Everyday Educator - Ask Lisa!
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:05.960 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:08.760 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:10.520 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:14.080 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:17.200 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:19.840 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:23.320 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:25.400 | this homeschooling possibility
00:00:27.680 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:31.680 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:35.880 | But don't forget,
00:00:37.160 | although this online community is awesome,
00:00:41.120 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:46.080 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:50.160 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:55.140 | Well, listeners, I'm excited to welcome you to this episode,
00:00:59.260 | and I'm excited to answer a few questions
00:01:03.920 | that listeners like you have posed over the last six weeks
00:01:08.400 | and ask for some insight or for some,
00:01:14.220 | maybe not answers per se,
00:01:19.000 | sometimes what people are looking for
00:01:22.120 | are another person's experience,
00:01:24.840 | or some wisdom gained from the School of Hard Knocks.
00:01:29.200 | And so that's what I'm gonna offer today.
00:01:32.520 | I don't pretend to be the absolute expert
00:01:37.520 | on parenting, or classical education,
00:01:43.760 | or homeschooling, or classical Christian homeschooling,
00:01:49.080 | or classical conversations and all its programs.
00:01:53.560 | I can share with you the experiences that I have had,
00:01:57.880 | that my family has had, the ups and downs,
00:02:01.720 | the things that I have learned
00:02:03.440 | the easy way and the hard way,
00:02:05.860 | some wisdom that I have gleaned from friends
00:02:10.320 | and fellow travelers along the path of homeschooling
00:02:15.320 | through the years.
00:02:17.840 | I'm glad to share all of those things with you.
00:02:22.160 | I want you to know that for most of the questions
00:02:25.280 | that are posed, there's not one right answer.
00:02:30.280 | And I know that somehow discouraging to some people
00:02:34.280 | to think that there's more than one possible route
00:02:38.080 | to a good outcome, but that's the truth.
00:02:41.460 | As we move through life,
00:02:43.440 | we have all experienced the fact that
00:02:46.440 | while we might want there to be one perfect answer
00:02:51.000 | that we could research and find and rest in,
00:02:54.880 | many times there are a range of answers
00:02:59.880 | that are true, or that are applicable,
00:03:03.720 | or that fit our situation at any given time.
00:03:07.640 | So I don't want you to be discouraged when I say
00:03:10.600 | that this is Ask Lisa,
00:03:12.200 | and I am going to answer your questions,
00:03:16.200 | but my caveat is that it's not the only answer,
00:03:19.960 | and it may not be the best answer for your family.
00:03:24.600 | I want to tell you a little bit about myself
00:03:26.720 | for those of you who are new listeners,
00:03:29.240 | or maybe those of you who are old listeners,
00:03:31.520 | but never knew my whole story.
00:03:33.680 | I got involved with Classical Conversations,
00:03:37.160 | believe it or not, 20 years ago.
00:03:39.960 | When my girls were little, in foundations,
00:03:43.400 | we discovered, we found Classical Conversations
00:03:47.180 | through some friends who had stumbled on
00:03:50.000 | to this amazing community of like-minded families
00:03:55.000 | who were pursuing the kind of education
00:03:58.240 | that I had been trying to create at home
00:04:01.840 | for my two little girls.
00:04:03.840 | We actually heard about CC a year or so
00:04:07.620 | before we were able to join.
00:04:09.840 | My husband is a pastor, and at that point,
00:04:13.080 | we were brand new church planters.
00:04:15.720 | And so our desire was strong, and I had lots of time,
00:04:20.360 | but we didn't have a lot of financial resources.
00:04:23.160 | So the first year, we watched our friends
00:04:26.960 | become involved in this community
00:04:29.020 | that really looked amazing,
00:04:31.400 | but that we felt like we just couldn't afford financially.
00:04:35.040 | It was not God's timing for us.
00:04:37.000 | So we continued to do what we had done,
00:04:39.120 | which I discovered was very classical.
00:04:42.520 | But then we were able to join
00:04:45.120 | a Classical Conversations community
00:04:47.920 | when I accepted the call to be a tutor myself.
00:04:52.920 | So that was our open door into CC,
00:04:55.600 | and my girls both entered the foundations program,
00:04:58.840 | and we loved it.
00:04:59.860 | They took to it, like fish take to water.
00:05:05.680 | All that memorization was so much fun to them.
00:05:08.400 | And having, my daughter said,
00:05:11.760 | "It's the best of both worlds, Mama.
00:05:14.160 | We are homeschooled, but we have a class.
00:05:17.840 | We have friends."
00:05:19.520 | They had friends to be with one day a week.
00:05:22.800 | And I had friends to be with one day a week.
00:05:25.680 | And I had other students to pour into and love on.
00:05:30.280 | And my girls had other adults who were pouring into them
00:05:36.260 | and loving on them.
00:05:38.020 | And so we loved our foundations years,
00:05:40.800 | and we stayed with the program.
00:05:44.020 | My girls both graduated from Challenge Four,
00:05:48.940 | and I was a tutor of various levels
00:05:52.900 | and have held lots of positions
00:05:55.800 | within Classical Conversations
00:05:57.580 | way back when we had state managers.
00:06:00.980 | There was a state manager for every state,
00:06:02.960 | and I was blessed to serve as the state manager
00:06:06.140 | of North Carolina.
00:06:07.420 | And I loved that.
00:06:09.540 | I loved seeing communities all across our state grow.
00:06:13.940 | What I really loved, though, was encouraging parents
00:06:18.100 | that they had what it takes to homeschool their children,
00:06:23.100 | that if God had given them the call,
00:06:26.340 | that God would equip them to do it.
00:06:28.140 | And so I loved pouring encouragement into families,
00:06:32.740 | moms and dads and students.
00:06:34.420 | And so in my next CC job,
00:06:38.220 | I got to do that sort of full-time.
00:06:40.100 | I became the practicum guru for all intents and purposes
00:06:45.100 | for about seven or eight years for Classical Conversations,
00:06:49.740 | designing our summer practicum program
00:06:53.020 | and the training that went into equipping facilitators
00:06:57.200 | and speakers to lead those great conversations for families
00:07:01.540 | as we all grew in our understanding of the classical model.
00:07:05.900 | And so the whole idea of being able to inspire,
00:07:10.220 | encourage and equip families really became my passion.
00:07:15.220 | And so my responsibility with CC has continued to grow
00:07:20.860 | and change and evolve as Classical Conversations
00:07:24.540 | has continued to grow and change and evolve.
00:07:27.700 | And I now serve as the Director of Program Development
00:07:32.700 | with CCMM, so with Classical Conversations Multimedia.
00:07:37.580 | And I have been utterly blessed to be the podcast host
00:07:42.580 | of The Everyday Educator for more years than I can remember.
00:07:47.180 | So I love podcasting
00:07:49.420 | because it gives me a chance to keep speaking to families,
00:07:55.540 | to keep speaking to parents who have questions about,
00:08:00.460 | "Can I do this?" or "How should I do this?"
00:08:03.380 | or "Now I have this problem," or "What about this resource?"
00:08:07.780 | And so I have absolutely loved spending time with you guys
00:08:12.780 | every week for the past eight or 10 years,
00:08:16.260 | talking about what makes our heart beat,
00:08:20.380 | our kids and our education of our kids
00:08:25.100 | and growing as lead learners in our homes
00:08:28.460 | and developing family rhythms of learning.
00:08:33.460 | One of the projects that I have been able to spend
00:08:38.940 | a lot of time on in the last four or five years
00:08:42.780 | was Scribblers, the Scribblers resource.
00:08:46.100 | I was one of the principal writers of Scribblers.
00:08:48.660 | And so we're gonna talk about some of those verbs,
00:08:52.020 | some of what we call the Scribblers verbs
00:08:54.860 | that will help us to assess are we doing enough
00:08:57.940 | and has it been a good day?
00:08:59.740 | Because y'all, sometimes you get to the end of the day
00:09:03.140 | and you think, "Really, what did I accomplish?"
00:09:06.780 | Yes, everybody's dressed mostly and nobody's bleeding,
00:09:11.780 | but did we really do enough to say we had school today?
00:09:17.260 | We're gonna talk about that.
00:09:18.820 | We are gonna talk about that.
00:09:20.180 | I have about seven questions that people sent in
00:09:25.020 | over the last six weeks that we will address.
00:09:27.820 | And hopefully we will do another episode
00:09:30.700 | of Ask Lisa sometime soon.
00:09:33.100 | But I also hope to do a round table discussion
00:09:37.620 | of moms and fellow homeschoolers,
00:09:40.580 | dads, fellow homeschoolers that will represent
00:09:45.580 | all of the stages of our family.
00:09:48.580 | So there'll be a voice that represents where you are
00:09:53.580 | in your homeschool journey,
00:09:55.820 | not just a voice that represents where you will be
00:10:00.820 | in five or 10 years or where you were
00:10:04.100 | three or four years ago.
00:10:05.940 | So keep listening.
00:10:08.220 | You guys are an awesome community
00:10:12.700 | that is an encouragement to me.
00:10:15.900 | It encourages me to know that there are moms and dads
00:10:19.740 | who are still super eager to be the lead learners
00:10:24.740 | and the best educators of their children at home.
00:10:29.300 | So anyway, let's jump in.
00:10:32.140 | The very first question that I have came from a mom
00:10:36.500 | who has kids two years old, seven years old,
00:10:41.100 | and 10 years old.
00:10:42.620 | Okay, let's pause for a moment.
00:10:45.660 | Man, those are busy years.
00:10:48.140 | Those are busy, intense years.
00:10:52.020 | So mama, let me just say right now,
00:10:56.020 | you are doing a noble task.
00:10:59.900 | Give yourself some credit for taking up the challenge
00:11:04.900 | of homeschooling and potty training
00:11:10.140 | and manners training and preteen years.
00:11:15.140 | You're doing it for years all at once.
00:11:19.020 | The Lord is here for you
00:11:20.980 | and your community is here for you.
00:11:24.300 | Her question, her comment is,
00:11:27.020 | "The hardest thing about homeschooling is consistency."
00:11:30.860 | She said, "Nothing," well,
00:11:33.420 | and she says, "Nothing is consistent except community day."
00:11:38.420 | So let's take a step back.
00:11:41.180 | Everybody take a step back.
00:11:43.380 | If you're worried or anxious about something,
00:11:46.220 | I know I do this, I tend to speak in a hyperbole.
00:11:50.260 | So she says, "Nothing is consistent
00:11:53.540 | except for community day."
00:11:55.100 | Mom, I want you to give yourself some credit.
00:11:57.020 | I bet there are other consistencies in your family's life.
00:12:02.020 | And it's easy to see all the ways
00:12:04.260 | that we don't quote unquote measure up.
00:12:06.900 | And all the things that we feel like are lacking
00:12:10.460 | in our parenting or our schooling
00:12:13.100 | or the way we structure our days with our students,
00:12:16.860 | with our children.
00:12:18.700 | But give yourself some credit.
00:12:20.660 | She said, "I want to know what to do."
00:12:25.660 | So here's the question, should I structure my days?
00:12:29.460 | Should my days have lots of structure?
00:12:31.900 | Should my days have less structure?
00:12:35.500 | Maybe I have so much structure built into my day
00:12:39.980 | that there's no way that my family
00:12:43.300 | is gonna follow that schedule.
00:12:45.620 | If you have every 15 minutes
00:12:49.460 | or even every 30 minutes of your day planned out,
00:12:54.460 | I's dotted, T's crossed,
00:12:57.780 | that's gonna be tough with a two-year-old, right?
00:13:01.100 | That's gonna be tough with a seven-year-old.
00:13:03.860 | It may be tough with a 10-year-old
00:13:06.100 | depending on the personalities
00:13:08.900 | and needs of your specific children.
00:13:11.940 | And here's the truth,
00:13:13.500 | the personality and needs of you yourself.
00:13:17.820 | And maybe you are not one who does well
00:13:22.820 | with same old, same old.
00:13:25.900 | Maybe routine is just your fast track
00:13:30.620 | to I'm over it or I'm bored
00:13:33.660 | or I feel trapped.
00:13:35.780 | Maybe one of your children needs to mix it up.
00:13:40.580 | Maybe what you need is a rhythm
00:13:45.580 | instead of a schedule.
00:13:49.100 | The first thing I think that you probably need to do
00:13:51.700 | is take an honest look
00:13:53.580 | at your family's biological rhythms.
00:13:57.660 | Are you early risers or late risers?
00:14:01.820 | What is your spouse's work schedule like?
00:14:06.060 | Do they work nights?
00:14:07.500 | Do they work second shift?
00:14:09.060 | Do they work a typical Monday through Friday
00:14:12.060 | during the day?
00:14:13.580 | Does your family travel a lot?
00:14:16.580 | Do you have older family members who live with you
00:14:20.700 | who require care or a different schedule
00:14:25.460 | from your children and you?
00:14:27.820 | Those are some things to think about.
00:14:30.380 | I think that most children do well
00:14:35.380 | when they know what to expect.
00:14:39.020 | That's not the same thing as having every 15 minute,
00:14:43.820 | every 30 minute hard block schedule.
00:14:48.820 | But when children know what to expect,
00:14:52.980 | when I get up in the morning, we always,
00:14:55.900 | and this is just as a for instance,
00:14:58.580 | when I get up in the morning,
00:15:00.620 | I always snuggle in bed with my mom.
00:15:04.780 | I always read a book and then get up
00:15:09.220 | and get dressed and make my bed and have breakfast.
00:15:12.540 | Always after breakfast,
00:15:14.700 | and see there are no times associated with this, okay?
00:15:18.740 | After breakfast, we always clear the table
00:15:23.700 | and snug up on the couch and we read our Bible
00:15:27.020 | and we read a story and we say our Bible verse, you know?
00:15:32.020 | After our read aloud time, we do math together.
00:15:37.220 | And maybe that is you play math games.
00:15:41.580 | Maybe that is you use pattern blocks.
00:15:45.260 | Maybe you use, you go through the math map booklet
00:15:50.260 | with your two older children
00:15:54.180 | while your little one plays with blocks
00:15:57.660 | or shape sorters beside of you.
00:16:00.020 | Maybe after math time, we always go outside
00:16:06.060 | or maybe every Tuesday after math, we go to the library.
00:16:11.060 | We have lunch and after lunch, I work on memory work
00:16:17.580 | or if you have an older child,
00:16:22.100 | I work with my mom on essentials or I have reading time.
00:16:27.100 | If your child, if you and your child know the rhythm,
00:16:35.860 | then everybody knows what to expect.
00:16:40.700 | It's not so rigid as in every 15 minute,
00:16:44.420 | every 30 minute schedule,
00:16:46.180 | but it gives you enough structure
00:16:49.880 | that you can fit all the big pieces
00:16:53.500 | that are important to your family in
00:16:57.460 | and everybody knows what to expect.
00:17:01.380 | In Scribblers, we offer the idea of arranging your day
00:17:07.820 | around the Scribblers verbs.
00:17:16.580 | For families with young children,
00:17:19.200 | what you want to be sure that you do
00:17:23.600 | is be together every day,
00:17:26.680 | piquing their curiosity, chasing down wonder,
00:17:32.540 | reading and talking as a family.
00:17:36.400 | And if you can get to the end of the day, we say,
00:17:40.400 | and you have prayed together, played together,
00:17:46.340 | read together, explored together and served together,
00:17:51.340 | it has been a good day.
00:17:56.380 | And so you could arrange the rhythm of your day
00:18:01.380 | around the Scribblers verbs.
00:18:03.700 | Every day, you need to pray together.
00:18:06.520 | You need to have a devotion, a spiritual time.
00:18:09.380 | Maybe you will sing a hymn.
00:18:10.920 | Maybe you will memorize scripture verses together.
00:18:14.120 | You need to pray together.
00:18:15.860 | You need to play together.
00:18:17.940 | Play is the work of childhood.
00:18:20.920 | That is actually how children learn best
00:18:24.580 | while they are having fun, while they are doing something.
00:18:27.900 | And most children like to be active when they play.
00:18:31.680 | So play blocks with your children.
00:18:35.380 | But as you build, maybe you are creating patterns.
00:18:38.980 | Maybe you are naming squares and circles
00:18:42.580 | and rectangles and triangles.
00:18:44.400 | And maybe you'll discover
00:18:45.720 | that when you put two triangles together,
00:18:47.780 | you can make a square.
00:18:49.600 | Or when you put a bunch of triangles together,
00:18:52.660 | you can make a different shape.
00:18:55.520 | So you play together, read together every day,
00:19:00.520 | read all kinds of things together.
00:19:04.400 | That will allow your children to see the beauty of words
00:19:09.620 | in stories and short books and poems
00:19:14.620 | and song lyrics, all kinds of reading.
00:19:19.780 | Read together every day and help your little children
00:19:24.900 | begin to learn how to read
00:19:28.100 | so that they can read by themselves as well.
00:19:31.580 | So read together every day.
00:19:33.940 | Explore together every day.
00:19:37.260 | You might explore a topic that you've read about.
00:19:40.580 | You might explore your backyard.
00:19:43.260 | You might explore what different baking ingredients do
00:19:48.260 | when you cook in the kitchen.
00:19:50.260 | You might explore a science museum in your town.
00:19:55.260 | You might explore the heavens at night
00:19:59.020 | as you look at the stars.
00:20:00.580 | Let your child be the guide.
00:20:03.820 | Let the foundation's memory work be the guide.
00:20:06.580 | Explore more deeply some of the people or places
00:20:11.580 | or organisms that you encounter in the memory work,
00:20:15.660 | but explore something every day
00:20:18.180 | and then serve together every day.
00:20:21.700 | Most of us have chosen to homeschool our children
00:20:25.060 | because we want to raise them in the nurture
00:20:27.580 | and admonition of the Lord.
00:20:29.480 | We want them to have hearts full of mercy
00:20:34.940 | and love and kindness.
00:20:37.140 | And one of the best ways to teach our children
00:20:39.980 | to be good citizens of the world
00:20:43.620 | and good citizens of heaven
00:20:45.420 | is to teach them to be kind to one another
00:20:49.140 | and to serve one another.
00:20:51.180 | And it begins at home.
00:20:52.900 | So even your two-year-old can serve his or her brothers
00:20:56.900 | and sisters.
00:20:58.220 | And as your children get older,
00:21:00.660 | you go farther outside of your home
00:21:03.620 | to serve your neighborhood and your church family
00:21:06.880 | and your extended family in your town
00:21:10.180 | and maybe your state.
00:21:11.860 | And I know lots of families
00:21:13.300 | who as their children approach the teenage years,
00:21:16.020 | do family mission trips together, even overseas.
00:21:19.540 | So you could have the rhythm of your day
00:21:24.260 | based around the Scribbler's Verbs.
00:21:31.060 | Think about the first thing to do
00:21:35.500 | is to think about what it is
00:21:40.060 | that you are trying to do with your homeschool.
00:21:45.060 | What are you trying to teach your children?
00:21:48.260 | What is important to you as a family?
00:21:51.540 | And then everything you do should serve that purpose.
00:21:57.860 | I think that probably consistency
00:22:01.780 | has a different definition for all of us,
00:22:04.620 | but I suspect, Mom, that what you're looking for
00:22:08.580 | is something that you and your children
00:22:12.400 | can come to rely on,
00:22:14.660 | something that is reassuring in its rhythm.
00:22:19.660 | So decide what are the important aspects
00:22:23.220 | of homeschooling for you every year,
00:22:28.220 | every month, every week,
00:22:30.540 | and then work back into the everyday.
00:22:33.180 | And maybe the way to consistency for you
00:22:37.460 | is not a schedule, but a rhythm.
00:22:40.160 | All right.
00:22:43.180 | Next question.
00:22:47.360 | This was an interesting question to me.
00:22:51.060 | How many CC families supplement
00:22:55.740 | language arts and math in the Foundations years?
00:23:00.420 | Well, I can remember when I began as a practicum speaker
00:23:06.620 | almost 20 years ago.
00:23:09.380 | I remember telling people,
00:23:11.740 | Foundations is wonderfully amazing.
00:23:15.620 | It is so illuminating.
00:23:17.260 | You and your children are gonna explore the world
00:23:21.900 | through the Foundations memory work.
00:23:23.820 | It is absolutely mind-boggling
00:23:26.820 | the amount of stuff that you're gonna know.
00:23:29.940 | But you still need,
00:23:32.340 | in addition to the Foundations memory work,
00:23:35.760 | a language arts or a learn-to-read program
00:23:40.760 | and a practice math computation program.
00:23:46.020 | And people will say, "What's the best one?
00:23:48.140 | "What's the best one for my family?"
00:23:50.580 | That, my friends, I can not answer for you
00:23:53.620 | because the answer for both of those
00:23:58.620 | is the one that you and your family will do regularly,
00:24:03.700 | that you will hold onto.
00:24:08.780 | Because both learning to read
00:24:12.460 | and learning to be fast with your math facts
00:24:17.460 | is dependent on everyday practice.
00:24:21.920 | So you need a reading program, moms and dads,
00:24:25.760 | that you can handle, that you can figure out,
00:24:30.140 | that you can and will happily use,
00:24:33.740 | and that fits the learning style of your child.
00:24:37.280 | And you need a math program
00:24:39.860 | that won't prompt everybody to tears or mutiny
00:24:43.940 | because to become proficient in mathematics,
00:24:47.900 | in arithmetic especially,
00:24:50.180 | what you need is everyday practice and familiarity.
00:24:53.900 | You need to get super over-familiar
00:24:58.380 | with some of the math facts
00:24:59.980 | and with how to add and subtract and multiply and divide
00:25:04.260 | and recognize shapes and time and money
00:25:08.420 | and that kind of thing.
00:25:09.500 | So from my experience,
00:25:13.260 | every CC family supplements the language arts
00:25:18.140 | and the math curriculum in the foundations years.
00:25:23.140 | There are lots of programs out there.
00:25:27.860 | I will tell you that a phonics-based reading curriculum
00:25:32.860 | has been proven to be the best
00:25:37.460 | for students who are learning to read.
00:25:39.580 | That is a very classical way to read.
00:25:42.140 | And if you get a hold of the Scribblers curriculum,
00:25:46.380 | which is designed for students
00:25:48.940 | that are three to eight years old,
00:25:50.740 | there is an entire section with phonics games
00:25:55.860 | and activities and learning to read activities.
00:26:00.560 | So it's very important that you and your beginning readers
00:26:06.300 | have a learning to read program.
00:26:09.460 | There is of course more to reading
00:26:12.660 | than just learning to decode sounds and letters.
00:26:16.740 | You want to teach your children to read for pleasure
00:26:21.200 | and to read for information.
00:26:23.580 | So reading comprehension is also something
00:26:27.140 | that you want to practice.
00:26:29.700 | Most of the reading programs that you will find
00:26:33.900 | will help you, will encourage you in that desire.
00:26:38.420 | But I will tell you also that just reading aloud as a family
00:26:43.060 | will fan the flames of reading comprehension
00:26:48.060 | and interest in the written word.
00:26:51.740 | So far as math goes, you really, really need to find
00:26:55.420 | a math program that you guys will do
00:26:58.260 | fairly happily, very routinely.
00:27:02.540 | The Math Map is awesome.
00:27:04.900 | You can look on CC Connected and get examples
00:27:08.820 | from the Math Map, Young Ages.
00:27:13.280 | This is a very classical curriculum
00:27:16.420 | where children become familiar with shapes
00:27:21.380 | and vocabulary and content before they are asked
00:27:26.220 | to manipulate numbers and concepts.
00:27:29.700 | It is very classical, it's very different.
00:27:31.820 | It is very conversation-based.
00:27:34.860 | And for me, the best teaching that you will do
00:27:39.300 | with your little children involves you as the mentor
00:27:43.980 | and them as the learner.
00:27:46.420 | And believe me, as they get older,
00:27:48.740 | sometimes those roles flip and they become the mentor
00:27:52.020 | and you become the learner as they move
00:27:54.540 | through middle and high school.
00:27:56.900 | But classical learning is all about the give and take.
00:28:01.900 | It is all about a conversation and exploring together.
00:28:05.860 | So find a reading program and find a mathematic
00:28:09.580 | and arithmetic program that you and your children
00:28:13.340 | will enjoy together.
00:28:15.460 | All right, next question.
00:28:24.620 | This question is very interesting to me.
00:28:27.220 | This is a challenge family, a family who said,
00:28:32.220 | what do you do, how do you handle challenge discussions
00:28:37.500 | with families that are uncomfortable with parts of history?
00:28:42.500 | Now, I really wish that I had the questioner here
00:28:48.700 | so I could ask some clarifying questions.
00:28:52.420 | I'm wondering, are these discussions at home
00:28:56.380 | or in community?
00:28:58.020 | I am suspecting that we're talking about conversations
00:29:03.020 | and discussions within the Challenge Day community
00:29:09.860 | for families that are uncomfortable with parts of history.
00:29:16.740 | Now, I'm not sure, I'm making assumptions again
00:29:20.100 | on which parts of history
00:29:22.660 | the family might be uncomfortable with.
00:29:26.220 | But here's what I would have,
00:29:30.580 | here's what I have to say in a general way.
00:29:34.260 | These are challenge discussions and the most,
00:29:39.260 | the absolute most beautiful part of the challenge program
00:29:45.780 | for my family was that my girls learned
00:29:50.780 | how to explore ideas and different positions
00:29:55.980 | on issues respectfully, thoughtfully,
00:30:03.300 | offering mercy and grace to their classmates
00:30:13.340 | who had different perspectives.
00:30:16.620 | They learned how to listen twice as long as they spoke.
00:30:21.620 | They learned how to keep asking clarifying questions
00:30:28.580 | till they got to the kernel of difference
00:30:33.580 | when they were discussing, when they were coming at an issue
00:30:36.700 | and arriving at two different conclusions.
00:30:41.980 | Challenge communities are beautiful places
00:30:46.260 | where our students are taught
00:30:52.260 | to love their neighbor well
00:30:58.780 | by listening and trying to understand.
00:31:02.380 | There are very few issues that are off limits for discussion
00:31:09.140 | but every opinion that is voiced
00:31:13.740 | is worth examining and discovering truth.
00:31:18.740 | And so I think that the first thing,
00:31:26.360 | if my family was uncomfortable with a way
00:31:32.820 | that a piece of history was being presented in class,
00:31:38.820 | I think that I would talk to the director
00:31:41.820 | and make sure I would talk to my student first
00:31:45.660 | and say, are all sides of the issue being brought forward?
00:31:50.660 | Are all sides being presented?
00:31:53.340 | And if my student said, well, no,
00:31:55.140 | everybody seems to think this one way
00:31:58.340 | and it's not my way, but that's the only position
00:32:03.340 | that is being brought forward,
00:32:06.100 | then I would have to say to my student, let's pray
00:32:09.180 | and think, let's pray through this
00:32:11.540 | and let me help you figure out ways
00:32:15.820 | to bring the other position, the opposing position
00:32:20.700 | or a different viewpoint, or at the very least,
00:32:24.460 | some clarifying questions that could be put forward
00:32:28.620 | to help us all look at an issue in the broader sense.
00:32:36.060 | Realizing that there might be another side to this issue
00:32:41.060 | or that these events might have had,
00:32:46.060 | it might look different from somebody else's perspective
00:32:52.980 | or from the other side.
00:32:55.500 | So I think I would talk to my student
00:32:57.980 | and I would also talk to the director.
00:33:01.020 | I would want to know what is it
00:33:02.620 | that's bringing the discomfort?
00:33:05.160 | Is it that one side is being ignored
00:33:10.160 | or is it that one person
00:33:17.060 | or one group's position is being shunned or belittled?
00:33:22.060 | That's hard for me to imagine,
00:33:24.980 | but that should not happen in the challenge communities.
00:33:31.580 | I think exploring and sharing and researching and thinking.
00:33:36.580 | The beauty of classical conversations
00:33:41.680 | is that our students are taught to examine an issue
00:33:46.680 | from all sides and in its totality,
00:33:51.200 | even things that are uncomfortable.
00:33:54.200 | Here's the truth.
00:33:55.160 | The Lord does not want us to be ignorant
00:33:58.000 | and God is big enough for all of our questions.
00:34:01.320 | As long as we are looking for God to show us,
00:34:06.320 | to give us light and illumination,
00:34:09.240 | I think that there is very little
00:34:11.720 | that our challenge students can't explore together.
00:34:16.080 | I think that CC wants our students
00:34:22.420 | to examine all sides of all issues
00:34:30.920 | so that our students have practice thinking well,
00:34:35.920 | reasoning their way to truth,
00:34:39.680 | not just appropriating what their family has always believed
00:34:44.680 | or what the loudest voice in a group is saying
00:34:48.600 | or the most persuasive person.
00:34:50.800 | There needs to be room for all questions
00:34:54.240 | to be searched out and researched and thought about
00:34:58.320 | and weighed and logically examined.
00:35:02.680 | And there is respect for all earnest seekers
00:35:07.680 | within our classical conversations communities.
00:35:13.360 | So bottom line, first line is to talk to your student.
00:35:16.840 | Is it uncomfortable because you're ignored
00:35:21.280 | or because you don't know how to bring up your disagreement?
00:35:24.420 | And then talk to the director.
00:35:26.080 | How can we foster a true questioning, weighing,
00:35:31.080 | looking at all the options atmosphere for our students?
00:35:37.480 | All right, somebody wrote in and said,
00:35:41.640 | okay, how do I deal with this?
00:35:43.760 | CC looks absolutely amazing, but it's so unfamiliar.
00:35:48.760 | How do I take the leap in faith?
00:35:55.400 | You know what?
00:35:56.280 | That is a question that everybody has,
00:35:59.240 | that everybody has had.
00:36:00.840 | We've all gone to an information meeting
00:36:03.640 | or almost all of us have gone to an information meeting
00:36:06.960 | or we've listened to a friend wax eloquent
00:36:10.940 | about how great CC is and it does sound great
00:36:13.680 | and it looks amazing on paper.
00:36:16.560 | And if you ever go to a practicum
00:36:18.600 | and listen to a panel of challenge students,
00:36:22.760 | you just think, I don't know what Kool-Aid
00:36:25.580 | they have been drinking, but I would like to buy some
00:36:27.720 | and give it to my children every day
00:36:29.500 | for the rest of their lives.
00:36:30.640 | I want my children to be able to speak well
00:36:33.880 | and think well and answer well and enjoy learning
00:36:38.400 | and enjoy talking to people about what they're learning.
00:36:41.420 | So yes, it does sound amazing.
00:36:44.800 | How do you screw your courage up to do it?
00:36:48.600 | You just have to leap.
00:36:49.960 | You just have to try it.
00:36:52.440 | Here's, I wanna go back to one thing that I said earlier.
00:36:57.080 | The first thing to me,
00:36:58.900 | when you are trying to decide what to do
00:37:03.120 | with these awesome, beautiful humans
00:37:06.480 | that the Lord has given you, your children,
00:37:08.920 | you have to prayerfully consider
00:37:14.760 | what is it that we as a family believe about the Lord?
00:37:20.560 | What is it that we believe about our children individually?
00:37:25.280 | What do we believe is God's mission for our family?
00:37:29.880 | What do we believe about the position of education
00:37:34.400 | as it impacts our family and our family's mission?
00:37:39.400 | You have to know those things in order to start well.
00:37:46.180 | Because sometimes once you get started,
00:37:50.780 | things are gonna be hard.
00:37:52.060 | And if you don't know why you started,
00:37:54.500 | and if you're not sure that this was a good, right path
00:37:59.300 | that the Lord had led you to,
00:38:01.100 | you're gonna be tempted to quit.
00:38:03.460 | Not just quit classical conversations
00:38:05.700 | or classical education.
00:38:07.380 | You're gonna be tempted to quit whatever you start,
00:38:10.260 | whatever kind of homeschooling you start,
00:38:12.540 | or even homeschooling because it is going to get hard.
00:38:16.460 | And on hard days, you need more to fall back on
00:38:21.460 | than I thought this was gonna be fun,
00:38:25.420 | or I thought this was gonna be easy,
00:38:29.260 | or I thought this would be more convenient
00:38:32.420 | than sending them to school.
00:38:34.300 | You will find 50 ways to second guess yourself on that
00:38:40.200 | the first month that you're homeschooling.
00:38:42.340 | All of that stuff.
00:38:43.860 | But if you believe that God gave you your children
00:38:48.500 | and He is calling you to raise them
00:38:51.660 | and educate them at home
00:38:55.300 | so that you can make sure that your child
00:38:58.540 | knows the Lord deeply,
00:39:01.940 | and that He sees this world that the Lord created
00:39:06.940 | and understands how beautiful and good it is,
00:39:12.100 | and how intricately it fits together,
00:39:16.660 | and how the Lord is calling them
00:39:19.820 | to be a steward of His Word
00:39:23.540 | and a steward of His world,
00:39:26.940 | if you are convinced that this classical education
00:39:30.940 | is the way God's calling you to raise your children,
00:39:34.760 | then even when the day gets hard or long
00:39:38.660 | or discouraging or frustrating,
00:39:41.220 | you'll keep going because you will know
00:39:45.500 | that you are marching toward the goal
00:39:48.540 | that God called you to.
00:39:50.200 | It is amazing.
00:39:53.980 | CC is amazing.
00:39:55.820 | And it is, for most of us,
00:39:58.140 | it was very unfamiliar when we started.
00:40:01.720 | The whole idea of memorizing so much material
00:40:05.940 | when they're young is not something
00:40:07.860 | that most of us grew up doing.
00:40:10.240 | I will tell you from experience,
00:40:14.180 | it is a blessing beyond all reason.
00:40:18.620 | My children memorized and memorized and memorized,
00:40:22.900 | but then as they got older,
00:40:24.540 | they had so much good stuff to think about
00:40:28.420 | and to put together in ways that helped them
00:40:32.700 | understand the world that God had created
00:40:35.980 | and that He was calling them to participate in.
00:40:39.520 | All of the emphasis on public speaking
00:40:44.640 | is very off-putting to some of us
00:40:48.340 | who never had to do that when we were little
00:40:51.960 | or older and don't like to do it now.
00:40:54.660 | And we've got four and five-year-olds
00:40:56.740 | who stand up and give a presentation every week.
00:40:59.860 | Listen, it is a blessing beyond compare
00:41:03.700 | to raise a child who knows how to think,
00:41:07.300 | who knows how to organize their thoughts
00:41:10.160 | so that they can communicate persuasively
00:41:14.180 | and in an interesting and natural way
00:41:17.140 | with somebody else on almost any topic that you hand them.
00:41:22.140 | It is a beautiful equipping thing.
00:41:27.580 | One thing I would ask for you,
00:41:30.120 | and when you're trying to decide,
00:41:31.420 | this is so new and it's so different.
00:41:33.700 | Can I even do this?
00:41:35.100 | Think about for yourself,
00:41:37.020 | how do you approach most new things?
00:41:40.220 | How do you get used to the new thing?
00:41:44.540 | Do you need a buddy to walk arm in arm with you
00:41:48.020 | and pull you forward or push you from behind
00:41:51.780 | when the going gets rough
00:41:52.820 | or just be there to experience it with you?
00:41:56.740 | That's what community is all about.
00:41:58.580 | Join a classical conversations community.
00:42:01.340 | You will have a room full of buddies
00:42:04.860 | who are walking the same path
00:42:07.140 | and sometimes stumbling over the same ruts,
00:42:10.380 | but sometimes leaping over the same hedges that you are.
00:42:15.380 | Homeschooling with a friend is so much better
00:42:21.120 | than going it alone,
00:42:23.100 | no matter what method of homeschooling you take.
00:42:27.660 | Community is a blessing.
00:42:30.660 | Find a community and dive in,
00:42:35.020 | but make the commitment that you're going to stick with it.
00:42:38.540 | You need to stick with it long enough
00:42:40.740 | to begin to see the fruit.
00:42:43.500 | It might be very different
00:42:44.940 | from what your children are used to doing too.
00:42:47.820 | And some kids love it right away
00:42:50.300 | and some kids are a little slower to warm up
00:42:54.180 | because it is so different.
00:42:56.220 | But every child loves time with his family.
00:43:00.700 | Every child loves time with his parent.
00:43:03.220 | And if you will pour into your child
00:43:06.860 | and use the classical conversations curriculum
00:43:11.860 | as a springboard to deeper conversations,
00:43:16.900 | not only will your child grow,
00:43:19.940 | but your family relationships will grow as well.
00:43:23.280 | All right.
00:43:28.140 | This is an interesting question from a challenge mom.
00:43:32.260 | She said, "My teenagers always finish their work early.
00:43:37.260 | How can I fill their time?
00:43:42.340 | What do I need to add to fill their time?"
00:43:45.480 | Now, I have to tell you the truth.
00:43:47.400 | This flabbergasted me when I read it.
00:43:50.020 | My kids did not always finish early.
00:43:53.860 | It didn't take them forever in a hundred years,
00:43:56.980 | but they were not early finishers necessarily
00:44:01.660 | of the challenge material.
00:44:04.220 | Here are a couple of things that I have to suggest.
00:44:07.560 | In the challenge guides,
00:44:12.740 | there's a range of work.
00:44:17.320 | They're the things that you are expected to do every week
00:44:20.940 | so that you are prepared to participate
00:44:24.520 | in class discussions.
00:44:26.360 | And then there are extra,
00:44:28.980 | there's like the extra mile you could go.
00:44:31.440 | There are, for instance, in American documents,
00:44:34.560 | there are documents that you're supposed to annotate
00:44:38.880 | each week so that you can have a true discussion
00:44:43.320 | with your classmates when you come to class.
00:44:45.880 | Everybody's read the same thing.
00:44:47.760 | Everybody's kind of chewed it up and digested it.
00:44:50.280 | We've got something to talk about.
00:44:52.240 | But there are always additional documents
00:44:56.020 | that you can work on with your student at home
00:44:59.840 | if your student is finishing earlier.
00:45:02.340 | Things that will help them see maybe even more
00:45:06.720 | of the fabric of the founding fathers
00:45:09.800 | and the founding American documents.
00:45:12.000 | So there's usually more that you can do.
00:45:15.920 | You can encourage your teenager to review.
00:45:19.360 | I know no teenager that I know likes to review,
00:45:23.480 | but just like intensity, duration over time
00:45:28.480 | is what brings mastery in memorization.
00:45:32.560 | It's what brings mastery and understanding
00:45:36.320 | of more complicated concepts as well.
00:45:39.840 | So help your kids to not despise going back to review
00:45:44.840 | and seeing if they can find new connections
00:45:49.400 | between what they talked about and read about
00:45:53.160 | and studied last week and what they're learning this week.
00:45:57.040 | Another thing that your older teenagers
00:45:59.520 | or teenagers and older students can do
00:46:02.040 | is help their younger brothers and sisters
00:46:04.720 | and help review foundations with the younger kids.
00:46:08.760 | One of the coolest things that I have noted
00:46:11.960 | is that when I had my older daughter
00:46:15.400 | review with my younger daughter,
00:46:17.800 | I would sometimes overhear her say,
00:46:20.520 | oh, be sure you've got this.
00:46:22.200 | Be sure you do that Latin memory work.
00:46:24.120 | Man, you're gonna have a much easier time with Latin
00:46:29.040 | if you get these endings down now.
00:46:32.040 | Or they will be reviewing history sentences and say,
00:46:35.800 | oh my gosh, you're gonna learn more about this.
00:46:38.200 | Let me show it to you on this map.
00:46:40.360 | Look how close this country is to this country.
00:46:42.760 | Here's how they're related.
00:46:44.400 | And they begin to share and they begin to become rhetorical
00:46:48.720 | with some of the information
00:46:49.960 | that they themselves have studied.
00:46:52.440 | That's a lot of fun too.
00:46:54.160 | You may, your student may be ready to consider CC+
00:47:00.280 | that what we used to call dual enrollment
00:47:03.640 | is concurrent enrollment.
00:47:05.000 | They may be able with a few tweaks to their CC curriculum,
00:47:10.000 | be able to get college credit for some of the work
00:47:15.680 | that they are doing in their challenge classes.
00:47:18.720 | CC+ would be a great thing
00:47:21.440 | for these Finnish early teens to look into.
00:47:27.080 | But you know what, do you know what you could do?
00:47:30.680 | You could encourage your teenager to find a hobby,
00:47:35.680 | a new hobby, a new skill that they would like to practice,
00:47:41.240 | to get better at, to explore.
00:47:45.600 | Something that they've always been interested in
00:47:47.920 | that never makes it into your curriculum for the year.
00:47:53.160 | Let them do some reading.
00:47:55.480 | Let them do some volunteer work.
00:47:58.400 | Let them go work at a science center or an observatory
00:48:03.400 | or a hospital or a retirement center or a farm.
00:48:11.160 | Let your child get some real life hands-on work experience
00:48:21.280 | to go along with their thinking, their pondering,
00:48:26.240 | their philosophizing, their big ideas
00:48:30.040 | that they do in class and at home and by themselves.
00:48:37.040 | Give your child time to volunteer,
00:48:41.440 | help them add an interest or get a job.
00:48:44.400 | These are all good things to do with your teenagers
00:48:47.040 | who are finishing early.
00:48:50.000 | (mouse clicks)
00:48:52.120 | All right.
00:48:53.440 | And my last question, how do we know?
00:48:57.120 | Somebody has asked this,
00:48:58.320 | and this is actually one of the easiest questions to answer,
00:49:02.600 | but it is something that we all want to know.
00:49:06.360 | This question is, how do I know what else to buy
00:49:11.360 | besides a foundations guide?
00:49:15.480 | Besides a foundation, when you go to a book fair,
00:49:20.480 | there's a bajillion good things,
00:49:24.440 | and you just think, what is it that I need to buy?
00:49:26.920 | Or when you go to a classical conversations
00:49:29.480 | information meeting and you come home absolutely jazzed up
00:49:34.480 | and you've signed up and you're so excited
00:49:37.040 | about this new adventure you're gonna have,
00:49:39.960 | and then you think, but what do I need to get started?
00:49:43.440 | Everybody just talks about stick in the sand
00:49:46.040 | and come to community and memorize the timeline,
00:49:49.040 | but surely I need books, what do I need?
00:49:52.760 | How do I know what else I need to buy?
00:49:56.280 | Here is the best resource that a CC parent can have.
00:50:01.120 | It's the catalog, this classical conversations catalog,
00:50:05.000 | and you can get that sent to your home.
00:50:09.040 | In the catalog, there is an insert
00:50:13.680 | in the middle of the catalog.
00:50:14.880 | This year, it is between page 82 and page 83,
00:50:19.640 | and it calls it a program shopping list,
00:50:23.920 | but I like to think of it as a resource.
00:50:26.080 | It is arranged by program,
00:50:33.080 | so there is a list for the foundations community,
00:50:38.800 | for scribblers at home, for the essentials community,
00:50:42.920 | and every level of challenge from A to four,
00:50:47.920 | and even some resources for the CC plus college credit
00:50:54.720 | for challenge program that I was telling you about.
00:50:59.520 | So this person is specifically asking,
00:51:01.880 | what else do I buy for foundation?
00:51:04.520 | So on this page, between page 82 and 83 in the catalog,
00:51:09.520 | it tells you that highlighted resources,
00:51:13.360 | so they are highlighted in gray,
00:51:15.680 | highlighted resources are required,
00:51:19.040 | and the non-highlighted resources are just recommended.
00:51:23.760 | So highlighted is what you have to have
00:51:26.480 | in order to really do the program at home,
00:51:30.720 | and the non-highlighted ones are resources
00:51:34.480 | that will help you explore more or in a different way.
00:51:39.480 | So it's divided into categories.
00:51:48.480 | First thing, so Cultivating Classical Leaders.
00:51:52.240 | These are awesome books for parents of foundation students
00:51:57.240 | or parents who are just beginning with classical education
00:52:02.160 | to grab a hold of.
00:52:03.920 | Things like "Classical Christian Education Made Approachable"
00:52:08.080 | is a really short book.
00:52:09.680 | It is really, really easy reading.
00:52:12.440 | You can read it in one sitting.
00:52:14.440 | It'll take you about an hour and a half, two hours to read.
00:52:17.200 | It gives you a great blueprint
00:52:20.520 | of a classical Christian education
00:52:22.720 | and how you can do this at home.
00:52:27.120 | Then there are other books
00:52:28.120 | like "How to Develop a Brilliant Memory,"
00:52:30.680 | books that parents might want to read in their downtime,
00:52:34.560 | but then it tells you what you'll need in community.
00:52:38.240 | There are two resources highlighted,
00:52:40.800 | and then memory work flashcards are just recommended.
00:52:45.080 | These are things that you could use
00:52:48.560 | to practice your memory work,
00:52:50.760 | or you can make your own flashcards.
00:52:54.000 | So the highlighted resources
00:52:55.720 | are the things that you have to have,
00:52:57.920 | and the unhighlighted resources
00:53:00.160 | are the things that you could use to explore more
00:53:05.160 | or to support your program in a different way.
00:53:09.120 | So it goes through all of our strands.
00:53:12.680 | So the logic strand, that's your math,
00:53:16.000 | that's what you would need,
00:53:18.000 | and none of those on the foundation's community list,
00:53:22.840 | none of those resources are highlighted
00:53:25.200 | because you do not have to purchase any of those
00:53:28.600 | in order to be part of a foundation's community.
00:53:31.600 | But remember early on,
00:53:33.000 | we said everybody needs a math curriculum,
00:53:36.600 | a math program that they're gonna work.
00:53:39.200 | So in that section,
00:53:41.600 | there are some great suggestions
00:53:45.360 | for families to use to do math at home.
00:53:49.760 | Then there's a research section.
00:53:51.880 | This is kind of like our science stuff,
00:53:54.040 | the explorations.
00:53:55.880 | The only thing highlighted in there
00:53:58.800 | is 201 Awesome, Magical, Bizarre,
00:54:03.680 | and Incredible Experiments.
00:54:06.920 | This is a fun book that you and your kids can use
00:54:09.560 | as the basis for how you're gonna explore
00:54:12.440 | God's world together at home.
00:54:14.440 | There are other resources there that are recommended.
00:54:18.520 | They're not required.
00:54:20.200 | Things like the Acts and Facts Science Cards,
00:54:23.800 | which have beautiful artwork,
00:54:26.280 | beautiful pictures on the front,
00:54:28.160 | and more information that will allow you
00:54:30.920 | to explore with your child on the back.
00:54:34.520 | There are books like Lyrical Life Science,
00:54:37.720 | different volumes of lyrical life science.
00:54:41.920 | It comes with a CD.
00:54:43.360 | These are, this is memory work,
00:54:47.240 | information set to music,
00:54:49.200 | all different types of music.
00:54:50.840 | If you're a musical family
00:54:53.240 | or your child is an auditory learner,
00:54:55.880 | this would be a fun way to learn about mammals
00:54:59.280 | or ecology or the human body,
00:55:02.280 | but it's recommended, not required.
00:55:05.240 | And then there are some readers
00:55:07.200 | that are delightful for that morning read aloud time
00:55:10.720 | that we talked about earlier
00:55:12.560 | called Exploring the Heavens with Uncle Paul.
00:55:16.120 | And some of those resources,
00:55:18.280 | the Science Cards, the Lyrical Life Science,
00:55:22.040 | the Exploring with Uncle Paul,
00:55:26.200 | those are listed by cycle.
00:55:29.720 | So in Foundations, we have three cycles
00:55:33.280 | that repeat over and over and over again.
00:55:36.520 | This coming fall, we will be in cycle two.
00:55:40.520 | So in the catalog, in this year's catalog,
00:55:43.960 | when you see, for instance,
00:55:46.040 | all three of the Exploring with Uncle Paul books listed,
00:55:50.760 | the cycle two is bolded
00:55:53.920 | so that you will know that's the reader
00:55:57.840 | or the book or the set of cards
00:56:01.240 | that is most closely aligned
00:56:03.720 | with the cycle we're going into this fall.
00:56:08.080 | So only one required in the Research section,
00:56:14.560 | but a lot of recommended
00:56:17.200 | and the ones that will most closely follow
00:56:19.680 | the upcoming cycle are bolded.
00:56:22.400 | There's a Reasoning strand.
00:56:25.920 | This has things like art and music, all right?
00:56:29.640 | So the highlighted resources for reasoning
00:56:33.720 | include Discovering Great Artists,
00:56:35.960 | Drawing with Children, and Classical Music for Dummies.
00:56:40.440 | So our children in Foundations will do Music Theory,
00:56:45.440 | Ten Whistles, and Music Practice,
00:56:48.160 | and Art as part of their Foundations years.
00:56:52.600 | And so those are the resources
00:56:55.680 | that parents will want to have at home.
00:56:59.040 | And then there are some other,
00:57:00.160 | there are Artists, Acts and Facts,
00:57:02.120 | Artists and Composer cards also
00:57:05.640 | that are recommended that you can use.
00:57:08.920 | And the Set 2 will align most closely with Cycle 2,
00:57:13.920 | so that's bolded, okay?
00:57:17.640 | There are other resources
00:57:19.480 | that you might love to have at home
00:57:23.280 | that your child might enjoy
00:57:26.080 | that have to do with Geography.
00:57:28.320 | There are Trivium Tables, Geography.
00:57:32.320 | There are Placements for Geography.
00:57:36.480 | These are fun things to have,
00:57:39.200 | not required, just extras.
00:57:43.280 | In that same Debate section
00:57:46.280 | of the Foundations Community List,
00:57:48.680 | you'll see the Classical Acts and Facts History cards.
00:57:53.160 | These are beautiful.
00:57:54.760 | And I will tell you,
00:57:56.360 | this is the resource outside of the Foundations curriculum
00:58:02.760 | and the 10 Whistle that most families purchase.
00:58:07.720 | The Classical Acts and Facts cards
00:58:11.640 | align with the timeline
00:58:13.840 | that children memorize in Foundations.
00:58:16.800 | They are beautiful cards,
00:58:18.880 | a gorgeous piece of artwork reproduced on the front,
00:58:22.640 | and a very informative backside
00:58:27.000 | that has a map and a timeline
00:58:30.320 | and paragraphs of information
00:58:34.040 | that you and your child can explore together.
00:58:36.640 | And those are the Classical Acts and Facts History cards
00:58:40.840 | that are referenced from Scribblers
00:58:43.120 | all the way through Challenge.
00:58:44.880 | So this is not a resource
00:58:49.000 | that you're gonna be done with right away,
00:58:52.200 | or in one year, or even in six years.
00:58:54.600 | You're going to use it all the way through high school, okay?
00:58:59.840 | There are other really great readers
00:59:03.360 | listed on the Foundations Community page
00:59:05.800 | that you will want to look at.
00:59:08.200 | We have Senators of Rome,
00:59:10.760 | Emperors of Rome, Kings of Rome.
00:59:13.400 | And then there are readers
00:59:17.200 | that are great for morning time.
00:59:19.360 | And the one that most closely aligns with Cycle Two
00:59:23.240 | is highlighted there under the Grammar section.
00:59:26.880 | And for Exposition, our beautiful
00:59:30.920 | Echoes Storybook Readers.
00:59:33.840 | These have got stories
00:59:36.560 | and fables and poems
00:59:40.840 | from all around the world and all across time.
00:59:44.240 | These are beautiful books, beautiful stories
00:59:47.440 | with really great illustrations.
00:59:49.840 | Old World Echoes is the Cycle Two specific.
00:59:53.880 | It goes most closely with Cycle Two.
00:59:56.600 | So that one is bolded on your Foundations Community page.
01:00:00.920 | They're in the catalog between page 82 and 83
01:00:05.800 | of the 2025 catalog.
01:00:08.160 | So that's how you know what else to buy.
01:00:11.120 | Now, another way that you can explore
01:00:14.640 | which of those recommended resources
01:00:17.960 | you might really receive the most benefit from,
01:00:21.440 | ask another family member, ask somebody in your community.
01:00:24.920 | Have you used this resource?
01:00:26.440 | What did you guys do with it?
01:00:28.040 | How helpful was it?
01:00:30.480 | What did you love about it?
01:00:32.320 | Which resource sat on the shelf
01:00:34.960 | and which resource did you use the most?
01:00:37.240 | And how did you use it and why did you love it?
01:00:40.800 | I've gotten really great ideas from friends
01:00:45.800 | who it turned out were using, say, the timeline cards
01:00:50.560 | in ways I had never thought of before.
01:00:53.040 | And so that availing yourself
01:00:56.440 | of the experience of your community
01:00:58.840 | will give you even more reasons
01:01:01.160 | to value some of these recommended resources, okay?
01:01:04.840 | As always, your director is also an invaluable resource
01:01:11.120 | for determining how your family
01:01:14.240 | can get the very most out of the program, okay?
01:01:19.040 | Guys, I have enjoyed talking to you so very much today
01:01:22.840 | and answering some of your questions.
01:01:24.680 | I hope that you will feel free
01:01:27.160 | to send more questions another time
01:01:30.200 | and we'll do another Ask Lisa and ask other people too.
01:01:34.200 | How about that?
01:01:35.600 | As we go, I want you to know
01:01:38.080 | that we have great things coming up in the spring
01:01:42.560 | and all through the year with Everyday Educator
01:01:45.040 | and with Classical Conversations.
01:01:46.880 | You might even wanna go ahead and mark your calendar
01:01:50.000 | for our National Events Weekend.
01:01:52.040 | It's coming up in May,
01:01:53.680 | May 2nd through the 4th in Southern Pines.
01:01:57.960 | And so you look,
01:02:00.840 | some of the major events will be National Conference,
01:02:04.760 | National Commencement,
01:02:06.120 | and the National Memory Master Championship.
01:02:09.880 | So make your plans,
01:02:12.400 | go to classicalconversations.com
01:02:16.680 | and you can find more information
01:02:19.960 | about our National Events Weekend.
01:02:22.800 | I'll look for you there.
01:02:24.520 | Thanks, and I'll see you next time.
01:02:26.960 | (upbeat music)
01:02:29.560 | you
01:02:31.620 | [BLANK_AUDIO]