TOS Review - 'The Conversation' from Classical Conversations

I was so excited to be offered the opportunity to review "The Conversation" Challenging Your Student with a Classical Education paperback book, by Leigh A. Bortins, from Classical Conversations.

What is "The Conversation" from Classical Conversations?

Classical Education is a model of education that is based on a trivium idea. In other words, it separates level of learning into three categories, starting with the young child and moving through high school into adulthood. The three phases are:

1. Primary (Often called the Grammar Stage) where the child learns how to learn
2. Secondary (often called the Logic Stage) The author of this book refers to it as Dialectic, where the student begins the process of reasoning
3. Tertiary (Often called the Rhetoric Stage) where the student prepares for adulthood and future lifelong learning and application of his or her studies

High school level has a strong emphasis on the Rhetoric Stage where the student begins to articulate answers in his or her own words.....HENCE, THE TITLE OF THIS BOOK - "The Conversation"

Essentially, the book prepares the parent/teacher for all of the amazing conversations that take place as part of a Classical Education at the Rhetoric level.

This book begins by sharing an Introduction that is so very encouraging. It contains the author's personal experience with Classical Education and her and her husband's four sons, two of whom have already been launched into successful adulthood career paths.



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PART ONE - High School at Home

The First Chapter prepares the parent to feel confident as a Classical Education Rhetoric Level instructor.

The Second Chapter explains what the three phases of Classical Education are and what can be expected at the Rhetoric Level.

PART TWO - The Rhetorical Arts

The next sections in the book get into detail about each of the core subjects and how they are taught within a Classical Education Rhetoric/Conversation Level framework:

• Reading
• Speech and Debate
• Writing
• Science
• Math
• Government and Economics
• History
• Latin and Foreign Languages
• Fine Arts
• A Graduation Conversation
• Looking Back, Looking Ahead

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PART THREE - Appendices

The last part of the book includes hands-on resources and an index:

• Conversation Games
• Common Rhetorical Devices
• Resources Real parents Respond

I received a 267-page paperback book, written by Leigh A. Bortins.

How Did We Use It?

First, let's back track a few years to the start of my homeschooling journey. Several years ago when I was at my wit's end about how to homeschool my son, I cried. I prayed. I prayed some more. And, then, I discovered something called Classical Education. To me, it was an answer to my prayers at the time. But, somehow over the past few years, I have lost sight of that initial feeling of relief and was looking forward to a refresher on the importance and the why's of Classical education once again.




Here comes the part where I bear a piece of my soul to my readers because it has to do with stages, as does Classical Education. It especially has to do with my journey to attempting to make the most out of every stage of my children's lives:

I am a baby/toddler/pre-school, maybe even early elementary style of mom/teacher. Ever since I was a child, all I wanted to be was a mommy and/or a teacher. My dreams were fulfilled when God placed three healthy babies into my arms, two less than two years apart, losing three pregnancies, and then a miracle child a few years later. So, my life was complete and I was happy with my babies and young children constantly by my side.

Then, something happened..... I guess I blinked. Perhaps, I blinked way too many times, because in a blink of an eye - My house is no longer filled with little children and babies at my feet. It is now filled with two young pre-adults/teens and a baby of the family emerging toward late elementary status rapidly.

(INSERT GRIEF) - I actually experienced grief in the feeling of loss of having a little one around. And, I wasn't quite sure I wanted to parent teens. So, it was time for much adjustment. I had always learned to embrace each new stage of my children's babyhood, toddlerhood, childhood. And, now it was time to begin embracing teenager-hood and early adulthood parenting just the same as I had the other, very enjoyable, phases of their lives.

Surely, there was more to this new phase than I had feared.


ENTER - The Conversation.....  Also known as - My encouragement book of the year:

I sat down with my cup of coffee and began to read. I was excited to set aside some time with just me and the book.

What Did We Think?

I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to review this book. It is the very encouragement I needed right about now. I am now re-encouraged about facing my son's second year of high school and preparing my last-year-of-Middle-School daughter for high school.

OK, to be honest - I'm pumped! While I still very much loved the younger years with my children, I believe we are growing together - They are growing into adulthood, and I am growing into learning how to be the best teen/pre-adult/adult mom I can be, giving them every opportunity to shine and making new memories along the way as we learn together..... PLUS - I do still have one lingering child who is still in the Grammar stage...Thank you, God!

The book is a great read that is set up in an easy-to-follow, and easy to reference format. I loved how it began with encouragement, instilling or re-instilling, confidence to this mom who was beginning to question my once-determined path for educating my children through the higher level years. I now have an excellent reference resource book to fall back on when I begin to waver along the journey.

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Read what other members of the TOS Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

TOS Review: Memoria Press

* I was more than thrilled to get a chance to review New American Cursive: Penmanship Program Workbook 1 from Memoria Press.

We have used a few other Memoria Press books over the years, and they have never failed to deliver. This course is no exception.

New American Cursive, NAC, is a form of cursive that was developed by 35-year expert, Iris Hatfield. NAC is a form of cursive that offers more than 25 fewer strokes, eliminating unnecessary awkward strokes, to help make learning cursive easier and more legible.

It's a unique, fresh and simple approach to teaching cursive to kids as young as First Grade. The idea is not to force a high-level skill upon little hands, but rather to introduce the child to all the benefits of cursive as soon as possible. The earlier a child learns how to write cursive, the earlier he or she will benefit from all cursive has to offer; including, gaining competence from the start. And, the thing is - The New American Cursive: Penmanship Program Workbook 1 presents learning cursive in a way that makes it easy, artistic, encouraging, and fun.

Some benefits to learning cursive are said to include:

• hand-eye coordination
• ability to read cursive (by the way: Our founding fathers wrote documents in handwriting of cursive)
• self confidence
• improved reading and spelling
• increased writing speed with legible results
• improved brain neural connections
• ability to develop a personal signature

It only took us about 15 to 20 minutes a day to cover each lesson. The book starts with demonstrating and teaching proper paper, hand, and pencil position for left or right handers; and, it ends with the student writing sentences in a short letter, the Pledge of Allegiance, and it even covers writing numbers.

There are three workbooks in this series that start with Workbook 1 geared toward First Graders. Memoria Press also offers a supplemental software with customizable worksheets.


What is New American Cursive: Penmanship Program Workbook 1?

This is a workbook style paperback that introduces students to cursive using "Mr. Meerkat" as the instructor guide throughout the book. It is intended to introduce children in First Grade to New American Cursive, NAC, which is a form of cursive that was developed by Iris Hatfield. The 35-year cursive expert, Iris Hatfield, developed NAC as a form of cursive that offers more than 25 fewer strokes, eliminating unnecessary awkward strokes. By breaking down the process to its simplest form, it helps to make learning cursive easier and produce more legible work.

Throughout the book, Mr. Meerkat is pictured demonstrating how the child is to form each letter using the traditional handwriting lined writing sections of a dotted middle line between an upper and lower solid line on sections throughout the worksheet pages and arrows that direct the child's pencil to copy the letters and words.

The book is not bound at the left like most books, but it is bound at the top to give equal access to left and right-handed kids.

The repeating theme throughout the book is three-part:

How Did We Use It?

I sat down with my 8-year-old daughter who, according to our public school system and her late September birthday, puts her officially in the 2nd Grade. Though, she does some 3rd Grade work. Even so, she had not yet been taught to write cursive because my other children really didn't cover it till closer to 4th Grade.

   

  

What Did We Think?

I was looking forward to her learning cursive, and I was not disappointed.
When I told her she was going to learn cursive, she was a bit overwhelmed until I opened the book and began to work through it with her. It only took her to about the 2nd lesson before she was flowing along with Mr. Meerkat and laughing while she worked. It took us a few confusing turns to become used to the top-binding which means you sort of flip and turn the book when ready to go on to the next page rather than just turning page after page. But, once we got used to this format, it was easier.

I really like this particular form of cursive. All of the letters flow from one to another with ease and are not choppy or unnatural. I'm so excited that my child has been exposed to a solid cursive handwriting program at her early age.


Find Memoria Press on Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Read what other members of the TOS Review Crew thought of this cursive program, and see what reviewers thought of another Memoria Press product, First Start Reading, that some other members of the Review Crew received by clicking on the picture below.

ALSO, STAY TUNED FOR SOME UPCOMING TOS CREW REVIEWS OF MORE FROM MEMORIA PRESS!