As you may know, Classical Conversations began when I was in high school. I was a student in the original Challenge I, II, and III programs with about eleven other students. It was just shortly before that time when my mom heard about classical education, so I missed the grammar stage and the start of the dialectic stage as far as education style is concerned. However, I still went through those stages mentally. I went on to attend Clemson University, complete two years of co-op at Ethicon, and graduate with an Industrial Engineering degree in 2006. I worked as a logistics engineer for UPS for almost a year and then moved on to become a Plant Engineer for three years at a small manufacturing company. In 2010, I joined Classical Conversations in a full-time role.
In 2011, I will go back to the grammar stage and attend a Foundations and Essentials program in South Carolina. The purpose is twofold: first, to try to recapture the education I missed, and second, to have in-depth knowledge of these programs.
I will be posting an article once a month to share my struggles and the methods I discover, as well as the challenges of going back to school. As a single adult, I will have the luxury of not having to balance teaching/raising a child while I am learning, caring for a spouse, or completing an additional math or phonics program. However, I can assure you that I do a lot of math on the job! Also, since my writing is so bad I am working on that on the side as well. I have yet to make up my mind about whether I should go for Memory Master or not. Frankly, I am not sure they make a T-shirt my size (and this is why we do it right?). However, I feel like I will.
I am excited and nervous and I feel sorry for the poor tutor that is going to have me in her class. I will try to be a model student. One of the reasons Classical Conversations exists is because my mom recognized how much we do not know and that we would need a great network of friends to help keep us motivated to “know God and make Him known.” Being the first born, the guinea pig, I do not know a lot. I think that realization may be confirmed in the next month. I look forward to the struggles and the triumphs of this upcoming year and sharing those with you.
