Articles by author: Courtney and Sanford

Beefing Up Sixth Grade

by Courtney and
Thursday, 21 August, 2014
categories: Articles, Classical Christian Education, Grammar Stage (ages 4 to 11)

Revisiting Some Archived Articles that Have Not Been Lost, but May Have Been Forgotten and Are Worth a Fresh Read In more and more Classical Conversations communities, sixth graders start their final year in Foundations already knowing a lot of the memory work. Many...

The Trivium: Growing a Mighty Oak

by Courtney and
Monday, 24 March, 2014
categories: Articles, Big Ideas: Truth, Beauty, Goodness and more!, Classical Christian Education, Dialectic Stage (ages 12 to 14), Grammar Stage (ages 4 to 11), Rhetoric Stage (ages 14 to 18)

"Mom, when am I ever going to get out of the grammar stage?” my eleven-year-old son asked me while reciting memory work. He wanted me to say, “When you turn twelve, you won’t have to do any more memory work,” but that is not entirely true. Although we say the grammar...

All Dressed Up for the Prom, but Will You Go?

by Courtney and
Monday, 17 February, 2014
categories: Articles, Classical Christian Education, Dialectic Stage (ages 12 to 14), Grammar Stage (ages 4 to 11), Homeschooling Life, Rhetoric Stage (ages 14 to 18)

Last week, a parent in my Classical Conversations group told me she enjoys Foundations, and looks forward to Challenge A and Challenge B, but she just does not know if she will go further with homeschooling after that. I told her I thought that would be like getting...

Classical: The Easy Way (How the classical model makes Latin and science easier)

by Courtney and
Monday, 20 January, 2014
categories: Articles, Classical Christian Education, Dialectic Stage (ages 12 to 14), Grammar Stage (ages 4 to 11), Homeschooling Life

I just had a conversation with my fourteen year old daughter. She has been in Classical Conversations since she was six years old. She has heard me talk about the phases of learning for nine years now. She has heard me explain that whenever you learn something, you...

Starting a Classical Conversation with Literature: The Plot Diagram

by Courtney and
Sunday, 08 December, 2013
categories: Articles, Classical Christian Education, Dialectic Stage (ages 12 to 14), Rhetoric Stage (ages 14 to 18)

I am new to tutoring Challenge I, so I am learning as I go. However, isn’t that always the case? I am always learning. I love literature, so I pour a lot of passion into the subject naturally. It is also one of the best seminars during which to learn how to engage in...

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