Why we homeschool and why we chose Classical Conversations

"The answer to our education crisis is for parents to recover their role as parents before the Lord, according to His Word alone.  The biblical answer is to be found in parents assuming the responsibility which God has given to them, and only to them, for the education and upbringing of their children." - Douglas Wilson

I thought that this was an interesting quote and explains one of the reasons we homeschool.  I'm not very good at explaining why we are homeschooling.  It can't be summed up in just a few sentences.  There are so many reasons why we chose this path for our family.  A parent who spends years studying with a child to show themselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) is far more effective than a stranger with a textbook for a semester.  

I wanted to explain a little bit more about the Foundations program and Classical Conversations.  I've been doing some research so that I can explain it a little better.  I'm still learning about it as well and will probably continue to learn more as the years go by.  CC parents believe that the Lord is redeeming the education of 2 generations - the parents and their children.  I can attest to the fact that I learned so much during our first year of CC.  Our educational endeavors are for the kingdom of God and have results that are not yet revealed. 

It is classical because it emphasizes rote memorization of facts in the early learning years.  "Training the brain to retain".  The classical format is a more biblical model because you can't truly teach science without teaching philosophy, math, logic, and history because God created all things for His glory.  Each piece of creation works toward His purposes.  The story of His word, His world, and His people cannot be taught separately if we are to know His whole story.  We need to have a goal of being able to understand anything that God would reveal to us and use that knowledge within our talents.  Foundations is a 3 year memorization program.  The kids (and parents) memorize history timelines and sentences, math and science facts, geography, Latin, and English grammar.  This is a basic framework of facts that all 12 year olds should know so that they are capable of studying advanced topics.  They learn it during the early years to establish the basic knowledge or vocabulary of a subject.  

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. (Proverbs 24:3-4)  To learn something new you must memorize the vocabulary and basic rules and patterns associated with a subject (grammar/knowledge), process the new information so that you understand it (dialectic/understanding), and then do something with it to demonstrate mastery (rhetoric/wisdom).  Young children are designed to memorize huge amounts of new information.  Middle school age children have the ability to ask why and argue, which demonstrates that they are ready to think more abstractly.  Older children are more interested in knowing what they are going to do with all of this knowledge and information that they have acquired.  They also memorize complete sections of the Bible:  Ten Commandments (Cycle 1), Ephesians 6 (Cycle 2), and part of John 1 (Cycle 3).


CC looks back to the one-room schoolhouse approach of early America, by offering one tutor classes and seminars that emphasize teaching the tools of learning and the interrelationship of subjects.  It is attempting to recapture the idea that a teacher who knows how to learn can teach a student the tools with which to learn any subject.  There are 3 reasons that CC is set up this way.  1.  Homeschool parents have to teach more than one subject to more than one age group at a time.  CC shows us that we can study and teach multiple subjects to multiple ages and abilities at one time.  2.  A strength of homeschooling from a biblical worldview is the integration of subjects.  3.  We constantly strive to show students that all subjects are important because they reveal God's glory.  The goal is to prepare leaders who understand the interrelationships between ideas and actions, language patterns and math patterns, and science and theology.  CC offers weekly student programs, books, Parent Practicums and student camps, record keeping, annual standardized testing, and other educational services.



This diagram was used in the Parent Practicums and I thought it was a great illustration.