Ziggurats

Learning about Ziggurats

• Draw a ziggurat. Use the Draw & Write through History: Vol. 1 as a guide.
• Read excerpts from Story of the World
• Read about the Tower of Babel.
• Relate it to Timeline, History and Geography.
• Work on paragraph from Essentials.

CC & Spelling and Handwriting

Incorporate Classical Conversations into our Spelling and Handwriting

• One goal is to learn to spell all of our prepositions and linking verbs this week.
• Younger children can use these words for handwriting practice and the older children are learning to write cursive, so they will learn to write the prepositions in cursive.
• Copywork for science or history can be used for handwriting or spelling practice as well.  
• I don't use a formal language arts program (aside from Essentials for my oldest).  We instead use whatever we are learning in CC or our Bible verses from AWANA for handwriting, grammar observation and for spelling.  
• For younger children, pick a few key words for them to learn to spell and they can fill in the blanks. 
• Older children can learn to spell every word in the verse or memory work.  

Plant Study

Resources for Plant Study

• Discover & Do Level K, by Sonlight dvd
• Magic School Bus Gets Planted, book and video (on Netflix)
• Apologia: Exploring Creation with Botany

Activities

• Make a nature journal.
• Try some of the experiments that are in the Discover & Do dvd, plant section.  There are some great ideas for teaching about seeds, plant growth, roots, etc.  It is also nice to just watch the video without having to find supplies for all the experiments.
• Get outside for observation.  Look at different types of plants and seeds.  Sprout some beans.  Watch them grow.  Plant them or plant other things in a garden.  

Egypt

Resources for studying ancient Egypt

Draw & Write through History, Volume 1 This book has several pictures relating to Egypt, including mummies, the Sphinx, pyramids, Moses crossing the Red Sea, and various pictures to represent the plagues on Egypt.  The mummy and Sphinx pictures relate nicely to Week 2 Fine Arts, mirror image lesson and the pyramid goes well with the Fine Arts perspective lesson.  This book is also includes cursive paragraphs that go with the lessons and they are written from a Christian perspective.

Ancient Egypt covers a thousand years.  Here are a few resources we are using:

• the biblical account in Exodus
• The Prince of Eygpt 
• a few short stories from The Story of the World
• Mummies in the Morning: a Magic Tree House book (and companion book)

Activity Ideas:

• Memorize the 10 Commandments, write them out on "stone tablets"
• Look at hieroglyphics, practice writing in pictures
• Look at maps of Egypt and the path of the Exodus
• Draw pictures of ancient Egypt using the drawing book
• Draw pictures from the biblical account, such as the plagues
• make a pyramid or mummy
• watch programs that relate to the pyramids, such as Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Relating Egypt to Cycle 1

• Geography and Map Studies
• Ten Commandments
• Timeline
• Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Thoughts on Latin

I love Latin!! In fact, I at one point wanted to be a Latin teacher.  I am excited about the opportunity to teach Latin to my children and other students at CC.

However, I know some of you are overwhelmed by Latin and don't have any background in it.  That's ok. Trust the memory work that Foundations is laying for us.  A lot of it may not make sense to our children yet, but the more they memorize, the easier it will be when they take Latin in middle school and high school.

On my very first day of Latin in high school, we learned a song for the noun declensions - which is what we are learning this year.  Knowing that song made reading Latin SOOO much easier.  So, it may seem pointless or boring or whatever to you at this point, but just learn the songs or chants (and keep it light and fun) and it will pay off dividends in the future.

For what it's worth, we learned first and second declensions to the tune of Jingle Bells.  Maybe I will post that song later this semester...

Making CC Work This Cycle

Typically, my approach to CC is:

• casually review throughout the week
• check out library books on topic
• research in more depth and give a presentation on something we learned two or three times a semester, not every week
• draw what we are learning, using our drawing books
• answer the questions the kids ask me about the vocabulary they have picked up from class

For Week 1

I probably won't make it to the library this week, but will use the BIBLE as our main source text this week. Too many things this week are easily related to the Bible:

• Ten Commandments
• Garden of Eden location - Euphrates and Tigris
• Creation
• Fall
• Flood
• Tower of Babel
• Classification of Living Things

Casually Review

We review on the go, sitting outside while snacking, or in the car or around the dinner table or sitting on the couch.  This is not book work time.  My older ones might read the flashcards, but generally its not a lot of reading or getting out books.  Sometimes we turn on the CD or youTube.  But if I know it, then we can review on the go, without using technology or even pulling out all the books.

We try to review the day after CC to get the memory work in our heads for the week.  The rest of the week, we can discuss the meaning of the facts we have memorized, through oral discussion or through library books or through learning videos, like Magic School Bus (like this week, we might find one about plants).

Go To Resources for CC This Year

Timeline Motions - printable version of the motions for Timeline song.  I will be teaching these to our community, so this has been very helpful.  I learned a lot of these last year along with my kids.  For those who are new to CC: Timeline is taught in all three cycles.

Half a Hundred Acre Wood - This website has a ton of ideas correlating to CC Cycle 1.  It has ideas by subject and by week.

Drawing Resources