Homeschool Life || Classical Conversations
I LOVE Homeschooling! <--- That is not a sentence you would have heard me say 3 years ago because homeschooling was never my plan. "Other" people did that. "We would kill each other" was always my response. BUT, God had other plans. And after 2 years, I absolutely love it!
I am currently in the process of cleaning out old material from our school room and organizing and pulling together all of the materials we will be engaging in this year. And I am getting SO excited to start!
This year we are focusing on U.S. History and Anatomy, which is Cycle 3 of Classical Conversations. I tend to be a bit of a book hoarder, so when I stumble upon books at second hand stores that coordinate with the cycle we are in, I snatch them up and add them to our little library. Target also has a TON of U.S. history materials in their Dollar Spot, which are still available! We snatched up fun cards for drilling about the Presidents and States as well as a few other fun resources for my going on 3rd Grader. Make time slow down! (insert tears here!)
I am so absolutely grateful for Classical Conversations (CC) and the homeschool community we are a part of as well. The tools and resources it provides and equips parents with is wonderful! I have been truly amazed with home much Brooklynn has learned and absorbed over the past 2 years. Not to mention how much I have learned and absorbed as well! It has been a blast to learn right along with Brooklynn!
One of the MANY amazing components to Classical Conversations is the file sharing that is available. This incredible resource allows parents to share documents, files, mp3s (and more) that they have created with those also doing CC. This takes SO much pressure off of me to not have to try and either create worksheets or find something online that works well with what we are learning. Above is one of these examples created by Erika Jones, a fellow CC mom. All I had to do was press "print" on my computer and bind them together. That easy!
One mom I really enjoy following on Instagram is Elsie of Farmhouse Schoolhouse. She is an incredible mama of 4 boys who lives in Florida and is a Classical Conversations Foundations Director for her community. I love her take on life, her approach to teaching her sons, and her real authentic moments on parenting.
Another fantastic resource for Classical Conversations is Brandy Ferrell of Half Hundred Acre Woods. She has spent (I can only imagine) countless hours creating resources, reading lists, calendars and a bazillion other resources for all 3 cycles of Classical Conversations. I utilized her website for much of our year last year and am grateful for all that she has put together for Cycle 3.
But let me add a disclaimer by saying, all of these wonderful resources are just "EXTRAS" to add on top of the already amazing layout of Classical Conversations and not required or necessary to succeed. Read why --> HERE.
Homeschooling doesn't have to be scary. It only seems scary when it is unfamiliar territory. It is not 6 long hours at a desk while I am at a chalkboard drilling and teaching. Our learning is all day every day because learning never ends. Our "textbook" or "worksheet" time may be a few hours AT MOST, but the rest of our learning takes place outside of our classroom. And I will say, for me, I would feel lost and overwhelmed without the amazing support of our CC community. To be surrounded by seasoned homeschool moms and those just beginning their homeschool journey is truly a blessing... And we ALL learn from each other, support each other, and build another up.
Image Credit by: Maps by Annie
This year our homeschooling is going to take place clear across the world to China when we meet our little guy! I am absolutely ecstatic that our daughter, Brooklynn is going to experience first hand another culture, and more importantly, see where her brother is from and all the wonderful and amazing things China has to offer!
I am also looking forward to sharing more about our homeschool journey as well and featuring other "seasoned" homeschool moms on my blog to encourage all moms, no matter what educational path your children may be on.
