invertebrates science activities and games spread out on table

Cycle 1 Week 5 At Home Activities for Classical Homeschooling

Searching for creative and engaging ways to reinforce Cycle 1, Week 5 memory work at home? Come along as I share some fun activities, games, and books that have enriched our homeschooling week.

Last week my kids loved making little pyramids as we learned about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We also learned a lot about the differences between a plant and an animal cell. We even planted some seeds and saw some sprouts starting to grow. Read more about what we did at home for Cycle 1 Week 1 , Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4. You can also get a peek into our first couple of homeschool weeks here.

science activities and books laid out on table for cycle 1 week 5

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 six weeks of Cycle 1 below:

  1. Cycle 1 Week 1 Tutor Ideas
  2. Cycle 1 Week 2 Tutor Ideas
  3. Cycle 1 Week 3 Tutor Ideas
  4. Cycle 1 Week 4 Tutor Ideas
  5. Cycle 1 Week 5 Tutor Ideas
  6. Cycle 1 Week 6 Tutor Ideas

Also, I have a youtube channel where I make videos with tutor and memory work ideas each week. Below is my video with tutor videos for Cycle 1 Week 5. If you are thinking past the fifth week, I also have a video for Cycle 1 Week 6 and more coming soon! Visit my channel for tutor ideas for future weeks and other videos with homeschooling tips and encouragement.

Cycle 1 Week 5 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 5 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.

mom reading bible to kids at kitchen table

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. 

bible, bible study, coloring books, and breakfast plates set out on kitchen table.
Foundations of the Bible study and Children's Bible laying out on top of table.

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.

mom reading bible study about noah's ark to kids at kitchen table

This week, I read Lesson 4 from the Foundations of the Bible study about Noah. 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.

kids tracing letters and coloring bible study activity page at kitchen table

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.

children's bible, bible study, and coloring pages
little girl coloring in family way coloring book

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. 

Our 24 family ways book and coloring books laying on table
mom pointing to family way written on chalkboard

I also have found songs that match with each Bible verse that I play after we eat breakfast.  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.

mom singing hymns to children at kitchen table

This week I also sing It Is Well With My Soul with my kids. This hymn isn’t in My First Hymnal but I play it for them. I love reading about the history and author of each hymn to my kids using these beautiful Hymn Study Cards. We also found this sweet book at the library called, Mrs. Noah’s Doves. We read it several times this week because my girls love it so much and it goes along great with our Bible study topic this week about Noah.

girls coloring bible activity pages at kitchen 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.
mom and daughter working on math

I also have this Handwriting without Tears for my oldest daughter 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 work
handwriting book opened up on table

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 5’s songs for English, Science and Geography below.

Cycle 1 Week 5 English, Science 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 the Egyptian Empire. During our morning snack time, I start out reading to my kids from Egyptian Empire by Ellis Roxburgh.

I show my girls where the Egyptian Empire is on their placemats. We enjoy playing the dice game I made which helps us also review some other locations that we learned about in previous weeks.

Egyptian empire book and geography game
mom showing children where locations are geography map

To play this game, my daughters switch off rolling a die. Each number they roll corresponds to a location in the Egyptian Empire or one of the locations we learned about in previous weeks. For example, if they roll a 4, they try to identify the place on their map that is labeled with a number 4. You can get this for free with my other Cycle 1 Week 5 Memory work activities from the Resource Page on my blog.

We also sing a song together to the tune of Baby Beluga. See my video below.

Cycle 1 Week 5 Geography song

History

This week in history we learn about The Romans. I give my kids the Timeline Image from Cycle 1 Week 5 Scribblers (page 3) in ccconnected.com and my girls color it.

Roman Mosaic Activity

My girls also enjoy making Roman Mosaics of the first letter of their names. My oldest daughter helps me cut out lots of little pieces of paper and my girls glue them onto the letters. I made this letter mosaic template that they use. We also enjoy reading the book Ancient Rome by Nick Pierce.

girls painting history coloring pages at picnic table
girls working on mosaic craft at picnic table

Roman Sequence

My daughter and I enjoy playing this Roman Sequence game that I made. We practice the Roman memory work sentence as we play.

mom and daughter playing roman sequence game with dot markers
roman sequence game and dot markers laying on picnic table

You can download this game for free from the Resource Library on my blog. This is part of the Cycle 1 Week 5 Memory Work Activity Set. My kids and I love playing games. I love making the memory work into a game so we are playing a game and practicing the memory work at the same time!

Roman history coloring pages and mosaic craft spread out on table

Science

This week in science we learn about Invertebrates. My daughter colors the Science coloring page from Cycle 1 Week 5 Scribblers in ccconnected.com.

little girl holding invertebrates coloring page
invertebrates and vertebrates dominos game spread out on kitchen table

We have a great time playing the invertebrates/vertebrates dominos game. It is such a great way to learn about which animals are invertebrates and which are vertebrates. You can get this game for free with my other Cycle 1 Week 5 Memory work activities from the Resource Page on my blog.

mom showing daughter some examples of invertebrates while playing domino game
invertebrates science activities and books spread out on table

I also read to my kids from the books: Insects, Bugs, and Invertebrates by Clare Hibbert and How to Be a Butterfly by Laura Knowles.

cycle 1 week 5 science activities and books spread out on table

We also sing a song together to the tune of BINGO. See my video below.

Cycle 1 Week 5 Science Song

Lesson Plan Templates

Click here to download an EDITABLE template of my detailed lesson plans for Cycle 1 Week 5. Here is a blank template you can download too.

Here are all the picture books we enjoy during Cycle 1 Week 5:

cycle 1 week 5 picture books

Cycle 1 Week 5 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.

  • Skip-counting activity for counting the 9’s and 10’s
  • Preposition card game (we learn the third five prepositions this week)
  • Latin Bingo game

How many weeks are you into Cycle 1? How are things going? Comment below and tell me about any activities you have done or fun books you have read.

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