Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Ideas and Prep {Foundations}

Welcome to my Classical Conversations Cycle 3 ideas and prep info! Each year I love putting together a YouTube video showing what all I’ve done to prep for the upcoming year of CC. I try to link to eeeeeverything in the comments so my fellow CC parents can easily find it but the lists of links grows and grows each year and has outgrown the YouTube description box! So I’m moving my info over here to have it all in one place.

STOP: If you are brand spankin’ new and don’t know anything about CC, go read this post first. Understanding how CC works will make a lot of the rest of this make more sense.

Here’s the video I made. I recommend watching this because I go into LOTS more detail and show each resource. This blog post is mostly meant to be a companion to the video with links to all the things I referenced.

This post contains some affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link I make a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you!

What do I need to start Classical Conversations Foundations?

The only two things you HAVE to have are the Foundations Guide and a tin whistle. Past that, everything else is just extra – you can do as much or as little as you’d like!

Foundations Guide: This is what contains everything you’re going to learn in CC for all 3 cycles – memory work, science experiments, maps, fine arts, etc. All 3 cycles are in this one book so you only have to buy it your first year then you’re set for all subsequent years.

Tin whistle: There are a gazillion options, this is the one we have.

Additional items from the CC bookstore

Maps: Not required, but I really like the geography trivium tables for tracing maps. They fold up nicely for putting in a backpack or the pocket of a notebook. (Pro tip: they are terrible to erase – use some rubbing alcohol to clean them every so often and that’ll get the dry erase marker residue off that regular erasing leaves behind)

Timeline Cards: A very, very popular item that I like (but is not at all necessary if you have little bitties or are on a tight budget) are the timeline cards. They’re beautiful and full of great info – a great way to dig in deeper to each event in the timeline song! But they’re not a must have so don’t sweat it if you can’t/don’t want to get them.

FYI since I see this question each year: there are four packs of them and you need ALL four for one year (common misonception is that you need one pack per cycle). We use the same timeline every year so once you buy the cards you’re set for every cycle going forward (one, two, three, and four).

Memory Work CDs: If you use cds, you can purchase the memory work on cd. I don’t have a cd player in my van or in my house so I don’t use these, but some people use them often.

Storing and organizing these CC resources

Foundations Guide Tabs: I have tabs on my Foundations Guide to make it easier to find the various items. I did these my first year because the guide was overwhelming to me but I really don’t find that I need them that much so it’s not a must do. The tabs I used are here and you can see exactly where put the tabs in my previous prep video here (the tab portion is 8 minutes in)

Timeline card storage: There are a ton of ways people like to store their timeline cards – in binders in page protectors, in a box, in a basket, hole punched on a ring, etc. I keep mine in a box with dividers for each week. The box I use is no longer available so I can’t link it but in this video I showed a bunch of options (10 min in to the video). The timeline cards are 5×8 so look for a box or container that will fit 5×8 cards. Here is one on Amazon that I know works and these are the dividers I use in my box.

Tin Whistle case: You probably want something to put your tin whistle in. Listen, in four years of doing CC we have not had any special tin whistle case…one child carried his in a ziploc bag, another in the cardboard tube his was mailed in. Fancy, I know ;). So it’s not a must have, but nice to have. This year I’m finally going to get around to getting actual cases for our tin whistles. I sew so I’m going to make them myself (loosely following this tutorial) but if I didn’t sew I would buy these – made by a fellow CC mom, lots of colors, and great quality.

Digital Classical Conversations Resources

App: CC has an app for each cycle. I don’t love it, it’s clunky and not the most user friendly but it’s nice to be able to listen to the songs from my phone so we use it nearly every day. The app has all the memory work except the timeline song.

iTunes: The same songs that are on the 3 cd set I talked about above are also available on itunes. This is a good option if you don’t have a cd player. You can purchase the memory work by week or by subect. The app and the cd/itunes songs have basically the same content on them so it’s a matter of preference. I bought the album that has the full timeline song on it because I wanted it on my phone and it’s not on the app.

Also, note: all the memory work is available to stream with your CC Connected subscription (which is included in your tuition) so you can listen that way too. It’s easier for me to use the app or cd/itunes so I prefer those, but if you don’t want to pay for those you can also listen straight from the website.

CC Connected: CC Connected (or CCC) is an online resource available to you after you’ve paid your tuition. There are links to the memory work, additional resources put out by CC, and a forum for parents to chat and ask questions, and a file sharing section where CC parents can share resources they create. Many of the links I share here come from the CC Connected forums.

BEFORE WE MOVE ON: Here is your reminder that you *don’t* have to do all this! I’m about to share a LOT of links and ideas and examples. It is definitely not necessary to do all, or even any, of this. I do because 1) I enjoy it, 2) this is our 5th year of CC so I’m comfortable with the basics now, and 3) I have multiple kids of multiple ages. Please don’t let this overwhelm you – take what looks good to you and ignore the rest!

Flip Books, Fridge Facts, and Trifold Boards for memory work

The Foundations Guide is a good resource but I don’t prefer to use it for day to day use. Here are a few popular options for displaying or using your memory work:

Fridge Facts (what we use most): 8.5×11 pages with a full week of memory work per page. I print these, laminate, and put on rings – we display these in our school room and the kids can easily get them down to reference

These are the ones we have
Here’s another option
Here is an option that is *not* on CC Connected for those who aren’t in a community and don’t have access to CCC.

Flip Books: These are a smaller 4×6 size. There are several versions – some have the memory week together by week (ex: all of week 1 on one page) and some have the memory work by subject (ex: all science from all weeks listed together). These are a great portable, on the go option. They do not have a lot of pictures though so these are better for older kids who can read.

I use a photo album from Dollar Tree that has exactly the correct number of pages. If you don’t have a Dollar Tree near you or can’t find that, these albums on Amazon were curated by a CC parent who makes some of the flipbook files to be exactly the right size for flipbooks.

Option #1: has options for by subject and by week
Option #2: this is the one I have
Option #3: another version

All of these are pdfs that you’d have to cut yourself. The ones I’ve used in the past were jpgs so I was able to have them printed off as pictures and save myself the cutting, however, I have not seen those uploaded to CCC yet since they took everything down last week and have been reuploading this week. If I find them I’ll come back and update this post

Trifold Board printouts: If you want a larger display of memory work, these trifold board print outs are perfect. Each memory work peg for each week is on a separate 8.5×11 page. We had these in our previous house because we had a large wall space. In our current house we don’t have much wall space in our school area so I’m not using these anymore.

When I used these I had each paper in a page protector and hung them up on the wall using these command hooks. Above the memory work I hung the timeline cards using these command clips.

English, History, Science, Math, and Latin are here
Fine Arts is here
Bible is here (Bible is not an official part of CC; it is not in your guide and you won’t do this at your community day, but CC does provide some Bible memory work for those who want it. You can find the supplemental printable of that here)

To see a better desription of how I set up our memory work all, check out this video (20 minutes in) from a previous cycle (but same concept)

Now that I no longer have our large memory work wall I display each week’s timeline cards on a beaded garland over our white board that has little clothespins. I found mine at Hobby Lobby but if you don’t have a HL near you or they no longer carry them I also found one on Etsy that would work perfectly!

Worksheets

In past years I have printed all my kids’ worksheets for the whole year, punched holes in them, and stored them in a a file folder box by week (so the week one worksheets were in one folder, then week two, and so on). Each week I’d pull out the worksheets for that week and put them in my kids’ binders.

This year we are changing it up a little bit and I have spiral bound their worksheets for the first 12 weeks into booklets.

I’m going to link to all the worksheets I’m using with my kids as well as some others that we aren’t using this year but are great options. This is a mix of links to worksheets on CCC as well as some on Etsy.

Worksheets on CC Connected

The Sandbox – a currated set of worksheets that people at CC have selected; this has some of what they consider the best worksheets shared by parents in the forum as well as booklists, activities, etc. for each week

Draw the States – I love this one for practicing geography! There are a variety of options from coloring to actually drawing the state outlines. (these are also located in the Sandbox each week but I’ve linked to a file that has all of them so you don’t have to comb through each Sandbox issue if you don’t want) (I printed these for all my kids – just the coloring one for my 4 year old and then some of the drawing ones for my older two)

Presentation Planner – A great way for kids to plan our their presentation each week (I printed these for my 7 and 9 year olds)

Weekly review sheets – one fill-in-the-blank page per week that reviews all that week’s memory work (I printed this one for my 9 year old) Here is another option that is very similar if you prefer black and white vs. color.

Memory Work copywork – If you like to have your kids copy the memory work each week, these worksheets are beautiful!

Memory work tracing (cursive) – These are the same worksheets as the previous link but with cursive tracing instead of a blank to write on.

Tracing (print) history, latin, and science – If you have little ones who like tracing, here are some coloring pages with the memory work your child can trace over.

History coloring pages/tracing – This is actually the same as that previous link but has some additional history coloring options for even younger kids

Science worksheets – These worksheets are amazing! They take each week’s science sentence and expand it.

English worksheets – From the same creator as the science worksheets I linked above, a great way to expand on each week’s memory work

Math worksheets – There are a variety here for all ages from cutting/pasting for the littles to applying the math concepts for the olders

Cut & Paste timeline – cut and paste each timeline event in order

Science coloring worksheets – There are not coloring sheets for all the weeks but there are some if you have a kiddo who likes to color

Non CC Connected worksheets

Memory work coloring pages – These are beautiful coloring pages for all of the memory work each week. If you have a child who loves to color, you are going to LOVE these! You can get all the memory work, just history, or just science. She also has a science journal that go along with the science experiments the kids do in class at communinty day.

Use code MYCHOCOLATEMOMENTS for 20% off anything in her shop

We Draw to Learn – These walk your child through how to draw a picture that go along with each week’s science memory work. There are both drawing instructions as well as coloring pages (my older two do the drawing, my 4 year old will just color the coloring pages)

Use code CHOCOLATE for 15% off all items in her shop

Memory work worksheets – These are worksheets for alllll the memory work. This is especially good for those who don’t have access to CCC or who just want an easy button. You can purchase the downloadable files here or you can purchase a premade booklet of them from Amazon (no printing required!) – book of weeks 1-12, books of weeks 13-24, or book with all 24 weeks. NOTE: these are definitely for older students – there is a lot of writing involved as well as application of the concepts learned; I would not buy these for younger kids

My parent binder

I also have a notebook for myself that has some reference sheets in it. In my notebook are:

A looping memory work schedule – this is great if you have a child going for memory master as it gives you a schedule for reviewing past memory work. Don’t be confused by the name – it’s called a Reading Coorelation because it’s bundled in with some book lists, I’ve not used the booklists but found the bundle worth it just to get the memory work review schedule

Memory work overview – I do not haul my guide around with me and I don’t typically write in it either (lots of people do but that’s just not my preference) so I have some papers with the memory work condensed on them so I can jot down notes about the song we use, etc. Last year I used this one that’s one week per page with plenty of room to write (here’s another version that’s black and white) and this year I’ve printed off this one which is 6 weeks per page – less room to write but I don’t usually put a lot of notes on there so it should be fine. (FYI these are called tutor sheets as they’re intended for tutors to plan out their content for their classes…I’m not a tutor but find it works nicely for notes about what we do at home)

Booklists and match ups – I printed off several lists that match up picture books, videos, Usborne books, etc with what we’re learning in CC this year (booklist from CC / video match up & booklist / Usborne science encyclopedia match up / picture book and chapter book match up / geography picture book match up / Usborne children’s encyclopedia match up ). I have even more saved to my computer that are really long or awkward to print but these are the ones I printed.

Here are some other booklists that I’m not printing but saving to reference – one / two / three / four / five /

My planner: This binder is not my homeschool planner, for that I use an Erin Condren Teacher Planner. You can see how I use it for homeschooling here. They also just released a homeschooling-specific teacher planner, which is perfect!

Coupon: Get $10 off your first Erin Condren purchase here

Hands on Activities and Digital resources

Now let’s talk about what other activities (besides worksheets) I’ll be using with my kids (or am not using but recommend). I’ve broken them down by subject:

Geography

Geography flash cards – I used these last year and they were amazing!! This really helped my kids learn each item from the geography memory work. This set covers weeks 11-24. Weeks 1-10 is the states and capitals and there are a million resources for that plus you can buy state flashcards lots of places so I didn’t make flash cards for those weeks but if you want to here is a set you can print off.

Draw the USA – I got this book to help my older boys work on drawing the USA from memory. This is more advanced than the drawing worksheets I linked in the “worksheets” section.

Our 50 States curriculum – You certainly do NOT have to add an additional curriculum to CC for history/geography but my kids love history and last time through Cycle 3 we used Notgrass’ Our Star Spangled Story as a supplemental curriculum. This time we’re going to use Notgrass’ Our 50 States – it covers information about each state and will go along well with our history and geography.

50 States cookbook – We love to cook (and eat!) in our family so I got a 50 states cookbook that I thought would go along well with the Notgrass Our 50 States curriculum and just cycle 3 geography in general.

Apps – There are two apps I plan to use to help the kids practice their states and capitals. We don’t use screens often so this is a novelty and I think they’ll really enjoy getting to practice this way. They are Seterra (free) and Stack the States ($2.99).

USA BINGO – I’m also planning to get this USA BINGO game for them to help them practice their states

History

Visual cards – These were posted on CCC and I fell in love with them! They are going to be especially perfect for my 4 year old. I laminated them, cut them out, and put magnets on the back so the kids can put the history sentences in order on our whiteboard or fridge.

Our Star Spangled Story – Like I mentioned in the geography section, we used Our Star Spangled Story last time we went through cycle 3 and the kids absolutely loved it! We won’t be using it again this time since we’re doing Our 50 States but it’s something you might like to look in to. You can see my review of it here.

History hands on activities and crafts – These are easy crafts/activities that line up with each week’s history sentence. They use simple materials found around your house. I have not used these yet but they are very popular and often recommended so I thought I’d share.

Science

Science videos – Last year we started watching science videos from Awesome Science TV and my kids love love LOVE them! They beg to watch them each week. Awesome Science TV isn’t specifcally a CC company, there are lots of science videos, but they make a set of videos that specifcally lines up with the CC memory work (see that here) and they’re so good! They are funny, do a great job expanding on the science for the week and making it come to life, and they always point back to God and his goodness. Huge thumbs up from me (and my kids).

Velcro activities – This year I bought these science ones and they are so good! My favorite part is that they take the science memory work, which is just a list of words to memorize, and show you where those things are on the human body.

Science hands on activities and crafts – The same person who makes the history activities and crafts also makes a science one that looks really good (haven’t used it, just think it looks great)

Flashcards/matching cards – This is another great set of cards that are especially good for little ones. These could be made into a matching game or magnets or velcro – lots of options!

English

Irregular verbs velcro activity – In Cycle 3 we cover irregular verbs for 12 weeks of our memory work. Other than songs (I like this one on YouTube) I couldn’t find any great activities to help my kids practice these sooooo…I made some myself! These are both velcro activities – one that just covers one week at a time and another that reviews all twelve weeks. You can get it here.

Per some other CC parent’s/tutor’s request I have now made a larger version that can be used on a white board or other large surface. I included cards to make a full colorful grid as well as to do just one week at a time (basically the same thing as the velcro activities above but in a bigger format). You can find that here.

Latin

Latin match – I also made a velcro activity for the Latin vocabulary for this cycle to match each English word with it’s Latin counterpart. There is a large version (I put magnets on these to put on our white board) and a small version (perfect for review!) Find those here.

Flash cards – Here are some flash cards with pictures to help with pronounciation (option one and option two)

Math

Pop It – We got this 15×15 pop it last year and the kids really enjoy using it while we’re skip counting. If you want a more sturdy, beautiful version I’ve been drooling over this one. I have several Treasures From Jennifer pieces, including her 100 frame, but I haven’t gotten the 15×15 one yet – all of her items are such fantastic quality!

Timeline

This is the only subject I don’t have any hands on activities planned other than just using the timeline cards themselves and putting them in order, reading them, etc. At some point I want to print off this long timeline for our hallway and/or make some mini timeline cards but that may be another project for another time ;).

Other digital resources

Here are a few other random resources for you.

CC Happy Mom is my favorite for songs/hand motions that go with the geography facts. Here’s a playlist for all her cycle 3 songs.

Facebook group – If you’re on Facebook, make sure you join the Classical Conversations Facebook group. Lots of great resources are shared there too!

YouTube playlists for each week – I haven’t found any great ones yet for this year but if/when I do I’ll update this section

Blogs: Half a Hundred Acre Woods has a ton of CC Cycle 3 things. I don’t have a list of other helpful blogs right now but if/when I come up with more I’ll update this section too.

Supplies for Prep

Here are a few of the office supply type items that I use a ton when prepping for CC each year.

Printer – you can print at places like Staples (I like CC has a discount with them?) but I prefer to print at home. I’ve been very happy with this printer.

Laminator – I love laminating things!

Velcro dots – Handy for all those velcro activities

Proclick binder – I love using this to make my own spiral bound books. It’s totally not necessary and was a fun splurge last year but I loooove it. I use these coils.

Happy CC planning, friends!