00:09:27.040 | How do kids choose their subjects?
00:09:30.720 | - Well, a lot of times, communities will focus
00:09:35.840 | on the particular cycle that you're in and foundations.
00:09:39.360 | So they may find something from the cycle
00:09:43.400 | of somebody that they have studied
00:09:45.640 | or somebody from that time period.
00:09:49.320 | So like with cycle three, it's a US history focus
00:09:54.320 | and geography focus.
00:09:57.480 | And so they might discover somebody from the United States
00:10:02.800 | that they would like to learn more about.
00:10:06.120 | They also might would pick from someone
00:10:08.320 | in the great artists or a composer that we study,
00:10:13.440 | maybe a famous inventor that does something
00:10:18.080 | with the science focus that we have for that year,
00:10:22.280 | for that cycle.
00:10:23.880 | But really, it's about who the child is interested
00:10:28.560 | in learning more about, because we know
00:10:31.520 | that if a child is interested,
00:10:33.360 | then they are going to enjoy the whole process a lot more.
00:10:38.360 | They're gonna enjoy learning more about this person
00:10:43.800 | and dressing up if they choose to do that.
00:10:46.440 | It's just gonna make things easier for parents
00:10:49.520 | when the child is interested.
00:10:54.200 | But the parent has the final say.
00:10:56.640 | They are the teacher of their child
00:10:58.240 | and they have the final say as to who the child will
00:11:01.920 | choose to research or not.
00:11:05.760 | - I like it that you remind us that as parents,
00:11:10.520 | we are the teacher at home.
00:11:12.920 | And so no matter what suggestions the tutor might offer
00:11:17.600 | in community or what other families are doing,
00:11:21.440 | that the parent does have the final say.
00:11:25.280 | So what are some of the considerations for us as parents
00:11:30.280 | to keep in mind when we are helping our children
00:11:37.680 | choose the object of their research?
00:11:42.480 | - This is a great question.
00:11:44.400 | One of the things that is important for faces of history
00:11:49.400 | and for students to be successful, really,
00:11:53.080 | is that you wanna choose sources that are at
00:11:58.080 | or below their reading level, if possible.
00:12:01.120 | So sometimes it's not easy to find a source
00:12:05.960 | that would fall into that category
00:12:08.480 | or someone that your student has chosen.
00:12:12.680 | So you may have to kind of guide them
00:12:15.440 | based on the sources that you're able to find.
00:12:18.120 | That's one thing I think that's important
00:12:22.120 | to think through.
00:12:23.360 | And then also, as an adult, we know that sometimes
00:12:28.360 | things in our histories, in people's histories,
00:12:33.320 | are not always something that we want to look into.
00:12:37.520 | And so you wanna be able to guide,
00:12:40.040 | okay, well, this is somebody that reflects
00:12:43.640 | what I want them to learn at this time.
00:12:45.600 | And maybe even has the characteristics
00:12:49.680 | or shows the values or virtues that I would like
00:12:52.960 | for them to take from taking a deep dive
00:12:57.240 | into someone's history.
00:13:00.760 | - That is really insightful.
00:13:04.640 | I really appreciate you doing that.
00:13:06.680 | It's so easy for our kids to see a flashy representation
00:13:11.680 | of a character, whether it's in a book
00:13:19.440 | or a story that somebody else has told
00:13:21.720 | or a Disney movie or something that they see on television
00:13:25.920 | that you know might not be representing the whole story
00:13:29.320 | and that there may, when you do a deeper dive,
00:13:33.680 | as you say, into the research, some things may surface
00:13:38.680 | that cause more consternation or concern
00:13:42.600 | for the student than you want to deal with.
00:13:45.840 | I think that's really smart.
00:13:47.880 | And I do love the wisdom.
00:13:50.520 | There is so much wisdom in parents thinking
00:13:53.960 | through your child's choice.
00:13:56.880 | Am I gonna be able to find information about this person,
00:14:01.880 | like you said, on the child's level?
00:14:06.440 | And I do understand that parents could do some
00:14:10.720 | of the reading on the child's behalf and condense it.
00:14:14.800 | - But by and large, what you're teaching the child to do,
00:14:18.400 | right, is their own research.
00:14:21.720 | - Yes, and parents can help so much.
00:14:25.520 | I know there have been times that my own students
00:14:29.000 | have chosen a character and we just either did not have
00:14:34.000 | the time to read every book that they were using
00:14:39.560 | or we chose a little bit of a larger book.
00:14:44.400 | Sometimes you choose a character that they're only mentioned
00:14:48.720 | a little bit in the actual research.
00:14:53.720 | And so I have just made copies or pointed out the chapter,
00:14:58.640 | said this works really well with your topic.
00:15:02.240 | Let's condense the information for you.
00:15:05.160 | So it is possible to do that.
00:15:07.240 | And that's where parents are there to help.
00:15:10.480 | We can't help them too much, as they say.
00:15:14.080 | - Right.
00:15:14.920 | - Yeah, especially because, all right,
00:15:19.440 | let's put the framework on it.
00:15:20.720 | These are essentials students.
00:15:22.840 | So how old, generally, what's the guideline?
00:15:27.200 | What's the guideline, Courtney, for the age
00:15:29.680 | of the students who are participating?
00:15:32.320 | - These students are ages nine to 11 or 12.
00:15:36.640 | So that's kind of like fourth through sixth grade-ish,
00:15:41.040 | which are not, it's not nice and verbal here.
00:15:45.080 | - Right, exactly.
00:15:46.840 | So parents, remember that your children are not used
00:15:50.360 | to doing research papers,
00:15:52.480 | like you're thinking about, probably.
00:15:55.800 | And so the fun part of this is going to the library,
00:16:00.800 | looking for books about this character that they've chosen.
00:16:10.440 | And you, as the parent, know that, here's the truth,
00:16:14.440 | there's probably not a dozen whole books
00:16:18.920 | on the character that you have chosen,
00:16:21.000 | or likely there won't be in your library.
00:16:23.920 | So this is a cool opportunity for parents to say,
00:16:28.240 | well, you know, there's not a whole book on Dolley Madison.
00:16:33.240 | But if we looked in a book about American history,
00:16:39.040 | and they, and let me show you, we could look in the index,
00:16:43.840 | and if we find her name, we know that there's something
00:16:46.600 | about her in this book.
00:16:48.520 | So it's a great beginning to help students
00:16:52.480 | go really down to the nitty-gritty level,
00:16:56.160 | but then also to back out and look at a book
00:17:00.800 | or a resource that might be broader than they think
00:17:05.240 | is going to be helpful, and show them how
00:17:08.080 | there might be mentions of characters in a book
00:17:11.400 | about another subject even.
00:17:13.960 | - Yes, absolutely.
00:17:16.200 | It also gives us a chance as a community to help each other,
00:17:20.360 | because I may not have a book about my son's voice,
00:17:24.880 | but my friend might, and I might have something
00:17:28.780 | that they are using, and so we share.
00:17:32.520 | That helps that if we cannot find it at the library,
00:17:36.560 | we don't have to necessarily purchase a book
00:17:38.920 | unless we really need it for our library at home.
00:17:42.420 | So then we can work together within community.
00:17:47.320 | Also, we do a lot, in my home, we use
00:17:50.960 | the classical acts and facts timeline cards,
00:17:53.760 | or the science cards, or the ones for art and music,
00:17:58.760 | and those are great places to find information
00:18:05.680 | about your character.
00:18:08.200 | - And see, that might be one of those things
00:18:10.200 | that your kids don't think of right away.
00:18:12.920 | They are so one-track sometimes, they just want,
00:18:18.400 | they think they've got to go and find one book
00:18:20.960 | that has this person's name on it,
00:18:22.800 | and they forget that they have learned or heard
00:18:26.480 | about this person, like you said,
00:18:29.200 | in their classical acts and facts cards,
00:18:31.480 | or maybe in a scientist card, and so we are,
00:18:34.760 | as parents, one of the things that we can help
00:18:37.020 | our students do is learn how to think through
00:18:40.880 | their research materials and their options.
00:18:44.700 | So let me ask you this, Courtney, what are some good,
00:18:47.960 | if I'm a beginning parent and I've never done
00:18:51.140 | Faces of History before, and I mean, to me,
00:18:55.780 | I look at it and it looks like an elephant, okay?
00:18:58.480 | I don't know how to eat an elephant,
00:19:00.080 | I'm not sure how to get started,
00:19:02.180 | what are some good mile posts that I as a parent
00:19:07.180 | can have in mind that will help us stay on track
00:19:12.200 | with this project?
00:19:13.540 | - Yeah, so we eat an elephant one bite at a time, right?
00:19:18.160 | And that was, and isn't that what we are taught?
00:19:21.380 | And so in, actually in the Learning Center on CC Connected,
00:19:26.380 | there is a Faces of History parent packet
00:19:29.680 | that gives a timeline for parents and students
00:19:33.140 | to walk through to know how, what we should be doing when.
00:19:38.080 | And so really right now, a milestone is let's pick
00:19:42.520 | our character and maybe find one good source
00:19:47.100 | that your student could read or that you could
00:19:49.040 | be reading together.
00:19:50.420 | When you get closer to doing Unit 8 within your community,
00:19:57.480 | which is usually between Weeks 19 and 21,
00:20:00.680 | then you should have, we use three sources is the goal.
00:20:06.960 | And so you wanna gather the sources
00:20:10.760 | and that's a good one before you start.
00:20:14.700 | And then follow the steps that you want to earn
00:20:18.960 | in Units 6 and 7 to put this together as the paper.
00:20:24.720 | So the paper itself, the five paragraph essay
00:20:28.000 | is the first thing that needs to be done
00:20:30.960 | before thinking about the presentation.
00:20:34.120 | So once we get that five paragraph essay completed,
00:20:38.280 | then you go back to the essay and actually it is suggested
00:20:43.280 | to write a keyword outline from your paper for the presentation.
00:20:50.880 | So if they're going to present from the outline,
00:20:55.880 | that's one way to do that.
00:20:57.960 | But find your character, pick some sources,
00:21:02.480 | begin to get to know your character through those sources.
00:21:05.680 | And then there's, you write, follow the Unit 8,
00:21:10.680 | the Unit 6 and Unit 7 and 8 outlines as to what you do.
00:21:15.440 | So you break that down with three topics
00:21:18.540 | and then an intro and conclusion for that paper.
00:21:23.540 | - Boy, see, that sounds like I can feel
00:21:26.760 | my blood pressure going down as a new parent.
00:21:30.160 | I think, okay, those are steps that I could follow.
00:21:34.280 | I understand what those words mean
00:21:36.440 | and I can help my child work the program, work the outline.
00:21:41.440 | That's really good.
00:21:42.660 | That is in itself encouraging, I think,
00:21:48.240 | to parents.
00:21:49.320 | Okay, here's what I want to know.
00:21:51.760 | I want to know what is my student learning
00:21:56.760 | by doing this project?
00:21:58.720 | Because if it's going to be hard
00:22:02.480 | or if my student's going to balk at it,
00:22:04.980 | or if my student's going to be really excited,
00:22:08.380 | I want to know what is going to come of this?
00:22:12.220 | What is my student going to learn?
00:22:13.780 | What skills are being strengthened?
00:22:18.020 | - Oh, this is a great question
00:22:19.320 | because don't we get those questions,
00:22:21.220 | why do I need to know this so many times as a parent?
00:22:24.820 | Or I do. - Yes.
00:22:26.240 | - Anyway, so the five paragraph essay,
00:22:30.460 | any kind of research will follow them
00:22:33.740 | throughout their entire academic career.
00:22:36.500 | And this is the ground words,
00:22:41.380 | the skeleton of any research paper that they will do.
00:22:46.140 | And so they're learning that skill, first of all.
00:22:50.020 | They're also honing their skill of presentation.
00:22:53.260 | We work on that in foundations.
00:22:55.940 | They really get to shine in that time
00:22:59.740 | during essentials with their presentation skills.
00:23:03.820 | But even beyond that, Lisa,
00:23:06.820 | they are working on the skills of invention,
00:23:11.220 | where they're walking through and discovering
00:23:15.780 | who their character is
00:23:18.060 | and how their character affected those around them.
00:23:23.060 | And they learn more about the history
00:23:26.740 | of all the things that are going around
00:23:29.460 | are happening during that time.
00:23:31.620 | And they are working and learning
00:23:34.040 | and utilizing their skills of rhetoric.
00:23:36.500 | Even at nine years old, they're learning to arrange
00:23:39.860 | and they are choosing the best way to present.
00:23:42.540 | And so that's the skill of elocution.
00:23:44.460 | And delivery used in really leaning into that storytelling
00:23:49.460 | that they are so good at at this age.
00:23:54.900 | - That's true.
00:23:56.780 | Man, this is all so good.
00:24:00.700 | And I think it helps us as parents
00:24:02.860 | to realize that this is a lot of fun.
00:24:07.860 | It could look like a lot of work,
00:24:14.300 | but how much your student is gaining.
00:24:18.020 | They are building all of these skills
00:24:21.300 | a little bit at a time by doing something that's very fun
00:24:26.300 | that they get lots of help with.
00:24:29.660 | And one thing I will tell you,
00:24:31.180 | one thing that I think Faces of History
00:24:33.460 | builds into students is confidence.
00:24:37.500 | I have seen some kids come off the stage
00:24:42.420 | from their presentation.
00:24:44.340 | I mean, and this has happened with kids in my own family
00:24:48.020 | who were not showmen at heart,
00:24:51.340 | but really gave themselves to the project
00:24:54.380 | and came off the stage just beaming
00:24:57.580 | that they had made it through this presentation
00:25:00.700 | and had a good time doing it.
00:25:02.540 | And it went well and people ask questions and people clapped
00:25:06.380 | and people thought they did a great job
00:25:08.780 | and their confidence just shot up.
00:25:11.300 | Absolutely, absolutely.
00:25:14.100 | We had a student one year early on in my CC career
00:25:19.100 | who she began classical conversations and foundations
00:25:25.380 | as a five-year-old and she whispered every presentation
00:25:28.540 | to her mom at the beginning.
00:25:32.780 | But when she gave her last Faces of History presentation,
00:25:37.100 | she was Queen Victoria and gave it
00:25:41.700 | in a full British accent in a memorized presentation.
00:25:46.620 | And it was phenomenal.
00:25:48.580 | The growth that we see--
00:25:51.860 | It is so cool to see.
00:25:54.740 | It is.
00:25:55.580 | Yes, the growth.
00:25:58.060 | Yes.
00:25:58.900 | I think that is so cool.
00:26:00.820 | And you know that little girl is just beaming.
00:26:03.700 | That is so neat.
00:26:04.620 | Okay, what about like first young students,
00:26:09.620 | maybe they just turned nine, they're on the young end
00:26:14.860 | or this is their first time.
00:26:16.740 | Is there any way to scale the Faces of History project?
00:26:21.740 | Yes, absolutely.
00:26:24.380 | One of the ways that I would suggest scaling
00:26:27.460 | would be to pick two topics instead of three
00:26:31.300 | so that this might would be a four paragraph essay
00:26:34.020 | instead of a five.
00:26:35.220 | That way they have a little bit less to look through.
00:26:40.420 | Again, like I said, with parents helping to point out,
00:26:45.420 | hey, this chapter goes really well
00:26:47.540 | with one of your topics,
00:26:49.900 | even helping them to find the facts as needed.
00:26:53.380 | That's what I do with my students,
00:26:57.100 | especially when I had two in there at the same time.
00:27:00.460 | I had one third year in the first year.
00:27:03.820 | So sometimes you want to make sure to help
00:27:07.780 | so that they don't feel in competition with their sibling
00:27:10.420 | or something like that.
00:27:12.180 | But less facts maybe to really try to summarize it
00:27:18.100 | a little bit easier.
00:27:19.260 | So we don't have to have 10 sentence paragraphs,
00:27:23.860 | we might have a five sentence paragraph.
00:27:27.540 | They can make their paragraph.
00:27:28.860 | Yes, yes.
00:27:30.700 | Yes, and then also give them a chance with,
00:27:35.700 | pick their top three to five things that they loved,
00:27:40.780 | that they learned,
00:27:42.100 | that they thought was the most interesting
00:27:44.300 | from their research to deliver
00:27:46.900 | during their presentation time.
00:27:48.860 | This presentation does not have to last five minutes long.
00:27:53.100 | It can be a very gentle way to approach that.
00:27:57.900 | It's scary as a nine year old to stand,
00:28:00.780 | it's scary as a 42 year old,
00:28:02.740 | sometimes to stand up in front of a large group of people,
00:28:06.860 | and deliver something that you've researched.
00:28:09.540 | It's nice to be able to help them
00:28:14.540 | to pick just a few things that they might want to say,
00:28:18.260 | especially if they're trying to memorize a speech.
00:28:21.900 | It's not required to memorize it.
00:28:24.580 | So that's a good way to scale it,
00:28:27.020 | or even to just pick two sources instead of three,
00:28:30.380 | if that's a little bit too much.
00:28:32.980 | I have found even third years,
00:28:34.860 | at least in my home,
00:28:37.060 | my third year students at times,
00:28:39.020 | they struggled with doing this project,
00:28:42.980 | or not doing the project,
00:28:43.860 | but doing the research from multiple sources,
00:28:48.140 | because they're used to doing it from one workbook.
00:28:52.460 | And so it's the same skill, but it looks different.
00:28:57.060 | And so there's always a little bit of a learning curve
00:29:01.300 | for them.
00:29:02.340 | So it's not just the first years who get nervous,
00:29:06.900 | so that you can tell them that too.
00:29:08.660 | Hey, you know what?
00:29:09.580 | Those kids have done this a bunch of times.
00:29:11.620 | They might be a little bit nervous as well,
00:29:13.340 | and that's okay.
00:29:14.580 | - Yeah.
00:29:15.580 | Well, you know, the truth is every time you add a new skill,
00:29:18.860 | 'cause I had not honestly thought about the fact
00:29:21.580 | that we are asking them to have multiple sources
00:29:25.620 | of research and that that is different.
00:29:29.140 | And like you said, even though it's the same skill,
00:29:31.220 | it seems different because now I have to synthesize.
00:29:34.940 | I have to merge this information that I have
00:29:38.740 | and how do I do that?
00:29:40.340 | And yeah, every time we ask our students
00:29:43.540 | to do something new,
00:29:45.720 | they have to get used to it
00:29:49.780 | before they fully embrace it and feel comfortable.
00:29:52.740 | That's a really good reminder.
00:29:54.340 | And I also, I know that you would join me
00:29:58.500 | in just reminding all of our listeners that as the parent,
00:30:03.500 | you are the teacher, you are the decider
00:30:07.540 | of how the assignments go in your home.
00:30:12.540 | And so scaling is absolutely always an option on the table.
00:30:19.500 | And so whatever you know that you need to do
00:30:24.100 | in order to help your child get the very most
00:30:28.620 | from this experience,
00:30:30.180 | that's what you and your family need to do.
00:30:32.540 | And it may be if you've got two young Essentials students
00:30:37.540 | that maybe you do research on related characters
00:30:46.020 | and you do a lot of things together instead of each student
00:30:50.580 | doing everything by themselves.
00:30:53.700 | - Oh, that's a great idea, Lisa.
00:30:55.940 | - I wanted to ask you,
00:30:56.780 | I know that we're almost out of time, Courtney,
00:30:58.660 | but I wanted to ask you a question
00:31:02.140 | that has a little bit of a different flavor.
00:31:04.460 | How can communities use the Faces of History project
00:31:09.460 | to raise the awareness of homeschooling
00:31:12.980 | or of their CC community or even of just classical education?
00:31:17.980 | How could that be an invitation to the community
00:31:22.380 | to understand more about what we're doing?
00:31:25.260 | - Oh, this is a great time to invite families,
00:31:29.180 | to invite your neighbors or your friends,
00:31:32.180 | maybe people who are considering homeschooling,
00:31:36.060 | to invite them to see what it is that we do.
00:31:38.940 | I think sometimes people might think that
00:31:42.820 | if you're homeschooling, you're alone
00:31:45.580 | and you don't have community who do big projects for,
00:31:50.580 | but we do have that here.
00:31:52.980 | So we've always invited the pastor
00:31:56.500 | and people from our host church.
00:31:59.020 | - Oh, yes.
00:32:00.260 | - As well as community leaders to say,
00:32:02.820 | would you come and would you help us celebrate
00:32:05.060 | these students and see what it is
00:32:07.500 | that we have been learning this year?
00:32:10.420 | - I love that, I love that.
00:32:12.220 | It does, we always invite the pastors
00:32:17.220 | and the other staff members at our church
00:32:19.780 | to come and see the science fair
00:32:22.740 | and to come and see Faces of History
00:32:24.940 | and sometimes to come and see when we do the egg drop
00:32:28.580 | and all that stuff, all our big projects,
00:32:31.020 | because we want them to know what it is
00:32:33.700 | that they are supporting.
00:32:36.540 | And then I love the idea of inviting interested families
00:32:42.380 | maybe families who have come to an information meeting
00:32:46.300 | or families who have in the last year
00:32:49.820 | come to visit your community,
00:32:51.540 | invite them back for something like this
00:32:54.540 | so they can see what the culmination of the year looks like.
00:32:59.540 | I think that would be really, really good.
00:33:04.460 | All right, final encouragement for families.
00:33:07.660 | Courtney, how can Faces of History be a family affair?
00:33:12.660 | - Well, it has to be a family affair
00:33:15.700 | that at the end, right, we all push together
00:33:18.340 | to really help each other.
00:33:21.340 | As in our home, we work together to get costumes ready.
00:33:26.100 | I have, you know, I have older students
00:33:29.500 | as well as younger ones, so they help
00:33:32.060 | with all the fashion advice that there might be.
00:33:35.140 | But they practice in front of one another.
00:33:37.980 | You have an audience in your home to practice in front of.
00:33:43.300 | We invite everybody in our family to come
00:33:45.900 | and to watch and to cheer on the person,
00:33:49.500 | our family member who's presenting.
00:33:53.740 | And we celebrate together, we make it a big deal
00:33:57.860 | because it is such a fun thing that they've done,
00:34:03.420 | but it also is, it's a big thing.
00:34:06.580 | So we try to go out to dinner one night
00:34:11.460 | or something that we can celebrate at
00:34:15.060 | for finishing and completing their hard work.
00:34:17.300 | - I like that, making a big deal.
00:34:19.940 | - We also invite grandparents and dad comes
00:34:24.060 | when he's not usually here on community day.
00:34:27.300 | - That's really good, and I love, of course,
00:34:29.520 | it is the perfect time to invite grandparents.
00:34:33.220 | That is an awesome thing.
00:34:34.980 | I really like the idea.
00:34:37.340 | More and more, I have really become a proponent
00:34:42.340 | of families doing the learning together.
00:34:45.980 | Instead of every level of classical student
00:34:50.860 | doing their own thing, I love to see the older,
00:34:55.500 | you know, the teenagers or the older elementary students
00:34:58.900 | helping the little ones, like you said,
00:35:01.300 | make their costume or find a new book or practice.
00:35:06.300 | Sometimes I know that my older daughter was a better help
00:35:12.420 | to my younger daughter sometimes than I was
00:35:15.940 | because she was thinking more closely on her sister's level.
00:35:20.700 | And so she would understand what she really wanted to do
00:35:24.280 | with the project or what she was trying to show
00:35:27.540 | or what kind of costume she was looking for.
00:35:30.820 | And, you know, we want to use everything that we do
00:35:35.820 | in our homeschool to build our family culture.
00:35:39.400 | And so I think making it a family affair
00:35:42.700 | really teaches us to love one another
00:35:45.380 | and to show kindness and gentleness
00:35:47.740 | and helpfulness and encouragement.
00:35:50.220 | It's just a great way to love one another.
00:35:52.540 | - Yes, I agree.
00:35:53.780 | - Courtney, thank you so much
00:35:55.620 | for sharing about Faces of History.
00:35:57.980 | I think that this has set many a parent's heart at rest,
00:36:02.980 | knowing that there's a great purpose for this.
00:36:07.740 | It can be for fun and that there's so many good resources.
00:36:11.940 | I love that there's the Faces of History parent packet
00:36:15.900 | on CC Connected that will really give you
00:36:18.900 | some of the step-by-step milestones.
00:36:20.820 | I think that's gonna be a great resource for all of us
00:36:24.340 | to make use of this year.
00:36:25.460 | Thank you so much for sharing the benefit
00:36:28.120 | of your wisdom with us.
00:36:29.660 | - Thank you for having me.
00:36:31.340 | - Parents, if you are looking for like-minded homeschoolers,
00:36:36.340 | community is the best place for you.
00:36:39.760 | And podcasts like The Everyday Educator
00:36:43.420 | are another great way to build your own knowledge
00:36:47.500 | of classical education and to build some online community.
00:36:52.540 | I also want to let you know that Classical Conversations
00:36:56.940 | is constantly striving to build relationships
00:37:01.060 | with other like-minded organizations
00:37:04.340 | that can help assist you in your homeschool journey
00:37:07.780 | and really in furthering our mission to know God
00:37:11.420 | and to make Him known.
00:37:12.820 | Lots of the organizations that we promote
00:37:15.660 | at the ends of our podcast are organizations
00:37:19.740 | that offer exclusive discounts or benefits
00:37:22.940 | or even scholarships to CC members.
00:37:26.980 | Some of the groups that we have relationships with
00:37:30.140 | are Educational Support and Advancement Services,
00:37:34.200 | the Extracurricular Support and Family Culture organization,
00:37:39.200 | lots of Christian colleges and universities.
00:37:43.180 | We partner with a lot of groups that offer mission
00:37:47.000 | and gap year opportunities.
00:37:50.180 | You guys have heard me talk about Museum of the Bible
00:37:53.260 | on here before.
00:37:54.620 | If you want to find a whole list of the groups
00:37:59.120 | that we have relationships with,
00:38:01.980 | you can visit classicalconversations.com/relationships
00:38:06.980 | for more information.
00:38:11.340 | So if you're looking for a like-minded company
00:38:14.260 | to partner with you on the journey,
00:38:16.540 | classicalconversations.com/relationships
00:38:20.180 | is a great place to look.
00:38:22.600 | So you guys go and enjoy faces of history as a family
00:38:27.600 | and I will see you next week.
00:38:30.860 | Bye-bye.
00:38:31.840 | (gentle music)
00:38:34.420 | you
00:38:36.480 | [BLANK_AUDIO]