Cycle 1 Week 20 At Home Activities for Classical Homeschooling

Searching for fun and engaging ways to practice the Cycle 1, Week 20 memory work at home? Read along as I share about activities, games, and books that have enriched our homeschooling week.

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Last week we finished up Cycle 1 Week 19. My girls learned about some more African countries as they continued to work through their new African Countries workbook. We played a Mesoamerica dice game which also includes the civilizations from last week. My daughters loved making their own adobe houses out of homemade clay as we learned about the Anasazi. They also enjoyed finding the differences between two adobe hut images as we practiced the history sentence. We learned about some ocean zones and my daughters worked on a color by number that helped them see the different parts. Read more about what we did at home during week 19 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.

Also make sure to check out FIVE different fun review games you can play with your children as we approach the end of the year! These include a fun Tornado geography game, a history monopoly style board game, science Old Maid, helping and linking verbs card games, and Latin noun endings Bingo. Read more about all these games and how to get them 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 twenty-two 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 20. Visit my channel for tutor ideas for many other weeks and other videos with homeschooling tips and encouragement.

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 20 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. 

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 20 from the Foundations of the Bible study about the Jewish Feasts. 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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 20 songs for English, Science, Math and Geography below.

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):

Geography

This week in geography, we learn more about the Dominion of Canada. First, I show my girls where Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia are on their placemats. We enjoy reading these picture books about Canada:

• Let’s Look At Canada by Joy Frisch-Schmoll 
• Follow Me Around Canada by Wiley Blevins

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).

My daughters and I play this Canada dice game that I made. We switch off rolling one or two dice and trying to name the location that matches the number (or sum) rolled. This game also includes the Canadian waters that we learn about next week! You can get this Canada dice game for free with my other Cycle 1 Week 20 Memory work activities at the end of this post.

We sing a song together to the tune of Home on the Range. This helps my girls remember these Canadian provinces. See my video below.

My daughter also enjoys putting together this Canada puzzle. She absolutely loves puzzles and it’s a great way that I can spend some time with her while the younger kids nap. I especially love these Geo Puzzles because the pieces are the actual shapes of the countries. They have puzzles for the other parts of the world as well! We have also enjoyed putting together South America and Africa this year!.

Countries of Africa Notebook!

My girls also continue coloring in their Countries of Africa Notebook this week. I really enjoyed making this book and I’m excited to share it with you all! There is a page for each of the 54 countries of Africa plus Western Sahara. Each day, the kids get to discover one or more countries as they learn about their location, capital, iconic animal, popular dish, flag, and a fun fact.

The kids can color the maps, animals, and flags for each country as they explore! At the end of the notebook, there is a complete reference of all the African flags. I have also included two labeled maps of Africa with all the countries marked (one in color and one in black and white). Plus, there are blank maps for your children to fill in as they learn about each country. We also enjoy reading J is for Jollof: An African Alphabet by Dr Gloria Fátúsìn which has great visuals and more information about some of the popular dishes in Africa.

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.

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.

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 the Mexican Revolution. We enjoy playing the Mexican Revolution Sequence game I made which helps my children learn the history sentence. You can get this activity for free with my other Cycle 1 Week 20 Memory work activities at the end of this post.

Huichol Yarn Art

My daughters also have fun trying some of their own Huichol Yarn art. I share with my girls that this kind of yarn art is a traditional Mexican “painting.” I print out a few of these simple images for my girls to choose from. My older daughter uses yarn, while my three-year old colors the picture and then glues some black beans on her lady bug. This activity is from the Cycle 1 Week 20 Sandbox Ezine (pg. 12), which you can find in ccconnected.com. First, I help my older daughter outline the bear picture with glue and then stick yarn to the glue. Then she makes the eyes, nose, and mouth with yarn. The last step is to fill in the rest of the bear’s body with glue and spiral the yarn around to fill in the parts of the body. It’s harder than it looks but we are excited about how it turns out!

Crafts are never easy for me to do, especially with an almost 2-year-old who wants to participate too. However, they are always worth the effort and my girls really enjoy making these!

Timeline Image Coloring Page

Each week I also give my kids the Timeline Image from Scribblers in ccconnected.com. My girls enjoy coloring a Mexican Coat of Arms this week. I like to laminate these each week and make a timeline of them on our wall as we go through the school year.

Science

This week in science we learn about some parts of the atmosphere. My girls and I continue enjoy reading The Atmosphere by Jason D. Nemeth and The Layers of Earth’s Atmosphere by Elizabeth Borngraber.

Parts of the Atmosphere Color by Number

My girls enjoy working on this atmosphere color by number that I made. It’s a great way to learn about the different parts of the atmosphere. You can get this activity for free with my other Cycle 1 Week 20 Memory work activities at the end of this post.

My daughter also colors the Science coloring page from Scribblers Cycle 1 Week 20 in ccconnected.com with the different parts of the atmosphere on it. We sing a song together to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell. This helps my girls remember these parts of the atmosphere. See my video below.

Memory Work Meadowland

As we approach the end of the year, I’m excited to share with you a fun Easter/Spring themed review game that I recently made. It’s the perfect way to review ALL of the memory work subjects from this year! This “Candy-land” style board game is called Memory Work Meadowland.

For this game, you will need:

• Memory Work Meadowland game board (laminate if you wish)
• A game marker for each player (markers from another board game, small pieces of paper, candy, etc.)
• Memory Work Meadowland cards cut out and laminated if you wish (print out several copies of cards)

How to Play Memory Work Meadowland

To play this game, shuffle all the cards and place them face down within reach of all players. The youngest player goes first. On a player’s turn, he or she draws a card.

The card may contain a single color block, two color blocks, or a picture of a place on the board.

• Color card: player moves to the next space that matches the color on the card
• Card with two colors: the player moves to the second space that matches
• Picture card: player moves tot he space that matches the picture

The player must then answer a review question of the subject corresponding to the color or picture of the card. If the player answers correctly, he or she keeps his or her game marker on that spot. If the question is not answered correctly, player goes back to previous spot.

Some tiles on the board are shortcuts with water slides. If a player lands on a tile with the beginning of a water slide, he or she must slide forward to the tile where the water slide ends. If a player lands on a space that contains the bottom of a ladder, he or she must climb the ladder back up to the space with the top of the ladder (ladders make you go backwards in this game!).

Players switch off drawing cards and answering review questions. The first player to reach the church WINS!

You can purchase this Memory Work Meadowland board game from my Etsy shop. I love giving away games and activities away for free. However, this game took me a lot more time to make and I would greatly appreciate your support if you desire to purchase this game from my shop.

Historyopoly!

I also want to share with you this Cycle 1 History Review board game! Step into the past with this engaging and educational history-themed board game where players buy, trade, and own famous historical events! This Monopoly-style game is a great way to review the Cycle 1 history!

This game includes ALL of this historical events from Cycle 1 history in Classical homeschooling. For example, some of the historical events are: The British North America Act of 1867, Prince Henry of Portugal, The Kush, Japan’s Heian Period, and The Romans.

Players roll a die and move through key moments in history. When a player lands on a historical event, they recite the corresponding history sentence in order to claim it as their own! There are also fun Discovery cards that can help or hinder the journey through history, historical currency, flag markers, and historical game markers representing different eras.

This game is PERFECT for learning about and reviewing Cycle 1 history! Download it from my Etsy shop below!

Science Review Old Maid Game

Another fun review game that you can play with your children is this “Old Maid” science review card game!

This game reviews the science memory work from Cycle 1, Weeks 13-24. There are 28 different science themed cards + 4 different “Old Maid” options. Download it for FREE below!

Lesson Plan Templates

Click here to download an EDITABLE template of my detailed lesson plans for Cycle 1 Week 20. Here is a blank template you can download too.

Picture Books for Cycle 1 Week 20

Here are all the picture books we enjoy this week:

1. Let’s Look At Canada by Joy Frisch-Schmoll 
2. Follow Me Around Canada by Wiley Blevins
3. Happy Pi Day to You! All About Measuring Circles by Bonnie Worth and Aristides Ruiz
4. Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Cindy Neuschwander
5. Stone Age Geometry: Circles by Gerry Bailey
6. The Atmosphere by Jason D. Nemeth
7. The Layers of Earth’s Atmosphere by Elizabeth Borngraber
8. Stickmen’s Guide to Earth’s Atmosphere in Layers by Catherine Chambers
9. Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo by John Lithgow
10. Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood

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

Cycle 1 Week 20 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.

• Linking verbs cards
• Latin noun endings BINGO game
• Math shapes game

How has homeschooling been going for you so far this winter? Comment below and share something you do to spice the homeschooling routine up especially when it’s really cold outside!