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The Classical Conversations Blog - Post Page 92

Discover Posts on Homeschooling and Classical, Christian Education

Aug 06, 2013

Thermometer or Thermostat?

ā€œAre you a thermometer or a thermostat?ā€ The question was originally posed to a group of teenagers at a Christian summer camp. When I heard the query, I was struck by how apropos it seemed for me, a mom preparing for another season of homeschooling. A thermometer reports the...

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Aug 01, 2013

It’s All about Value!

Did you know that math is about more than numerical values arranged in symbolic sentences? It has great value in itself for practical application, of course, but it has much merit as well in the general skills and virtues that its study encourages. Recently, I have been reading a...

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Jul 31, 2013

Learning to Be Musical

You may remember fromĀ my previous articleĀ that I argued that we are all—barring some handicap—able to be musical. Therefore, I will not go into much detail about that point becauseĀ that articleĀ addresses most of my reasons for believing this. Keeping this in mind, however, the question becomes: if we are all...

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Jul 29, 2013

“Altared” States

Summer Practicum season is often the ā€œpause that refreshes,ā€ as Coca-Cola would say. Inspiration abounds from speakers keen to be God’s conduit for truth. Encouragement flows freely among those who have ā€œbeen thereā€ before—and survived a certain stage of the homeschooling journey. Renewal and recommitment to the challenge are...

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True Fellowship: Classical Conversations Community

There is a scene inĀ TheĀ Fellowship of the RingĀ that totally redefined the word ā€œfellowshipā€ for me. ā€œFellowshipā€ is a word that has become so common among church members that it has been watered down to mean almost nothing. If teens are talking outside, but doing nothing, we say, ā€œWell at...

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Jul 25, 2013

Multitasking No More

Has this ever happened to you? Two hours ago I opened my laptop to begin this article. As I was typing some notes, I noticed incoming email about an upcoming conference. Oh good! I opened it just to make sure everything was all set and to look over the...

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Promoted: the Role of the Classical Educator

ā€œIf the Challenge Guide has the weekly assignments in it, what do I do all summer?ā€ asked a mom at aĀ Parent Practicum. She had homeschooled her children for years before participating in Classical Conversations and she had recently decided to enroll her youngest child in Challenge I. Previously, she...

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Jul 19, 2013

Are You Musical?

Are you musical? What a question! And the answer will affect so much of what we consider our children and ourselves capable of, much less what we are willing to attempt. As you might have guessed, I suspect that far too many of us consider ourselves unmusical—or maybe I...

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Jul 17, 2013

What Is Sabbath Rest?

In Genesis 2:2–3, Scripture tells us that ā€œon the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had...

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Jul 16, 2013

Can Books Really Teach Us Anything? (Part Two)

InĀ Part OneĀ of this article, we looked at two recent arguments in favor of letting children’s desires dictate what they read. This common contemporary argument is directly opposed to the idea of a classical, Christian education. While the aim of most contemporary educators is to prepare their students for the...

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Jul 15, 2013

“See? There is intelligence there.”

Recently, an accomplished youth choir participated in a workshop with an internationally acclaimed choral conductor. The workshop was aimed at music teachers and choir directors. The conductor spent several hours working with the youth chorale to demonstrate his conducting principles and techniques. Many of these techniques were highly classical,...

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