Classical Conversations | How Much Does It Cost?

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When I first heard of Classical Conversations my first question was, "How much will it cost?"

As the couponing, make my dollar stretch, stay ay home mom, it took me a year of praying and a parent practicum to fully understand the value and worth of the education my children would be receiving.

If you have looked into Classical Conversations, you know there is a cost involved. Costs vary from co-op to co-op and family to family, but the fees cover registration and supply fees. Foundations, Essentials, and Challenge each carry a different cost- Foundations being the easier of the three and Challenge requiring a greater level of instruction by the tutors.

 So How Much Does It Cost? 

 

Here it is laid out for you. Tuition for Foundations is $350 per year, registration is $75 for the first child ($50 each additional child), and a $50 supply fee. Depending on where a CC community meets, there may also be a building use fee. For my daughter to be in the Foundations phase of CC this year cost $480. (You can read here why we have chosen Classical Conversations for our children)

Now before you gasp at the sticker shock, consider, we only bring a snack and lunch to co-op. Markers, crayons, pencils, photocopies, paints, art supplies, science project materials, and scissors are all provided for us because of our supply fee (Essentials only has a $20 supply fee because their work does not require the same type of supplies that Foundations does).

As we began to weigh the cost, we thought back to the Christian school I worked at for ten years, which is considered the most reasonably priced private Christian school in our area. Between registration fees, entrance exam fees, book fees, the purchase of school uniforms, back-to-school supplies, weekly pizza day (optional), field trip costs, and the tuition for the full year of attending the academy, we averaged that it would cost about $5,000 per year to attend this particular private, Christian school. In relation to that cost, $480 is quite doable for an education that we believe is exceptional for our children.

What Do You Have To Buy?

 

When it comes to curriculum, one of my favorite aspects of CC is that what I buy for Addie will also be used for Ian when when he starts. So for example this year being our first year, I had to purchase the Foundations: The Weekly Grammar for Classical Communities (Classical Foundations) Guide which contains all of the information needed for Cycles 1-3 ($60) and the tin whistle ($10). I chose to also purchase the Cycle 3 audio CDs ($30- which we listen to while driving in the car and in the house in the morning) and the History Timeline Cards ($88). When Ian joins CC next year, I will only be purchasing one tin whistle so that he can have his own and the set of audio CDs which accompany Cycle 1. The Foundations Guide remains the same yearly, and the Timeline is relearned on a yearly basis. Until both Addie and Ian complete the 6th grade, they will be using these same materials every year.

Once I have all 3 cycles of audio CDs, until Addie enters Essentials, I will not have to make any other purchases.

As we expand on what is being learned in our history and science, I can go to the library to borrow books and use what I already have in our home library. I am opting not purchase any other books for our schooling, because I know that once my children enter Essentials and Challenge, I may need to make some large book purchases. But again, whatever I buy for Addie, Ian will use when he enters that phase.

The cost of a home education is a personal decision that each family has to make. However, if you choose to make the investment into a Classical Conversations education for your children, I believe it will be money well spent.

Also in this series:

• What Is Classical Conversations and Why We Chose It
• Why Co-op Day Is So Important in Classical Conversations?
• How Do We Memorize Our Classical Conversations Material?
• How I Supplement Classical Conversations

What Is Classical Conversations and Why We Chose It

Imagine that you are building a house. What would be the first place that you would start (assuming the land has already been cleared and permits are pulled)?

The foundation.

In education, having a strong foundation is critical to building upon in the future. If the foundation is weak (facts are not memorized, dates and people are abstractly learned, and each subject is seen as being completely separate and on its own), future information will be harder to grasp and eventually the foundation will fall apart leaving a very frustrated student.

As Christian homeschooling parents, having a God-centered curriculum was our main concern. Having a curriculum that reinforces our faith, beliefs, and would help our children critically understand why we believe what we believe AND give them the strong foundation in academics was hugely important to us.

That is why we chose to use Classical Conversations as our children's curriculum, not just for this year but, Lord willing, for the rest of their education.

From K4-6th grade, children are given a strong foundation. In fact during these "Foundations" years, children memorize 7 pieces of information per week (24 weeks per year) through songs and rhymes:

• Timeline
• History
• Math
• Science
• English Grammar
• Latin
• Geography

They also memorize a passage of Scripture in Latin and the English translation, the books of the Bible, and the Presidents of the United States. While they are learning all of this information, they are also learning how God, His hand, or plan can be seen in each and every subject.

There are 3 cycles in Classical Conversations, with each year covering one cycle. Every three years, children relearn the same information solidifying what they learned previously and allowing the child to learn more the second or 3rd go around.

For example, right now we are in Cycle 3 which focuses on American history. We are reading a few biographies on the people we are learning about, watching videos and movies based on the historical events we are memorizing, and reading historical fictions based on times periods we are in. In three years when we are in Cycle 3 again, Addie will be in 5th grade and able to be assigned biographies to read on her own while I read to Ian at the level that he will be at.

Which brings me to another aspect of CC I love. Both of my children will be learning the same exact information, but I can take it to the level each child is at. For instance, next year Ian will be required to join CC because he will be four and on campus. I will only be having him memorize the information as best he can.... with no pressure.... and if he wants to listen in on what I do with Addie, he can.

Right now, my daughter will learn over 500 pieces of information this year alone. Do I expect her to understand fully everything she is learning, grasp every concept, and be able to explain everything she has memorized? No, and neither does the founder of Classical Conversations. That is why children cover each cycle at least 2 times in elementary school. Each time they review something, a little more will stick, a little more will be understood, and their foundation will be that much stronger.

Does my daughter understand everything she has learned? Almost! She amazes me with everything she has absorbed so far. In fact, I love that as she is going through her day and hearing something completely unrelated to our schoolwork, she relates things back to what she has learned on her own. For example, she was reading a storybook and in it the author wrote out each of the five senses without naming them as such. She gasped and shouted, "Mom! Those are our five senses!" (which she had just memorized for science a few weeks prior)

When my children reach 4th grade, they will enter a new phase of the program called "Essentials." This phase of the program spans 4th-6th grades, and English grammar becomes the focus of their educational program. They will have a huge text book that they will work through each year from beginning to end. The first year is meant to familiarize them with the information. The second year  things in the book begin to make sense and pieces fall into place (now that they and you are out of shock from the first year of Essentials and the intensity of the program). The third year, essay writing becomes easier and all of the grammar information they have learned now is completely understandable in their minds (per kids in our co-op who are in their final year of Essentials).

Because of what Addie is memorizing for English Grammar in Foundations, she will not have to learn parts of speech and how to use them simultaneously. She will have memorized what the parts of speech are, which words fall under each part, and what sentence parts are. I am not bothered that she will not know how to use them until she reaches 4th grade. I know that when the time comes, having a strong foundation will benefit her when it is time to build a structure on her foundation.

As they leave Foundations and Essentials, my children will reach the Challenge stage. In the Challenge stage, literature, critical thinking, and expressing their thoughts correctly in persuasive, thought provoking ways becomes a huge focus of their education. Speech making becomes a frequent assignment, giving them the skills to think critically on their feet before an audience- a skill many adults do not have.

During the Challenge phase, parents are encouraged to begin allowing their students to work independently and to become a resource instead of being an instructor. This teaches students responsibility and time management. 

Addie is loving CC. I love seeing her love for learning bloom in a way I have never seen before. The child asks to study! She has us all humming her memory songs along with her randomly throughout the day. She asks to listen to the "Timeline Song" (which she is up to date with in her memorization). She randomly starts skip counting as she is walking through the house or folding laundry. One day, for fun, she sat down and began drawing out the human body complete with simple skeletal, muscular, digestive, and respiratory systems and then proceeded to explain to us why people get heartburn.

I am so thankful to God for Classical Conversations.

I am linking up at: Happy and Blessed Home, The Pin Junkie, The Homeschool Nook

24 Books We Are Reading This Summer to Prepare Us for Classical Conversations Cycle 3

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This coming year, we will be joining the Classical Conversations method of education. I am so excited about this upcoming school year!

Classical Conversations has a three year cycle- Cycle 1, Cycle 2, and Cycle 3. This coming year, every Classical Conversations group around the world will be working through Cycle 3- American History.

Because Classical Conversations is designed in the Foundations years (K4-6th grade) to give parents a skeleton to work from, we can add as much or as little as we want.

I have already begun putting books on reserve in our library to be available to us during the school year based on the history theme for each week, but I also wanted to be able to use some of the great books I have collected over the years. Some of the books, my 6 year old can read on her own, and some are definitely going to be Mommy/Addie reading time material.

My goal is not to fill Addie's head with tons of information. In fact, if we do not finish reading all of these books, I am not going to worry about it. We have the whole school year to read great books about our American history and heritage. My goal is to make Addie familiar with names, places, events, and moments in our history so that when these things come up in conversation, school, the news, shows that she watches, or other books that she reads, she has something to refer back to, and mentally she can start piecing together what she has already learned to the new information she hears, reads, or sees.

Some of the books are purely historical, some are biographies, and some are historical fiction. I want to have a good balance in there so my lover of books doesn't get bored or lose her love for reading. There is one video series in here that I have scheduled for us to watch at lunch time during the school year.

Buttons for General Washington (Carolrhoda on My Own Book.)
Great Women of the American Revolution (We the People: Revolution and the New Nation)
The Story of the Boston Tea Party: Cornerstones of Freedom
Colonial Clothes (Colonial Quest)
Christopher Columbus: Adventurer of Faith and Courage (Sowers)
The Long Way to a New Land (I Can Read Book 3)
And there was America,
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? (Paperstar)
Sam the Minuteman (I Can Read Book 3)
Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos
They Made a Revolution: 1776
Thanksgiving Is
The Mayflower Adventure (The American Adventure Series #1)
Squanto, Friend Of The Pilgrims (Scholastic Biography)
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving
Pocahontas Indian Princess Weekly Reader Books Edition
Pedro's Journal: A Voyage with Christopher Columbus, August 3, 1492-February 14, 1493
The great proclamation,: A book for young Americans
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor of the Telephone
The Story of Sacajawea: Guide to Lewis and Clark (Dell Yearling Biography)
The Life And Words Of Martin Luther King Jr. (Scholastic Biography)
America : A Patriotic Primer
Liberty's Kids - The Complete Series
The Story of Thomas Jefferson, Prophet of Liberty (Dell Yearly Biography)
 
I'm linking up with The Squishable Baby, Happy and Blessed Home,