Our family began homeschooling in 2007. It was a "trial" initially because our big girl had a late birthday, was an early reader, and I didn't want public school to hold her back. So we tried it for a year using Abeka Kindergarten resources and her reading skills took off. That was a telling year! It proved to me I could do it, unfortunately, I wasn't ready for the commitment and put her in school the following year. After a year in 1st grade and a host of concerns including character development, safety, and bullying, we pulled her out a few days before enrolling her in 2nd grade and began our journey with Classical Conversations (CC).

 

Fast-forward 3 kids later, they all participate in CC and love it. It's a different way then my husband and I were used to educating our children, but it has proven to be a great program. It's not the perfect curriculum, nor is there one that can fit that bill! Although CC is evolving yearly in it's diversity inclusion, it still lacks enough cultural diversity to give our children an appreciation for all nations. So we find that it's a great foundation on which to build. I really see the fruit in our big girl. She began the program at 6 yrs old in the Foundation tier. At first, we had no idea what we were doing, but I figured I would just dive head first and figure it out along the way. For you homeschoolers though...isn't that how it happens in the beginning? Homeschooling is an "as you go" type of journey. By the end of her first year she was memorizing history , math, science, English grammar, latin, bible and more. This inspired a love for history in our big girl that has sinced been passed down to her siblings.  In the Challenge levels (aged 12+), students are reading novels, writing persuasive essays and speeches, learning to discuss details of current events, science and more by using the 5 Common Topics. Though there is a need for me to add in more multicultural diversity, it is a great program and I pray that it will evolve with more diversity for future generations. For now, we love it. We customize it to our needs and roll with it.