Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Ideas and Prep {Foundations}

Welcome to my Classical Conversations Cycle 1 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 misconception 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 (at least for now, I have heard they are phasing these out but as of the time I’m writing this post they are still available on the website). 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 a 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, for the first four years of doing CC we did not have any sort of 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. Last year I finally got around to making actual cases for our tin whistles. I sew so I made 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: If you don’t have access to CC Connected, the same songs that are on the 3 cd set I talked about above are also available on itunes. 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. When I started CC 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.

But take note: all the memory work is available with your CC Connected subscription (which is included in your tuition) so you can listen that way too. In the past it was easier for me to use the app or cd/itunes so I paid for those, but if you don’t want to pay for those you can also listen straight from the website (just log in each time you want to listen) or download them as mp3s and put them on your phone, etc. I have a tutorial on how to do that linked below in the Yoto section.

Speaking of the Yoto, we now use a Yoto player for our CC memory work and LOVE that! I have more details later in this post, including a tutorial of how exactly to get the CC memory work on your Yoto. The Yoto player has replaced my need for the app or the digital downloads that I used to use so if you have one make sure you check out that section.

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 6th 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 an amazing 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 (on CCC) and they can also be found here if you don’t have CCC (that Google drive I linked there has all 3 cycles of fridge facts as well as flip books, btw)

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.

There are a bunch of options of where you can get these (both CCC and non-CCC options!) so you can pick based on which ones you like the look of most and if you want to print/cut yourself or have them printed as pictures)

Option #1: has options for pages done by subject or by week and are jpg files so you can upload them to the picture printing service of your choice (Amazon photo, CVS, Snapfish, etc.) and have them printed as 4×6 pictures so that you can slip them in the photo album with no cutting involved
Option #2: has options for by subject and by week but these are pdfs so you’ll have to cut them yourself
Option #3: another version
Option #4: this CCC user already has some loaded in Snapfish if you want to print from there (scroll down in the comments of this thread to find her links)
Option #5: This Google drive (same one I linked above with the fridge facts) also has flip book sized jpgs that you can send to a printing service (and it’s not on CCC so if you don’t have access to that you’re in luck!)
Option #6: this is not a free option, but there are also some on Etsy that I thought I’d link in case you prefer the asthetics of those

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, Latin, Bible, and Fine Arts weeks 13-24 are here
Fine Arts weeks 1-12 is here
All cycles of Bible are 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)
If you want multiplication written out instead of just the skip counting numbers for weeks 1-11, go here (scroll down in the comments of the thread to find the file)

To see a better description 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!

If you don’t have access to CCC, if you want something to display that’s a little bit smaller, or you just prefer a more artistic/asthetic look, these cards on Etsy are beautiful! They would be such a lovely addition to your school room and take up less space (they’re intended to be printed as 5x7s so they’ll be smaller than the trifold pages I linked from CCC). See them here: History / Science / Geography / Latin / English / Math / Bible

Worksheets

For several years I 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. (You can see how I used to set up their binders here)

Now that I have my own spiral binding maching I spiral bind their worksheets into booklets. This is way easier on me because I don’t have to remember to switch the worksheets out each week.

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

Here are some worksheet options on CCC (and if you aren’t on CCC don’t worry, I’ve got a lot of worksheet options for you too…see below)

I am not using all of these (in fact, not most of these) with my kids this year but I have used most of them in the past so linking here to give you lots of options. Speaking of options though, I have been underwhelmed with the lack of variety of options on CCC for this cycle so far. I’ll keep looking and will update this post if I come across more things that get uploaded closer to the school year but so far I just feel like there aren’t as many things are there have been for past years/cycles. Luckly I’ve found some non-CCC options too that I’ll link in the next section.

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. If you don’t want to sift through CC Connected or even just all the worksheets I have here, this is an easy button – just download the Sandbox for each week and print what you want from there.

Map worksheets – I love these for practicing geography! (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)

More map worksheets – fill in the blank and cut/paste

Tracing worksheets for all subjects – If you like to have your kids trace the memory work each week (in cursive), these worksheets are beautiful! They have all the subjects each week.

History copywork – print and cursive options

History worksheets – coloring, fill in the blank and cut/paste options

English worksheets – some copywork, some cut/paste for a variety of ages

Science and English worksheets – these look good but as of me writing this post not all the weeks have been brought over from the old CCC. Maybe at some point they will be but at least you can have these for the weeks that are available. Same with these geography worksheets – only a few weeks got salvaged from the old CCC.

Latin worksheets – options for a variety of ages

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

Bible copywork – print and cursive options

Presentation Planner – A great way for kids to plan our their presentation each week

Presentation Planner for Essentials Students – This presentation planner has the kids make a KWO for their presentation so it’s great practice if you have an Essentials student!

Weekly review sheets – one fill-in-the-blank page per week that reviews all that week’s memory work. Currently I can’t find any on CC Connected but if you are on Facebook and in the CC Facebook group there are some posted in the files (weeks 1-12 here, weeks 13-24 here).

The Math Map

The Math Map – I have also printed out The Math Map for my kids to use as supplement to our usual math program. If you are a new CC family you may not want to worry about this, it’s not directly related to Foundations but it’s CC’s math program that they are starting to use in Challenge (jr high/high school ages) and also making a beta version (that is not a full curricukum yet) available for the lower ages too.

(Tutorial on how to download that here) $the math map$

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. I print these and spiral bind them to make a coloring book for my kids to use through the year.

She also has a science journal that goes 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.

Use code CHOCOLATE for 25% off all items in her shop

History worksheets – Fill in the blank for each week’s history memory work plus a little bit of extra information to dig deeper into the history sentence.

Geography worksheets – Coloring pages for each week’s geography

Science worksheets – These science worksheets are SO COOL! They have fun worksheets (codes, puzzles, etc.) plus songs, hand motions, crafts, memory work posters, and more! It’s a very comprehensive resource! Weeks 1-12 here and weeks 13-24 here.

Math worksheets – created by the same person who made the science ones I shared above

English worksheets – also created by the same person who did the science and math ones from above

Weekly review sheets – I have always found multiple weekly review sheet options on CCC that has spots for the kids to write/fill in the blank all the memory work for the week. This year I have not been able to find a single option on CCC and only one in the Facebook group. But I found several on Etsy so I’m linking those here.

Weekly Review option #1
Weekly Review option #2 (pictured below) use the code CHOCOLATEMOMENTS for 15% off anything in her shop.
Weekly Review options #3

If you need an easy button

Memory work worksheets – These are worksheets for all the memory work. You can purchase downloadable files (the full file with all the memory work or just individual subjects: math / history / science / English / Latin / geography / timeline / weekly review) or you can purchase a premade workbook 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.

I also found this memory work review schedule that includes how to review all 3 cycles, review over winter break and summer break, etc. so that looks like another good option to check out.

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. Here is what I have used in the past and here is the one I’m using this year (the one pictured in this post). (FYI these are called tutor sheets as they’re intended for tutors to plan out their content for their classes…but even before I was a tutor I used these because I find it works nicely for notes about what we do at home)

I also like these if you don’t need a lot of space to write but just want a snapshot overview (only weeks 1-6 available as of this posting, hopefully other weeks will come soon / here’s another version that has all the weeks already done)

Booklists and match ups – In the past there have been lots of booklist match ups shared but so far this year I have not seen many for cycle 1. If/when more are posted on CCC I’ll come back and update this post. I like to print them off and put them in my binder so it’s easy for me to go through and request books from the library each week. (booklist from CC / Usborne children’s encyclopedia match up / combined booklist ). 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 booklists that I don’t print but I save and reference each week – one / two

Here is a video match up for Cycle 1.

My planner: This binder is not my homeschool planner, I use it for CC things only. For my main homeschool planner I use an Erin Condren Homeschool Planner. You can see how I set it up here.

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

Hands on Activities and Additional 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. Some are on CCC, some are not:

Geography

Geography flash cards – We have used these the last two years and they were so helpful!! This really helped my kids learn each item from the geography memory work.

Where in the World? Ancient Empires study – If you are wanting to dig deep into the cycle 1 geography, this Ancient Empires geography bundle looks fantastic! It’s written by a CC mom and totally tailored to CC Cycle 1 – it has a variety of maps as well as historical and cultural information relating to that week’s geography. You can get hard copies here or digital downloads here (or a combo of both here).

(only slightly cycle 1 adjacent) Our Big World – Notgrass just came out with a brand new elementary geography curriculum called Our Big World (currently can be preordered and will be mailed in August). We have used and loved their other two elementary options (Our 50 States and Our Star Spangled Story) during cycle 3 so I’m excited about this new version. Our Big World is world geography so it probably pairs slightly better with cycle 2 than cycle 1 but could be used for either of them since there is a little bit of world geography in cycle 1 (most of the focus is on ancient times though)

History

Visual cards – We loved using these last year, especially 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. You can find them on CCC but if you aren’t on CCC you can find them 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.

Ancient History Unit Study – Another CC mom has created an Ancient History unit study to go along with cycle 1. The curriculum incorporates multiple subjects, has recommended read alouds, and dives deeper into CC’s ancient history focus! If you want a done-for-you comprehensive history supplement for CC, I think this is going to be perfect!

Story of the World – Volume 1 (Ancient Times) of the Story of the World series matches up nicely with cycle 1. We use these as read alouds but there are worksheets you can get to go along with the books if you want to make this a more in depth curriculum.

Science

Science videos – My kids love love LOVE the science videos from Awesome Science TV! They beg to watch them each week. Awesome Science TV isn’t specifcally a CC company, there are lots of science videos besides CC related ones, but they make a set of videos that specifically 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).

Science hands on activities and crafts – The same person who makes the history activities and crafts also makes a science one.

Velcro activities – I love how these velcro activities take the science memory work and put it to pictures, helping the kids identify what each word means.

English

Prepositions and Verbs hands on activities – The hands on activities I made last year for cycle 3 were so popular that I made some for cycle 1 as well – a small version that your kids can write on with dry erase markers and a large version that you can use on your whiteboard. Get them discounted in a bundle here.

Latin

Latin chart – I also made hands on activities for the Latin noun endings for this cycle. There is a large version (I put magnets on these to put on our white board) and a small version (perfect for review!) You can also get them in a discounted bundle here.

If you didn’t want to buy mine you could also make your own of the smaller velcro version using this chart on CCC

Math

Math matching activities – I also made a set of my whiteboard cards for math – skip counting (weeks 1-11) and laws/geometry/equivalents (weeks 12-24), or get them all in a discounted bundle here. $classical conversations math hands on$

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

The timeline cards themselves are very hands on – putting them in order, reading them, etc. But I have also printed off these mini timeline cards and eventually will get around to cutting them out and using them for something lol.

Yoto player

If you have a Yoto player or TonieBox you can use those for your CC memory work! I did a super in depth tutorial about that to show you how.

I can’t say enough good stuff about using our Yoto for CC! We got one for my daughter last year for her 5th birthday and she uses it all.the.time. She has learned way more of the memory work than my older boys had at that age just because she’s able to listen on her own any time she wants instead of only when I play it from my phone.

Not telling you to run out and buy a Yoto player because it’s certainly not a necessity but if you have one, use it. If you don’t have one, it might be worth putting on a birthday or Christmas list this year. Highly recommend!

Coupon: Get 10% off the purchase of a Yoto player here

CC memory work Yoto card labels here.

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 1 songs. You can also purchase her songs in mp3 format, which is what I did in order to use them on our Yoto player.

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. Years ago there used to be some people who put together playlists with related videos for each week and they were so excellent but I haven’t seen anything like that in a while.

Pinterest board – Here is an amazing Pinterest board full of ideas for cycle 1! Such a great resource! (she also has cycle 2 and cycle 3)

Blogs – So many of the blogs I found useful my first year are no longer available so I don’t have many to share but here are a few

Half a Hundred Acre Woods has a ton of CC Cycle 1 things
This one is actually sharing tutor prep info but I like it for at home use too
Pockets Full of Rocks

I need to find some new CC blogs! If you know some, share in the comments!

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 think CC has a discount with them?) but I prefer to print at home. I’ve been very happy with this printer.

Paper cutter – I have had this for over 15 years and it has been a total workhorse! I use it for everything!

Laminator – I joke that I started homeschooling just so I had an excuse to buy a laminator ;) I love laminating stuff.

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.

Corner rounder – I use this to round the corners of things I laminate and cut which makes them less pokey

Happy CC planning, friends! Here’s to a great year!