Everyday Educator - Before You Begin Essentials: Bridge Building
00:00:00.000 | Welcome, friends, to this episode of The Everyday Educator.
00:00:07.720 | Whether you are a new Classical Conversations parent or you're returning for another year,
00:00:13.140 | today's episode is just for you.
00:00:16.680 | I'm Kelly Wilt, your host for this episode, and today we're diving deep into preparing
00:00:23.380 | for the beginning of the academic year, specifically CC's Essentials Program.
00:00:29.200 | A unique and powerful component of the CC journey that helps students to grow in grammar,
00:00:35.740 | writing, and math memory, all while building family relationships and communication skills.
00:00:43.060 | So if you felt curious, nervous, or even overwhelmed about Essentials, you, my friend, are not alone.
00:00:50.840 | My guests today are two of my friends who are incredibly intimately familiar with the Essentials
00:00:57.120 | Program, and who want to help explore some key questions to help you to prepare with confidence,
00:01:03.180 | purpose, and most importantly, with peace.
00:01:07.140 | So today with me, I have Jenny and Linnell, and I'd love to give them an opportunity to introduce
00:01:13.460 | themselves to you.
00:01:15.200 | So Jenny, why don't you take it away, friend?
00:01:18.980 | Yeah.
00:01:19.540 | Well, my name is Jenny Tran.
00:01:21.360 | I'm going into my sixth year with CC.
00:01:24.380 | A little background.
00:01:26.020 | I used to be on the Blessings in Motherhood podcast, so I'm really excited to be back here
00:01:31.220 | with you guys and our listeners for this wonderful episode about Essentials.
00:01:36.720 | Since I left Blessings in Motherhood, we had our fifth little baby, Callum, and he's doing
00:01:43.580 | wonderful.
00:01:43.980 | I can't believe he's almost six months old now.
00:01:47.000 | But he just definitely completed our family, and my husband is David, and I've got my oldest
00:01:55.920 | is going into his second year of Essentials, and yeah, we're really excited for this upcoming
00:02:00.940 | CC year.
00:02:02.760 | It's so good to hear what you've been up to, because I know we have a lot of listeners
00:02:06.720 | who are curious, and congratulations on your new little one.
00:02:10.780 | So exciting.
00:02:12.140 | Our other guest for today is Linnell, and Linnell, why don't you do the same?
00:02:17.700 | Why don't you take a moment to introduce yourself to our listeners?
00:02:19.980 | Sure.
00:02:21.040 | Thank you so much, Kali.
00:02:22.140 | So my name is Linnell Lowe, and my husband and I, as of last month, we've been married 31
00:02:29.480 | years, which is so amazing.
00:02:32.120 | It's gone by so fast.
00:02:33.680 | We have two grown sons, Stephen and Caleb.
00:02:36.920 | We started Classical Conversations in 2005, which means we've been a part of CC for 20 years,
00:02:45.280 | which is pretty amazing.
00:02:50.360 | Both of my boys actually then graduated from Challenge 4, so that was an amazing journey
00:02:57.620 | to go through Foundations, Essentials, and then all of the Challenge levels with both of them.
00:03:02.600 | Currently, I work for CCMM as a curriculum developer and have the honor and privilege of stewarding
00:03:12.020 | the Essentials curriculum.
00:03:13.820 | So, friends, as you're listening in today, know that we have two ladies here who have
00:03:19.160 | the inside info to be able to help you prepare well for your Essentials journey this year.
00:03:25.320 | And as we begin our conversation, let's start with just a big picture of the Essentials program.
00:03:31.580 | So, Linnell, I'm going to throw this first question to you.
00:03:34.740 | What is the purpose of the Essentials program in the Classical Conversations journey,
00:03:40.160 | and how does it support the Foundations years?
00:03:43.120 | Because quite often, our Essentials students are also, at the same time, enrolled in the Foundations program.
00:03:49.960 | So, I see the purpose of the Essentials program as being twofold,
00:03:57.520 | in part for the two, the various components of Essentials.
00:04:02.460 | So, you have the grammar and the writing components,
00:04:06.240 | and then you also have the math component.
00:04:08.700 | So, I see the language arts components of the writing and the grammar
00:04:13.420 | as being primarily focusing on helping our students learn how to communicate both clearly and beautifully.
00:04:20.900 | And then for the math component, I see the purpose as being of increasing numeracy,
00:04:27.400 | basically understanding, being able to work with numbers,
00:04:30.340 | and increasing those skills that are associated with those things.
00:04:33.880 | So, in the program, I see the amazing relationship that there is between Essentials and Foundations,
00:04:42.520 | and then even Challenge, as students transition from Essentials to the Challenge program.
00:04:46.980 | In Foundations, there's lots and lots of memory work,
00:04:50.220 | building an amazing foundation, right?
00:04:54.020 | But then in Essentials, you end up just really growing and building on that foundation,
00:04:59.320 | and you revisit the foundation's memory work, which is always so encouraging to Essentials family.
00:05:06.240 | I've seen this before, right?
00:05:08.860 | But then you just build on it.
00:05:11.120 | And then what becomes so amazing with Essentials is the way that students learn to ask questions
00:05:17.620 | and learn to analyze, which are very much skills of the art of dialectic.
00:05:22.520 | So, Essentials ends up being very much of a bridge,
00:05:25.460 | a transition time for those students of moving from very young grammarians,
00:05:31.500 | where all they really want to do is just soak in that information to that dialectic learning,
00:05:36.660 | where they're wanting to ask questions and wanting to go deeper.
00:05:40.820 | So, Essentials is an amazing bridge.
00:05:43.720 | I love that metaphor, because we think about being on one side and then crossing over to the other,
00:05:50.180 | and the preparation for the later years that is involved in Essentials.
00:05:56.140 | So, Lanell made a comment about the dialectic, and I'm curious, Jenny,
00:06:04.420 | I know you had a unique experience last year as a first-time Essentials parent
00:06:11.280 | and also a first-time Essentials tutor.
00:06:14.960 | So, I would love to hear a little bit more about your experience last year
00:06:20.000 | as you were becoming dialectic in the art of being an Essentials parent
00:06:26.140 | and simultaneously embracing the role of being a tutoring community.
00:06:30.040 | Yeah, I don't know how that happened.
00:06:34.620 | Honestly, no, I do remember.
00:06:36.340 | I had another veteran CC mom tell me, I was telling her, I said,
00:06:41.820 | I am so nervous to start Essentials.
00:06:43.700 | It's all day.
00:06:44.600 | I don't know how we're going to sit through a full day.
00:06:48.460 | I'm just nervous about it.
00:06:49.940 | And she said, well, you need to tutor it.
00:06:51.440 | And I just laughed.
00:06:52.720 | I said, no, I'm not going to do that, Julie.
00:06:54.880 | And she said, no, you're going to tutor it.
00:06:57.000 | And so, I think, like, the next day, reached out to my director and I said,
00:07:02.680 | if you don't have an Essentials tutor, I'll do it.
00:07:05.300 | So, that's how it came to be.
00:07:07.960 | But it really was the best decision ever.
00:07:10.000 | It helped my fears go away because I was able to, I guess,
00:07:14.220 | see the information as a tutor and realize myself, oh, I have seen this before,
00:07:19.040 | just like Linnell was saying.
00:07:20.740 | And, oh, maybe I can help teach my child this.
00:07:24.280 | And I guess just seeing that background work and being able to look at it
00:07:29.740 | and prepare with banks there before I even taught it that week was really super helpful.
00:07:35.420 | It helped me kind of take a deep breath about the fire hydrant that gets kind of just spewed
00:07:40.660 | onto you that first year and really just soaked in all the information myself with my son.
00:07:47.400 | I love that.
00:07:49.960 | And kudos to Julie for recognizing that that would be so beneficial to you
00:07:54.540 | to be involved in that way your very first year.
00:07:58.080 | And congratulations to you.
00:07:59.680 | I don't want to say on surviving your first year because it has a really negative connotation,
00:08:04.520 | but just for the blessing that comes with serving and leadership while we're walking
00:08:09.100 | that path with our children.
00:08:10.720 | It really does hold you to a different level of accountability for the information.
00:08:15.240 | You know, as I've been reflecting on this practicum season,
00:08:18.860 | I know one of the things that we have discussed at length in our individual practicums
00:08:23.980 | has been sharpening the 15 classical skills.
00:08:28.020 | And so I've been ruminating a lot about, you know,
00:08:31.100 | how does that have application in our everyday life?
00:08:34.160 | I know last year, I'm sure, Jenny, that you were using the skills of naming and attending
00:08:40.060 | and memorizing and expressing.
00:08:41.800 | And I know you probably have a lot of stories to tell from your Essentials first year tutoring
00:08:47.380 | and teaching or tutoring and home teaching experience.
00:08:51.220 | But I'm curious for both of you, and Lanell, I'll throw this question to you first.
00:08:55.420 | What long-term skills and also habits, because Essentials aim to cultivate both in students
00:09:02.880 | and then also in families?
00:09:04.780 | Because we know the secret sauce of home education is that we're not only, you know,
00:09:09.920 | crafting one education, but we're also redeeming our own.
00:09:13.140 | So, Lanell, what do you think?
00:09:16.100 | Yeah, so you mentioned just a couple of them, some of those core habits of memorizing.
00:09:22.440 | I love that our students take time to memorize the charts and just fill their minds with really
00:09:32.200 | good facts of grammar facts so that they can then have conversations later about what they've studied
00:09:38.900 | because they know the language of grammar, the facts of grammar.
00:09:44.000 | So there's definitely that skill of memory that continues to be cultivated.
00:09:48.460 | Again, that bridge from foundations where we start learning in foundations and we continue memorizing
00:09:54.400 | in Essentials.
00:09:56.680 | So cultivating the skill of memory, cultivating the skill of naming.
00:10:01.200 | Yet we learn to name things because we learn to define things.
00:10:05.100 | And then we can point to a word in a sentence and know what its name is.
00:10:09.740 | And I love then that we take ownership and we take dominion even over a sentence as we learn
00:10:16.560 | to name the noun, the verb, the adjective, all those different parts of a sentence.
00:10:21.220 | And then I also think of attending.
00:10:25.260 | Attending is an amazing skill that I think just envelops all components of Essentials,
00:10:34.100 | whether it be writing, grammar, math.
00:10:36.800 | Students learn to stop and pause and attend.
00:10:41.920 | And that's such an amazing skill that we need throughout our lives to continue to cultivate,
00:10:47.660 | to take time to attend.
00:10:49.280 | I completely agree with that.
00:10:51.700 | I know as fall begins this year, I will be directing Challenge 3 in our community.
00:10:58.560 | And I am now attending to the Challenge 3 guide and I'm looking at all the assignments that
00:11:05.140 | are upcoming and I'm thinking about ways to be a blessing to the families as they help shepherd
00:11:10.720 | their children's Challenge 3 experience this year.
00:11:14.420 | So I'm curious, Jenny, what your thoughts are after your experience last year.
00:11:18.680 | Are there any skills or habits that come to mind when you think about your experience in community?
00:11:26.420 | Yeah, I actually asked my son before because I knew that was a question.
00:11:30.240 | I said, thanks.
00:11:30.820 | What do you think you learned from Essentials?
00:11:33.460 | And of course, he doesn't know.
00:11:34.740 | He said, I don't know.
00:11:36.820 | But one thing I really noticed was that he was able to express himself a lot better,
00:11:41.460 | you know, give testimony a whole lot better and use correct words because I will tell you,
00:11:49.620 | this day and age with all of the silly vocabulary that is thrown out there from culture,
00:11:55.140 | there are some weird words out there.
00:11:57.660 | I have been able to tell him, let's find a better word.
00:12:01.020 | What can we use?
00:12:01.700 | Let's go to our vocabulary list and how can we go through this story and tell it using better words
00:12:08.940 | rather than these silly made up words that he's hearing from friends or wherever he's hearing them from.
00:12:14.840 | So he didn't even realize it, but he'll be telling me a story, even if it was, you know,
00:12:21.340 | whether he went fishing or playing video games or something.
00:12:23.980 | And I'll say, bud, you just started your sentence with an L-Y adverb, you know,
00:12:28.820 | and he gets, he's like, what, mom?
00:12:30.800 | And he doesn't even realize that his grammar has become so much better and more clear
00:12:36.400 | through going through essentials in just one year.
00:12:39.200 | He might not pinpoint it, but he's doing it.
00:12:42.200 | Have you ever wished that you could just help your student continue the momentum that they started
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00:14:32.460 | Let's get back to the show.
00:14:34.200 | I think that's so wonderful, and I'm so glad you asked him what skills he had sharpened,
00:14:40.720 | because a lot of times we're inspired as parents just by what we see being cultivated in our children,
00:14:46.340 | and so they have a lot of wisdom to offer us, too.
00:14:49.520 | So thinking about these years of wrestling, because that really is what the dialectic is.
00:14:56.540 | It's wrestling.
00:14:58.240 | It gives our children tools to ask questions and analyze patterns, and you guys have already alluded to a lot of that.
00:15:04.440 | It helps them to make sense of the world around them that God has created, and essentials is really a key part of that.
00:15:11.300 | All right.
00:15:11.980 | Well, now we're going to refocus our conversation just a bit to what we know most of our listeners are here to glean,
00:15:18.920 | and those are tips for preparation for essentials in the coming year.
00:15:24.140 | So let's talk about that, not just the materials that we need to use, but also one of the most important things we bring to the table, and that is our mindset.
00:15:33.780 | So, Jenny, I'm curious, what are some key mindset shifts that you think parents need to make when transitioning from only attending foundations during the morning portion of community day to adding in essentials in the afternoon?
00:15:51.340 | And I'm curious to know your thoughts, because, like you said before, you have a spectrum of ages with your children.
00:15:59.060 | So how did that work for you last year when banks came into essentials and suddenly you weren't headed home from community right after lunch?
00:16:07.000 | Yeah, we talked about it all summer.
00:16:10.880 | I had to tell my little ones, get ready.
00:16:13.780 | You're going to have to go to child care, and it's going to be okay.
00:16:18.240 | They were all excited, because I think our communities did a great job at just preparing them, like, oh, essentials is fun, and child care is fun.
00:16:26.540 | So they were really excited.
00:16:28.540 | They were really excited to have more time with their friends.
00:16:33.760 | So it wasn't too hard of a transition.
00:16:36.260 | I did notice them getting very tired towards the end, especially Banks.
00:16:42.040 | It was a long, you know, kind of school day for him, because we're normally done before then at home.
00:16:48.000 | But just making sure he took a good lunch break and got outside for recess as long as the weather permitted and having him have that break and reminding him of that.
00:16:58.860 | And there were some days during that time he chose not to go play with friends, but to go have some quiet time by himself.
00:17:05.760 | And I think he needed that.
00:17:06.700 | He knew himself well enough to go take that time.
00:17:11.080 | And for me, my mind shift had to change.
00:17:13.860 | I remember the first time I heard the easy plus one principle changed my life with the Essentials program.
00:17:21.080 | I think it's in the IEW.
00:17:23.040 | Is that from Poodoo Wah?
00:17:25.440 | You do what's easy and then add one more thing.
00:17:29.020 | So that was kind of the theme of our whole school year last year was let's do what's easy and then add one more thing in.
00:17:36.640 | And even a sidebar with the math map, that's what we did too.
00:17:40.960 | What is easy and add in one more thing.
00:17:43.400 | I think that is exceptional advice, considering the fact that those little wiggly bodies have to get acclimated to not that quiet rest time.
00:17:54.420 | And how wise to know himself well enough to know he needed time to just regulate before sitting back down and refocusing for the afternoon.
00:18:04.340 | Now, Linnell, I know it's been a hot minute, friends, since you've had your boys at Essentials.
00:18:09.500 | But I'm curious, what are your thoughts about that?
00:18:11.660 | What types of mindset shifts do you think parents need to make transitioning from that morning to a full day in community?
00:18:23.620 | Yeah, so I agree with a lot of what Jenny was saying wholeheartedly.
00:18:28.540 | And one thing just I might add is just to consider, do I need a backpack?
00:18:33.200 | You know, does my child need something now to take their stuff to school in?
00:18:37.020 | Whereas, you know, maybe previously for foundations, we didn't.
00:18:40.320 | So just consider what you need and what your child needs to get ready for that first day and how to how to take your stuff to CC.
00:18:49.400 | I like that. I like that because, you know, in foundations, you know, it's all about bringing what you're going to bring for a presentation and then the snack.
00:18:56.980 | You know, the snack is important.
00:18:59.080 | And so in essentials, there are things that need to come with you and there are things as a parent that you definitely need to bring with you on community day.
00:19:06.920 | Bring that portion of the lesson from the curriculum so you can have eyes on information and be thinking about what do I know?
00:19:15.340 | What do I not know?
00:19:16.800 | What am I going to need to learn in order to be able to help my child understand?
00:19:21.680 | So that's so good.
00:19:23.320 | And even think about that and having the backpack conversation.
00:19:26.600 | That probably sounds as important as the snack conversation to me.
00:19:30.500 | Jenny, I'm curious.
00:19:33.280 | I know this podcast is being recorded in the midst of summertime and we tend to think of summer as a time of rest, as it should be, let me say.
00:19:42.680 | But I'm curious, you know, we do want to at least begin to prepare mentally.
00:19:48.020 | And there are some steps that we can take physically to prepare, you know, for the first for a year of essentials.
00:19:56.940 | I'm thinking back to your last year.
00:19:59.400 | And what do you wish you had known as you were preparing for your very first year of essentials academically, spiritually, practically?
00:20:09.160 | Share all the information with us.
00:20:11.760 | Yeah, I wrote down a lot.
00:20:14.220 | I am one to ask lots of questions to the people around me.
00:20:19.640 | And I'm glad I did.
00:20:22.020 | I asked a lot of other essentials mamas, what did you do for this?
00:20:25.840 | What did you do for this?
00:20:27.040 | And I just remember someone telling me just to stay open-handed the whole year long, to be flexible with everything.
00:20:35.940 | So I tried to make sure my mind was shifted that way last year.
00:20:39.880 | I had to do that.
00:20:40.960 | I was pregnant, too.
00:20:41.800 | So everything was just by the seat of our pants.
00:20:45.840 | But there were some things we did that summer, really, to prepare, to try and help it become easier, such as I knew the IEW program had other curriculum beforehand called Fix-It Grammar.
00:20:59.560 | So me and my kids, actually, Banks, who was in Essentials, and Lila, who will be in Essentials this year, we got the Fix-It Grammar so that they could kind of brush up on their definitions and producing sentences, things like that.
00:21:13.920 | We did it again this summer.
00:21:15.300 | We don't do it religiously every day, but it's keeping their brains on track with what is a noun, what is a verb, things like that.
00:21:22.240 | For me, myself, I reread The Question this summer.
00:21:27.680 | It's always such a good book to remind myself of why we do Essentials, but also why I'm home-educating my children as well.
00:21:37.360 | It's just very encouraging.
00:21:39.400 | And then physically, to prepare for next year as well, I usually make them an Essentials student book at home because CC offers so many great resources to help you throughout the year.
00:21:53.440 | Things I put in their student workbook, I print out all of their charts.
00:21:59.240 | I love the trifolds.
00:22:01.400 | What are those called?
00:22:02.480 | The trifold things at CC?
00:22:04.020 | Trivium tables.
00:22:04.360 | The trivium tables, yes.
00:22:06.500 | But I just, I love to have them printed out for them because I also print out the blank ones so that we can practice.
00:22:12.140 | So I put all of the charts in there for them.
00:22:14.800 | I go to the Learning Center and find the Essentials online magazine, which is called Onward.
00:22:21.280 | And I go ahead and print out the first page of every week because I don't know if you guys knew this, but they have like checkboxes that you can check off.
00:22:29.540 | Have you done your IEW paper?
00:22:31.440 | Have you done your spelling?
00:22:32.580 | Your vocab?
00:22:34.020 | And you don't have to do all those things, but you can choose.
00:22:37.880 | Remember, easy plus one.
00:22:39.540 | You can choose the things you want to incorporate in your school day.
00:22:43.140 | So I have those printed out so that my kids can check those off during the year.
00:22:47.180 | And I don't necessarily print off the worksheets that they provide because I want to take it week by week to see what do we want to do, what's going to be working for us this week and what might not work for us next week, things like that.
00:23:01.000 | So I try to get an I let them pick out a special little notebook.
00:23:04.860 | We go to Walmart or something and they pick out Mario or flowers, whatever they want, so they can be excited about bringing their Essentials workbook out at home.
00:23:15.840 | I love that.
00:23:17.180 | I love that.
00:23:17.260 | I love that.
00:23:18.120 | And I love that you're helping them to be thinking ahead and preparing.
00:23:23.620 | And nothing that you said sounded high stress to me.
00:23:27.960 | It doesn't feel high stress.
00:23:30.100 | Yeah, it doesn't.
00:23:31.520 | I mean, you know, I think summer is supposed to be a time where we just really rest mentally, physically, spiritually, and we prepare ourselves for the season to come.
00:23:43.600 | But in the meantime, rest isn't always, you know, being asleep.
00:23:48.840 | Rest can be active and yet not feel like it's putting in an incredible amount of strain on us or our families because the things that you're describing actually sound like they would bring rest to your family once the school year actually begins as well.
00:24:09.380 | And I love the idea of rest carrying over into the school year because of those preparations that you did during the summer.
00:24:18.200 | And you're so right to have them still be thinking on these things because summer slide is so real.
00:24:24.720 | And if we completely walk away, quite often we feel that a huge portion of the beginning of the year is spent just getting them familiar again, resurrecting the memories of what they had done in the previous year.
00:24:41.100 | So kudos to you.
00:24:42.700 | You are one smart mama.
00:24:44.220 | Let me add into that, too, because it also made me think.
00:24:48.160 | And Lynelle might have said something about this as well earlier.
00:24:50.660 | But thinking of, you know, we had our first year with Banks last year.
00:24:55.100 | We're coming back into it.
00:24:56.420 | We had some hard times last year.
00:24:59.100 | It took us a lot to get through those first few weeks because it is a lot of information.
00:25:06.260 | But I found that I'm trying to make it a note to talk positively about it and to throw out all of the negative words associated because it is like we, I think we say, oh, there's a fire hydrant of information and it'll be okay.
00:25:19.580 | But really to talk into a positive manner.
00:25:21.740 | Hey, remember your faces of history and you dressed up?
00:25:24.560 | That was so fun, wasn't it?
00:25:26.740 | Remember when you could finally copy chart A and you didn't need to look at it?
00:25:30.360 | Man, that was awesome, Banks.
00:25:31.740 | And trying to remind him all these good things associated with essentials so that, one, his sister doesn't go into it already really nervous.
00:25:40.160 | But also to remind him that it is hard, but there's so much good throughout the season as well.
00:25:46.760 | Yes.
00:25:47.820 | I think that you absolutely identified one of the core things that we as parents need to do and that is frame learning in a right manner.
00:25:57.560 | Because there are a lot of tasks we're going to ask our students to do in essentials that the first time they encounter them, they're going to feel daunting.
00:26:06.800 | They're going to feel, you know, a little unsure because it's something new.
00:26:11.600 | And I think about as an adult, there are times where even now I will be tasked with a particular thing to accomplish and I'll think, oh no.
00:26:20.500 | You know, and in my mind, I make it into this huge mountain.
00:26:24.380 | And I think, Jenny, you're so right to reframe that thinking with Banks so that when Lila comes in, she's not immediately terrified of the thought of being an essentialist just because of things that maybe you said, you know, in haste or just thinking like, oh, being, you know, exercising hyperbole just to be funny.
00:26:43.740 | And her little mind is going, oh my goodness, this is really terrible.
00:26:46.880 | What is mom asking me to do?
00:26:48.420 | I think it's wonderful that you're speaking words of life to them that will make them feel equipped and make them feel like, yeah, this is something that's a challenge, but we can do it.
00:27:01.040 | We can do it.
00:27:01.900 | We got this.
00:27:02.660 | Okay, Lanelle, now I know that it's been a while for you, my friend, but I would love to hear, you know, thinking back on your experience in Essentials with your sons, Stephen and Caleb, I'm curious, like, what do you wish you had known before you guys began this journey?
00:27:22.760 | Because now, you know, Jenny is in the midst of this journey, but you, my friend, have adult children on the other side.
00:27:31.280 | So I'm curious in retrospect, now looking back, hindsight is 20-20, as they say.
00:27:36.940 | What do you wish you had known before you began?
00:27:39.000 | I think I would have wished to understand that we learn in layers and that we don't need to feel as first-time Essential Moms or even second-year Essential Moms that we have to master everything.
00:28:00.460 | And I love, Jenny, that you brought up the easy plus one and just encouraging moms to be okay and be at rest, realizing that there is information that we may not grasp this year.
00:28:13.860 | And that is okay because we have next year and the next year and we even have a lifetime to continue to learn these things.
00:28:23.800 | It doesn't even have to be learned.
00:28:25.320 | Everything, everything about grammar doesn't have to be learned.
00:28:28.060 | Everything about writing doesn't have to be learned in these three years of Essentials that God has given us and will continue to teach us and continue to give us wisdom in learning these areas of study.
00:28:42.360 | But the Essentials program has been laid out in such a beautiful way so that we can learn in layers and we're not expected just to master something and then move on to something new the next year.
00:28:53.620 | We can continue to come back and go deeper and deeper each year, which I think is one of the most amazing beauties of the Essentials program.
00:29:02.780 | I would agree with that, and I think that thought actually applies to Bible study as well, that the more that we read even the same passage, the more that we glean because we may be reading the same text again and again, but we are different people each time that we experience it.
00:29:20.500 | And so God speaks to us in different ways, and I know for us and for our family, that definitely held true with the nine, nine Tours of Essentials that our family completed over the course of our home education journey.
00:29:33.540 | Jenny, I know that last year marked the beginning of your family's Essentials journey, but now that you have begun it, looking back to these parents that are standing on the precipice of their first Essentials year, what would you like to tell them?
00:29:50.100 | Oh, man, that's good.
00:29:51.820 | To take a deep breath and take it one day at a time, and it's going to be okay.
00:30:01.120 | I love what Linnell said about the layering.
00:30:05.600 | It took me a while to grasp that we're going to do this two more years.
00:30:11.580 | Like, I knew it in my head, but I don't think I really understood it until getting into it because I was that mom those first few weeks.
00:30:22.300 | I was like, we have to get the paper done, and you need to write it, and it needs to sound good, and I wish I could go back and be more gracious to my son because he was doing his best, and he was doing a great job.
00:30:34.500 | It was me who had the expectations that I shouldn't have.
00:30:39.480 | And we slowly learned, you know, this is our first year.
00:30:42.280 | If you just tell me your paper, I'm happy to write it for you.
00:30:46.360 | And we had to go that far back because we did.
00:30:49.340 | We had tears with Essential, and it was okay.
00:30:52.740 | We do hard things.
00:30:54.840 | We kept saying that all year long.
00:30:56.940 | We do hard things in the Trayon house, and we're going to get through it together.
00:31:01.120 | And I think him continuing to see, like, I'm not going to give up, bud.
00:31:05.960 | We're going to get through this.
00:31:09.000 | Someone told me when writing the papers, because that's where we had most of our butting of the heads, they said, let him focus on the content, and you help him focus on the structure.
00:31:21.480 | So if that does mean he's going to speak his paper to you and you'll scribe for him, whether that's writing or typing, that's fine for the first year because, you know what, your second year, maybe then he'll type it or write it.
00:31:33.900 | And then his third year, you're probably going to be hands off completely.
00:31:37.220 | And that was some really good advice that I was given.
00:31:40.240 | I didn't get it until later on, but we implemented that, and a lot of the tears and butting of the heads went away once I just kind of let go and let him.
00:31:52.500 | Oh, I love that.
00:31:53.780 | And I think, Jenny, you already alluded to a term that keeps coming back to my mind, to hold loosely.
00:32:00.840 | Because if you take that little, the spirit of that little new first year essential student, and you have a grip on that, and you say, okay, we're doing, you know, these things every single day.
00:32:11.440 | And you have that level of expectation that is not encouraging, that is not honoring to where they are right now in their development, then it's very possible in your tight grip, you're going to squeeze out every ounce of enthusiasm your child will have to learn and to grow and to master, and they will feel defeated.
00:32:31.200 | And as an essentialist parent, that definitely is not the spirit that we're striving for as parents.
00:32:37.400 | We want them to feel encouraged and equipped for that good work.
00:32:42.140 | So I love the advice that you offered about tailoring to make it doable for your child where they are right now.
00:32:50.300 | And you also alluded to Andrew Pudewa's famous saying that all essentials parents hold two, and that is easy plus one.
00:32:58.240 | That we want to do with our children, obviously, what is easy, but we just want to go one step beyond that.
00:33:04.480 | So they're always on the growing edge of challenging themselves to do something that might be just slightly more difficult, slightly more advanced, so they're continuing to progress and grow.
00:33:15.960 | I love that idea.
00:33:17.440 | Really, as we're thinking about the essentials program, I think we're also, all three of us have echoed this statement of this is definitely a process where you make progress over time.
00:33:32.020 | That the unique nature of the essentials program is that a child, it actually repeats the same information for three different tours, up to three different tours.
00:33:41.680 | And so they are being exposed to the same kind of thinking time and time again, which is echoed so beautifully in the grammar strand of the challenge program.
00:33:52.520 | As our students take what they learn, the framework of language, and then they hang new clothing on the skeleton of that as they begin to study Latin as a second language.
00:34:05.920 | Jenny, I really appreciate, too, that you spoke a little bit about what essentials looks like in your home, because, you know, not only do we come to community, we use community as our launch pad day for what we're going to do the rest of the week.
00:34:18.840 | So I'd like to think a little bit about, for especially parents preparing now for the coming year, what does essentials look like at home and in real life?
00:34:28.660 | So, Jenny, I'm curious, what does essentials look like in your home during the week, and how would you recommend go into a little bit more detail about how families should structure their time and practice charts and complete assignments?
00:34:45.100 | How did you guys accomplish that on the daily with banks last year?
00:34:49.620 | And I think you could also build on that by thinking about who is he now and what do you plan to do in the coming year as he enters his second tour of essentials?
00:34:58.420 | Yeah, so essentials in our home changed very often, I'm not going to lie.
00:35:04.920 | But I can't remember where I got it, but I got this little card that told me how I could do essentials in one hour a day, and it had checklists for my son to check off.
00:35:16.040 | Again, I told you about the student book that I gave to him.
00:35:19.220 | So we did have a set time every day that we sat down together because I wanted to do it with him that first year.
00:35:27.300 | And he would get to pick, okay, I'm going to do my vocab words first, and then he would do that, and he'd check it off.
00:35:33.100 | And I just kind of sat there in case he needed me.
00:35:35.560 | That's his personality.
00:35:38.580 | So we used those little sheets to check off all of the different components, and I did choose to use the spelling words because we needed some spelling help in my house.
00:35:49.720 | And we did that very religiously the first semester, but as I said, I had a baby in January, so it definitely looked different that second semester.
00:36:00.820 | Again, like you said, Kelly, I had held everything very loosely, so I was much more rigorous that first semester, learned that, oh, I can let go of some things, and I learned a lot for the second semester.
00:36:15.180 | We always did it in the afternoons in our house last year, and this year, thinking through how that went, I think I'm going to start my day with our essentials after our morning time and our Bible time just to make sure their brains aren't completely dead because after doing math and reading and the other things that we do in our house, I think waiting until after lunch was a bit harder for them.
00:36:40.740 | I knew that, too, because during essentials, that's after lunch, and some days I could just see the tiredness in Banks' eyes.
00:36:47.260 | So I think this year at home, we're going to try to do it right after our Bible time to see if their minds are more engaged during that time.
00:36:56.180 | So that's one change that we're going to try, and I'm going to hold it loosely again.
00:37:01.340 | And I've already mentioned with his IEW papers, we definitely did those every week, and it was very helpful during that first semester.
00:37:11.820 | During the second semester, because of life, I did not make him do all of those papers, but we focused on faces of history
00:37:20.160 | and making sure that we were doing that paper appropriately and really just dove into writing that one.
00:37:28.080 | So he got excited about focusing more on that paper.
00:37:32.300 | This year, I'm hoping we'll get to do both of those.
00:37:34.540 | So we'll work on our faces of history, but we're still going to do those other final papers as well.
00:37:39.940 | And with Lila, we're going to try to keep her doing the same things as Banks, but again, she's our first-year student.
00:37:47.740 | So we'll see how she does.
00:37:50.440 | She's a different learner than Banks, so we're going to try to do it together and see how that works for them.
00:37:57.740 | I will be honest, too.
00:37:59.920 | Something I did last year, since they're so close in age, they're just 15 months apart,
00:38:05.300 | I actually made Lila an Essentials workbook last year, and she did essentially the Essentials program with us.
00:38:14.520 | I just did not make her do the IEW part, and it was a great review going back to how it really helps you
00:38:22.060 | put together the grammar and the dialectic and foundations going into Essentials.
00:38:26.700 | It helped her learn that information as well, and she was able to get that Memory Master English part
00:38:32.460 | really, really well last year.
00:38:34.760 | So she's really excited this year to start Essentials.
00:38:40.640 | So yeah, that's the main things, I guess, I think of.
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00:39:47.440 | I think that's so wonderful, and I think it's fantastic that you recognize already that both of your children are such different learners,
00:39:54.780 | because that was not a lesson that came easily to me.
00:39:58.080 | I am an only child, and so I had the misconception that all of my children would all be the same person,
00:40:04.280 | which is hysterical now when I look back on it because they are all three so distinctly different but just uniquely designed.
00:40:13.880 | And so I think it's wonderful that you're going to bring the two of them together and to hold loosely to your expectations for each of them,
00:40:21.220 | just being aware that they're gifted in different ways.
00:40:23.940 | I think that's wonderful.
00:40:25.100 | Linnell, I have a question for you.
00:40:27.880 | I know that as an Essentials parent, there's a role that we play at home.
00:40:33.780 | There's also a role that we play in community.
00:40:36.620 | And so I'm curious, could you speak a little bit to, as a parent, what should our parents be aware of?
00:40:44.480 | What is their role at home in relation to Essentials, but then also in community?
00:40:51.100 | Because in the past, I know I've served as an Essentials tutor, as have you and Jenny.
00:40:56.940 | I know there are certain things that I always appreciated my Essentials parents to be thinking and doing on community day.
00:41:05.440 | And then I'm curious what your thoughts are about, how does that role translate at home for our children?
00:41:11.880 | I like to think about the Essentials parent as being really the student and having that mindset where you're coming to community, ready to learn, ready to engage,
00:41:24.780 | as opposed to sitting, you know, on a back row on your phone or anything like that.
00:41:31.840 | Come to Essentials.
00:41:33.320 | I encourage you, come to Essentials, ready to learn and learn alongside your child.
00:41:39.420 | As part of the Essentials program, the desire would be is that you would read your lessons, whether it be IEW or the Essentials grammar lesson,
00:41:49.520 | that you would read those lessons prior to coming to community so that you're ready even to ask questions.
00:41:56.140 | Maybe there's something you don't understand that you would like more clarity on and be ready to ask your tutor those questions.
00:42:03.040 | And the reason being to have this mindset is because as Classical Conversations, we want to equip you as the parent to be the teacher at home.
00:42:15.140 | So in class, in community, the information is modeled for you, right, by the tutor.
00:42:23.740 | And so you're listening and you're learning right alongside of your child.
00:42:27.360 | But then when you go home, you get to be that teacher and you get to teach your child using the same methods and pedagogy that was used by your tutor in community.
00:42:39.380 | So think of yourself as the student coming to Essentials and then turn around and getting to be the teacher when you're at home.
00:42:46.200 | I love that.
00:42:47.980 | I love that.
00:42:48.580 | I wish I had had that mentality during my first Essentials experience because I will admit I was not prepared for community day.
00:42:56.320 | I would show up and then it was almost like I had, you know, this fever dream of what happened on community day.
00:43:04.180 | And I went home and I wasn't prepared because I didn't have the right mindset when I came in the door.
00:43:09.480 | So I love your words of advice to parents to be the student in community in order to be prepared to be the teacher at home.
00:43:17.340 | There's so much wisdom in that.
00:43:19.100 | So, ladies, I think we are almost at the end of our time together, which I know we could talk about Essentials two or three times longer than the amount of time that most people would spend on YouTube watching this video.
00:43:32.840 | But I'm curious, just thinking and reflecting on your Essentials experience, what is one piece of encouragement or a scripture that helped you to stay grounded during your Essentials journey, Linnell, and now during the midst of your Essentials journey, Jenny?
00:43:55.160 | So, Linnell, why don't you start off for us and you can start our encouragement session and then, Jenny, we're going to let you conclude our encouragement session.
00:44:03.600 | Sure. Thank you, Kelly.
00:44:06.840 | So, my encouragement to parents would be just to remember that we learn in layers.
00:44:11.740 | Therefore, give yourself and give your students much grace as you're going through this process.
00:44:20.280 | As we're learning, as your children are learning to steward words and language well, just give yourself grace.
00:44:27.340 | Colossians 3.12 says,
00:44:30.180 | Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
00:44:42.660 | So, Essentials parents, I just encourage you to close yourself with these fruits of the Spirit as you think about this upcoming year.
00:44:51.460 | And we might think of it, again, just toward other people, like toward our children.
00:44:57.060 | But, again, give patience to yourself, compassion and kindness to yourself as a busy mom and all that you've got going on.
00:45:05.740 | And just that grace for you and your child as you go in this, as you embark on this journey.
00:45:11.200 | It's so life-giving.
00:45:14.020 | All right, Jenny, your turn.
00:45:15.440 | Encourage us, friend.
00:45:16.600 | Yeah, well, Essentials is, it really is an amazing program.
00:45:23.380 | And going back to, you know, just how we talked about the importance of words, it made me think of Proverbs 18.21,
00:45:31.480 | talking about that death and life are in our words.
00:45:34.900 | And I got a lot, why do we have to do this, Mom?
00:45:38.500 | I don't want to write another paper.
00:45:40.160 | I don't want to, I don't care what a noun is.
00:45:42.900 | Reminding my children that there is death and life in your words.
00:45:47.040 | Words are important.
00:45:47.960 | God wants us to choose our words wisely.
00:45:51.060 | I wish I had known that growing up or focused on that growing up.
00:45:55.320 | So we go back to that verse in our house.
00:45:58.520 | And, you know, as you might be scared right now, but just remember, you're going to have 24 weeks with community in this program.
00:46:08.540 | You're not going to know it all that first time, especially your first-year parents.
00:46:14.460 | So just keep your hands open.
00:46:16.480 | You're not going to know it all at first, and that's okay.
00:46:19.340 | You're not supposed to know it all that first day.
00:46:21.820 | You may not even know how to navigate the big essentials guide that you're given.
00:46:27.020 | And that's okay.
00:46:28.520 | You're going to learn that.
00:46:29.940 | Ask questions to those around you in community.
00:46:33.760 | And really just learn how to slow down and don't miss God's blessings through this wonderful program that you guys have through Essentials.
00:46:43.020 | Because you're going to notice a big difference from your student that first week to your student in that last week.
00:46:49.780 | I promise you will.
00:46:52.360 | Such great words, ladies.
00:46:54.080 | Thank you both so much for your wisdom that you have shared today, Linnell.
00:46:59.300 | Thank you, Jenny.
00:47:00.380 | Thank you so much.
00:47:01.600 | And I know my two friends would echo me in saying that Essentials can feel like a big step for your CEC student.
00:47:09.260 | But let us also say it is a beautiful one.
00:47:13.580 | Whether you're entering with excitement or hesitation or maybe truthfully a little of both, remember that it is a journey of growth for you and for your CEC student.
00:47:24.760 | So trust the process of the classical skills and the practice of the classical skills.
00:47:29.440 | As both of these ladies have said, give yourself grace and most of all, enjoy the gift that is learning within community.
00:47:37.740 | Thanks for joining us today.
00:47:39.700 | If this episode encouraged you, share it with another CEC parent preparing for Essentials this year.
00:47:46.380 | And until next time, keep building, keep learning, and keep walking in truth, goodness, and beauty.
00:47:53.680 | Goodbye.
00:47:54.500 | Bye.
00:47:54.620 | Bye.
00:47:54.660 | Bye.
00:47:54.700 | Bye.
00:47:54.740 | Bye.
00:47:55.240 | Bye.
00:47:55.240 | Bye.
00:47:55.740 | Bye.
00:47:56.740 | Bye.
00:47:57.740 | Bye.
00:47:57.740 | Bye.
00:47:58.740 | you
00:47:59.240 | Thank you.
00:48:00.860 | Thank you.