Classical Conversations- Grants Pass, Oregon: 2013

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

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!