As my daughter approaches the transition from Foundations/Essentials to Challenge A, I often find myself reflecting on the time we spent together throughout her younger years. Like every parent, I smile remembering the things we did well, but also have a few things I know we could have done better. My goal is not to throw a pity party, but rather to inspire you to try the things in your homeschool that I didn’t do with her.
Here are the top 6 things I wish I had done with my Foundations student
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I wish I had done more fun science experiments with her
We made a volcano, but besides that we have not done many at-home experiments. If I had it to do over, I would explore her interests and encourage experiments based on those. I also wish that in her final year of Foundations I had gotten her to write short reports on the labs they do on community days. Classical Conversations does a great job teaching the scientific method, and if I could, I would capitalize on that more.
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I wish that I had taught her more life skills
I still have time, but I know she is going to be busier this next school year. It is still a goal to get her more comfortable doing laundry and kitchen duties independently.
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I wish we had done more just-for-fun reading together
Even though she is almost 12, reading aloud is so important. It helps with listening skills and discussion skills. I wish I had blocked off some time in our day to read some books like Pride and Prejudice to her.
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I wish I had made her take a typing course before Essentials
While handwriting is an incredibly important skill to develop, it would have been great for her to also have the ability to type up her Essentials essays. Rest assured; we will be working on this before she enters Challenge!
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I wish we had listened to all the Story of the World CDs in order
We listened to snippets of all of them as we did the related memory work, but I believe the history we learned would have even greater context if we had listened to them all the way through.
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I wish that we had done more with the timeline cards
We read the ones related to our memory work, but we have not read all of them. They are a treasure trove of information that I wish we had used more beneficially and creatively.
Whether you do it all or not, your student is right where God intended him to be
In the end, I am still confident that while we didn’t do everything we could have, my daughter still got exactly what she needed for the time. Take heart, fellow parent. Whether you add in extras or stick to the bare-bones basics, Foundations will equip your students with everything they need to succeed in their upper years!
Are you still deciding whether Classical Conversations is right for your family?
From the rich resources to the supportive communities, CC is a wonderful place to equip both students and parents alike. I encourage you to click here to sign up to attend an online information meeting so that you can learn more about how Classical Conversations can benefit your family’s homeschool journey.
Also, if you’re interested more on how to make the most of the Foundations program, visit the Foundations section on our blog!
