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Simple Ways to Enhance Foundations - Classical Conversations Cycle 1

After successfully navigating our way through our first year of homeschooling, we made the decision to join a local Classical Conversations group. We were drawn to CC (Classical Conversations) because of their focus on memorization, student presentations, and community building.

The CC curriculum is very straightforward - which makes it easy for me to know what material my kids need to focus on each week.  

With that being said, there are several areas where parents will supplement the curriculum or add things to reinforce what they are already working on.  Some of these come directly from CC, while others come from a variety of other sources.  

Here are some of the things my family has chosen to use this year to supplement Cycle 1.

We will be using the CC timeline cards to reiterate the seven facts they are memorizing each week.  These will be especially helpful for my 6 year old who isn’t reading yet because they have wonderful images on the front to help her visualize what we are learning about.  

We also purchased the Cycle One CD to listen to all the memory work when we are in the car.  They are already blowing me away with how much they remember when put to song. 

We will take advantage of CC Connected as well.  It is an incredibly affordable subscription service ($6 a month) that gives you access to The Sandbox (a CC newsletter type document with helpful articles and printables for each week), as well as other file sharing from CC parents who have created files that can be useful at home each week.  

We have also printed off a cycle one flipbook of memory work that will be helpful when we are on the go.  It fits perfectly in a photo album.  We have also printed off other helpful review pages for timeline, bible, math, science and more.  

(Check out Mary’s post from Cycle 1 - many of the things we are doing are the same things she chose 6 years ago. Good things are constant!)

With all that CC offers we are off to a great start.  Here are some of the other options we’ve found that we plan to use in our homeschool this year:

Supplements for Classical Conversations Cycle 1

Saxon Math

(Technically not a supplement - because CC does recommend using a math program - but leaves that decision up to each family.)

We are adding in Saxon Math for our son who is eleven.  This is our first time using Saxon and so far the method of mental math, new material introduction, new material practice, and then mixed practice seems to be working very well for our son.  We’ve spent about an hour each day on math working through much of the material together as he gets pretty frustrated when he doesn't get things correct immediately. 

We are still working on practice over perfection!

The Moffatt Girls

For our six year old we are using The Moffatt Girls first-grade no-prep bundle.  This will cover both her reading and math curriculum. 

She was exposed to this curriculum in the half-day Kindergarten program she attended last year so she is familiar with the worksheets, knows how to complete them, and really works well when given worksheets to complete. I know worksheets aren’t everyone’s first choice, but for her, it works and I love how they are set up.  

I also purchased their first-grade morning bins set.  I have set up about 6 or 7 bins with activities in them that she can work on independently while I’m working with her brother.  They include fun things like using letter magnets, Unifix cubes, manipulatives, etc…, to keep her engaged.  These also cover both reading/language arts and math concepts and can be changed out monthly.  

Getting Started with Latin

An experienced CC mom suggested this one to me and I jumped right on it! 

Out of all the things that CC incorporates in their curriculum, Latin seemed the most daunting to me, probably because this was not something I ever learned, and was unsure how I would then be able to teach it to my children.  I also worried about my son who is starting CC in the sixth grade and will therefore only have one year of Foundations before starting Challenge A.  I didn’t want Latin to be something he dreaded and decided that learning a little each day before he gets to Challenge A would be beneficial. 


We began using Getting Started with Latin about a week ago. We are still in the very beginning, but our whole family is already into it! One of the best parts of homeschooling has been learning new things together as an entire family and Latin is proving no different. I think this book will be a great help for all of us.

Using Literature to Supplement CC Cycle 1

Sonlight Read-Alouds and Readers

My passion is reading and I wanted this to be part of our weekly curriculum. 

Hands down, this is my favorite part of our day and having used Sonlight for much of last year, I knew I wanted to continue to incorporate their read-alouds and readers into our homeschool this year as well. 

The way CC is organized by Cycles it took a little work for me to browse Sonlight’s World History titles and to see where they fit in line with the CC curriculum, but let’s face it...for a book junkie this was the fun part!  I then scoured used bookstores both in-person and online to build up our library for the year.  We now have a great collection of family read-alouds and readers (books my son will read on his own) to enjoy this year and I can’t wait!  

We Draw to Learn - Cycle 1

Both of my children LOVE to draw.  They are constantly doodling while I read aloud to them so what better way to aid their learning than by drawing with a purpose?

We Draw to Learn uses drawing to help bring to life so many of the science concepts we will be studying this year and I can’t wait to see how it not only aids their learning but helps them to become better artists in the process.  If my guess is right they will think this is just plain FUN and won’t even realize they are learning at all!

Special Offer: Use the code HOMEGROWNLEARNERS to receive 15% off this resource (and anything else you might like in the shop). This discount is good until Dec. 31, 2021.

SQUILT

I can’t forget to mention our use of SQUILT to round out fine arts curriculum. Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time helps my children develop their habit of attention, while at the same time teaching them important music appreciation concepts.

Mary does such a wonderful job teaching about various instruments, periods of music, and composers all while making it fun and engaging for a wide variety of ages.  My kiddos look forward to SQUILT live weeks and I’m always blown away by all they learn and retain from these lessons. 

You can use the do-it-yourself PDF volumes (here is the correlation with each CC Cycle), or participate in live lessons.


I hope this provides you with some ideas on how you can merge curriculums to make them your own. I look forward to seeing what works, what doesn’t and passing along that knowledge as we begin this first year of Classical Conversations!

Simple Ways to Enhance Foundations - Classical Conversations Cycle 1
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This is post is from Homegrown Learners contributor, Allison. She is a wife and mother with a passion for reading. With a background in Early Childhood Education as well as experience working in Corporate America, the events of the past year exposed her to the rewards of teaching her own children at home.

She hopes to encourage anyone who has ever been anxious about taking this leap with her own personal successes and failures of her family's first year of homeschooling.

Morning Time With High Schoolers

Morning Time has been an important and valuable part of our homeschool for many years.

I need to confess something, though - a successful Morning Time hasn’t always been easy.

There were seasons when it was just hard to keep my children engaged in something TOGETHER for even 30 minutes at the start of the day. Or, there were seasons when I didn’t have the motivation to get up each morning and have an effective Morning Time.

Now, let’s add teen homeschoolers to the mix, and Morning Time was sometimes elusive.

As we are nearing the end of our home education journey, however, I can say with confidence that Morning Time has been the single most important component of our homeschool. It has helped keep the wonder alive.

Morning Time With Homeschoolers: an anchor for relationship, routine, and beauty in the #homeschool years

Let’s reframe Morning Time. It isn’t something “extra”. It is a consistent part of our homeschool - just as consistent as math, reading, and all the other things we require our children to know.

Morning Time is a set-aside time at the beginning of each day for us to focus our hearts on God, each other, and a shared learning experience. Sometimes that shared experience might be a read-aloud. Other times it might be listening to music or doing picture study.

That’s the beauty of it, really - you can designate a time each day to focus on things that are of importance to your family.

And, as our children enter high school, they need this time EVEN MORE! (If they tell you they don’t need it, gently exercise your role as the teacher to encourage their attendance.)

Why Is Morning Time Important For High Schoolers?

Despite their increasing independence and natural pulling away from the rest of the family, our teens still long to be connected with others.

Morning Time sets the tone for their day. It demonstrates to them that we still value their input and companionship. That time at the beginning of the day allows us to check in with our teen and feel the pulse of their life.

Schoolwork in the high school years can become more formal and serious, and I believe our teens still enjoy more child-like things (like a silly read-aloud, thumbprint art, or simple math games) that really have a place during Morning Time.

Morning Time for #Homeschool High Schoolers

How to Make Morning Time Successful With High Schoolers

No child (teen or otherwise) is perfectly compliant. Your high schooler may not be on board with a Morning Time (ask me how I know), so you might have to use some strategies to entice them to join you.

Even if you do have a child who is very willing and compliant, these tips are still helpful:

  • Designate the SAME TIME each morning. All ages of children crave routine and consistency.

  • Create an inviting environment - include favorite foods and comfy pillows and blankets.

  • Give your teens a sense of ownership - let them lead the devotion or decide on a specific activity for your Morning Time.

  • If you have younger children as well, allow your teen to participate in part of Morning Time, and then excuse them so they can begin their schoolwork.

  • If early morning doesn’t work well, find a time that does! Maybe you want to have lunch learning time instead. Just because the buzz words are “Morning Time” doesn’t mean it has to be in the morning!

Morning Time with High Schoolers: an anchor for relationship, routine and beauty in the high school years

What Our Morning Time With A High Schooler Looks Like

This year I am so fortunate to have my husband participating very actively in our homeschool. He joins us for Morning Time, and that has made it a very natural thing for my 16-year-old son. It’s actually an “extended breakfast time” in our house.

A typical Morning Time looks like this:

  • We gather around 8 a.m. with breakfast — my husband is a breakfast cooker, so many days we have a warm breakfast to enjoy during our Morning Time.

  • Devotions are read first - we’ve been using Portals of Prayer for years. I love that it aligns with our faith and has a theme each month.

  • Next, we watch World Watch News - this is new for us this year and we are all LOVING it. It is a 10-minute daily news program from a Christian worldview. The news stories, however, are told without political bias.

  • A read-aloud comes next. (I’ll give a list of books we have enjoyed in the resources section of this post)

  • As we are cleaning up I usually play the piece from the SQUILT listening calendar for the day - because when your mom is the curriculum author that is just what you do!

Morning Time has been something I look forward to each day. I find us joking about something from our read-aloud during the day, or referencing something from the devotion or news program.

The shared learning experiences are of tremendous value to my teen. They are of tremendous value to us as a family.

Ideas for Morning Time with High Schoolers

You don’t need fancy plans or a curriculum. I suggest just a few things (maximum of 3-4) you can share to start your day.

There have been times when I try to coordinate a bit with our curriculum (read alouds in particular), but sometimes what we are doing in Morning Time is completely separate from the curriculum.

Consistency is the key. Including things of beauty is necessary.

Lots of love is always required.

Be creative with your Morning Time. Does your teen have ideas for what to include?


20 Read Alouds for High Schoolers

We’ve read each of these books and I can recommend them without reservation.

Some are classics. Some are humorous. Some are poignant.

I believe it is good to have a variety of books in our read-aloud repertoire. We have wonderful memories of silly voices done in Huckleberry Finn and Pride and Prejudice (we did what it took reading that one with a teen boy!). We have shed a tear or two during books by Michael Morpurgo. And, we’ve had excellent family discussions after reading The Chosen.

Do you have a Morning Time with your High Schooler?

Tell me about it in the comments below.

Morning Time with High Schoolers: an anchor for relationship, routine, and beauty in the teen #homeschool years.