The WHYS and HOWS

Why do we homeschool?

Well, the Word says “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8) Joel and I personally feel responsible for the hearts and souls of our children. We have taken full ownership and are purposeful in how our children are discipled. We believe that true discipleship includes spiritually, but as well as physically, academically, mentally, and emotionally. So we want to fill them with solid philosophy which depends on the principles of Christ. 

How do we teach them these principles?

Through the classical model.

We value and advocate classical education, which is broken down into three stages of learning, distinguished as the TRIVIUM, which is Latin for "three roads". These three roads are: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. The Trivium truly reflects the instructions given to us in Proverbs 24:3-4. We want our children to not only attain the academic wisdom, but fully understand it and comprehend how it relates to God. In return we want them to be prepared to give an answer (with gentleness and respect) to anyone who asks to give a reason for the HOPE they have. (1 Peter 3:15)

We believe that all knowledge should be interrelated and point to God. A life without Jesus is a life without hope. In my earlier years of homeschooling, I would pull together our own historic timeline, and create thematic units that included History, Math, English, and Science from numerous resources that would all relate to each other. It was a tiring process until I learned that Classical Conversations had already invented three cycles of history that correlates with these other subjects, as well as mastered an amazing historic timeline. Last year we joined Classical Conversations Inc. because they carry our core values and help us lay a concrete foundation. 

Practical Implementation 

Here is the layout of how we homeschool with Classical Conversations. 

C.C. is broken down into two major age groups. Foundations for preK to 6th grade and Challenge for 7th to 12th grade.

Foundations is the laying of the foundation through the elementary years. The school has everything we need to learn expect Math and English. At home we use Saxon Math at home and Phonics Reading with Spelling Plus.

In Foundations each year a world history timeline is memorized. It is the same each year- starting with the ancient times and ends with the modern times. This timeline is sort of broken into three pieces, or known as cycles. Each cycle is a year and 24 weeks of memory work and activities. This below is from the CC website. This shows what is taught each year in each cycle.

So basically, all the families who are in a CC community meet together once a week to learn these subjects together. We have someone assigned as a tutor and they lead out teaching the new subjects. Then everyone goes home to continue and review these subjects in depth.

Once a student is around 4th-6th grade- they can join an afternoon class called Essentials that focuses on the English Language and Writing. This is an excellent program that thoroughly teaches every important aspect of language arts and writing.

Challenge is an excellent program for junior high and high-schoolers. This is an all day- once a week class that teaches the student everything they need to know. Below is the Scope and Sequence of 7th-12th grade. 

My junior high students are already earning credits for graduation!