My friend Tsh Oxenreider releases a new book into the world this week, Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World
Our family began homeschooling in 1993, when our oldest entered second grade and we had a two year old. Because we spread the births of our 8 children over a 19-year period, we’ll homeschool for 30 consecutive years.
It’s really no wonder I started burning out around year 13.
Discovering Classical Conversations, or CC as we call it, energized me as a homeschooling parent and that translates into a better homeschool. For years I resisted options where someone else picked the books we’d read and the curriculum we’d use, but this classical education program incorporated what I would have chosen myself while saving me the work of lesson planning (not my favorite thing) in the process.
Our family has experienced the full range of Classical Conversations, from a young 4 year old in the Foundations (elementary level) program to a Challenge IV (the oldest high school class) graduate, and everything in between. We’ve staked our ground in the broad landscape of homeschooling and we’re growing roots, because this program has deep ones.
I teach a class called Challenge II (approximately 10th grade), with an emphasis on Western Cultural History. We study art, music, British literature, debate, biology, Latin, Algebra 2, logic, and American drama. Such good stuff.
This is the education I wish I’d had; I’m thankful we found it for our kids.
Notes from a Blue Bike
Notes from a Blue Bike
Notes From a Blue Bike is written by Tsh Oxenreider, founder and main voice of The Art of Simple. It doesn’t always feel like it, but we DO have the freedom to creatively change the everyday little things in our lives so that our path better aligns with our values and passions.
I have heard great things about CC! My kids are still little, and it is a ways to the nearest CC group, but maybe when they are a little bit older. We are homeschooling now, and our focus is lots of reading. My kids love to sit and listen to me read, and so we do an awful lot of that. I like the slow pace homeschooling allows us. Hopefully that will continue as they get older!
Heather, if there’s not a CC in your area, you could help start one!
30 years of consecutive homeschooling. That is a career, for sure. I love the idea of creating happy, inquisitive learners and this curriculum sounds like a good tool for that. Things are tough for my creative first grader at the local elementary school, so I’m taking notes on homeschooling in case I decide we need to jump on board. Besides all of the educational benefits, I think it could be a great fit for night owls like my family and me. 😉
Darcy, you sound like a homeschooling, CC family in the making. 🙂
?aved as a favorite, I like ?our blo?!