Classical Conversations — a program that supports homeschooling parents by cultivating the love of learning through a Christian worldview — has grown in recent years to include three campuses in Owensboro.
Natalie Hinton, one of the campus leaders in her sixth year of homeschooling, said she is thankful for the environment in which her children can learn.
“When my husband first suggested homeschool, I was hesitant. We started praying about it and I felt the burden in my heart,” Hinton said.
Hinton was working full-time outside the home when she and her husband decided to go for it.
“I started staying home and homeschooling all at once. My son finished kindergarten in May and we started to homeschool that August,” Hinton said.
By her third year in Classical Conversations (CC), Hinton was gearing up to direct the Owensboro CC West Bellevue Campus.
“This is now our sixth year with homeschool — we love it,” she said. “My oldest child started at the age of 6; he has gone through the foundations program which includes memory work, and taking in loads of information. He is now in 6th grade.”
According to Hinton, a typical day includes Foundations in the morning, lunch together, and an afternoon Essentials program that includes grammar and writing.
While the earlier years of Classical Conversation include front-loading information and use of memorization, the Challenge A and B levels in grades 7 and 8 begin to apply that content.
“At the Foundations level, we take the memory work and memorize it,” Hinton said. “Parents can expand that at home but it’s not required. Challenge puts it all together and we go a lot deeper.”
Challenge I-IV, which is equivalent to high school grades 9-12, incorporates work that becomes more hands-on and students start conducting labs.
April Stracener, mom to five CC students, is in her 8th year of Classical Conversations. After tutoring for several years, she now serves as the director of CC East Owensboro, which meets at Matthew’s Table.
“We meet once a week for classes to study all 7 subjects — timeline, history, geography, Latin, English, science, math — which we learn more in-depth at home the rest of the week,” Stracener said. “Our curriculum is based on a Christ-centered worldview. We become educated to know God and to make Him known.”
Stracener considers Classical Conversations to be a very parent-involved program. With at least one parent attending and learning alongside their children, the goal is to go home that week and dive into the information together.
“CC has done so much for our family,” Stracener said. “It brings us community and relationship with like-minded families, allows the freedom to tailor learning to fit the needs of my children, and has given me the opportunity to redeem my own education while learning alongside my kids.”
For more information on Classical Conversations and the curriculum, visit classicalconversations.com.
