week 14 activities and games for classical homeschooling

Cycle 1 Week 14 At Home Activities for Classical Homeschooling

Seeking fun and engaging ways to practice the Cycle 1, Week 14 memory work at home? In this post I share about activities, games, and books that have enriched our homeschooling week.

cycle 1 week 14 activities pinterest pin

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Last week we got back into our homeschool rhythm with Cycle 1 Week 13. My girls loved coloring their geosphere color by number as we learned about the different layers of Earth. We also learned about Western Africa and my daughter enjoyed putting together a puzzle with these locations. My girls are enjoying learning about the African countries as they snap felt countries on our huge Africa map on the wall. We also played a tic tac toe Kush game and practiced this week’s history sentence as we played. Read more about what we did at home during week 13 here. If you’re curious about what we did at home during the first semester of Cycle 1, read more here. You can also get a peek into our first couple of homeschool weeks here.

Tutor Ideas for Classical Homeschooling

If you are part of a Classical homeschooling community, are you tutoring? If you are, be sure to check out my posts with tutor ideas for the first fifteen weeks here.

Also, I have a youtube channel where I make videos with tutor and memory work ideas each week. Below is my tutor video for Cycle 1 Week 14. Visit my channel for tutor ideas for many other weeks and other videos with homeschooling tips and encouragement.

Cycle 1 Week 14 Tutor Ideas

Practicing the Memory Work At Home

In this post, I share with you about my weekly homeschool rhythms with my small children (ages five, three and one). I explain about the activities, games, and readings we do together to practice the Cycle 1 Week 14 memory work (new grammar) at home throughout the week.

Morning Devotional Time

I begin each day with our morning devotional time. This is my favorite part of the day with my kids. It is also one of my favorite things about homeschooling. I love that we don’t have to rush out of the door in the morning. My kids get the sleep they need and we can linger over breakfast and read God’s word together.

I have learned some morning habits that help us all get down to breakfast at the same time. This helps me make the most of our morning time together. Read more about these habits here.

Once we are all sitting around the breakfast table and my kids start eating, I begin with our Bible study time. I read to them a small passage from my Bible and then the corresponding story in The Complete Illustrated Children’s Bible. (TCICB). This Bible has BEAUTIFUL illustrations and is very accurate to the truth of the actual Bible.  We follow along with the Bible readings and study that corresponds with the Bible memory work we are learning. 

week 14 bible and bible study materials

Bible Study

What Bible study am I doing you might ask? I love using the Foundations of The Bible study from @drivenbygrace. This Bible study goes along with Bible memory work. Lindsey, the author of the study, matches the stories from TCICB that go along with the Bible study and Bible memory work for that week.  If there aren’t enough Bible stories for each day of the week, then I find others that go along with the theme.   After I read, I try to ask my kids a few questions about it to see how much they understood.  My five year old is pretty sharp at this. 

If you’re curious about more of what I do in our morning devotional time, read my post about it here.

This week, I read Lesson 14 from the Foundations of the Bible study about Joseph. The Bible stories from TCICB that I read each morning either correspond to the Bible study or part of this week’s memory work. See the end of this post for my PRINTABLE lesson plans with details of what I read each day.

bible study with children's bible opened up and coloring pages

The 24 Family Ways

As I read to my kids from the Bible Study Lesson, I have them either color their 24 Family Ways coloring book or one of the activity pages from the Foundations of the Bible study activity book. This works well because they can concentrate on coloring and listen to me read.

girl coloring 24 family way coloring page
24 family way coloring book opened

After I read the part of the Bible study lesson to them and we talk about it, I go over the Family Way (from Sally and Clay Clarkson’s 24 Family Ways) we are learning about this week. We also work on memorizing the Bible verse that goes with that Family Way. I write both the Family Way and the Bible verse on chalk boards that I have hanging up by our kitchen table so we can see them often. 

24 Family Ways and Bible verse written on chalkboards on the wall

I also have found songs that match with each Bible verse that I play after we eat breakfast.  The songs I use are mostly from Steve Green’s CDs. Songs are amazing for helping children memorize the Bible. Download my matchup of the 24 Family Ways with Bible verses and songs from my Resource Library.

24 Family Way Devotional plan and books.

Singing Hymns

Then comes my kids’ favorite part, SINGING HYMNS!  I stumbled over this gem of a book called My First Hymnal by Karyn Henley and it is AWESOME!  I let my kids each choose a hymn to sing and I sing it for them (sometimes they join in).  It’s great that they are learning hymns and the ones in this book are fabulous for kids. I also show my kids one of these Attributes of God letter cards from @drivenbygrace.

Lesson plans, kids hymnal, and letter card laying out on table

Math and Language Arts

Each day I try to do at least a little math and language arts with my oldest daughter. This year she is working through The Good and The Beautiful Level 1 math curriculum. Read here why I decided to switch from Saxon math to The Good and The Beautiful (TGATB). TGATB is very open and go and a good mix of lessons and activities. It’s beautiful too! I try to do a lesson with her after our morning devotional time. She is usually the freshest then and if I wait until later in the day to do it, I’m not as consistent.

The Good and the Beautiful math curriculum laying out on table.
girl working on math work

I also have this Handwriting without Tears for my oldest daughter and the first level for my younger daughter. Sometimes it works out to have my girls do some of this in the mornings. If we don’t have enough time the, I have my older daughter do a bit in the afternoon when it’s quiet time. I don’t do it every day with her, just a few times a week.

girl working on handwriting without tears book
child coloring in preschool handwriting without tears book

Weekly Memory work songs

I try to review as much of the weekly memory work with my kids as possible during the week with songs and games. Often when I’m cleaning up breakfast, I play this week’s playlist of memory work songs. We also listen to these songs in the car when driving. See my playlist of Cycle 1 Week 14 songs for English, Science, Math and Geography below.

Cycle 1 Week 14 English, Science, Math, and Geography songs

Daily Subject Focus

I like to dive deeper into one subject each day. I’ve found that focusing on just one subject each day is very manageable and doesn’t feel overwhelming. Here is our usual weekly schedule (you can download this template here):

Weekly subject focus schedule

Geography

This week in geography, we learn about Ancient Africa. First, I show my girls where these locations are on their placemats. We find Ancient Ghana, Ancient Mali, Western Sahara, Fez and Tangier. We also enjoy reading these books about Africa (most I found at our library and a few we own).

Make sure you check out the entire Cycle 1 booklist I made for second semester! I have amazing picture books that relate to the memory work for each week in the second half of Cycle 1 (weeks 13-24).

cycle 1 week 14 geography materials spread out on table

My daughter enjoys putting the ancient African puzzle together that I made and my three-year old works on this world puzzle. You can get this ancient Africa puzzle for free with my other Cycle 1 Week 14 Memory work activities at the end of this post.

girl putting together ancient africa puzzle
ancient africa puzzle put together on table

We sing a song together to the tune of A Ram Sam Sam. This helps my girls remember these locations in ancient Africa. See my video below.

Cycle 1 Week 14 Geography Song

Learning the Countries of Africa

We are LOVING learning the countries of Africa as part of the geography this second semester. I made this fun Africa map that we have on our wall by our kitchen table with all the countries made out of felt.

African countries made out of felt sorted into piles by color
African map with felt countries hung up on wall

My girls love taking the countries off and on as we learn their names and locations. Download a paper map of Africa with all the countries labeled here.

girl putting African countries up on large felt map on wall

I have the patterns for all the African countries, as well as a tutorial about how to make this kind of map in my Etsy shop. Also see my video for how to make this map with a few simple materials. You can find more information and links for these materials here.

We also made up a fun song to help us learn all of these African countries!

History

This week in history we learn about trade in Africa. We enjoy reading the book, The Water Princess by Susan Verde.

cycle 1 week 14 history game, coloring pages and picture books on kitchen table with Africa salt maps

Africa Salt Maps

My girls enjoy making these Africa salt maps as we learn about African history. This idea is from the Sandbox Ezine (pg. 12) in ccconnected.com. To make the dough, you just mix equal parts flour and salt and some water until you get a play dough consistency.

dough to make Africa salt map
Africa salt map cooked

I put some parchment paper over our Africa map so I can get the shape of the country. Then I cook the Africa salt maps in the oven at 200 degrees for a couple hours.

girl painting Africa salt map
the African countries painted on Africa salt map

Once they are dry, my girls enjoy painting the different countries on them. This is such a fun activity and a great way for my girls to learn more about the different African countries.

Trade in Africa Dice Game

We have a great time playing this trade in Africa dice game that I made. My daughters and I alternate rolling two colorful paper dice and finding the matching picture that goes with part of this week’s history sentence. We collect the matching card and try to sing that part of the history sentence. Whoever gets all ten cards first wins! When my daughter wins (she usually beats me!), I challenge her to put the cards in order and to sing the entire history sentence. You can get this game for free with my other Cycle 1 Week 14 Memory work activities at the end of this post.

trade in Africa dice game with cards
Trade in Africa cards in order

Timeline Image Coloring Page

Each week I also give my kids the Timeline Image from Scribblers in ccconnected.com. My girls enjoy coloring a hippo this week.

girls coloring history timeline coloring page at kitchen table

I like to laminate these each week and make a timeline of them on our wall as we go through the school year.

timeline history coloring pages

Science

This week in science we learn about three kinds of rock. I read to my girls from several books we checked out from our library about different kinds of rocks. We really enjoy Basher: Rocks & Minerals: A Gem of a Book by Simon Basher and Dan Green, Rocks (Planet Earth) by Marcia Zappa, What Are Metamorphic Rocks? (Let’s Rock!) by Molly Aloian, and What Are Sedimentary Rocks? (Let’s Rock!) by Natalie Hyde.

cycle 1 week 14 science activities and books on table

Kinds of Rocks UNO Game

My daughters and I enjoy playing this different kinds of rocks UNO game that I made. It’s a great way to learn about the different kinds or rocks and see actual examples of them. You can get this game for free with my other Cycle 1 Week 14 Memory work activities at the end of this post.

I also hide different paper rocks around our living room and kitchen and have my girls go on a hunt for them. I put blue star stickers on the back of all the sedimentary rocks, yellow stars on the back of the metamorphic rocks, and green star stickers on the back of the igneous rocks. When my girls find all of the rocks, I have them put them in the correct column on a rock poster board I made. This is another great way for the kids to see different examples of the three kinds of rocks. You can download this game from my Cycle 1 Week 14 tutor blog post.

different kinds of rocks print outs and poster board

Making our own “Candy” Rocks

My girls especially love an activity we do from ccconnected.com where we make our own sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. This activity is from Cycle 1 Week 14 “Take a Look” in Scribblers. We mix some rice cereal, mini chocolate chips, and some chocolate candies to make sedimentary rocks. Then we melt some chocolate on a graham cracker and spread some of our sedimentary rock mixture and a few marshmallows on top. Then we add some pressure by pressing another graham cracker on the top to make a “sandwich.” This forms our metamorphic rock since we add heat and pressure. My girls of course loved sampling these after we make them.

making sedimentary and metamorphic "candy" rocks
making sedimentary and metamorphic "candy" rocks

My daughter also colors the Science coloring page from Scribblers Cycle 1 Week 14 in ccconnected.com and the “rocks” coloring page from amysniderDESIGN.

scribblers rock coloring page
coloring rocks coloring page

We sing a song together to the tune of Peace Like a River. This helps my girls remember these different kinds of rocks. See my video below.

Cycle 1 Week 14 Science Song

Lesson Plan Templates

Click here to download an EDITABLE template of my detailed lesson plans for Cycle 1 Week 14. Here is a blank template you can download too.

Picture Books for Cycle 1 Week 14

Here are all the picture books we enjoy this week:

cycle 1 week 14 picture books
  1. Africa (Discover the Continents: Blastoff Readers, Level 3) by Emily Rose Oachs
  2. Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
  3. We All Went on Safari by Laurie Krebs and Julia Cairns
  4. The Water Princess by Susan Verde and Georgie Badiel, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
  5. Me and the Measure of Things by Joan Sweeney and Katie Kath
  6. Measuring Penny by Loreen Leedy
  7. Balloons Over Broadway: The Inspiring True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade by Melissa Sweet
  8. Basher: Rocks & Minerals: A Gem of a Book by Simon Basher and Dan Green
  9. Rocks (Planet Earth) by Marcia Zappa
  10. What Are Metamorphic Rocks? (Let’s Rock!) by Molly Aloian
  11. What Are Sedimentary Rocks? (Let’s Rock!) by Natalie Hyde

You can see my ENTIRE Cycle 1 picture book list for weeks 13-24 here!

Cycle 1 Week 14 Memory Work Activities

Here are activities to help practice the remaining memory work. You can sign up below to receive these AND the activities I mentioned above for geography, history, and science.

  • Helping verbs maze
  • Latin noun cases maze
  • Linear measurements dominoes game

How has your transition back to homeschooling been after winter break? Comment below and tell me how your family gets back into your homeschool rhythm.

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