Favorite Goodies for CC Cycle 3

By popular demand comes a post for all of my Classical Conversations friends.

I love to share what we are using on Instagram in the Facebook community - someone asked the other day if I could write a post with all of my "favorite goodies" for CC Cycle 3.

Ask and you shall receive.

Now, I am a firm believer in LESS IS MORE.  There are, however, several resources that we have collected over the years that are good to have on hand and that enhance our studies in Foundations (and really through Essentials and Challenge, too - I love how CC works like that!).

Everything on this list we have and love.  I hope it is helpful to you!

I am including games, videos, and a few miscellaneous resources in this post.

(Looking for other Cycle 3 resources, be sure to visit my Classical Conversations page!)

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Games for Cycle 3

Everything is better when you make it a GAME --- I find that geography and math lend themselves especially well to game, but we have honestly used games in all subject areas!

Geography

Scrambled States of America - great for younger ones - learn names, capitals, nicknames, and shapes of the 50 states

10 Days in the USA - especially good as kids look towards Challenge A, but any age can play this awesome game, too

Sequence States & Capitals - another great one for learning states, capitals and locations

USA Geo BINGO -- would make a GREAT review game for Foundations time, but also great to use with a group of kids any time. Who doesn't like BINGO?

Electronic Map of the United States - a SERIOUSLY great resource that includes over 500 quizzes for your kiddos!

American History

American History Memory Game - We LOVE the card games from the Classical Historian - this memory game has gotten much use in our home

Ticket to Ride USA -- This is probably the most popular game I've heard of amongst CC folks -- if you don't have it you should get it!

Catan Histories: Settlers of Trails to Rails - another one that ranks up there with Ticket to Ride

Constitution Quest Game - comes with a free copy of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence

Professor Noggin's History of the United States Card Game -- all of the Professor Noggin card games (including the US Presidents, too) are wonderful!

Top Trumps (no this isn't about President Trump!) -- this card game is for all of your little triva buffs who want to learn facts about the presidents - very good!

Math

Math Dice - these dice make learning all kinds of math concepts fun... we use them during morning time and also sometimes before our Saxon Math lesson to get those brains moving!

24 - My daughter's Challenge I tutor introduced us to this game -- great for playing with numbers!

Ocean Raiders Addition Board Game - this is wonderful for your younger students who are working on addition facts - the game is simple and ensures easy success and fun

Mega Fun Card Game Math - the card games in this book are quick and fun - I have learned to keep a deck of cards in my purse because it helps pass the time when we have to wait somewhere! I learned about this book at Practicum four years ago!

Head Full of Numbers - make equations with this game that REALLY gets kids thinking - a favorite in our house!

Science

(The following are games, puzzles & other resources for science)

Melissa & Doug Magnetic Human Body - for all of the learning about the human body in weeks 1-12, this is great for your younger learners

Magic School Bus Journey Into the Human Body - we used this the last time through Cycle 3 and it was really good - it had a life size poster of the human body we put up in our school room and we also read the book that goes along

Human Body Jigsaw Puzzle - excellent for those kids that are tactile learners - my youngest has always been a puzzle guy and he LOVED this! I would love to get the 5 Senses Puzzle, too!

Periodic Table Connecting Color Tiles - I really purchased this for my Challenge B daughter at the time, but found that my Foundations age child used it a lot, too - this one will do double duty.

Periodic Table Blocks -- I must admit, we don't have these, but I have always wanted them!  They are beautiful!

Science Ninjas - Valence Card Game -- This is an excellent game for expanding on the periodic table - great for kids that want to go the extra mile!

Fine Arts

Go Fish For Modern Artists Card Game - I picked this up once on a visit to the Met in New York City... it exposes kids to many different modern artists!

Meet the Instruments -- of course I am going to recommend the resource I developed to introduce kids to the orchestra - I think it's beautiful, effective, and economical!

SQUILT Music Appreciation -- to see how my music curriculum lines up with Cycle 3, read "Using SQUILT with Classical Conversations"

Instrument BINGO - I have this and play it with my Foundations class -- a GREAT Bingo game that definitely cements the sounds of all of the instruments!

Musical Pairs Note Matching Card Game -- when children start learning note names while studying the tin whistle this game comes in very handy!

Compose Yourself Music Card Game - a more advanced game for kids with some musical knowledge

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Movies for Cycle 3

(a.k.a. Momma Needs a Break! -- but these are just wonderful resources, too!)

Geography

Great American Landmarks --> available for free streaming with Amazon Prime - we loved to use these kinds of videos during lunch time!

Tour the States --> excellent resource!  Kids will memorize the capitals in no time flat

50 Nifty United States -->  we used this in my classroom when learning all of the states in alphabetical order.  We would sing it during morning time in our homeschool -- GREAT!

States and Capitals Song by Musical Stew --> very cute - shows state shapes, too

American History

 

Liberty's Kids --> these were watched OVER and OVER in our home!  Such a great deal for these history videos, too.   

Disney's American Legends --> we always enjoyed learned about Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, etc...

This is America, Charlie Brown --> my son went through a Peanuts phase where he LOVED these videos!

CrashCourse US History --> these YouTube videos are very informative - be sure to watch with your children because sometimes they might slant slightly liberal, but still worth the watch

Free School -->  a great YouTube video resource - search around and you can find a lot of topics, not just history!

America Schoolhouse Rock

Math

(Sorry -- no big goodies for math. My oldest learned her times tables with Hap Palmer's CD, Multiplication Mountain. My youngest simply learned with the Foundations CD and drill and repetition.... we don't get fancy with math and video.)

Science

Human Body Rock n Learn - this is even helpful for your older kids (especially Challenge A) because it is for grades 4-8

The Magic School Bus Human Body -- all time favorite in our house!

How Your Body Works series from Kids Health -- these YouTube videos are a bit silly, but my kids liked that about these videos. There are many of them for all different parts/systems of the body

The Periodic Table - Crash Course Chemistry --> love this video - it provides a great overview of the entire Periodic Table

Fine Arts

Tubby the Tuba -- a classic video - with Dick van Dyke and Pearl Bailey - great for teaching kids about orchestra instruments

Let's Go to the Symphony -- YouTube video from the Nashville Symphony

Peter & The Wolf - Vancouver Symphony

Tchaikovsky Discovers America --- an audio resource, but a FANTASTIC story about Tchaikovsky -- you must listen!

Norman Rockwell - Painting America

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Miscellaneous "Goodies" for Cycle 3

Notebooking Pages

Patriotic Copywork Pages -- I loved giving my children copywork in the grammar stage. It allowed us to work on handwriting and to also model beautiful writing!

US Presidents Notebooking Pages

USA Study Notebooking Pages -- we have created a 50 states notebook in the past - it took us all year, but now we have a beautiful finished product!

Pin It! Maps

These maps are GORGEOUS!   If you can invest in these maps you will make your homeschool a more rich place. I promise.

Geography Drawing Books

We have recently collected all of the Draw books -- Draw the USA is perfect for Cycle 3.  You will be amazed at how easily your children can learn to draw our country with this step by step guide.  It's perfect!

LEGO Landmarks

LEGO White House-- because we give educational gifts for Christmas, we gave my son this for Christmas the last time through Cycle 3.  He LOVED it!  Each of these also comes with a beautiful picture booklet with information about the landmark. 

LEGO Lincoln Memorial -- another gift (I think birthday!) during Cycle 3

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I hope this has been helpful --- remember, in our first year of CC the MEMORY WORK WAS ENOUGH!  We enjoyed each other, read aloud a lot, and played a lot, too.  As we got more comfortable with classical education (and Classical Conversations) we began to add other resources to supplement the memory work. 

You might also like:

Classical Conversations: 10 Tips to Prevent Being Overwhelmed

5 Ways to Supplement Foundations: Simple Additions to Your Homeschooling Day

Why You Can't "Standardize" Children

'Tis the season.

In our neck of the woods it's the CRCT. 

I've taught in systems where it was the ITBS.  When I taught in the state of Texas it was the TAAS. 

Whatever the letters you give them, standardized tests cause children to dread going to school for a week (sometimes longer) because they know the drudgery and boredom that awaits them.  

I am well aware of the "NEED" for standardized tests.

And that need doesn't have anything to do with children and what is best for them.

I have a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership and Supervision. I spent two years of my life learning how to perpetuate the mass education and standardization of our nation's children - to turn them all into dutiful workers for the state. Before that I spent 10 years administering tests as a teacher in the public schools.

I could spout off dozens of "whys" for standardized testing - and sound quite convincing. 

I will be giving standardized tests this month in our homeschool.  I don't want to, but I have to (per the state of Georgia), and I know they need to be familiar with the reality of testing in our society.

No matter why they take the tests, children can't be STANDARDIZED, and neither can their learning.

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Children are More than a Test

If you really KNOW a child, you know they are so much more than a test.  They are heart, soul, creativity, feelings, and a host of other things.

How can you measure subjective qualities like that?

Judging children by a test totally discounts their personalities and God given abilities.

Standardized Tests Can Be Outdated and Biased

When I was teaching I had a child ask me a question during the ITBS. This child was supposed to answer a series of questions based upon a picture. 

That picture was of a telephone booth. This was the year 2000. Phone booths were nearly obsolete, and in our suburban area this child had never seen one and didn't know what it was.

I couldn't help them.

That child missed every question in that section.

Their self esteem suffered because of a dumb test. I remember feeling so powerless.

I also worked in a 100% African American school. I wasn't aware how biased these tests are against African American children, but they are.  (That is a completely different blog post.)

Ridiculous, right?

The system is so broken it's just overwhelming to even think about fixing it - so we'll just keep doing what we are doing.  That sounds like a plan. 

(sarcasm)

Teachers Are Devalued by Standardized Tests

I know so many wonderful teachers that were required to "teach to the test". They knew it was wrong, but they had to follow the rules of their administration.

I worked in one school where we had to place our learning objectives on a bulletin board in the hall... specific objectives in state mandated language. When people from the central office came by they were supposed to see evidence of "instruction to match testing goals."

Blech.

Those poor teachers. Talk about stifling creativity.

Those poor students. 

Poor everyone involved, really.

Standardized Tests Bring Out The Worst in People

People will go to great lengths to ensure their school performs well on "the test".

Just consider what went on right here in Atlanta a few years ago. How sad.

Reading this sums it up:

It "confirms our worst fears," says Mayor Kasim Reed. "There is no doubt that systemic cheating occurred on a widespread basis in the school system." The news is “absolutely devastating," said Brenda Muhammad, chairwoman of the Atlanta school board. "It’s our children. You just don’t cheat children.”

You just don't cheat children.

Or do we? 

image credit

A Personal Story

I didn't really think very deeply about standardized tests until my daughter was affected by them. She always tested well. So well, in fact, that her second grade teacher recommended (after good test scores and personal observation) that she be "tested" for the talented and gifted program at her school (called REACH).

As a parent, I was very proud. She took the tests. 

We waited for the results.

Rather than receiving a call, or even an email, my daughter got off the bus one day with an envelope. The gifted teacher had given it to her that day at school and had told her not to open it. It was for mom and dad to open.

She excitedly gave it to me, anticipating the results inside.

Looking back, I should have waited and opened it privately. Instead, however, we opened it together in the driveway.

Inside, the message (in bold type) said:

"Your child, Anna, did NOT qualify for the REACH program."

From that instant I had a very disappointed little girl in my house. Nothing we could tell her would make her feel better about herself. 

I didn't care one bit about her not getting into the gifted program. I cared about my precious girl's heart that had been crushed - her self esteem trampled on. 

I expressed my dissatisfaction with the teacher and the principal. 

I kept thinking in the back of my mind how she would be pigeon holed into a track of classes in middle school - not eligible for "honors classes" because she wasn't on that gifted track.  

I felt sick to my stomach. How could "THEY" know -- that my daughter - at the age of 8 - could be confined to a lower track than other children?

This was one of the final nails in our public school coffin.

The final nail came when in the beginning of third grade, at the first parent-teacher conference, her teacher told me what a lovely girl Anna was.  She said (and I quote) "I don't see her as "gifted" but she certainly loves to please and this will take her far."

I wanted to mention how this "desire to please" and "love of learning" might just ensure her success more than someone who was naturally "gifted". Her drive and determination might actually serve her better in life.

I knew then and there I couldn't leave my child in this environment for much longer.

Oh, I know many children that did just fine there, but I wasn't willing to leave my child's future in the hands of a system that clearly didn't have her best interest at heart. 

And I think, if many parents really ask themselves what is best for their own child, they would agree with me.

But I also think that many parents are just too uninformed, hesitant, or afraid of homeschooling to give it a try.

My daughter left that school just one month later... and the rest is history.

Yet Another Reason to Homeschool

My children's education now is SO FAR from what I was perpetuating 15 years ago. 

I am so thankful for the right to homeschool. I am thankful to let my children be who God created them to be. I am thankful they will not be judged by their ability to "bubble in".

I am thankful for the courage we had to pull our kids out of a system that so obviously segregates, subdues, and shuts down our children.

In recent months I've thought a lot about how fortunate we are to homeschool, and how that decision has changed my family's life in so many ways.  

You might enjoy these popular posts:

When Being Normal Looks Weird

How Homeschooling Turned Me Upside Down

Stop Telling Me Why You Can't Homeschool

Also, the following books have greatly encouraged me as my thinking is dramatically shifting about education, testing, and children:

Dumbing Us Down:  The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

How Children Learn

How Children Fail

Free to Learn

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I'm curious - do you have to give your children standardized tests in your state?  What are the requirements? 

What are YOUR thoughts on standardized tests?

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