There are a few seasons through the year that get me really excited. Most of them revolve around holidays, with their decorations, gatherings and traditions (plus, ya know: food!), but the other “most wonderful time of the year” in my world is back to school. Planning for a new school year is Candy Land for me – I’m not even ashamed to say that I might like the planning process better than the schooling process! I’m an idealist, a creative and a thinker, and planning checks all of those boxes.
Although I’m partial to Cycles 2 and 3, Cycle 1 is routinely the favorite of my biggest kids. My eldest daughter is a walking encyclopedia of Greek Mythology, and her brother isn’t far behind. Ancient history is endlessly fascinating, and they are counting down the days until we begin.
This will be our 8th year in Classical Conversations and our 3rd time through Cycle 1, and we continue to love it as much as we ever have. This year marks a strange mash up of milestones for our family: It’s my daughter’s last year of Foundations (sob) and my son’s last time through Cycle 1. But it is also the beginning our 4 year old’s CC journey, and we’ll have two in Essentials. In other words, for the 2021-2022 school year, we’ll have an 11 year old (gr 6), 9yo (gr 4), 7yo (gr 1-2) and 4yo (pre-k/K), as well as the new baby for quality control. Whew! I need another cup of coffee just reading that!
Planning a Classical Conversations year
I’ve written extensively about how I plan my CC year (if you’re in need of inspiration, this post is a great place to begin!). We find that using CC as our spine but implementing with a Charlotte Mason twist works best for us. What does this mean?
Living Books bring the weekly history and science memory work to life. They add richness and depth while emphasizing beautiful language and inspiring, imaginative ideas that enhance factual knowledge.
“One more thing is of vital importance; children must have books, living books; the best are not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough.”
Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason advocated strongly for the raising of whole-hearted, well rounded children. Her philosophy therefore emphasizes a curriculum comprised of a wide range of subjects, including those considered more “obscure” by modern standards like nature study, art, foreign language, music, theology, handicrafts, Shakespeare and poetry.
“The question is not, – ‘how much does the youth know?’ when he has finished his education – but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? And, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?”
Charlotte Mason
Those two simple, profound ideas – living books and a varied curriculum – have transformed the way we implement CC at home.
In that spirit, let me give you two (FREE!) resources that have been central to our success and enjoyment of this cycle.
Cycle 1 Booklist
Inside, you’ll find both year-long and weekly reading suggestions for the first 12 weeks of Cycle 1. I’ve included resources for art/artist study, nature study, hands-on activities, as well as beautiful readings for history and science. This is by no means an exhaustive list… however, I hope it provides an easy place to inspire your homeschool journey.
DOWNLOAD THE BOOKLIST HERE!
**Please note: this download works best on a desktop. To view on mobile device, click here.
Additionally, my favorite way to keep track of our school year is in a simple Excel spreadsheet. This versatile tool allows me to do so many things that save me time when I’m in the throes of a busy school year. It gives me one place to keep track of everything from book titles, to web links for activities, recipes, poems, composers, and literally anything else we need for the year. I’m also able to easily go back and look at resources I used during the last time through a cycle, and, let’s be honest, that alone is worth the price of admission. Nothing gets lost, it’s easy to flag any weeks I still need to find a resource… the benefits of this simple system are endless.
To make planning your CC year a breeze, OF COURSE I’m giving you a copy of this valuable tool!
DOWNLOAD THE PLANNING SHEET HERE!
**Download works best on desktop. To view using mobile device, click here.
How to Use this Spreadsheet
You’ll need to update the dates according to your community’s calendar. I’ve included two extra rows for planning the weeks before CC begins, which of course you can delete or utilize as you see fit. Also, the first column is for those of you who are a little OCD (like me! HI!!) who like to keep track of the weeks of school overall (since CC is only a 24 week program and we do more schooling than that). If you’re not worried about such things, just delete that first column.
The tabs at the top are going to be completely unique to your family according to the priorities that fit your giftings, personality and season.
Label each column across the top based on YOUR family’s weekly priorities. What subjects will you cover and find resources for on a weekly basis? Maybe you need different resources for each kid – so each child gets his or her own column. There is no wrong way to personalize this as you make it work for your family. The point is that we are far more lilkely to be consistent and successful if we first identify what we really want to do, and then organize our weeks accordingly. Developing a vision for our homeschools – where we’ll spend our precious, limited resources of time, energy and money – is a must.
This document comes completed as an example, by MY family and how WE best operate – so go to town and make it work for you!
If you’re looking for more inspiration and want to see how my family is rounding out our school year, CLICK HERE to see how I’m filling out & updating our spreadsheet in real time. Note: You will be able to SEE this document only, not edit or download it, as it is the one I actually use to plan our year.
It is my fervent hope that these tools make planning your homeschool year a little easier and lot more joyful.
Happy learning, friends!