A day at Classical Conversations

Every Wed AM, I wake up to an alarm clock, rather than my children. We have to be at CC (Classical Conversations) by 8:30 AM. Here is look at a typical Wednesday AM for us at CC.

Our day begins with a large group meeting. We say the pledge to the flag first. Then each week, one of the participating families shares a presentation with the group. This can be a song, dance, verse to recite, skit, or informational presentation. The sky is the limit! On this particular week my friend, Kim and her boys recited their bible verses and led us in a song. it is great for these kids to have a turn in front of the large group!

Then we head to class. T (age 4) comes with me and K (age 5) heads off to her own classroom. Each week we do a science experiment. This week we happened to be measuring the capacity of our lungs. The kids blew air into a straw in order to blow water out of the milk jug. We were able to measure a "normal" breath and then a deep breath. We learned that our lungs function on a normal level at about 1/3 their maximum capacity.

My girls LOVED this experiment! The class was really fascinated when I took a turn and was able to blow out all of the water in my two breaths. (I have 4 and 5 years old and they weren't able to do quite as much)

Next we return to class and do our Memory Work for the week. This includes learning the Veritas Bible Timeline as you see in the picture. I teach the kids hand motions for each card. We are on the 40th card and it is getting tough to remember them all, at least for the teacher!

We also do memory work in history, bible, latin, english, science, geography, and math. This is the long part of our day in my classroom with the 4 and 5 year olds. But we try to break it up, sing songs, move around, and take breaks. The kids are learning a lot and I think we finally have our groove down to keep them going!

When we recite our science memory work, it is most often in the form of a question and answer. I ask the question and then the students answer...at first. But then each student takes a turn asking while the rest of us answer. We ask/answer in low voices, high voices, loud voices, and quiet voices. They enjoy having a turn as the "teacher".

Of course, a favorite part of the day for my little gal is snack and break time. I admit that mommy is quite ready for it too!


After a nice break, our class does their presentations. Here is my little T telling us about her favorite state, California. She brought in a traced outline of the state as well as a colored flag.


K reported that week on her favorite state, Oregon. (don't ask...I don't know...)





We end our day with fine arts. For 6 weeks we have focused on drawing and the five elements of shape: circle, dot, straight line, curved line, and angle. On this particular day, we created abstract art using the 5 elements. (from Drawing with Children) Each child had a chance to share their favorite part of their design with the class. They were quite proud of their artwork:


After we play a review game, the students are dismissed for lunch.

We have been taking advantage of the nice weather and eating outside. It is a great opportunity to run around with friends...for the kids AND for me!

Then we go home and on most days...I nap!