Welcome, friends, to this episode of the Everyday Educator podcast. I'm your host, Lisa Bailey, and I'm excited to spend some time today with you as we encourage one another, learn together, and ponder the delights and challenges that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime. Now, whether you are just considering this homeschool adventure or deep into the daily delights of family learning, I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.

But don't forget, although our online community is awesome, you'll find even closer support in a local CC community. So go to classicalconversations.com and find a community near you today. Well, listeners, it's time to begin thinking about another school year. I know it's hard to believe that it's time to be about the business of setting ourselves up for success.

But here it is. And so I have two really dear friends to talk to you today about how to prepare yourself and your student for a new school year. I have Deb Switzer. Deb, thank you so much for coming. Hey there. Good to be here. Emily Martin as well.

Hey, Emily. Hello. Deb and Emily are two of our Sterling academic advisors. And so they are used to getting their own students ready for a new school year. But they're also used to thinking of ways and means to help all families everywhere get ready to have their very best school year ever.

So hopefully we are going to answer all the questions that your fertile minds could have and give you some encouragement, a little inspiration, and some really good practical tips for getting ready for the school year. So, ladies, let's get started. Now, look, I know that both of you have had or do still have both Foundations Essentials students and Challenge students.

And you have tutored. Both of you are well-versed in all the levels of kiddos. And so I want to ask you this question. Is it easier or harder, in your opinion, to get ready for Challenge or to get ready for Foundations? And, Emily, I'm going to pick on you first.

I know that you're still in the middle of both of it. I do. Yes, my youngest is going into her third year of Essentials. So she's still F&E. And my other two are Challenge. So I think it's probably more logistically complicated to get ready for Challenge because there's some prep work involved.

You have to start a couple of weeks ahead of time. So they're going ahead and working on their first novel for the exposition strand. There are more books to gather, more materials to gather. So just logistically, it's a little more complex than the Foundations. And I guess doing this for so long, I'm like, oh, no, Foundations, she's good.

We'll figure it all out on week one. Right, right. Well, once you get your basic materials, then it is pretty much you go and you hear and you come home and you do. But you made a really good point with Challenge. Sometimes when you show up, there's already stuff you're supposed to have done.

So, parents, that's your first golden nugget of the day. Don't just think you and your course guide or your syllabus, as some of you call it, can show up on the first day of Challenge and be all good. All right. There is some. Open it ahead of time and find out what you're supposed to be about.

All right, Deb, hit us up. Which is easier, Foundations prep or Challenge prep? I think that it's, I think I agree. I think it's a little bit harder to get ready for Challenge only because, like we said, there is some work to kind of get ahead, you know, done ahead of time.

I think there's also a little bit of, as a parent, when you're preparing, there are more assignments, right? So, in Foundations, we're hopefully trying to be very stick in the sand. I mean, we are for all of them. But we're trying to be stick in the sand, though we listen, as you said.

In Challenge, we want to take a look ahead as parents and say, what are the assignments that are coming? What are the flows? So, it takes a little more time as a parent to just get in there, look at it, make sure I understand the assignments so that I can help my student with those assignments.

So, I might want them to read a book ahead of time just to give them a little bit of a break during a busy season that I know is coming up in my year. So, I have to kind of take some time to marinate in the guide myself a little bit more, I think, as a Challenge parent than I might as a Foundations parent.

That's really wise. That's true. I love what you said, marinate in the guide. I will be totally transparent, okay? So, the first year that I had a student in Challenge, well, I had been tutoring Challenge B for a long time before my oldest daughter came into Challenge B. And so, I knew that Challenge B guide back and forwards and forwards.

I had written parts of it. So, I knew that. She went on to Challenge 1. And, oh, my goodness, this was so long ago, but it still stings me. I did not read the guide in its entirety for myself. And, boy, did it bite me because when it came time for her to do her research paper, she didn't format it in the way that she was supposed to.

And, you know, I mean, she's learning, and I'm the lead learner in the home, so it reflected poorly on me. And I said to her director, well, when did you tell them this? And her director said, it's in the guide. There's a whole section of that in the guide, okay?

And I felt really, really bad. So, parents out there, I'm telling you, learn from my lesson and read the guide. You're right, Deb. There's so much good intel in the guide. It will really help you as the parent get set up. You get it all in your mind, and it reminds you of the things.

Okay, you read it, and you think, okay, my student knows how to do that. Or, whoa, Nellie, my student does not know how to do that. Or, we have that resource, or we had that resource. I have no idea where it is. And it just reminds you so that you're not constantly behind the eight ball as a parent trying to facilitate the learning of your child.

Such good things. Okay, so I want us to cover, I know there are probably at least two sets of people listening. There are people who are preparing to be the lead learner in the home. They're the parent who is going to shepherd a challenge student, whether that's Challenge A or Challenge 4 student.

They're going to shepherd their student through. So, I want us to talk about, if we're parents, what's the best way for us to prepare? And then, after we do that, well, before we do that, because that's what everybody wants to know. Okay, what am I supposed to do? Some of us are also directors.

So, I want you guys to start off by talking about, if I'm a director, what's the best way for me to prepare for the upcoming challenge year? And the reason I want to do that first is, parents, I want you to hear what your directors are doing. To get ready to help partner with you in your child's education this year.

Yeah, I think it's interesting that as we are directing, but we're also parents at the same time. So, one of the benefits of directing is that you get to really know the material that your kids are involved in as a director. I think it's one of the highest benefits of directing.

I can't recommend it enough. I feel the years that I'm directing my own child in the challenge program are always the strongest and the most beautiful years for us and our homeschool, just because I'm right in there with them. And so, that's a huge plus because as we're preparing, I'm also thinking, how am I preparing at home for my own child?

And so, I love that part of CC and just the way that that director role melds so well as a parent at home. And I mean, really, it's the guide and read. I mean, that's how I prepare. Yes, yes. I'm in the guide. I'm going through the assignments and I am reading.

I'm trying not to, the older I get, I'm trying to not over-prepare too much and like weigh my summer. I'm trying to really enjoy the process of reading the books because the more I've read, the more the conversations and the questions flow. So, I spend a lot of time in the guide and I spend a lot of time bringing books along with me in the car, wherever I'm going.

And just reading every single chance that I get. Those are my two main preps that I do as a director. Let me ask you a question before I give Emily a chance to say, I want to put you on the spot because you're my friend and you'll still love me if I ask you this.

Do you do the challenge assignments? Have you done the assignments yourself? Some. So, I've done some. I'm not, so I'm not writing the essays. I think my first couple years especially, I would, I'd really try to assimilate and do a lot of different things. So, I've done some of the exercises just to make sure that I know that.

But I try, I don't do that too much in preparation. I try to stay a week ahead of my students for the most part. And, like, I'll look ahead at what's coming and make sure that if I'm not sure about that traditional logic concept, that I'm going to actually try to, like, wrestle with the exercises.

I don't write all the essays, but I do five common topics on everything. Oh, good. That's cool. So, I look at the five common topics for the art and challenge too, or I've done the five common topics on the challenge for U.S. history, if that's what I'm leading. And I'll five common topic it until it's blue.

Yes, that's really good. Those end up becoming my questions and my wrestling point for the material. So, that's what I think the most is really five common topics. That's really good. I remember when I started out as a challenge director, we taught Greek in Challenge B. And so, I mean, I knew nothing.

It really was all Greek to me. And so, I did all the exercises along with the students. And you know what I discovered? And I did that when I taught logic as well. I did all the logic exercises in Challenge B. Those books are bears. But I did all of that because why it helped me was I knew what the students were struggling with.

You know, and I could say with them in chorus, yeah, that was a doozy of an exercise. Or, yeah, I really had to consult the answer key, like every other proof for that one. And it gave me a great feeling of sympathy. But it also helped me to realize what I struggled with so that I could help them.

Because that's probably where they were going to struggle with too. Emily, what is the thing? What do you do to prepare yourself as the lead learner? Yeah, I agree with Deb. And first, you know, read through the guide. That's definitely the first step, especially coming in as a new director.

So, for the past three years, I was stepping into a new role. So, I stepped into Direct Challenge A. Then I moved up to B. Then I moved up to 1. So, three years of moving into a new level without ever having a child go through it either. It was completely new for me.

So, you know, really, really green in directing those levels. So, yeah. Start with reading the guide. Figuring out, okay, what books go with which strand. Figuring, getting everything organized. Reading through. Make sure there's, I understand the rhythm of the strands. Because many, many of our strands have a rhythm.

You know, it's read the chapter, do the exercises, read the chapter. Or it's read through the chapters two weeks in a row, then do it. Or if you're challenge one, it's experiment, then read. Experiment, then read. So, figure out the rhythm of each strand. That takes some time to figure that out as well.

And then the next thing I would do, other than, you know, reading through the first couple of chapters of every book. I try to at least become really familiar with the first three weeks of every strand during the summer. So, again, I can become familiar with that routine. And then I would hop on over to the discussion forum.

And all of your wonderful academic advisors have prepared a discussion post for the summer and for the entire academic year. So, you can do a search for any week, any strand, and we have given you some wonderful preparation materials. Things that, hey, watch out for this. Or these are kind of sticky conversations that you might encounter on week three.

You know, here's some themes you might run across. Novels that might have some sensitive topics that you might want to be aware of. Because if you've never read the books, you wouldn't know. So, things like that, that you could say, oh, hey, parents, heads up. Here's some things to look out for as you are preparing for the academic year.

Hey, everyone. We want to interrupt this show to tell you about the Classical Learning Cohort. So, the Classical Learning Cohort is comprised of small groups of CC parents learning how to become more competent, competent classical teachers. I don't know about you, but being more confident as I'm teaching my children is exactly what I need.

And the CLC can get me there. So, the CLC provides a welcome place for mentorship while helping you to practice the classical skills with hospitable assessment. With feedback from your peers and your mentors, you will experience the transformative growth as a classical Christian educator. So, right now, they're also offering a way for you to test out the CLC for free by attending one of their online events with a CLC mentor.

All you need to do is go to classicalconversations.com forward slash cohort and search experience the CLC to find an event and time that fits your schedule. We hope that you enjoy the CLC. Let's get back to the show. Well, that's good. So, there are resources available specifically to directors that help them help the parents help the students.

So, that's really good. I think especially that's heartening, Emily, to brand new directors who say, but all of this is new. All of these strands, managing each of these strands is difficult. And then managing the classroom discussion. And I don't even know how to get a discussion started on this topic.

So, there are discussion starters for each strand for every week. So, that's really, that is very heartening. Deb, is there anything else, any other resources that you would highlight? Yeah. For directors, I would definitely highlight the weekly helps that are NCC connected. So, those are gold. I think most directors go out and bobble those up really fast because that's just like an exordium, some questions you could ask for the 15 skills for every single strand for every single week.

I think that those are probably the most useful and helpful tool for busy directors who are trying to manage many different things. And I think it's just important for directors to remind themselves as well. Look, you are a homeschool mom. You are still doing, you know, all the other things that go along with directing, right?

So, it's, you know, the things like the director tutor practicum that we're holding this year to, like, help develop your skills and to learn how to use skills to lead conversations without it being overwhelming. You know, you asked if I did all the things. So, when I think about, like, math, am I seeing all of the lessons, like, all the problems?

No, but I'm finding one concept that I'm wrestling with so that we can have a really good math conversation about it. And so, I don't have to do 30 problems every single day of math to be able to help my students lead a conversation about it. And so, there's a place of rest, but there's also a place of diligence that kind of come together as a director that are beautifully accompanied by things like the form and the weekly helps to give you the support that you need as you're trying to direct.

It's really good. I really appreciated you mentioning director tutor practicum. That this year has been, for so many people, a great place to practice bringing the skills forward into all of our conversations and helping our directors and tutors learn how to make all of the community interactions skills forward.

So, that the students are really growing in their skills of classical learning. You know, a director needs to take advantage of all of those opportunities. So, go to practicum, go to director tutor practicum, participate in book clubs that your local community might offer. Look at these online helps that Deb and Emily have alerted you to.

Take advantage of everything and build relationships with people in your wider CC community so that you have another Challenge B tutor to talk to or another Challenge 1 director to talk to so that y'all can troubleshoot and share ideas. That's a really good thing. Building community is so important.

On the lines of director and tutor practicum, you know, we're really focusing on those skills and one thing that I have told directors is, as you're going through the materials, especially a new director, think about that one thing you would like your students to walk away with that day and let that be your focus.

So, start with, okay, they need to accomplish this task and that is going to, we're going to work on this particular skill and here are some questions that I can ask to support that. And that's really where the heart and the focus of the planning should be if they're going through the materials and trying to prep their seminar strand.

So, I think that, and that's what they're gaining at the director and tutor practicum this year, is the practical ability and training to be able to do that at home. Good. That's excellent. Good wisdom. I just came back from my director tutor practicum yesterday. Oh, it's all fresh to you.

It's all fresh in my mind. And I just loved it. I loved every ounce of the community building and being with other directors from other, even other areas because, you know, our local representatives joined forces. Being able to focus on the skills and really think about what that does and how that changes.

I wanted the whole dynamic. I told a group of the ladies that I was leading there, I said, you know, not that it was ever meant to be, but sometimes, I mean, I have loved CC. I've been in it for years, but sometimes, especially in challenge too, I'm just going to be honest, it felt heavy.

Like, there's so much work to do. So much to finish. There's so much to do. So much to do. And I said, and it's good. I'm like, all of these things are good. They're building our students. It's all wonderful. It's not that it wasn't. But this was the first year as I approached it that I said, it's felt light.

That if I am really focusing on just, like, thinking through a skill that my students can really work on, that all of the stuff that seems like it's there, it's just like, but in community, we are just trying to really practice these skills of learning. And it doesn't have to be, like, we have these 25 things we have to do in this strand.

It can be, we're going to practice this skill today. And we'll still get through stuff. But this is my focus. And it really was very uplifting, I think, for everyone. And really encouraging to practice with that and see how that could work. So I give a big, hearty plug for the director tutor.

That's so good. Yeah, it's so freeing knowing that we can go from, like, 10 pages of lesson plans to literally 10 questions. You know, that's so good. So freeing. So that sounds really scary to a new tutor who says, but I need you to tell me, what am I supposed to be doing?

That's what these weekly helps are going to do. They're going to help you narrow down to the important pieces that you are to accomplish while you're in community. Because I think it behooves us all to remember that we are the director of that one day. We are facilitating conversations.

We are building the skills. But mama is, and daddy is, the lead learner in the home. And so they are helping them work through all of that. That's one thing that, as a director, maybe we need to prepare our hearts for, okay? We need to prepare our hearts to love on those kids and to be committed to a skills-forward education.

How do you prepare your heart for each new year's worth of challenge communities? Deb, what do you do to get your heart ready to be with these new kids? I think the first thing is, I mean, obviously, I'm praying for our year. I know that that is going to be key.

And just that praying that the students are going to be able to receive and that the parents are going to be able to receive and that we'll all grow together. That's definitely a prayer focus. I think another thing I really do, though, every year I have to reset myself to say, I love to teach.

I love to be a lead learner. I love to tutor. Be curious. It's in me. I love it. But it's easy to forget the partnership sometimes and see myself as the source of the education. And to just remember, the parents are the ones making the decisions and the parent orientation saying, you guys are the ones who are leading your kids through this four days a week.

I'm there to lead a conversation one day a week and really be working on that relationship with the parents over the summer to ensure that, you know, I'm here to support you and to help guide you. And then I have a great conversation once a week with your kids.

But I'm really here as a support mechanism for your homeschool and your educational goals. And how can I help you meet those? That mindset really changes the way that we work in our conversations during the class. But also, it changes the mindset of how I'm interacting with the parents.

It's a servant's mentality and not a mentality of I have the answers. It's more of how may I serve you? How may I best you? That's so good. Like flowing from that, Emily, let me ask you, how do you prepare your families and your students? Because Deb mentioned orientations and maybe family interviews.

So how do you be their partner? What's your director role there? Yeah. So to kind of piggyback on what Deb was saying is, you know, the parents are the lead learners in the home. You know, I feel like some directors and parents kind of need that extra, like, are you sure?

And within every challenge guide, it's a page that we tend to skip over. But on page nine, it's the welcome letter to parents. And in that welcome letter, it says, you are the lead learner. You can tailor based on what your student needs. It's basically the permission slip to say, you know what?

We are offering you the buffet of educational materials and you choose what's best for your student. You know, if that, you know, Latin assignment is just a little too much this week, scale it back a little bit, you know. And so that's what I encourage my parents saying, you know, I am here to support you.

If you need to make the work a little less rigorous this week, I'm here to support you. What does that look like to your student? If your student needs a little extra challenge, okay, I'm here to support you. How can we make it a little more challenging for this particular student in this particular strand?

And so, yeah, I come alongside the parents and I say, how can I support you? What do you, what are you wrestling with that I can help make sure your student is getting what's best for them? And every student is so different. So it's going to look different for everybody and every family.

It's going to look different. So, yeah, that's how I help support them and helping the parents find those extra resources like on CC Connected and in the forum or the various parent equipping books that, you know, I've read over the years. Like, hey, this is a really good one.

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If you want to find out more about Judson College, visit judsoncollege.com forward slash distinctives. Let's get back to the show. That's good. That's good. That is really good. You are a procurer of resources for them. You can point them to the things that will help them. I love the way that both of you have highlighted that it's a partnership.

And what we're doing is to support the parent, not supplant the parent. We're really there to hold their hand and to hold their arms up. That's really good. It's a really good segue because I did want all of you listeners who are parents and you think, why did you make me listen to what the directors are doing?

I want you to know how your directors are preparing to serve your family this year. I want you to know that your director has resources at his or her fingertips that they are eager to share with you. It's just good to know what your partner is doing. But let's take a minute.

Let's take a few minutes and look at parents. Okay. So you guys think about your role as a parent yourself and how you prepared, but as a director, how you know will be the most helpful way for parents to prepare for the coming school year. So, Deb, what would you say is the parent's top role in preparing for the year?

Is it finding materials or, you know, making a schedule or reading the stuff? What's the top thing for a parent to do? I feel like I'm, I feel like I can say the same thing, but it's like the guide, the guide, the guide. Y'all are receiving the message that the guide is somewhat important.

So that's a good message. And I think I have like the same confession that you have, Lisa, because, you know, I've had my years where I haven't looked in the guide enough or barely at all or skipped over things. And we forget that we're classical learners and that repetition is good.

Sometimes the, you know, the ones who've been in the game long enough are like, yeah, I know that. And I go straight to the what section and I look at like, what are these? And all of that is good. It's, it's important. And we're all busy and I understand that.

But the more that parents get familiar with what is coming, because especially as they're getting older, right, they are starting to be more independent. They're starting ownership. They are starting to do things on their own. You know, you could go for a little season and you could be like, wow, you know, my kid is just rocking and rolling.

And that's great. But we have to help launch our students though into that year. We have to know what the themes are. We have to know what we're, what our goals are, right? So as a parent, I need to know what are my goals for my student this year and how they're going to grow.

I'm not just going to say, well, attend, attend those seminars and, and good luck. We'll see you at the end of the year. So what you're saying, you shouldn't just as a parent, look at the guide and think, well, that's what we're supposed to do. You should, as a parent, know your child and see what parts of that guide are specifically going to be a challenge to your student or what are things outside the guide that your child really needs to work on.

Yeah. And if I know, like, if I'm looking at my children's writing and I'm saying, I want them to grow in this level of elocution. And maybe it's, I don't want you to work on style here, but really what I want you to work is on your technical voice in your formal lab reports, you know, for a couple of weeks here.

So I need to be able to look at how my students are doing all the different assignments throughout the last year and step back and sit down with them and say, what are going to be our goals this year? Where do you want to grow? Where do you rise up this year?

What's, what's your own goal? And then I also am going to have goals for them as parents, whether they, you know, probably like those or not, but that's okay. But start first with how do you want to grow? Oh, wow. And let's make that a goal. And let's see how we can fill that in with the assignments that are in the guide so that I know when it's coming.

Yes. And I can hold you accountable to your own growth. Yes. That is so, so, so good, Deb. All of us should have family learning goals and, and family goals. Maybe your family has committed to being more involved in your new, maybe you've moved to a new neighborhood like Emily and your family has a goal of being more involved in your physical community.

You have to take that into consideration or maybe your child is, has joined a travel sports team and that's a goal. So they're not just academic goals is what I'm saying. You as the parent need to sit down with your child and look at all of the goals, family goals, family life goals, academic goals, and particular student growth goals.

That might be your number one job as a parent is hosting that conversation and, and given some ideas so that you intentionally attack or approach the year instead of just kind of falling into it and letting it happen to you every week. Emily, what, what would you say, what do you think is the most important or the best way that a parent can prepare for a new challenge year?

Yeah. So I'm kind of in a, like I said earlier, I've never gone into a challenge level that I wasn't already directing my student. And so now my oldest is going into two, but I'm hanging back in one a year. So it's the first time I'm like the new parent going into a level where I've never experienced it before.

So I'm going to be reaching out to Deb a lot as the academic advisor for challenge two. I'm going to go over to her forum post and read all the things in the parent section. Yeah, and then, of course, like she said, definitely start with reading the guide. If you don't have the physical guide yet, that's okay.

If you are, if you have your student enrolled in Classical Conversations, you have access to it on the, in the Learning Center. And so you can go over there and start reading through the guide, figuring out, okay, what are the assignments that are, what's going on in the first five or six weeks?

Go to the appendix section. What is available to me in the appendix section? Because here's a tip for you parents is the guide is really the only thing the director has to, other than the weekly helps, which support the guide, you have all the same information. And so, so everything is, is there.

It's just taking the time to read through and kind of piecing it together. So, you know, in the, in the what section, the weeks, it says, here's the task, see the appendix. So, okay, well, I'm going to go flip over to the appendix and see how that connects it all.

And all the instructions are there. But of course, your director is there too for any questions. So if you're going through and there's something you're confused about, call, text your director. They're more than happy to help you because as you heard earlier, our role as a director is to support the parents and then the family in their educational goals.

But as a parent, the first thing I would do is read through the guide, read through the books as much as I can. I'm not going to sit through and read the entire logic textbook, but at least I'll know that it's happening. I'll know what it looks like. You'll know what it's supposed to be happening.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really good. And as our students get older, you know, starting in Challenge 2 and up to 4, the students are more independent. And so they don't need as much hand-holding from the parent. But that doesn't mean as a parent I need to completely check out.

I still need to be there to help my son and support him and assess his papers, assess his outlines, and making sure he is getting done what needs to be done. And so I need to have the guide to make sure those tasks are getting completed in the proper format and in the proper citation style and all the things.

That's good. I think, you know, the beginning of the year is a good time for us as parents to sit down, like you guys have said, and look at the guide and look at the assignments and think about, where is my student? So a Challenge A student is going to need a whole lot more oversight of his schedule than a Challenge 4 student is.

You hope, anyway. And here's the tip, parents. If you will teach your student how to manage their lives, how to manage their time, if you begin doing that very intentionally in Challenge A and in Challenge B, by the time they are in Challenge 3 and Challenge 4 and when they go off to college, they know how to look at a guide or a syllabus and say, oh, this is due on Week 10.

But I know from experience, but I know from experience, I should not wait until Week 8 to begin to think about this and until Week 9 to actually do something about this. They know how to back themselves up. And they can know. A Challenge A student just says, oh, I have 35 pages of Latin to do and there's seven days in a week, so that's five pages a day.

Okay, mom knows that, A, there's very little likelihood that you're really going to work on Saturday and Sunday. So that's right now you deciding that you're going to be behind by 10 pages, right? And mom and dad also know that every page is not created equal. Some of it's just reading and some of it might be 25 exercises to do.

So the best thing that a parent can do is to look and see what does my student need? What kind of help do they need at every level in order to have the best possible relationship with that guide and with the material and with the skills that I want them to sharpen in this year?

And so I love what you said about older students need a regular rhythm. So go ahead. Part of your setting up success for your school year is setting up those times. Are you going to have a weekly check-in with an older student or a daily check-in with the younger Challenge student?

Figure out what it is and cut yourself some slack. You won't get it right at the very beginning. I remember when my oldest was in Challenge A and I was tutoring Challenge, a level that I wasn't as familiar with. And I remember I would be the day before community, we were all head down working.

And I finally about halfway through the first semester, I just said to her, you're a great student. Why is this working so poorly? Why is there so much left for you to do on the day before community? And you need me to help you push it across the line.

But I'm juggling all my stuff. And so we got to looking and I realized I had made a rookie mistake by thinking that my good student was a good planner, a good time manager. And she was a great kid, but she had no experience managing and she didn't know how to break her work down.

And so she was saving too much to the end. And so for the rest of that first semester, I was her buddy and we planned the week out together. And then I started letting her do more and more. By the time she was in Challenge B, she could plan her week like a trooper and she had spaced it out pretty realistically.

So just know, try it. And if it doesn't work, tweak it. Try it and tweak it till you get it right. What do you think, Deb? I think that's really important to one, you know, make that plan. Think through and say, hey, I'm going to meet with you every week.

We're going to look at your checklist and things like that. I also think it's really important to hold it loosely because your kids are changing at a very fast rate. And they might plummet in one area and they might rise up in another area. And that we need to be so flexible in the ways that we are approaching it because we are homeschooling.

That's one of the reasons why we homeschool is so we're planning, but we want to be really flexible with our kids and say, hey, this week, you know, you planned great. And the next week they might and they might need more handholding that week. And that ability to say, OK, this it's not like, well, you're on your own now.

You've done it. You had one good week. Keep doing it again. They just may not do that. Right. And I think that we can because we have we're adults and we're mature and we're parents, we're able to see, hey, they are independent this week. This is looking good. They've got it.

And then the next week they might need us to come in. And that that's the place where we have to be willing to ship. You know, as a you know, when I had four kids in the program, I my my third just graduated and I only have one left in challenge to this year.

But I remember it was really, really hard to try to do that with all of them at the same time. Yes. You know, it's it can feel like a lot. So lots of grace when we're trying to help prepare our kids over, you know, and even as we're preparing ourselves.

Lots of grace saying that this is has to hold it loosely and it's going to change on a day by day basis. And one of the pieces of advice I received for preparing that I held on to this work for me, it may not work for everyone, was with your oldest, you know, track with your oldest, because that's going to keep coming up with your other one.

So I'm sure you're tracking with your oldest, but pick one subject, pick one strand that you're going to dive into with that student. And say, I may not get to all of it. There's lots of material, but I'm picking this one strand and I'm going to dive in deep with you on this one.

I'm going to do the exercises or I'm going to do read the books or whatever it might be. And we're going to walk through this together and we're going to have this conversation. And that's a great thing to plan ahead. That's to say, this is the one and I know I'm going to connect with you here.

And that's going to be a great way to plan and to think ahead. That's so good. And it does not always have to be a lot of times. Parents pick the subject that the student or that they think the student will struggle with. You can do that. But you know what is really beautiful?

Pick a strand that you and your student both find joy in. And those conversations are so rich and so enriching to both of you. What a blessing. Emily, I feel like you had something. Oh, yeah. I feel like I did that kind of naturally with my students. You know, I have three.

And so, you know, my oldest and I always sat down and did Latin together because as is A and B and one director, I was still learning Latin too. And so going back to our earlier conversation, did you do the work? Yeah, I sat down and I did the Latin because so we did all the exercises together.

And then with my middle, he was in A last year, you know, and we just started the math map. So we sat down and we did the math map together. You know, every day we'd sit down and we would both work through and read through the math map booklets together so that, you know, we both could have that conversation.

And so I did the work with him on that one. And with my daughter still being, you know, in essentials, we worked on her IEW together. We keyword outlined and we wrote the paper together. So, but I think that's making that intentional, I feel like is so important. And now that you're saying pick one that they find really joyful, like that might have to change next year because I do know one of my kids really lights up with one strand more than another.

So yeah, yeah, it's the kind of thing that you think about ahead. That parent is one of the ways that we are hoping to help you prepare for the school year. Okay, I want to, this is the lightning round guys. Okay, because I have both of you here so we can cover challenge A through four.

What is different about each challenge level? If I'm a parent, what is different about each challenge level that I need to keep in mind? So like, is there something that is not consistently hard, but consistently causes people to say, oh, I forgot about that or, oh, I needed to pay more attention to that.

What is it that we need to keep in mind? Okay, I'm going to start. We'll just start with A and go through. So Emily, you're up first. Sorry. Okay. So with A, I feel the one maybe that gets forgotten might be analogies. Okay. So they're trying to, they're working through memorizing Proverbs 25.

There are so many just wonderful tidbits in the analogies book and vocabulary and grammar that I had never heard of until I went through analogies. And that's a workbook. And so, you know, you can go through and work that with your student and kind of learn together and there are places to write silly sentences and alliteration.

And so it is kind of fun to work through that. But, yeah, I feel like we put, rightfully so, we put a lot of focus on science fair and fallacies is always a lot of fun. And cartography, you know, that's not the capstone. But by week 30, they're drawing the entire world.

So those are get the highlights. They're huge. Yeah. Yeah. Analogies might kind of fly under the radar a lot of times. Oh, that's really neat. I'm so glad that you brought that up. Yeah, because we do. We spend tons of time talking about science fair and drawing the world.

But we forget that there's some enjoyable little tidbits in there that don't blink, don't miss it. All right. What about Challenge B? Okay. Challenge B. I think one of the beautiful things about Challenge B are the conversations. So especially if you have the same group of students from A, and you know they're silly, they're kids, they're 12.

They go up to B, you know, and they're, well, how? They're capable of some good conversation. And I think the debate strand in B just gives plenty of opportunity for some really great conversation. And these kids have some really wonderful things to say. And they have some really strong opinions that just, they're really neat to hear.

So parents, if you have the opportunity to go sit in on your, on the debate strand in Challenge B, it's really, it's really neat. It's really fun to hear and to sit in on. Yeah. Good. Good. Yeah. All right. What about Challenge 1? What do we need to think about?

What's different about Challenge 1? And what can we expect from our students in Challenge 1 that might be something new that we haven't seen in them before? Yeah. So going back to the debate strand, they start team policy debate. So that is a skill that they are, they are really new in.

So they, they learned a little bit about how to communicate back and forth during mock trial and B. But team policy debate, there is a lot of structure to it. There's, you know, some formal skills they need to learn. And so that's one that the parents, I think, from, from really week one, you need to be working with your student, reading the book with your student, watching the videos in the learning center with your student about how team policy debate works.

Because it's very new and it kind of looks a little messy at first. But again, they're, they're practicing, they're in the grammar stage of team policy debate. So, but it's one that does take some, some teamwork. And so learning that together could be, you know, a neat project for the fall.

Good, good. That's good. That gives us something to chew on. As parents are thinking about each level, that gives them something to, to remember and to harken back to. All right, Deb, pick us up at Challenge 2. Ah, Challenge 2 is my stomping ground. Okay, so I think that the debate strand changes with focusing on art and music and Western cultural history.

And they're writing artist essays to analyze art. So that's kind of new. They do some new speaking events in Challenge 2. So they continue with policy debate, but they also are introduced to an art grant project. They're introduced to Lincoln Douglas in the second semester. They get to go to an art museum and do a speech about a piece of art.

So there's lots of beauty in Challenge 2. It is a huge theme in Challenge 2. And something that the students really enjoy, the beauty in music, the beauty in art, the way that God forms us and makes us beautiful. And so I think that's something that they can look forward to in Challenge 2.

There's, there's so much in general, the literature is fabulous. Everything is just so rich and very well integrated. And I think students really love and appreciate all the beauty in the new, like just a different dynamic that kind of comes forth in those, in that Challenge 2 year. Yeah, that's great.

All right. Challenge 3. What, what, I'm a, I'm a Challenge 3 parent. What do I need to be on the lookout for? And how has my student changed? Yeah. So they are getting, they are, their thinking is getting so much more integrated as they move from Challenge 2 to Challenge 3.

The, the years of the Challenge programs are starting to build on each other and they're starting to make more connections, much more integration. And so you'll find that, I, I find that one of the things you want to be on the lookout for in Challenge 3 is the exposition strand.

They can get very focused on Shakespeare and then they kind of forget about poetry. And so they'll say poetry till the end and like try to like rush writing some poetry. And it's so much to be like, I can just do it the day before. And so, but that's about how we want to write poetry.

And so trying to look ahead and say, hey, student of mine, who I love so much, could you, let's make a schedule to ensure that we're including poetry in our writing and about the beauty of words and how we can reflect God's goodness in the words that we're choosing.

And so that's one thing to kind of be on the lookout for. And then the U.S. History book is really thick. It's really big. It's so full of great information, but maybe looking into an audio book version for that so that there can be days of maybe more restful reading versus more of like the highlighting and things like that.

So maybe being able to balance that will help them just be able to integrate into that, that Challenge 3 U.S. history strand a little bit better. Oh, Deb, those are such good practical. I can just, I mean, in my mind's eye, I see people writing this stuff down. That's really good practical tips.

Okay, Challenge 4, the capstone year. As parents, do we really have much to do anymore? Tell us about what we ought to be planning for. I would say you do and enjoy. You know, my daughter just finished Challenge 4 and her director, who is just so beautiful, said, I want you to savor every single moment.

You know, that was the word, was to savor. And so we were very much in the savoring mode of just enjoying conversations with them. Senior thesis is obviously a huge capstone. And parents, you will be walking with your child through that Challenge 4 process of senior thesis from beginning to end and helping them and being a place where they can hash out thoughts.

I mean, that is so important for them in that entire process of writing their senior thesis. But you just get to savor all these moments of them just applying so much of what they've learned and seeing it just all come together in that final year. And so the more you can just stay involved in conversations, I would say just it's your year to converse, converse, converse, and enjoy every moment of the things that they are bringing to the table because it's a great year.

That's good. You guys did great. That was a great run through the challenge. But it really did give us some things to hang on, to hang our hats on even. I appreciate all of the tips that you've given, how to prepare ourselves as learners, how to prepare our resources that we need to gather, how to prepare our hearts, how to prepare, how to prepare to be a partner with our director and with our students.

It's just, it can get overwhelming when you think, oh, it's time to start school. I got to figure out all this stuff. Small bites, small bites, small bites, decide what's most important. Set some family goals, set some personal goals, become familiar with the resources, engage your child as a learning partner.

That's what I picked up from what you guys said, that there's a lot to be said for sitting down with your student and doing some of the learning alongside your student so that those rich conversations, I think that's what our students remember the most. It's the things that we do together, even if they're a struggle.

I had one daughter. We struggled through chemistry together because I didn't, I mean, it was 30 years ago that I did that stuff. And I did not do it to the degree maybe that our CC students did it. And so there were times when we were both less than thrilled to still be working on this.

But it taught us how to love one another and to give one another grace and what perseverance looked like. And it actually taught my daughter who was responsible for her education, not her tutor. It was her mama and her. And so those are good lessons. It's the kinds of lessons, parents, it's the kind of lessons that you learn as you go.

And that turn out to be really memorable for both you and for your student. So I just in terms of just that simplification of preparation as well. You know, as classical educators, we are looking at, you know, the whole purpose is building virtue, right? We're trying to build virtue in us.

And so, and the, we are thinking about building virtue in our kids, but we're really also building virtue in ourselves at the same time. And so if we step back and we look at the preparation and say, how, how do I want to see virtue arise in my community through, not like we said, not just academics, but in general, but academics are an amazing way where virtue is built.

But that is, that is my goal. That's what I'm shooting for is building that virtuous human being that's going to be able to shine the light of Christ. And so all of these things are just, just tools for that. And so if we keep that in mind, then our focus for the goals that we make becomes much more clear as we continue to, as we continue to work toward that.

That's beautiful. Thank you. That's the perfect way to end our podcast today. Deb, thank you. Emily, thank you. And parents, thanks for listening. We are praying that all of you have the best year ever. And we'll see you next week on the Everyday Educator. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. you you you Thank you.