Classical Conversations Year 2 + Book List

The year has flown by, as they tend to do, and we have only two weeks left of our second year in Classical Conversations. Last spring I wrote about our first year experience with it, and I wanted to share some more because this year has been quite a different experience.

First off, I decided to be a tutor this year. This involves leading one of the classes each morning (mine has seven children) for two and a half hours through their memory work, oral presentations, science experiment, art project, and review time. I do some prep work during the week before each class, and we have a few tutor meetings to attend throughout the year.

Besides being a teacher this year, instead of just a parent helper/observer, it's also felt much different simply because last year was a bit of a train wreck due to Baby Brother. He arrived in October and then proceeded to steal my sleep for the next fifteen months, and I honestly do not remember a whole lot of what happened at CC last year. I was nursing him and holding him and helping the three boys with their presentations and bouncing from class to class (each of the three boys was in a different class), so it's all a bit of a blur. This year, Baby Brother has not even come to CC - he stays home with a babysitter each Tuesday which is a win-win for everyone. He gets his morning nap and some one-on-one attention (a rarity around here), and I get to teach in peace without wondering how he's doing. My two oldest boys are both in my class which has been a joy! Teaching is so much fun and I love being with the kids each week.

Overall, this year I have enjoyed CC much more and felt more invested in the whole process. Our class has had a great time together and I love working with the children. We are getting to know some of the families a little better, and we even started a homeschool children's choir with some of the other families last fall. Side note: I have been wishing for years for our children to have the experience of singing in a choir, and I finally found a musician friend who was able to help me make this a reality. I am so, so glad they can do this! The kids will be putting on a choir recital soon which we are all looking forward to.

As I look back at this school year, I am deeply thankful that we found this group of homeschoolers. The work we do there enhances and complements the school work we do at home. The community aspect has been encouraging and uplifting. And, although I wouldn't want them to do this all-day-every-day, the classroom experience has been beneficial for our boys in multiple ways.

However, my opinion of classical education has not changed. I still would not call us "classical homeschoolers," we still do not drill the memory work at home, and the same aspects of the philosophy that bothered me last year still bother me. But I appreciate, so very much, that Classical Conversations is generous enough to allow for this! There is no requirement as to what we must do at home - it's totally up to us. We plan to continue with the group next year, which will be a different experience yet again because Big Brother will be joining the afternoon writing class called Essentials of the English Language. We're looking forward to seeing how that goes - and getting to know the families there even more.

BOOK LIST

I don't know about you, but I can not resist a good book list; so here are a few of our favorites that matched up nicely with the themes from Cycle 2 this year. Please note that we did not read every word of all these books (specifically the reference books), nor did we buy all of these books. I've linked them all to Amazon because that's easiest, but finding them at your library or buying them used is a fabulous option! If you're a CC family, you could read some of these through the summer as a review of all that happened last year, or you might want to save this list in preparation for Fall of 2025 when Cycle 2 comes around again. If you're not a CC family, you could still enjoy these books at any time. We've loved them all!

Science

The Mysteries of the Universe by Will Gater

Big Book of Stars and Planets by Emily Bone

Your Place in the Universe by Jason Chin

Bridges by Judith Dupre

Skyscrapers by Judith Dupre

Water is Water by Miranda Paul

Castle by David Macaulay

If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon by Joyce Lapin

The Moon by Dr. Sanlyn Buxner

Planetarium by Raman Prinja

Fine Arts