To know God and to make Him known

Challenge III

Age 16+

All Choices Bring Consequences

Challenge III students pursue a more fully embodied understanding and presentation of truth, goodness, and beauty through poetry, essays, readings, speeches, debates, and, above all, conversations firmly grounded in Christian ideals.

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Cultivate the Garden of Your Mind

Caesar and Cicero, Shakespeare and poetry, as well as American history, chemistry, music, philosophy, and mathematics are the gardens in which Challenge III cultivate their conversations. Through each area of homeschool study, high school-aged students discover their unique place in the overarching story of mankind’s search for knowledge and justice and the consequences of their choices.

Using all Five Canons of Rhetoric, students hone the art of effective and beautiful communication with their fellow man. This is an incredibly enriching high school homeschool program where parents will continue to see the rewards of their educational investment into their teenagers. Students are also able to earn college credits through our CC Plus program, should they desire.

Challenge Yourself to See the Truth

The Six Strands of Challenge III

Each additional building block brings us closer to Divine knowledge. Each week, students further their understanding and discuss assigned concepts from precalculus. Conversations held at home and within their community group seminar synthesize the ideas of relationships, shapes, higher order equations, variables, Euclidean proofs, and trigonometry functions.

To know His world is to understand its every component. Students spend the year immersed in the field of chemistry as this seminar offers a combination of labs and math tutorials. Students hone observation skills through hands-on science labs and witness the consequences of chemical combinations. Students build their own notebook, write lab reports, and complete additional scientific research at home.

French novelist Victor Hugo said, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” In the first semester, Challenge III homeschool students learn the fundamental principles of music (from keyboard notation and key signatures to chords and triads) in the context of analyzing familiar hymn scores. The course provides students with vocabulary and conceptual knowledge that builds on their study of Western Cultural History in Challenge II.

In the second semester, students focus on Philosophy. Your high school-aged student can practice how to outline the text and prepare discussion questions at home each week. Besides examining the major ideas of influential philosophers, students work on the Five Canons of Rhetoric—invention, arrangement, elocution, memory, delivery—and improve their public presenting skills through student-led group seminars.

The past is a roadmap for the future. With a year-long focus on American history, students read and study the text, write and present essays that relate to various events in American history, polish presentation skills through a variety of forensics events, and compile events into a timeline. In their weekly community group seminar, students participate in Socratic discussions about events and philosophical ideas that shaped America, all firmly grounded in a Christian worldview.

Only by mastering a language can we appreciate all of its subtleties and nuances. In both semesters, students continue to follow Caesar’s footsteps in his conquest of Gaul and, later, to his final breath at the Senate in Rome. Next, students turn to the great oratory of Cicero, one of the finest Roman statesmen, who skillfully defends the ideals of a republic against a tyranny. Students encounter the elements of stylistic devices applied to political eloquence. They witness the intrigue of Cicero’s day, while gaining a deeper understanding of the art of rhetorical speaking.

Great thinkers are not limited by genre. This course requires students to read five Shakespeare plays, a Christian commentary guide of the plays, and a book on poetry. Students write an in-depth analysis of a chosen aspect from each play and create a poetry anthology of their own work. In community group seminar, students lead and participate in discussions about each play and present memorized lines in dramatic interpretation. Between plays, students present poetry readings and discuss poetic forms.

We embrace a real-world approach in all aspects of our education. Local directors can choose to offer a yearly formal event for Challenge students to better learn how to interact with their communities and each other.

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CLC has been great in helping me follow a form in preparing my lessons at home . . . I think through the lessons . . . and how to relate them to the students and create a desire to learn the material. The questions have been very helpful in assessing that the students are following the lessons, too.

Angela

The CLC has had the single largest positive impact on my growth as a classical educator. It is the reason my class feels successful on community day, and it has changed how I give assessment.

Laura G.

CLC was the perfect amount of time: every other week for two hours, with six meetings. It was manageable and the cost was well worth it! The lessons my mentor presented each time were great, and it was a growing experience.

Kristen

The encouragement and support from other parents is vital. I enjoy learning from those before me in their journey, encouraging those beside me, and sharing with those coming behind.

Laura
CC Parent

I am a grandmother homeschooling my 9-year-old granddaughter who has been through a lot of trauma with both parents. The moms, Tutors and Director have truly been encouraging and most accepting of this old grandma and her granddaughter. We are going into our 5th year at CC.

Cindy
Grandmother

My CC community breathes flavor, energy, and structure into my homeschool. The steady support, motivation to learn perpetually, and sweet fellowship is vital to me personally and to my family.

Cecile
CC Parent

As a longtime homeschooler, you can find 350 Classically-centered curricula on the market. What sets CC apart isn’t the carefully crafted history sentences, the infectious list of pronouns the kids chant, or the way you can tweak it to be whatever you want at home. It’s the community.

Heather
CC Parent

But what about socialization? I have to admit, I heard this question a couple times when I first decided to homeschool, but most people I come across don’t ask it anymore. If they do inquire about how I keep my kids socialized, I get to tell them about the amazing community God brought into our lives with Classical Conversations.

Wendy
CC Parent

My CC Community has been an integral part of our homeschool experience. I can’t imagine being on this journey alone, as a ‘lone wolf.’ I love how CC covers aspects of homeschooling that I would not get to on my own, such as weekly science experiments and art projects, and memorizing a world history Timeline of events. CC provides a ‘one stop shop’ for all of my homeschooling needs.

Autumn
CC Parent

Community is a very valuable part of CC. What other curriculum has weekly modeling lessons for us parents?

Heather
CC Parent

Our CC family is so much more than a group of fellow homeschoolers. They are the family who can truly understand my daily struggles as a homeschooling mom. They are the family who supported me emotionally and mentally when my husband passed away. They are the family that welcomed me with open arms when we had to move out of state and join a new CC family! There is nothing comparable to our CC family. I am so truly grateful.

Janelle
CC Parent

My director and fellow parents are tutors are more than colleagues; they’re friends. I’m thankful for the support, accountability, and friendship they offer.

Melissa
CC Parent

My community is my tribe. They are an extension of my family and make a difference in my success as a homeschooler.

Niki
CC Parent

We needed accountability and a group. Then CC came to my area. I could focus on enjoying learning alongside my children! My kids flourished, recognizing the education they were receiving in a CC community was different than many of their peers.

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