New open houses announced

Want to know more about Classical Conversations? Want to see us in action? Come on any of the following dates (all Tuesdays):

January 20, 2015
February 10, 2015

Foundations, for ages 4-12, runs 9 am-noon. Essentials, for grades 3-6 (yes, the ages overlap), is 1-3 pm.

Please contact the director at cclehighvalley@yahoo.com to let us know you're coming. You are welcome to bring your child(ren) with you, and they can participate in the program as well. You'll have time both to see what the classes are doing, and to talk individually with members of the community about the program. We look forward to seeing you!

A day in the life

What happens in a typical day at Classical Conversations here in the Lehigh Valley? One part of every session is presentations: from K-4 on up, each student makes a 2-3 minute presentation. It might be "My favorite Christmas present," "A historical person I admire," "Something I did this summer," or a host of other topics.

We want our students to be comfortable formally speaking to people, conveying information, asking and answering questions.

Art is a part of each week: Sometimes we're studying artists, other times we're making art, either visual or musical. All students learn to play the tin whistle (similar to a recorder). At other times of the year, we may listen to classical music, discuss a painting, or experiment with various ways of creating art.

We review our memory work for the week: our timeline of the world, a history sentence giving a snapshot of a period or event, grammar rules, science facts, "skip counting" (math multiples), geography, and the like. Most memory work is on a three-year cycle, so a child who enters Foundations in kindergarten will eventually repeat all the memory work at least twice. There is time for hands-on learning and review about geography, such as marking rivers, states, and continents on a map. Science experiments teach the scientific method and bring concepts to life.