I can't believe we are already beginning a brand new year with Classical Conversations (CC). This is our 4th year with CC and our first time repeating a cycle. We originally joined CC during Cycle 3 in 2020 and had no idea what to expect. I always compare our first year as being similar to drinking from a fire hose haha. It was a lot of information every week and took me almost a year to even see the purpose and how to make it work for our family.
Now four years later, I am tutoring my first class of 8-year-olds, and realizing how much we actually retained with very little effort on my part. Our first year I did absolutely nothing with the memory work besides singing the songs (when I remembered to play them). My oldest was 5 and so I didn't force any memory work. We were mainly in the program for community at that time.
However, three years later, I'm already seeing how much we retained from our first year with very little effort. Now that we understand the program, we enjoy diving deeper with crafts, experiments, and lots of reading. I share these recaps to help those who are new to CC so you can see how you can incorporate the memory work at home.
Here are a few things we did this week for the core subjects:
Bible:
Resource: Foundations of the Bible vol.3 | Bible Memory Songs | Hymnology Cards
We begin each day by diving deeper into the optional CC Bible memory work using the Foundations of the Bible Vol. 3 study (from my shop). The first lesson of the study discussed the authority of God's Word, the Trinity, the incommunicable attributes of God, and His covenant with man.
We are also memorizing one hymn a week using the hymnology cards created by my friend Kim. Her resource provides the backstory and inspiration for 18 different hymns. She has also created a playlist with all the hymns using more contemporary artists. It's great!
You will find the Bible memory work that my Bible study is based on in the week 1 Sandbox e-zine file on CC Connected. If you aren't familiar with CC Connected and the Learning Center, I highly recommend spending an afternoon and getting acquainted with the resource. It's extremely helpful for CC families.
History:
Resource: Story of the World Book (Match Up List)
Activity: Painted a map of Christopher Columbus' Journey
We learned about Christopher Columbus through lots of picture books and the related chapters from Story of the World. We focus on a deeper dive of history on Tuesdays. After we read about Columbus, we painted a watercolor map of Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the Americas. I also had my oldest write a narration page for what he learned so I could store that in his history binder. I'm going to be saving a narration page from each week's history lesson based on the recommendation from the Well-Trained Mind book.
Science:
Resource: Science with Friends Year 3 Bundle
Activity: Make a type of tissue with craft pieces
We used the activity from the Learning with Friends anatomy science bundle. The kids each made their own type of tissue using a variety of craft pieces that we could find. Their goal was to make a tissue that would keep its shape when we threw it. They loved it and took complete ownership of their craft. We threw each child's "tissue" 15 times so we could also incorporate the skip counting for the week.
I also printed out the science Scribbler pages from CC Connected and had the kids color and trace the worksheet. I printed a picture of their crafts and stapled that together so we have a sample of what they learned. I wrote down my son's narration for his experiment, and he copied what I wrote.
Geography:
Resources: CC Sandbox Geography page | Drawing the USA | Eat Your Way Through the USA Cookbook
Activity: Make a meal from one of the states we are learning each week
Geography is becoming one of my favorite subjects because there is so much you can do with it. There are picture books to read, maps to draw, and recipes to try. Each week for geography, I plan to make a recipe from one or more of the states we are learning about. I am using the Eat Your Way Through the USA cookbook. Each state has a main dish, side, and a dessert.
This week, we had a New England pot roast for Connecticut, roasted asparagus for Maine, and a Boston Cream Pie for Massachusetts. We made this on Sunday because that's the day we have the most free time to relax and cook. It was a lot of fun!
We are also learning how to draw the 50 states with this easy, step-by-step book called Draw the USA. The kids really enjoyed this!
Library Books:
As always, we grab a ton of books from the library because I love picture books. I find the easiest way to find books for each week is by searching your library's online catalog for key words from the memory work. Every library's catalog is so different, so it can be more time consuming trying to find other people's recommendations vs. just searching by keywords for your local library. However, here are a few books we enjoyed:
- Christopher Columbus by Ann McGovern (History)
- Maine by Julie Murray (Geography)
- New Hampshire by Julie Murray (Geography)
- Massachusetts by Julie Murray (Geography)
- Rhode Island by Sarah Tieck (Geography)
- Connecticut by Sarah Tieck (Geography)
- Ish by Peter Reynolds (Fine Arts)
YouTube: Week 1 Playlist
Now that I am tutoring, I have created my first YouTube channel to record all the songs and hand motions I want to use with the kids. I've compiled each subject's songs into a weekly playlist. I create this primarily to help the parents in my class review the motions with their kids at home. I also think this is a great resource for other tutors to use to build their plans for the week.
If you are a parent and not tutoring, I recommend letting the tutor at your community teach your child the memory work initially, including any hand motions or songs. Some tutors vary on the song choices used and it may confuse your child if they learn something different at home.
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