Accelerated Achievement

Have you heard of Accelerated Achievement or A2 {A Squared}

When we started thinking about homeschooling A2 is what I found. I bought the demo CD {$4.00} and really liked it. So I bought the A2 curriculum. It was $99.00.

For the $99.00 you don't get just one year you get K-12!! {There is no math and no science, but they are able to direct you to what you need and where to go for these subjects}

A2 follows a very classical education. With the idea that everything can be learned through books and through hands on learning. 

What I liked about it was all the books that are on the CD. Do you want to know how many books... 800!!! Yes, 800 books, and they are the classics!

It starts off with the McGruffy reading. And in 7 volumes it takes you from easy words to passages from Shakespeare. There are also one syllable books for early readers {which I really like}.

There are two versions to the curriculum. The first is the standard version with great quotes by famous people and bible verses to be used as copy work. The second is an LDS version includes what the standard version has along with scriptures from the Book of Mormon, quotes from the prophets and even a missionary prep book

When you buy the A2 curriculum you are part of their family. Paul and Susan Stone are willing and wanting to help you make this curriculum work for you. There is an area on their website where you can send messages but they also give you their HOME phone number!!! How many other curriculum's do that?? How many other creators of curriculum or of any homeschooling products will offer their home phone number?

With all that said, I no longer use this solely. I have found that we are not classical homeschoolers. I have gone a different way, BUT.... I still use the books. {how can I not??? 800 books remember!}

I am glad that I found this program, and it was a great... easy... way to start into homeschooling.

{All opinions are my own. I actually bought the CD and used it. I have not received any compensations for my thoughts or opinions to write this}

Classical Conversations

A friend of mine is the local director to a group called Classical Conversations. {CC}

Classical Conversations "combines classical learning with biblical world views"

It is based off of the method from Susan Wise-Bauer, and her book the The Well Trained Mind.

It has three levels the Foundations K-6, the Essentials 4-6, and the Challenge 7-12.

I went and checked it out and talked to my friend and others who were in the program. It is set up to meet as a group once a week and learn from the teacher, and then you take what you have learned home and expound upon it the rest of the week.

There is a lot of memorization in the Foundations class, and then as you get older you start learning why you have memorized those facts.

I actually like the idea and the way it is brought out. It's like when you are little and you know the song of "Ring Around the Roses" but you really have no idea what the song is about or why it was written. You just like to sing it because it's fun. As you get older you come to learn the story behind it. The whys to it. Why you are putting flowers in your pocket and why you are falling down. CC is the same type of concept.

CC is also Christian based and as a Christian I don't have a problem with that, but they use the New World Translation of the Bible... at least the local group here did, and I use the King James Version in my home, and there is a big difference.

It is also really expensive, and we could not afford it. There are some that supplement by being a teacher, because the teachers are paid, but they require that the teachers sign a "statement of faith" and because my religious views are different, I can't put my name to something that I don't believe.

After looking at this program I think it is a great program for those that want to follow after The Well Trained Mind, and would like the structure that CC brings, however it was not for us.

{all thoughts and opinions are my own and I have not received any compensation for this post}