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We Survived Challenge B (and You Will, Too!)

What. A. Year.

Seriously, this was intense. There were points when I just wasn’t sure we’d all come out the other side. Having short stories due just before Mock Trial, while still keeping up with Logic, Latin, Research, and Math was a lot to take on.

First day of Challenge B!

It got so ugly, I picked up my phone a few times and started to call my Support Rep to cancel my contract for next year. I’m not kidding. I felt like the kids were drowning and they were pulling me down with them.

But, somehow, we all came through the other side. It really brings to mind the lyrics of an old Rascal Flatts song, Stand. “You feel like a candle in a hurricane. Just like a picture in a broken frame. Alone and helpless, like you’ve lost your fight. But you’ll be all right. Because when push comes to shove, you taste what you’re made of. You might bend ’til you break, cause it’s all you can take. On your knees, you look up, decide you’ve had enough. You get mad. You get strong. Wipe your hands, shake it off. Then you stand.”

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B is for Block Scheduling: Finding a Schedule That Works for Challenge B

October is upon us. The school year is not so shiny and new and exciting anymore. We aren’t tired and bored yet (I hope!) but we’re finding a groove and getting comfortable with what works–and identifying what does NOT work.

I am directing Classical Conversations Challenge B this year. It’s incredible, for so many reason.  I am falling in  love with Challenge B and I didn’t think anything could top Challenge A!

Much of what the kids learn in Challenge A carries over. The Latin is the same (but faster), the writing curriculum is the same (but the books they write about are different), the math presentations are done using the same methods. The research is similar–but instead of anatomy and animals, we are focused on astronomers right now and will move on to chemistry later. But there are new things. LOGIC! And current events! And the biggest NEW THING is that our Challenge A homework schedule is just NOT WORKING for Challenge B.

Practicing Latin vocabulary with alphabet pretzels in Challenge B at Classical Conversations!

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