August 2020
Connecting With Community
Do You Need a Healing Balm of Encouragement, Hope, and Joy, Coupled With Practical Advice?
Take a few minutes to glean some ideas, wisdom, and practical solutions for starting your program from our Regional Directors and Brand Engagement Manager. Whether you’re trying to exercise your convictions with compassion, or you’re simply wanting to know how to structure your community this COVID year, you are sure to find this video helpful.
Kristi Dye, Regional Director; Michele Earles, Regional Director;
Sarah Hirengen, Brand Engagement Manager
You are helping families see the need to maintain community in some form. What you have to offer is hope and continuity. There are still so many families looking for educational options, and you have the programs to serve them. Let your SR know if he/she can help in any way, but please keep loving your neighbors into this academic year.
As Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:15-18a, we can say, “Because [we] have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards the saints, [we] do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in [our] prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having eyes enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” (ESV)
Rehoming Your Community
Do You Have Any Communities Without a Home?
Robert Bortins, Jeff Collins, and Kristi Dye convened over Zoom to identify venues that might be able to host Classical Conversations communities, and they also shared strategies on how to approach a potential host. A conversation template is available. Look in Learning Pathways > Business Resources > Communication and News.
“There is a performing arts studio across the street from me that I drive by every day. I never thought of it being a viable community space, and yet — it is.”
—Kristi Dye, Regional Director
Connecting With Relational Wisdom
We are excited to have Sarah Hirengen, Brand Engagement Manager, pack your toolbox with practical, applicable instruction and encouragement! In each Director Connector, Sarah will share tools to equip and support you in her new column. Get your toolbox ready!
"The Certainty of Being an Empathetic Listener"
The one thing we know with certainty, in this uncertain time, is that people lack a strong concept of their needs. As a Director, it is your privilege not only to listen to spoken needs of families, but also to take time to “hear” the unspoken desires shared through nonverbal cues, tone of voice, and emotions.
We want our Directors to be empathetic listeners. Empathy, defined in the book, Listening for Heaven’s Sake, is “communicating accurate understanding.” Being an empathetic listener is the first step to understanding the needs of each family you encounter.
One of the most helpful ways to achieve this is through reflective listening. For this method, attentively listen to the speaker’s words, then repeat your understanding back to them in a paraphrase. This allows you to affirm their feelings while ensuring you are understanding them correctly. It can help clarify a problem or assist in properly dealing with relational and emotional issues. Once you fully understand the immediate needs, you can focus on the unspoken desires, pains, or concerns that remain.
In upcoming articles, I am going to introduce easy ways to begin implementing reflective listening into your conversations. This will help ensure you’re accurately understanding the needs of those searching for certainty in this uncertain season.
News and Business
In Development - New Scribblers Curriculum Content!
We’d like to ask for your help in reaching out to your CC communities to show previews and share input as a part of our Scribblers Curriculum Focus Groups.
We would like to get this opportunity out to at least 900 families with students at any grade level. Please distribute this invitation to each of your CC community members, along with your own personal appeal encouraging their involvement. All the details and next steps are included within the invitation.
We’re excited about the ways that the new Scribblers Curriculum allows us to strengthen our commitment to equip families to be lifelong learners, from K4 to college credit – and beyond!
Portal Program Management Resources
How is your Portal program management health? Ensure you're staying on track by reviewing and completing these tasks.
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Tips & Tricks for Social Media
Jeremiah Wentz, Director of Digital Marketing and Promotions, shares valuable social media tips for engaging your audiences on Facebook!
- Don’t just post CC content. Look for other homeschooling-related material that will help your readers! Think in terms of: daily planning and scheduling, activities, free online resources (museum tours, live zoo look-ins, etc.), Netflix shows that compliment with CC’s current cycle, and more!
- Ask questions! Always invite interaction by closing with a question. Example: “This is a great site that will help you fill X need! What solutions have you found helpful?”
- Utilize polls! Facebook makes it super easy to create a poll. Consider what questions would attract involvement and be helpful for your readers. Examples include: “What time do you start your day’s schooling?” “About how many hours a day does your child do school?” “Hey, Essentials parents! What is your personal favorite part of Essentials?”
Celebration!
In the midst of the disruptions that I'm sure CC is facing, I just want to say – thank you.
- Thank you for continuing to seek God's wisdom and direction in these days of uncertainty.
- Thank you for continuing to press on to meet your mission, even in the face of great difficulty.
- Thank you for extending grace and flexibility to CC communities who are looking for any and every way to meet the needs of their families.
- Thank you for providing services (CC Plus for our big people) and resources (SandBox for our little people). Wow! Just wow!
In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians that the gospel is the ultimate goal, and death will be swallowed up in victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He closes the chapter with these words, "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain." (1 Cor. 15:58, ESV)
I am praying that...
- God would multiply your five loaves and two fish to feed the multitude (John 6:1-14)
- God would refresh and renew you day by day (Proverbs 11:25)
- God would bless you and expand your reach (1 Chronicles 4:10)
— Amy Joy Tofte, Challenge I Director, IL
International Updates
"Storytelling Classical Conversations
in the United Kingdom"
Once upon a time in a land of old,
Where Tudors and Roses and Monarchs were bold,
There came via the New Country a tale before told,
Of learning and growth and wisdom all fold.
It was sung in the hearts of the ones and the twos,
And communities were established and grew.
The flagship community burst in Surry near London,
Then Southampton, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Durham.
The Pandemic hit just as CC USA were the UK appointing;
Despite the fear, in truth, God is at work in His anointing.
Of families seeking truth in a blanket of dark,
Yet to CC’s clarion call do more folks now hark.
The horizon looks promising, as COVID measures relax;
CC, keen to GHIDE families, train up new Directors in pax.
We approach the new season, and internationals all
Feel the Lord drive the ride, and ‘Hold on tight!’ is the call.
With CC USA, the UK website was earthed;
Facebook grew, and UK Team now is birthed.
We thank you and marvel as God’s kindness redeems,
Through His Truth and His Word woven through CC teams.
As the new dog teaches the old dog new tricks,
The glory of God is our focus, our fix.
