Oh how I love my Job!

Mary with her beautiful Largo Foundations Director, Christi Panek

As you know from an earlier post, one of my most treasured roles as the Pinellas County Support Manager for Classical Conversations is that I get to visit all the campuses twice a year.  It's amazing to see the consistency of our programs being brought to life by different families.  No matter where you go you feel at home when you walk through the doors of a Classical Conversations community. 

Two beautiful Largo moms

My purpose is to stay connected to the moms, directors, and tutors.  I get to watch what they are doing well and to celebrate all their hard work!

ASSEMBLY

Every Classical Conversations Campus starts their Foundations program off with a weekly Assembly.  It begins at 9:15. (Whether you live in Florida, Arizona, or Alaska)  This is true across the world.

During assembly we walk out three "P's". 

• Prayer
• Pledge
• Presentations

Family presentations are an excellent way to build community, fellowship, and strong relationships.  We are honored when husbands are able to join us when it's their families turn.  Each member simply shares what they love to do and then together they will share a favorite verse or song.  It's precious and the perfect way to kick off the day.

NEW GRAMMAR

After assembly the students and moms find their classes and it's time to begin our 5 Crisp Components.

1. New Grammar
2. Science Experiments
3. Fine Arts
4. Presentations
5. Review

They are called "crisp" components because each one last for 30 minutes exactly. 

Sweet Stacy Fox drilling the phases of the moon (New Grammar) with her Masters Class

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Stacy using large muscle movement while drilling grammar.  It's a great tool to help the brain retain important information.

Jennifer Russo, drilling the New Grammar history sentence with her Journeymen class.

I loved how this tutor helped her students learn the different phases of the moon through this fun drill:  

Movement! 

The students were not just moving but saying each phase of the moon to help their brains retain this wonderful, rich, information.

One of my favorite "catches" of the day was what you see in this picture.  Jennifer constantly smiles as she drills the new information with her students.  It was contagious.

CHALLENGE B

Mrs. Cullum and her precious Challenge B class.

After visiting the Foundations program which is for Pre-K through 6th grade, I went to see our older students in action!  We call these older classes the Challenge program. 

It was such a JOY to watch them in action.

Michelle does an excellent job of creating and allowing dialectic discussion to take place.  In our younger years the goal is to drill information and lay the foundation.

Parsing the Latin sentences

In our older programs we take all the wonderful information and begin to flesh it out with dialectic discussion.  In Challenge A & B we have three main skill sets we work on:

• Research
• Contrasting & Comparing Information
• Arguing Respectfully 

"To Know God And Make Him Known"

Classical Conversations mission statement!

CHALLENGE II

Mr. Sackett with his all boys Challenge II Class

One of the things that makes Classical Conversations Challenge program different is this:

We use our class time to have the Challenge I-IV students lead their class by doing problems up on the board they've either struggled with and need help from their tutor and classmates OR problems they've mastered and now will teach to others to demonstrate their mastery.  

Noah Sain humbly walked through making sure he understood the above concept from algebra II.  

Mr. Sackett lovingly and gently walked him through questions so that he could come to his own conclusion.  It was a sight to behold.  What an incredible moment it was to witness these boys walk through the higher level maths humbly together for the purpose of truly understanding the how AND the why!

Classical Conversations believes that learning happens within relationship.  Our tutors are not teachers (That's the parents privileged role and responsibility) they are mentors.  A tutor walks alongside a parent and a student to help them achieve their academic goals.  You never have to walk alone when you're a part of Classical Conversations.

ESSENTIALS

 

In the afternoon our older Foundations students 9-12 yr olds meet for our Essentials program.  The afternoon is broken up into three strands:

1. EEL (Essentials Of The English Language)
2. MATH DRILL
3. WRITING

Largo's beautiful Jesus-loving tutor Kim Trujillo lovingly guides moms and students through the concepts of grammar.

She does an excellent job of making sure all of the students are engaged as she works on two different skill sets:

1. Drill
2. Dialectic Discussion

It was wonderful watching Kim drill the sentence patterns through fun exercises!

Since it is the afternoon program we are able to enjoy a nice cup of coffee while we linger over the rich, wonderful, content contained within Classical Conversations curriculum.  

One of my personal favorite aspects of Classical Conversations is how God is redeeming my own education along with thousands upon thousands of other families across the nation.  The first time through school I learned how, but oh how much better it is to understand why.  I thank the Lord for His faithfulness. 

They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago.  They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations.

--Isaiah 61:4-5

    

Classical Conversations....Blast Off Fall Potluck!

Blast Off Fall Potluck

Rockets!  Food!  Fun!  Fellowship!

WOW!  What an incredible day we had Tuesday!  I loved our theme.  Foundations families went out back and joyfully walked through the process of blasting off our bottle rockets together.  We were playing with physics, chemistry, and most importantly...we continued teaching our children to think like a scientist through the scientific method. But don't tell them that.  All they know is that they had FUN! I hope you did too!

Mrs. Higgin's helping her students think through the process behind our blast off

Mrs. Collin's helping her students think like a scientist

Mrs. Martin's Journeyman's Class with Mrs. DiPersio and Mrs. Sain working together

(We missed you sweet Jennifer and pray that you and your whole family are feeling better!)

Mrs. Kronz's 4 year old class

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Mrs.Dennison's Masters Class

Mrs. Higgins 5-7 year old class

Mrs. Buxbaum's Masters Class

WHOA!  Look at the height on that one!

And some didn't go quite as high

Some didn't even get off the ground.  

Please look closely at Mrs. Sain and DiPersio's faces. They were more upset than the kids. 

TIME FOR FOOD

Thank you to our fabulous moms for making such yummy goodies!

The layout looked WONDERFUL!

The roasted pumpkin and apple kale salad was the first to go!  I'm so thankful the Lord sent us one of the healthiest and most famous holistic cooks in the county.  We love you for many reason's Mrs. Dennison, this is just one! (big warm smile)

Our precious Challenge students went first.  Thank you for re-arranging your schedule so you could join us without splitting up your strands. How grateful we are for this opportunity to be together.

Thank you, Mrs. Gross and the entire servant team!  We know that there are a million and one things you did behind the scenes that only the Lord saw.  I stop this morning and thank the Lord for each of you.  Thank you for serving our community.  We truly are Better Together!

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. -- Colossians 2:2a

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.-- Colossians 2:7

Okay, who made these?  You had a bunch of us standing around positively in LOVE with your cookie!

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.-- Colossians 3:16

This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.-- Psalm 118:24

Many people commented on how wonderful it was to have dads in community.  Thank you for the sacrifice you made to be there.  

The dad in this picture was one of Leigh Bortin's students when he was in school.  What a legacy to be able to pass on this rich Classical heritage to his beautiful daughters. 

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority--Colossians 9-10

You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.--Psalm 139:16

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.--Colossians 3:12

As we close out this recap, it is with a bittersweet heart that I thank our fabulous Faith Covenant pastoral staff.  They model the above verse beautifully.

This Sunday is Pastor Rick's last sermon at our host church.  God has moved him into an amazing position up North.  Oh how we will miss him.  As I gaze at the faces of our sweet Marilou and beloved Debbie, my heart wells up with thankfulness that simply cannot be expressed in mere words.  

We love and thank you our precious Faith Covenant family.  We see HIM in you.  Thank you for modeling HIS love to us and our children.  

I Love My Job!

One of my most prized roles as a Support Manager with Classical Conversations is that twice a year I get to travel to all the CC Communities within my area.  The purpose?  To get to know the new moms, reconnect with old familiar faces, and to see all the wonderful things each community is doing.

Today's visit was Clearwater!

OH MY!  How I loved these incredible families.  They were warm and welcoming and full of HIS everlasting love.  Their students were precious and delightful. 

Amber, their tutor for the 7 year old class did an AMAZING job drilling the rich information Classical Conversations presents to our students each week.

She was so good to stay on time and even worked with a timer in her hand.  It looked effortless.

Clearwater has a large 4 year old class.

Their parents were super involved.

My favorite part was watching mom take notes in her guide.  You know this helps her to walk out her homeschool effortlessly the other four days she works out of her home.

Science was FUN as they walked through SunPrints.

They drilled the grammar of the sun.

The students had a great time prepping their sunPrint sheets.

Waiting for them to dry

Mother/daughter

Thank you for letting come and play with you Clearwater.  You guys were the BEST!