Classical Conversations Cycle 2: Week 17 Recap

Bible:
Resource: Foundations of the Bible vol.2 

This week were learned about the different things the Old Testament prophecies are about: Israel, other nations, the Messiah, and end times. We looked at some of the prophecies in the Bible and learned if they had been fulfilled or are still waiting to be fulfilled. We had some great discussions about false prophets and connecting other lessons into this one from the course of our studies.

History:
Resource: Story of the World Book 4 - Chapter 29
Activity: Color WWII Warplanes

We are absolutely loving learning about WWII. My oldest has been really into all the stories and countries, so I've been grabbing lots of books from the library. This picture book about President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill is so great! The illustrations are beautiful, and the story is well written. It explains the first meeting between the two men after the Pearl Harbor bombing. While I read, they colored these WWII warplanes. You can print them on a thicker cardstock and cut them out.

This second book was a spontaneous purchase I made mid-week after seeing another CC friend share about it. It is from a series called "you choose" history books. Basically, the kids get to pretend they are in the history event, in this case WWII, and they are going to try to make decisions and see if they survive. They get to pick what decisions they'll make and follow the story to see what happens. It kind of reminds me of the interactive Netflix series called You vs. Wild with Bear Grylls if you've ever watched that. We read a few stories this week and they loved it. I will be grabbing more of these books, especially for next year's cycle.

Science:
Resource: Learning with Friends Physics | Science Flash Cards for CC Weeks 13-24 

This week we are learning about Newton's 2nd law of motion. We did some activity using a soccer ball since that's my son's favorite sport, so that was an easy way to explain force=motion x acceleration. We also did the recommended activity from Learning with Friends where we dropped two objects into powdered sugar to see what size crater they make. We used a paper ball and a regular ball for different masses but dropped them from the same height. Fun and easy activity.  

Geography:
Resources: CC Sandbox Geography page, Animals in Time activity book, LeapFrog Globe

These geography books have become a hit in my house. We thankfully have had a bit of luck finding these at our local library. My son especially loves these books and even presented them for his presentation this week. They are short reads with fun facts about the countries we are learning. 

Loop Schedule:
Template: From Brighter Day Press (I customized it for school)

I've shared this before, but wanted to share again in case you are new and looking for ways to better structure your week. The last two years I have been looping our schedule, so we dedicate one specific day to a core subject like geography, science, and history. This has been working great and allows us to dive deeper into those subjects and explore them further based on the kids' interests.

It's not the only way to do it, but it's a way that works well for us. We are only in foundations right now as well, so this may look different when we hit essentials in 3 years. We sing the memory songs every day for all subjects, but do picture books, crafts, etc for the key subject for that assigned day. The template is from Brighter Day Press. I edited it to work as a school schedule.

Memory Work:

Lots of people on Instagram were asking how I play the memory work continuously. I buy the albums on iTunes so they are readily on my phone. My first year I bought the CDs but my car doesn't have a CD player and I don't want to buy one. So, I buy both albums for each cycle on iTunes so I can play the songs by week, or I can play the songs by subject consecutively. I've also been told that if you subscribe to Apple Music, you can get the music included in your subscription. So, check there, too! 

Library Books:

Here are the books we enjoyed from the library for week 17:

Franklin and Winston: a Christmas that changed the world by Douglas Wood
Switzerland by Kristine Spanier
Germany by Jessica Dean
Netherlands by Kristine Spanier
I bought this: World War II: An Interactive History Adventure by Elizabeth Raum