In this recap, I am going to share what we did at home for more hands-on learning related to Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Week 6: Bible, History, Geography, and Science memory work. At the end of this post, I will also share some of the favorite read-alouds (both CC related and non CC related) we grabbed from the library this week.
Let's dive right into what we did for Week 6!
Review all Subjects:
Everyday, we review the new memory work. I keep the fridge facts handy and the kids and I go over every subject. Since we are wrapping up the first quarter, I used the review pages at the end of the Cycle 3 portion in the foundations guide. We went through every subject's 6 week material and my kids were able to say it all! Latin is actually their best subject this year. It's so awesome to see what they can absorb. My kids particularly gravitate toward song the most, so we have a song for almost every subject. We use the ones on my YouTube channel.
Bible:
Resource: Foundations of the Bible vol.3 | Bible Memory Songs | Hymnology Cards
This week, we learned about Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. We had fun describing one another metaphorically, like the poems in Song of Solomon. We also learned more about the temple destruction in Jeremiah.
Note: This study pairs with each week of the CC optional Bible memory work, but you can go at your own pace because there is SO much to learn. You can also jump in at any time — it’s not too late. Anyone can do this study, not just CC families.
My biggest takeaway this week came from our prayer time. At the end of each lesson, there are three prayer prompts that we pray over as a family. I had a heart change recently with prayer time with my kids. I decided if they want to join and pray out loud, great, but if not, then it's no big deal. I can continue to lead by example. It was freeing to realize the power there is in leading by example. This week I saw a major change with the kids' attitude toward prayer time and them asking if they could pray. I love to hear what's on their hearts and minds during this time. It was such a special moment for me.
History:
Resource: Story of the World Book (Match Up List)
Activity: Go on a nature walk and draw what animals, plants, and landmarks you see like Lewis & Clark.
We learned about the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis & Clark. We read from Story of the World, and then I sent the kids on an expedition in the backyard with a journal to draw pictures of things they found like Lewis and Clark’s journal entries. The kids had a blast doing that. Then, I pretended I was Thomas Jefferson and asked them tons of questions about the new land they discovered. It was simple and fun. We also read great picture books that I’ll share at the end!
Science:
Resources: Science with Friends Year 3 Bundle | CC Connected Sandbox File
Activity: Digestive experiment from Science with Friends
We learned about the digestive system this week and sang the memory work to “I Like to Eat.” We did a science experiment from Learning with Friends, and I think this may be the most memorable experiment we have done. The kids learned all about the steps of the digestive system. They were grossed out but intrigued, and they learned a ton! They really grasped how our food goes into our stomach, through our intestines, and the excess turns into waste. 
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.
Each week we color and find the states using the CC Connected map printouts that are located in the Sandbox e-zine file. We then draw the states using the geography book Drawing the USA. It's super simple and easy to follow.
This week, we learned about Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. For geography review, I had the kids trace the blank map that's in the CC Sandbox file. This helped us review all the states we’ve learned in the past 6 weeks.
For our recipe, we made pork chops and gravy for Iowa. We also had waffle cones for dessert since the waffle cone was invented at a St. Louis, Missouri fair in 1904 after they ran out of plates.
Library Books:
As always, we grab a ton of books from the library because I love picture books. This week I'm sharing the books we read related to CC as well as some fun others that the kids really enjoyed! I always grab a ton of books each week that are CC related and non. We typically do our read-aloud time at bedtime. We read 2-3 books each night.
CC Related:
- I am Sacajawea, I am York by Claire Rudolph Murphy (History)
- How We Crossed the West by Rosalyn Schanzer (History)
- Steamboat School by Deborah Hopkinson (Geography, MO) — Based on a true story of how Reverend John Berry Meachum decided to build a new school—a floating school in the Mississippi River, just outside the boundary of the unjust law.
Book just for fun:
- Light in the Darkness by Lesa Cline-Ransome — A story about how slaves had to learn in secret.
- Tough Cookie by Edward Hemingway — A fun Christmas story about a gingerbread cookie that tastes awful. He can't figure out why he tastes bad until he realizes he's not a cookie, he's a Christmas ornament! My kids had me read this one 3 times they enjoyed it so much. At the end, there is a recipe for a gluten free gingerbread cookie and an ornament recipe. I'll be grabbing this one again for Christmastime.
- The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame — This is a longer picture book, but my 8-year-old loved it! We read it over the course of two nights. It's about a friendly dragon that doesn't want to fight.
- Finding Narnia by Caroline McAlister — This is a picture book biography of two brothers, Jack and Warnie Lewis, whose rich imaginations led to the creation of the magical world of Narnia.
- On the Corner of Chocolate Ave by Tziporah Cohen and Steven Salerno — A story about how Hershey's chocolate came to be. This would have been a great book to read for week 1 geography since we learn about Pennsylvania.
YouTube: Week 6 Playlist
I 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, the "best practice" for CC is to let the tutor introduce the memory work in class for the first time on community day. You then review the week's memory work with your child until the next CC community day. You ideally use the methods you saw the tutor use in class at home with your child.
1st Quarter Tutor Lessons Learned:
Now that I have a quarter of the school year under my belt, I thought I’d share some of the things that worked well that I will DO again and some things that didn’t work well and I will NOT do again.
What I will DO again:
- Start class with “mathercise” for skip counting. We do jumping jacks, lunges, squats, push-ups, etc. as we skip count our math.
- Best review games so far are the game board (Option 1 and Option 2) and rocket game. Rocket game is my personal favorite because I get through all the memory work. We play until everyone gets a blast-off.
- Drawing popsicle sticks for presentation is so helpful! It takes the pressure off the tutor to choose.
- Practice everything at home before I tutor.
- A visual timer is great! It helped me stay on track and allowed the kids to see how much time we had left for each section.
- Keep all my tutor supplies in a container that I can grab and go each week.
- Keep a magic eraser in my tutor box to easily erase dry-erase markers.
- Use silly words for history sentences and have them tell me when they hear the wrong thing. I thought my class was too old for this (7-9), but I did it for week 6, and they loved it!
- Continue prepping well for fine arts and science because it makes the class time go SO much smoother!
What I will NOT do again:
Thankfully, I didn’t have too many things that were bad. Top of mind are these few things that I will NOT do again:
- I won’t play the war card game for review again. My class seemed to get more upset with one another vs. any other game we tried. So that’s being shelved.
- I won’t play hot potato with a ball. It just got chaotic with everyone throwing it and not wanting to catch it. Probably better to play with an object that can't be thrown.
- I won’t use black dry-erase markers for the kids' geography maps. It made it too hard to see after they traced over the lines. I now use colorful Shuttle Art dry-erase markers that allows them to trace and still see the black line master underneath.
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