The Beginners Guide to Classical Conversations Challenge A

When we started CC Challenge A I didn’t have a clear picture of what our days at home would look like. I felt like I had no guidance on how to organize and prepare for the year. So here’s an explanation of how Challenge A works- in class and at home. I hope this helps other families venturing into the Challenge level or those considering whether the program will work for their children. This is a long post so grab a cup of coffee or tea and settle in…

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CC Challenge A- The Basics

Challenge A is a Classical Conversations program that families can join. It is a drop off program for students ages 12 and over that meets one day per week (ours meets from 08:30 am to 3 pm) for 30 weeks. Students are guided through the day by the program director (this is typically a fellow CC parent-tutor). Our daughter is in Challenge A for 7th grade.

The community day is meant to give students the opportunity to discuss the subjects they are studying. The program lays out the schedule and plan for the curriculum but the parent remains responsible for determining what the student will do each week and grading their work (if you choose to grade as part of your homeschool). At home, students follow the guide to complete the assignments and prepare for class.

The CC Challenge A Guide

Once you are enrolled in a Challenge program you will receive the guide from your director. The program is divided into two- 15 week semesters. So in the guide you will have semester one weeks 1-15 and semester two weeks 1-15. Very confusing at first glance! The guide is laid out by week so if your student needs a daily schedule you will need to create one. I found that at the beginning my daughter needed a daily schedule (shown in the photo above) but as the year went on she was just fine with opening up the guide and working through the week.

In CC Foundations (the elementary age program) community day is used to present the materials and then families work on that info at home. For CC Challenge it is the opposite, students complete the work at home in preparation for the upcoming class.

To get information about joining a CC group you will need to contact a director in your area- you can do that by going here.

The Subjects Covered

Challenge A consists of 6 strands- Logic, Grammar, Research, Rhetoric, Debate, & Exposition/Composition. These are just fancy names for- Math, Latin, Science, Apologetics/Reasoning, Geography, & Literature/Writing. Let’s dig into each strand.

Logic (aka Math)

CC recommends Saxon 8/7 for Challenge A but any math may be used at home. Math is such a personal decision for every family so Challenge students are free to use whatever program works best for them. Every community is different, but in ours only 2 of the Challenge A students use Saxon.

In CLASS: Our tutor uses the Saxon 8/7 text to go over a new concept/lesson during class. So for my daughter’s group, the logic strand consists of a speed drill or math game, mental math problems, lesson introduction, and questions/discussion. I know that some Challenge classes use the logic period to simply review any problems students are having within their own math lessons and to play math games that solidify math facts and/or engage the students in conversations about math.

At HOME:  Complete the math assignments from the math curriculum of your choice and choose 2 problems to bring to class for discussion. The guide states which Saxon lessons to complete but, as I mentioned before, you don’t have to follow the math recommendations or schedule. We are using Saxon 8/7 but we do not follow the guide for lesson assignments. We just plug along at our own pace.

Grammar (aka Latin)

Henle First Year Latin is the text used for the Grammar strand. Each week students are assigned pages to read from the Henle First Year Latin text book and/or the grammar book, exercises to complete, and vocabulary to memorize.

In CLASS: The tutor will introduce new concepts, complete some practice exercises and lead students in reviewing vocabulary or endings.

At HOME: Students follow the guide to complete the assigned reading from the Latin book and the Latin Grammar book. They study the new vocabulary and grammar rules while also reviewing past vocabulary & grammar. They work through the assigned Latin exercises. We have found it helpful to work through Latin exercises together using a dry erase board. Students will go through this same material in Challenge B, so we really focus on learning the endings, vocabulary, and grammar rules. Exercises are done as time allows. My daughter loves Latin! For a free noun declension worksheet that I created check out Top 12 Tips to Thrive with CC Challenge A.

Research (aka Science)

The science strand is divided into approximately 9 weeks of topic research/presentations, 10 weeks of science fair, and 11 weeks of anatomy.

In CLASS: Class time depends on the week. During the first 9 weeks of the science strand, students give a presentation on their research topic. The science fair weeks are spent discussing their projects and introducing each new step in the process. The anatomy weeks are spent drawing and labeling various body systems.

At HOME: For the first science section the guide provides a suggested topic for students to research each week. For example, one week was insects and my daughter did the orchid mantis. Students choose a specific topic from the suggestion and then research it using at least 2 sources, record their notes/outlines along with a sketch/picture in their journals, and practice their presentation.

The science fair weeks are broken into bite-size steps that students complete each week to prepare for science fair. Every week they will work on their project step by step. If your student keeps up with the schedule it makes things very manageable.

The anatomy section is spent memorizing, drawing, and labeling various body systems. For each system, the Challenge A guide contains a labeled image along with a fill in the blank style image. My daughter has enjoyed coloring these in as she memorizes the various parts.

Rhetoric (aka Apologetics/Reasoning)

This strand uses the books, It Couldn’t Just Happen & The Fallacy Detective. During the first half of the program, students read the book It Couldn’t Just Happen and memorize corresponding catechisms. By the end, they will have memorized 57 catechisms. The final section of the program has them reading and discussing The Fallacy Detective while continuing to practice the catechisms.

In CLASS: Students discuss the assigned reading. They may play a game to practice the memorized catechisms. My daughter has really enjoyed this portion of the program.

At HOME: Students read the assigned chapter(s) for each book and memorize the catechisms. For It Couldn’t Just Happen, each week students read the assigned section, complete a study guide (this is just a worksheet found in the CC guide to help them summarize what they have read), and memorize the corresponding catechisms. During the second semester, they read the assigned chapters in The Fallacy Detective, complete any exercises in those chapters, and continue to practice the previously memorized catechisms.

Debate (aka Geography)

By the end of the year, students can draw and label the entire world from memory. Oh, and they will learn approximately 152 geographical terms. Can you define atoll and piedmont? If not, ask a Challenge A student.

In CLASS: The tutor will introduce any new areas/features. They will review their geography terms and practice drawing their maps. They also will discuss the areas that they are learning about.

At HOME: Each week students focus on a particular area of the world while continuing to review all past areas. The guide provides a list of the countries and capitals as well as prominent features for the students to memorize and draw. For this strand, students are also learning geographical terms such as bay, mesa, strait, steppe, etc. Each week they will learn a few more terms and continue to review already learned terms. They will use the Classical Conversations text Exploring the World through Cartography for maps and information on each area.

My daughter does not like to draw- it is not enjoyable for her- so this is a strand that we have modified to fit her learning style. Her week looks something like this:

• Day one- label a blank map of the continent/area, drill countries/capitals, and drill geographical terms.
• Day two- trace map, drill countries/capitals, and drill geographical terms. Review previously learned areas.
• Day three- trace map, drill countries/capitals, and drill geographical terms. Read cartography book.
• Day four- draw a map to take to class, drill countries/capitals, and drill geographical terms. Once she has the countries and capitals down she starts adding in prominent features for the continent/area.

Exposition (aka Writing/Literature)

Lost Tools of Writing (LTOW) by the CiRCE Institute is the writing program used for the year. Every three weeks the students write a persuasive essay based on an assigned novel. Students will read 10 novels and write 10 essays using the LTOW lessons for each essay. The literature is intentionally chosen to be at a lower reading level so that students can focus on their discussion and writing skills without getting bogged down in difficult to read literature. LTOW starts out extremely basic using a specific format and building on that base as the year goes on. At first, you may think that it is way too easy compared to what your child had been doing (especially if they had been using IEW with the CC Essentials program). However, with each lesson, a new component is added until your child is writing excellent persuasive essays using the canons of rhetoric- invention, arrangement, and elocution. We have loved this program!

In CLASS: The tutor introduces the new LTOW concept. They discuss their paper topics and the process. On weeks that a paper is due each student reads their paper aloud in class. They also use this period to discuss the literature they are reading. Again, my daughter loves getting to discuss books with her peers!

At HOME: They need to read the assigned literature- basically a novel every three weeks. LTOW follows a step by step process so each week they will work on a part of the writing process using the student workbook to guide them. Typically, the focus is on Invention for week one, Arrangement for week two, and Elocution for week three. By the third week, they literally just plug their outline into essay format. Done! There are also video lessons that you have access to once you buy the LTOW teacher guide. My daughter and I watch these together. We have seen a dramatic improvement in her writing ability over the year. Love LTOW!

Questions?

I realize this is a lot of info but I hope it helps shed some light on what exactly your student will do for the year with CC Challenge. We have found that it is a nice mix of structure and variety, while maintaining a balance of work. As soon as you think you absolutely cannot research, write and present another science topic, it switches to the science fair section. This kept things interesting.

If you would like to download our CC Challenge A checklist to give you an idea of how to create a daily schedule please click below. In order to complete the checklist each week, you would need a CC Challenge guide to fill in the exact exercises/lessons. A few notes about the checklist: Math just says “lesson” because we just open our book and do the next lesson. Latin says “Exercise” so we could write in the exercises due for that week. The LTOW section intentionally just has space so that we could write in the student workbook pages as they change week by week. We actually created an LTOW notebook with copies of all the needed workbook pages for each novel so that it was easy to just open to that section and work through the worksheets for each essay.

This method forced us to sit down with our CC Challenge guide to fill in our checklist. This taught my daughter how to schedule and pace the curriculum so that by mid-year she could maintain her own checklist/planner system- yay! She now uses this lovely planner, along with the weekly CC guide to ensure that she is getting all her work done each day.

More Tips

For our favorite CC Challenge A tips and hacks to help your year run smoothly check out this post. Take a look at our must-have homeschool supplies for the small things that make a big difference in our homeschool days!

Still trying to decide if CC Challenge A is right for your family? Take a look at my CC Challenge A pros & cons post.

Please comment below with any questions about CC Challenge or CC in general. Also, check out the Classical Conversations site for more info.

Happy Curriculum Searching!

~ Melissa