Challenge A. I’ve had lots to say about it but very little time to put those thoughts down into a coherent set of words. In a nutshell, we love it. But perhaps someone out there is looking for a little more? After all, it can appear to be this mysterious, ambiguous set of coursework that we’re headed into, and it often had me wondering what to expect. “Trust the program” appeased me for just a short period of time. I wanted to know where we were headed.
So… as a Foundations parent, I stepped into the Challenge classes starting about three years ago. And it motivated me to see the treasure that lies ahead. It gave me a clearer vision for why we are memorizing what we are memorizing. It helped me to recognize the art of dialectic that’s integrated into our Foundations science experiment/project time and the dose of rhetoric that we give our children during presentation time. (Or consider the playing of the tin whistle or the imitation of an artist’s technique to create their own work of art.) After all, grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric are not actually stages; they’re three of the liberal (or “freeing”) arts. And all three of these – the art of grammar, the art of dialectic, and the art of rhetoric are part of every stage of development. We just have a natural tendency to prefer each of those arts at different stages of development, which is why most classical schools and programs are built upon these three liberal arts: a focus on grammar during the elementary years; a focus on dialectic during the middle school years, and a focus on rhetoric in the high school years. And.. oh. Wait a second. I think my thoughts have derailed from my original intention, so let’s get back on track.
If you haven’t visited a Challenge class yet, that would be step number one. Spare just a few precious minutes to visit a class. Just watch those students. It’s inspiring!
Step number two is to download and read about the Challenge Program from the Classical Conversations website along with the Classical Conversations Challenge Flier. Actually, this probably works better as step number one, but the idea here is to do both of them.
And now that I’ve mentioned those two things, I feel like I can share our experience. (Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I am not a Challenge Director. I’m just a mom.)
This year, our oldest son embarked on his first semester in the Classical Conversations Challenge Program. Here’s a rundown of what to expect (from my perspective).
Our main goals for Challenge A are…
Gaining skills in goal setting, planning, and autonomy (aka, how to plan out and finish everything each week)
Mastering world geography
Mastering the systems of the human body (spring semester)
Introduction to Latin study
Learning how to communicate an opinion effectively
There are other goals, of course, but these are what I see as the major goals for the year.
The class day is split up into six one-hour seminars, which means we have six “subjects” for which we complete assignments throughout the week. The reality is that there is much more, but other “subjects” like literature, science, and history are woven into these six skills or content areas.
Rhetoric. Students memorize a set of catechism questions based on the book It Couldn’t Just Happen. They also learn Andrew Kern’s highlighting system as they read through the book. (In the spring they will be reading from Fallacy Detective.) The focus is clear reasoning and apologetics. The homework for the rhetoric strand takes very little time each week.
Research. Every week, students research a science topic and write a paragraph/paper using the structure presented in Unit 6 of IEW’s Teaching Writing Structure and Style. (When we’ve been ultra-busy with extracurricular activities, this is the subject we have set on the back burner to catch up on during our breaks.) On seminar days, students present from their Key Word Outline, and they practice giving positive feedback and constructive criticism as an audience.
Debate (Geography). Even with Stephen’s love of geography, this strand has been a (healthy) challenge for him. Geography is one area that I would say needs more attention before entering Challenge, so if you have a 5th or 6th grader who needs an extra challenge, it would be helpful to start memorizing countries and capitals. (It’s not necessary, but it will alleviate some of the burden on your 7th grader.) You can take a look at the Countries & Capitals cards I’ve made thus far for the Western Hemisphere and Europe. You can also practice drawing each of the continents – you can start with blob mapping and then move on to tracing each continent using d-maps, World Atlas maps, or any other world atlas. (More about this in an upcoming post.)
Grammar (Latin). Stephen has loved Latin! It’s the subject he almost always starts with when he tackles his schoolwork. He loves the logic of it, and the Classical Conversations Essentials program (along with the memorization of all those random noun declension and verb conjugation sounds and spellings) has equipped him for success. It does take some organization with the number of flashcards he has had to make. I actually offered to make vocabulary cards for him, and he told me that making the flashcards has helped him to memorize. So… stick in the sand has won again. I hope it’s encouraging that Stephen had very little Latin under his belt when he went into Challenge A. (No doubt, it’s encouraging to know that we’ll start at the very beginning of the Henle Latin 1 book all over again just in case we don’t quite get it the first time.) As far as preparing for Challenge, it would be nice to have some of the vocabulary memorized ahead of time, but, again, it doesn’t seem to be necessary. (More about this in an upcoming post.)
Exposition & Composition. Here’s where we integrate literature, discussion, and persuasive writing. This year we’ve seemed to regress in our writing skills as we strip away all writing structure and style to focus on the “most boring essay ever” (aka, the rudimentary essay). The point here is to learn to think through an argument – to come up with a thesis and use proofs to support it. I enjoy the discussions we have at home as a result of LTW. In fact, I have no issues with Lost Tools of Writing thus far except one: it reveals how much my own writing (or thinking) lacks. The Lost Tools of Writing could be more appropriately named, “The Lost Tools of Thinking.”
Logic, or Math. This is simple. We just continue to work through our math assignments in the book we have chosen to use. In fact, the students in class are working from different math books (Saxon and Life of Fred). The math seminar is fantastic! Our Challenge A Director asks probing questions that require them to think. Each student brings a couple of problems to present each week. This is so unlike the math classes of my public school education. It blows my mind to see how much interaction, integration, and discussion goes on throughout the entire class day!
What we like about Challenge A
Stephen is learning how to think. At a time when I was shuffling hallways in self-doubt and trying to hide from expressing my opinions for fear that I would not be accepted, he is encouraged to express his thoughts using clear arguments. He’s learning to be articulate and communicate well while using tact and grace in his speech. He understands that he has a voice, and his voice matters for the Kingdom of God. Again, I encourage all parents to sit in on just 20 minutes of a Challenge class (preferably when they are in discussion mode, which is most of the time). Please, just do it! It will give you such inspiration!
Any drawbacks?
My main struggle with Challenge is keeping to a stricter schedule than we have in the past. The pace is great if we are home for four days to complete the assignments. It’s tough to keep up on weeks when we have errands (which usually means out-of-town trips for us since we live w-a-y out in the boonies) or other traveling or activities that knock out a day (or a week). Having said that, our family needs the discipline of keeping up with a schedule external to ours because… our children will one day have to meet deadlines regardless of whatever else is going on in their lives. It’s good, but it’s tough to get used to.
We have found that as long as we keep up with Latin and Lost Tools of Writing, we can shift our other coursework around. We don’t do all six strands every day. Stephen and I found that it was helpful to meet in the afternoon after we get home from our CC day to plan out the week.
Some families complain about Henle First Year Latin. So far, we are fine with it. There may be better programs out there, but Henle has been simple and straightforward for us.
Do you have any questions? I’m sure I’ve forgotten many things here. This post has been in draft form for at least a month now, and it’s been in my head for much longer. But… I keep getting interrupted by a toddler, so my words do not make as much sense as I’d like them to.
Below I’m including a link-up for Challenge-related articles. This link-up is intended to share free resources and articles for and about the Challenge program (not promoting items that are for sale). Thanks for linking up and/or visiting those who have shared their posts!
An InLinkz Link-up
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