Being a part of a like-minded and committed community provides parents and students encouragement, fellowship, and accountability.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
—Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NKJV)
In a community, parents build relationships with experienced homeschoolers who can offer advice and compassion. Students build lasting relationships with their peers. This creates a safe place for practicing speaking skills and discussing big ideas.
Knowing that others will see their work motivates students to do their very best on assignments and helps them learn to manage their time in order to meet deadlines. Students also encourage one another to meet high academic expectations.
Communities meet weekly during the school year. Trained parent-tutors model skills and facilitate activities that give students opportunities to practice these skills.
Young children enjoy learning in a group setting. They get to play games with the memory work and cooperate on science projects. They have the opportunity to learn to take turns speaking and practicing “loving your neighbor” by listening when your peer speaks or by waiting your turn.
Parents enjoy the community, too. They enjoy time to share ideas with other parents at lunch and having experienced home schooling parents available to discuss challenges. Many parents find the support they need to keep homeschooling through tough times.
During the middle and high school years, the feeling of belonging to a group is very important to students. Because we have groups of no more than twelve, they get to know each other and form a close, supportive group. Many students come to Classical Conversations and say that they form eight or ten close friends whereas when they were in a large public school there were hundreds of students there, but they had no close friends. They were never in a class for more than an hour. They never had a chance to develop close friendships. Our Challenge program is designed to give students a close knit group of friends. They go through mock trial together, debates, presentations, and other challenging activities, and the students develop life-long friendships