Dessert Social

On Tuesday, August 30th we will have our annual parent meeting and dessert social for our Fuquay CC Families.

The brief meeting will start at 7 pm.

We will go over some key housekeeping items for our group.

Some things to be considering and praying about {so no one is caught like a deer in headlights}:

Field Trip Coordinator- it's pretty self explanatory, but you would be in charge of finding things in the area to do and organizing the events or arranging another mom to help you.

Social Coordinator- is hospitality your gift? are you willing to organize a few parent's night out? game night? pedicures? service projects?

Historian- we would love it if someone would take photos along the way so that at the end of the year we could have a cute photoshow on a cd for each family

See you all soon!

F-U-L-L !

Thanks be to the Lord!

At the end of last year, our group was down to the bare bones because several students had aged out of Foundations or chosen another option for their families.

Considering I was now the new director, I was really hoping that we would grow at least a little bit.

Well, we did! The Lord has brought together several wonderful families for our group next year. We have three classes and they are all full!

Obviously, we can have up to 64 students and we only have 24, but our current classes are full, so that is all that matters to me.

I'm looking forward to this year and what the Lord has planned for us.

Filling Up...

I just finished my last formal informational meeting of the summer and was encouraged by the moms that I met with tonight.

The Lord has really provided for our group and we are filling up very nicely for next year. I'm thankful for several new families that are signed up and looking forward to the new friendships that will develop between the children and parents.

If you are interested in joining our CC Fuquay group please get in touch with me before it's too late. We might actually have a waiting list soon... Can you imagine??

CC Video Snippet

Parent Practicums

I'm at the last day of the three day parent practicum for Classical Conversations, and when I find time, I will blog more about what I learned this week.

I am so thrilled that it has been great this year!

Teaching the Trivium

I've been reading Teaching the Trivium and I have thoroughly enjoyed the first four chapters.  Honestly, I feel like I could blog about something every page.  However, I will just write this for tonight.

"We first instruct the child in Knowledge or Grammar; then we guide the child in Understanding or Logic; and finally we challenge the child in Wisdom or Rhetoric." (emphasis added)

If you are interested in learning more about Classical Education and the reasons why you should homeschool, I would strongly urge you to read Teaching the Trivium and have your husbands read it as well, if they are willing.

Why?

Why Follow a Classical Model and Method?

 Teaching the Trivium (pg. 41)

Academics

Results

Methodology

Academics. Certainly, some parents choose a classical style of schooling because they are attracted by the academic achievement. They want their children to achieve high academic goals in classical languages, in logic, and in communication skills. They want them to study a very high level of material. Perhaps some of this is driven by a sort of academic snobbery, but much of it is driven by a sincere desire to see their children challenged and excel for the glory of God." (Page 41)

Results. The classical Trivium-Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric-is a very effective means to prepare to serve God in the world.  By mastering these basic tools of learning, the classical method creates self-teaching students who are able to move forward and master any area of learning on their own.  Whatever our goals may be, the classical approach lays the broadest and most solid foundation for achieving them. 

Methodology. The best reason for choosing the classical style of schooling is simply because this is actually the Biblical model written into reality.  So what if the pagans stole it? We simply take it back and clean it up and put it to our own use. The classical style has been successful for millennia because it matches reality.  If we ever learned anything, then we learned it by the Trivium method- whether we knew it or not.

School at Home or Homeschool?

There is so much that I could say about this photo that is in the book, Teaching the Trivium, however it's late and I do not have the time right now.  Honestly, the photo might just say it all... Do you school at home or do you homeschool?

"The great advantage of tutoring your own children at home is that much of what goes on in classroom schooling is rendered completely unnecessary."
Teaching the Trivium

Dayspring Used Curriculum Sale

I'll be at the Dayspring Used Curriculum Sale tomorrow. 

Come to White Plains UMC in Cary from 10 am to 1 pm to find some curriculum and visit me at the Classical Conversations table! 

I think that this quote nicely sums up the Grammar stage of learning...

"What that material is, is only of secondary importance; but it is as well that anything and everything which can be usefully committed to memory should be memorized at this period, whether it is immediately intelligible or not. The modern tendency is to try and force rational explanations on a child's mind at too early an age. Intelligent questions, spontaneously asked, should, of course, receive an immediate and rational answer; but it is a great mistake to suppose that a child cannot readily enjoy and remember things that are beyond his power to analyze--particularly if those things have a strong imaginative appeal (as, for example, "Kubla Kahn"), an attractive jingle (like some of the memory-rhymes for Latin genders), or an abundance of rich, resounding polysyllables (like the Quicunque vult)."

A quote from Dorothy Sayers' The Lost Tools of Learning ...