the valentine nest: Classical Conversations- Year in review- 2015-2016

Since I already covered the "at the Nest" homeschool of 2015-2016, I am moving along to our year with Classical Conversations. We joined a new campus that ended up being about 5 minutes from the house we moved into last summer. What a bonus since no matter how hard I try to get out the door on time....I fail! Our new campus had students at every age from Pre-K to Seniors & is filled to the brim with veteran homeschooling mamas. I am thankful every week for the wisdom they offer & also for the hugs & "you will never believe my morning" conversations with those who are treading water in the vast ocean in which I swim. Anyway, the first day came quickly & these two were SO excited! Elo looks like a baby!

I was extremely pregnant at 35 weeks & can't seem to find the campus picture but I am sitting on the ground in the front row with a giant belly. Time stamp for me.

One thing I enjoy about being part of a community that meets weekly is that the kids get to participate in fun things I remember from school like dressing up or exchanging Valentine cards. Char refused to participate in crazy sock day while I just told Eloise to get dressed in her normal attire & she fit right in! Love her style! I think this was our first week back after Arlo was born. Surprisingly I look so alert. It must have been a decent night leading into Monday.

This year in our Cycle 2 memory work we learned & practiced:

Multiplication Tables up to 15x15, common squares and cubes, as well as basic geometry formulas and unit conversions
English Grammar facts (including 53 prepositions, 23 helping verbs, and 12 linking verbs)
5 Latin noun endings and their singular and plural declensions
24 Science facts (including classifications of living things and each continent’s highest mountains)
24 History sentences to "put some flesh" on our timeline (including the Ten Commandments and Exodus 20)
119 Geographical locations in Africa, Europe and the Old World
43 Presidents
160 Events & People in a chronological Timeline

Both girls had incredible teachers which makes the year SUPER fun! I got to rotate between the two plus a trip to the nursery here & there. Arlo tagged along & got plenty of attention from other mamas.

Charlotte was with other 6 & 7 year olds which meant she was one of the younger kiddos in the class. They were all adorable. Here they are with their Christmas goodie bags.

Science & Fine Arts are such a fun part of the morning. One week we learned about rock bridges & they were given a stack of books & two chairs to build their own "bridge." It was fun to watch them work together, watch their books crash to the ground & then come up with a new plan. They figured it out & learned about the center of gravity in relation to a naturally weathered bridges. For Fine Arts they learned about Michelangelo & his incredible work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the early 1500s. The class got to draw on their own "ceiling" while under the table.

Charlotte jumped right into her weekly presentations. She talked about a biome & chose the tundra. She shared about the climate & the animals that live there. She knew all about snowshoe hares & smiled so adorably as she spoke of them. For the week students were sharing about missionaries she got to talk about Steve, Jenny, Karis, Isaac & Olivia & what they were doing in Poland. Karis sent a video of herself speaking & singing in Polish! While showing things on an iPad is generally off-limits we made an exception.

Her class memorized a songs for the 53 prepositions, 23 helping verbs & 12 linking verbs. Now that I have mentioned them I will probably be singing myself to sleep.

With part of our Geography focus on Egypt, the Nile River, the Sinai Peninsula, Red Sea, Israel, Judea, the Dead Sea, Jordan River, Syria & Lebanon we could easily connect the geographical locations to the bible & also to current events. One of the many things I really enjoy about the components of CC is the Timeline which incorporates biblical & world history from creation to current day. The overlaying of those two timelines that I have always kept separate makes more sense & adds perspective to see what was occurring in different places at the same time. The song also incorporates different periods of the arts such as Baroque & Classical & also famous artists. Another crazy song I will now sing as I attempt to fall asleep. It's in my brain & in the kids' brains...that's a good thing.

As a Foundations community which is about Pre-K thru 6th grade we set a goal of 500 traced or freehand maps. Each child could bring two per week & they sure added up fast! The last week there were lots on display while we celebrated with gallons of ice cream & all toppings imaginable.

Eloise's class did awesome & her map was right up there with the rest of the "big kids!" Now that I look at it I am struggling to see what it is, haha! I think it may be a portion of Europe & Northern Africa. Whatever it is, it couldn't be any cuter for a four year old.

Sadly I only have two pictures of Eloise in her class. I think I was a little busy with a nursing baby that cried at inopportune times. Nonetheless I got a picture of her doing her favorite thing! For geometry she got to trace the shape through shaving cream while singing about the area of (in this case) a triangle.

The next picture cracks me up. Her arms wrapped around me with every presentation is exactly how she looked the majority of the year! She did make progress though. It was easy considering that she didn't do a presentation at all for the first week & whispered the next few weeks, ha! This particular week she made her best attempt to explain an Aesop Fable but was completely confused...not out of the norm for the 4 & 5 year olds. The first week Arlo joined us in class he was tucked nice & snug into the Ergo & she got to talk a bit about him. It is the BEST environment for a child to begin practicing public speaking.

Last day with one of the most patient woman I have ever met. Mrs. Nerren rocked that class!

and Charlotte with Mrs. Gurley. Charlotte thought she was a celebrity.

We didn't make it to any other field trips due to the newest addition of the family BUT we got a sitter & took GGran along for the symphony. It was fantastic!

Here are the best buds Sarah & Lucy.

and their mama Rachel is my friend & was Arlo's surrogate mother. He basically didn't like anyone but me but Rachel was convinced to earn his affection & she did....just a teeny tiny bit. She has six kiddos all two years apart but her oldest is now 16. I love asking her questions : )

The playground is the highlight of every week like exciting enough to eat one bite of a sandwich & head outside.

This is how Anson felt about his class. Owen's face looks identical. It's more like a mugshot, hahaha!

The last week we had a celebration evening with all the classes & the girls got their yearbooks. They could hardly sleep! By the end of a few days they had the majority of the students names committed to memory. Little sponges!

In May the girls participated in Field Day with lots of other campuses. They were grouped according to age & the boys & I kind of wandered around & observed all the stations full of eager kids.

It had rained so much the day before that Owen & Anson were trying to sit on my feet to not get their bottoms wet. Arlo was warm & cozy on a strangely cool May morning.

The three legged race was hilarious with the littlest group. We got to join our buddies Nathan & Mason & my friend Brandi for lunch. Praise the Lord she was there to watch the rest of my crew when I heard over the loud speaker "Would the mother of Eloise Valentine please come to the check-in station!" I raced up there & the poor little lady had been released without parents present from her station which was extremely far away. She was crying & I felt awful. Neither girl wanted to participate this year due to their previous experience. Charlotte still holds a grudge against another kids that told her she wasn't doing something right in one of the games. Maybe on the two year mark the grudge will magically disappear.