Tuesday, April 2, 2013

CCGP 2012-2013 Closing Program

There was much rejoicing last night
as we celebrated 24 weeks of learning!
We began with a devotion and prayer.
Unless the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain who build it...


The students recited answers to catechism questions,
Exodus 20:1-7 and sang the Orchestra Song.
Then each class did a presentation.

Abecedarians

Apprentices
 
Journeymen

Masters
 
Essentials

Challenge A

Memory Masters
 

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

CCGP 2012-2013 Week 24

The Opening of Our Last Weekly Meeting

Learning the U.S. Presidents

Anagrams to Help Us Remember

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

CCGP 2012-2013 Week 23

While singing The Orchestra Song we needed a student conductor.
This young man listened and watched while one of our tutors showed
 him how it's done -"We'll use a pencil for a baton.
Then point to the violin section first."
 
Singing the parts of The Orchestra Song reminds me of the Church.
Each of us has a role that is important for the body of Christ. As
we seek to use our abilities to build up one another it is a beautiful
song to the Lord. As we serve in harmony with one
another we glorify Him. 
 
God, the Father, is the supreme conductor/composer who is
orchestrating a glorious symphony. We get to be a part of His
 Magnum Opus each and every day. Whether we are in the violin,
clarinet, horn, trumpet or drum section we are to play enthusiastically,
all the while listening to the other parts so we stay together in order
 to blend into rich harmony. 
 
In the Christian life we must seek to serve the Lord daily, always
listening to those around us so the melody & harmony of Christlike
qualities will be a sweet sound in our Father's ears. If we forget about
others and go full steam ahead, no matter how enthusiastic we are, it will
surely be out of tune. Jesus is our lst chair violinist who plays the first
note and we tune to Him. The Holy Spirit is the tuning fork ever
keeping us on the mark of sanctification.
 
Keep your eyes on your Conductor trusting His direction
 and enjoy those beautiful sounds that are coming out of His
Church. May the world marvel at the counterpoint being
played in complete submission to one another staying in
perfect tempo and tune with our Savior. 
 
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing
to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one
and has many members, but all the members of that one body,
being many, are one body, so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit we
 were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into
one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.
1 Corinthians 12:10-13
 
.

Monday, March 11, 2013

What is Essentials?

We'll take a break from the usual weekly photos to hear about Essentials (taken from the CC website). This program has been called a "bridge" between Foundations and Challenge and is an important component in every CC community.

Essentials

This dynamic program provides Classical Christian community for home school families with students in grades 4th-6th. This program, which emphasizes language and writing "grammar" while also incorporating highly-dialectic lessons, is designed to reinforce language arts and structure, writing, and arithmetic mastery.

The Essentials Program meets once-a-week for twelve weeks in the fall and twelve weeks in the winter/spring. Students meet in the afternoons after the Foundations program. A trained tutor helps strengthen the "essential" subjects of language arts and structure, writing, and arithmetic.

The language arts and structure portion employs Classical Conversations own The Essentials of the English Language (EEL) Guide which includes lessons that provide a mixture of grammar and dialectic learning tools used to establish language structure understanding. The unique EEL approach takes students beyond "the worksheet" and the ubiquitous fill-in-the-blank method. Upon a firm foundation of memorized vocabulary, rules, and lists, students build strong language skills through the use of a series of analytical tasks. Students are taught how to thoughtfully analyze sentences and language structure, resulting in stronger language skills, which also strengthens students written and oral works.

The writing portion is based on the method of the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) by Andrew Pudewa utilizing IEW's signature method of structure and style. This method teaches students how to organize their writing through different writing structures, while also providing stylist techniques that make a student's writing more engaging. Students often practice writing skills on the same subjects that are being studied in their current Foundations cycle. (go to cc website for writing samples)
The math portion focuses on reinforcing the "essential" elements of arithmetic through challenging math games and problems. This program is designed to complement your home math program by drilling speed and accuracy with basic operations of arithmetic.

This highly-dialectic program, along with Foundations, is academically charged, and is great preparation for the later Challenge programs. Come visit and get to know us!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

CCGP 2012-2013 Week 20

Trio Family Presentation



Mexican Revolution!

Students' Presentations


Who needs to sit when learning?!


Students get to be the teacher!

Using puppets to recite the grammar can be loads of fun!

 Pi = 3.14

Science Project

Masters Review Weeks 15-20

Friday, February 22, 2013

CCGP 2012-2013 Week 19


Another Family Duo Presentation
Singing the Highest Mountains song


Masters Giving a Dramatic Story Presentation -
Some are a little more dramatic than others!


We looked into the world of crystals 
and even made some!





Getting that close up view - microscopes are the best tool!



Saturday, February 16, 2013

CCGP 2012-2013 Week 18

Happy Mardi Gras & Happy Valentine's Day!

Art:
We made elongated art like El Greco! 
By cutting and spreading out the picture  
and using tracing paper we could make
 a new stretched out picture of our own.



Stretched Mona Lisa!!

Science: Discovering Air Has Weight

We discovered that water stays in the 
glasses when tipped upside down.

We were privileged to have the Rogue Valley Symphony
 Orchestra Chamber Players come and perform for us!