How We Practice Our Memory Work at Home Each Week (Cycle 2)

Lately I’ve been so thankful for the simple rhythms we’ve settled into for practicing our memory work at home. I used to feel like I had to cover all the memory work every day, which felt overwhelming.

Last year, I discovered that focusing on just one subject each day made everything calmer. It also gave us space for fun activities and crafts connected to what we were learning.

I thought I’d share what I’m planning for our weeks this next homeschool year in Cycle 2, in case it gives you some ideas for your own homeschool schedule.

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Daily Subject Focus

After breakfast each morning, my kids will pull out their Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Books (I’ll share more about this in a bit) and focus on just one subject for the day. Here’s what our week usually looks like (and here is an editable template of the Daily Subject Focus chart below):

• Mondays: Geography
• Tuesdays: Community day — we don’t add anything extra.
• Wednesdays: History
• Thursdays: Science
• Fridays: Math, English, and Latin

This has worked so well for us. Instead of trying to cram every subject in every day, we can slow down and give each one a little more space. It feels so much more doable, and my kids know what to expect.

Our New Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Book!

One thing I’m super excited about for this year is our new Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Book. I created this notebook to give kids a fun way to practice their memory work, without adding extra prep for mom, dad, or grandma.

Inside, there’s one short activity for each subject for all 24 weeks of Cycle 2. When we do geography on Monday, they do the geography activity for that week. When we get to Thursday, they do the science page. It’s so easy to match to whatever we’re focusing on that day.

I love that it keeps things simple and fun. It’s NOW available in digital and printed form, and there is a sample page you can take a peek at if you would like too! Check it out below!

Putting Memory Work to Song

Another big help? Songs. Since I tutor in our CC community, I make up little songs for the memory work each week, and I have them all up on YouTube for anyone to use!

I’ve made playlists for science, geography, and English, covering all 24 weeks of Cycle 2. Each week when I’m planning, I pull up these songs plus the official history, Latin, and timeline songs from CC.

I love to make a playlist on my computer for the week. Then I just play it while we clean up breakfast or throughout the day. It’s amazing how quickly kids learn when something is put to music — and honestly, it helps me remember it all too!

Diving Into Geography

I especially love our Monday geography days.

We always start by looking at our European placemats from Classical Conversations. I can’t recommend these enough! They make it so easy to spot the geography we’re focusing on that week. Next, we turn to the geography page in our Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Books.

After that, we open up our European Countries Workbook and spend a little time learning about a few countries. Then comes the best part: the kids find those countries on our big Europe felt wall map, snap them off, and practice putting them back in the right spots.

They absolutely love it. It’s such a wonderful hands-on way to see where everything is, and they learn it so much faster than if we were just pointing to tiny places on a paper map.

I have recently updated our European Countries Workbook and its now available in digital and printed form. You can also get a bundle of the European Countries Workbook AND European patterns for making your own large map at home. Everything in my shop is on sale for the next seven days! Check out some of the options available below.

Bringing It to Life with Crafts & Hands-On Learning

On our history and science days, I try to add a little activity or craft that ties into what we’re learning.

I try to keep it pretty simple, but my kids love anything that’s more tactile. Maybe we make a simple model, do a quick experiment, or draw something connected to the topic. It just helps the memory work stick and keeps things fun!

I also love making a few simple games to play with my kids that help them learn the memory work in a fun way! I plan to create games for each week of Cycle 2. For Cycle 2 Week 1, I made a Trekking the Continents and Oceans game and a Creation Build and Match game.

Trekking the Continents and Oceans is similar to “Ticket to Ride” where players collect cards and race to connect continents on a giant world map. Players earn points by completing routes, naming oceans, and finishing ticket cards. You can download the four pieces of the game board on normal 8.5 x 11 inch printer paper and tape them together.

Creation Build and Match is a fun and flexible way to review what God made each day! Use the cards to play matching games, test memory, build the sequence of creation, or get moving with a hop-and-say activity.

Download PDF files of both of these games for FREE below and make sure to subscribe to my email list to receive FREE games each week this year!

Ending with a Story

The final way we practice memory work each week is likely my favorite and, I’d argue, the most important: reading together.

After our morning time, we’ll either snuggle up on the couch or head outside to read a picture book that matches what we just learned. On history day, we grab a history book. On science day, a science book.

I have a list of 94 picture books that match each of the 24 weeks of Cycle 2, which makes it so easy to pick out good books from the library or our shelves. Check out this Cycle 2 booklist below.

It’s such a simple way to deepen what they’re learning, and it gives us the sweetest time together. My goal is to make reading together an even higher priority this next year. Read more about some small changes I’m making in our homeschool next year in my post here.

I hope seeing how we practice memory work at home gives you some encouragement. Keeping things simple and having a gentle focus each day has helped our homeschool feel so much more peaceful. Most importantly, my kids are truly learning and loving it.

I’d love to hear — how do you practice memory work at home? Share in the comments below!