Classical Conversations and Learning Challenges: Can It Work?

Since joining our Classical Conversations community three years ago, I’ve heard from quite a few fellow homeschoolers expressing surprise that CC is a fit for our family. We’ve been open about the fact that several of our children have learning differences that would be IEP-worthy in an institutional school setting. Due to the fact that CC has a reputation amongst homeschoolers for moving quickly, being rigorous, and not being as flexible as many cooperative learning settings, how, we’re asked, is that whole CC thing possibly working for you?

The answer is really well. 

The longer is answer is that I’m surprised, too.

After nearly two decades of homeschooling—many of them spent as a curriculum writer, consultant, and reviewer— I’m familiar with a huge swath of the greater homeschool market.  At least it feels that way! Add in my experience of homeschooling a large family and meeting their individual needs, and I’ve discovered a deeper truth:  researching, implementing, and tweaking curricula is part of my job, whether your kids have learning challenges or not.

Knowing this is what led me away from CC rather than toward it, I’ll be honest. In my mind, I pictured handing over control of our curriculum to some outside force— a force who had no idea what the strengths and weaknesses of my individual children might be, a force that valued adherence to a method over needs. I had done my initial homework on the Classical Education and knew what it entailed:

The Grammar Stage: This stage takes advantage of a young child’s joy in being exposed to new information by naming and memorizing all the moving parts of their world, building the foundation for…

The Logic Stage: The physiological changes in this period of brain growth translate into growing reasoning ability. This stage takes advantage of a student’s need to know why, and how, which sets the stage for…

The Rhetoric Stage: The stage in which Grammar and Logic are synthesized, and the focus is on communicating truth in a winsome, compelling manner.

Knowing what I’ve learned about students with learning challenges, I know that often, those neat little boxes just don’t fit in the standard timeframes. I’ve also learned that sometimes, the boxes have a funny way of overlapping, or that the skills needed to make the leap from one box to another can be sufficiently weak as to make it necessary for one foot to stay behind while the other nudges ahead. Classical Conversations, with its focus on memorizing, drilling, and consuming vast amounts of information, seemed like a nightmare for my kiddos who learn differently.

Was I right?

No. Actually, the direct opposite has been true. While it may be true that we work harder here at home that others, or that my load as the lead learner is possibly increased due to needing to present information in more tangible and varied ways, CC has been  entirely workable in a homeschool with special needs ranging from dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADD, central auditory processing disorder, and cognitive deficits.

The benefits I’ve seen:
A huge boost in the confidence my kids who sometimes struggle to feel successful in learning.
Increased working memory.
Greater ability to make connections between bits of information.
The desire to continue strengthening weaker areas so as to meet personal goals.
An awareness of struggles, and the beginning of self-coping skills rather than a reliance on my accommodations.

So how have we done it? What preparation, changes, or add-ons have made Foundations and Essentials workable for our family?

One of my children does not participate in Community Day. The truth is, Community Day does not work for everyone. Honestly accessing whether or not your child can handle the rapid pace of Assembly, New Grammar, Science Experiments, Fine Arts, and Review in a group is vital. One of my children would be overwhelmed by the three hours of quick transitions and lost in the mix of the overall setting. While I want him to have the experience of Community Day, I also don’t want him to be in an environment that is stressful or confusing for him. He works alongside us at home, and does great. We’ve found other ways to successfully fold him into our community, and have found our Director to be extremely supportive.

I communicate with our Directors and my kids’ tutors. Part of that honest assessment I spoke of above is including those who will be directly involved in mentoring my child in the circle of those who know how to support the learning we’re all working towards. For example, before signing on for Essentials, I had multiple conversations and a sit down, face-to-face meeting with the Director asking her every question I could think of, and letting her know what to expect from my son and from me. She was more than receptive, and I credit my son’s excitement for class each week in large part with how sensitive she has been to his needs as well as how hard she works to make sure everyone in the class, regardless of skill or experience, succeeds.

We work a week ahead. I know, I know… it’s not “best practice.” CC is adamant that Community Day is the day when new material is introduced to students, not the day when that information is drilled and cemented. For some of my students, however, having a tutor introduce material in class in the short amount of time reserved for New Grammar would be potentially useless. Instead of meeting new facts in a classroom setting, my kids review what they’ve learned the previous week in a new way, allowing me to feel out any soft spots of confusion or answer any questions before they hit the group setting. My kids know that most of their peers don’t have this set-up, and I communicate weekly (seriously, every week before they walk into their classes) the need to not steamroll New Grammar. I also check in with their tutors periodically to make sure this isn’t an issue. It never has been. The benefit here is that even my Foundations child with the weakest working memory feels like class is a success, and is able to keep up with the flow of information.

I break the at-home work down into easy-to-digest chunks through games and multi-sensory activities. If you get your hands on a Foundations Guide and peek inside, it might just look like the most boring curriculum ever. While the front is packed with ideas and advice, the weekly schedules are little more than lists of facts. It’s the parents’ job to bring the information to life. Being in tune with my kids’ needs means looking at those seemingly dry bits of information and giving them skin. Songs and chants are the backbone of a CC mom’s toolbox, but if you have children with learning differences, you’ll need to branch out to find the means that make learning fun and accessible. Again, you’d be doing this with any curriculum— you already know this if you have a child with any “dys-” diagnoses!

We drill, drill, drill, drill. Some of my children could review in light rotation and still try for Memory Master with zero stress. Others need daily reinforcement to hold on to those slippery facts. That means that our whole family stays on top of drill in game format. We have a daily review time, and my kids love it. It also means that those bits of information that are recurring or build off of one another (lists of pronouns doled out in chunks over multiple weeks, Latin conjugation endings, Essentials charts) are practiced daily here in full. While some of my kids can learn five out of 25 bits and eventually fuse them all together, others can’t. So week three, my kids will have 15 pronouns they’re reciting, not just the five that are new.

I keep a predictable routine. We don’t have the luxury of being a little more loose with our school schedule, and CC has helped me in the area of accountability here immensely. Because every week is designed with the same format, my kids know exactly what to expect… and that is a huge blessing when you’re someone who needs consistency in order to learn more easily.

I provide extensive support. My understanding is that first-year Essentials students often need a lot of help at home from Mom. I haven’t been able to sit in on anyone else’s at-home sessions, but I suspect ours are more involved than most. I expected that, and recognize that it’s my role to help my child as he learns to navigate not only the new information, but also his learning issues. While handwritten weekly IEW papers are the gold standard, my son composes on a computer using Open Dyslexic font. He’s learning to type, to print and edit on a hard copy, and to make changes in his original document. He also needs daily oral drill of all those charts, in addition to writing them out. Although he’s been logging quite a bit of extra school time, which I thought he might find burdensome, if you ask, he’ll tell you that he loves Essentials!

We’ve seen huge, unexpected benefits from making Classical Conversations part of our homeschool. All of my enrolled younger children are learning, growing, and thriving… even those who would find it difficult to succeed in a traditional classroom. While I can’t say what the Challenge years will look like, I can confidently assert that Foundations and Essentials is not only doable for kids diagnosed with learning differences— it is a valuable tool for helping those kids fly despite their struggles!