I have received hundreds of requests for the information below which details our Charlotte Mason approach to Classical Conversations. Please understand that this is not the only possible approach to CC with CM. You do not need to have every single book on this list. This is simply what works for my particular family, in my particular home, within our particular schedule, with my children’s particular learning styles and my particular teaching inclinations. In other words, dear reader, I am sharing this in the hopes that it gives you inspiration to compile your own schedule for your own family’s needs. Keep in mind, this is not the only way!
A Charlotte Mason Approach to Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Weeks 1-6
Book of Narrations & Book of Centuries
Each week the child can choose two pieces from the TIMELINE to study and narrate. I have included a list of books we use for these, if there is no book available then we use the timeline card. If the child is too young for written narration, I will record his oral narration and then type it out. He will then illustrate the narration and put it into his Book of Narrations. An older child will write their own written narration and illustrate it for their own Book of Narrations. With each passing year we add more pieces to our Book of Narrations, slowly moving towards a completely narrated Timeline. We will update our Book of Centuries with new information as we go along. One series that we use for Timeline study is Olive Beaupre Miller’s A Picturesque Tale of Progress Complete Set, Volumes 1-9
History:
Each child will receive a composition notebook for recording their History study notes. We will read a portion of the chosen book and then narrate and illustrate it. I am listing several choices but only reading a few each week. We will also be reading through “A Child’s First Book of American History” by Earl Schenk Miers, illustrated by James Daugherty as our main history text. The boys will probably listen to The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Vol. 3: Early Modern Times audio at night before bed.
Science:
For our older children we will either use Lyrical Life Science: The Human Body or Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (Young Explorer Series)
The younger children will use various books for their Anatomy study. I have listed them below.
Map Work:
The children will practice their map work by tracing a state each day onto a piece of paper and illustrating the state bird and state flower alongside it. Then they can work on their larger laminated map for a few minutes. The youngest child (age 4) will be using these free Crayola state sheets.
Handwriting: We will continue using developmentally appropriate Prescipts from Classical Conversations.
Latin: We will memorize our weekly Latin alongside our consistent use of Memoria Press Latina Cristiana 1.
Math: We will continue using Right Start Math and memorizing our math cycle. We start each math period with memory drills through song.
Language Arts: My eldest is now in Essentials. (Deep breathing) My second born will finish Student Intensive A from IEW and then use one of the smaller writing books for the rest of the year. Both children will use the independent auditory spelling program from IEW. My third born will continue using his current language arts routine. I have listed several family read aloud choices. I will probably let my children choose which ones we read. I don’t know if we will finish one each week or if we will just select a new one every other week.
Our main Morning Time history text will be Stories of America Volume 1 and Stories of America Volume 2 by Simply Charlotte Mason along with selections from a few vintage books we love. (i.e. They Put Out to Sea: The Story of the Map
Geography:
Poetry is based on the poet’s geographical location for the term. I have also included a list of my favorite picture books for further geography study of the United States. We will select one or two poets.
1st Quarter Poets:
Longfellow
Frost
Angelou
Hughes
Emmerson
Bishop
Dickinson
Sandberg
Whitman
Wheatley
1st Quarter Art Study:
Queen Homeschool Observing History through Picture Study: Early American History
1st Quarter Hymn:
O God Our Help in Ages Past (1 verse per week)
We will study our chosen Artist, Poet, Hymn, Shakespeare Play, etc on a loop. The Family Read Aloud list will be featured at the end. The rest of the our morning studies will commence from the lists below. We use the CC memory work to launch into subjects that correlate. I will be blogging through each week so you can get a better idea of how this list comes to life.
Lessons Plans CC Cycle 3 Weeks 1-6
Week 1
History:
Columbus
Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher Columbus by Peter Sis
Meet Christopher Columbus byJames T Dekay
Pedro’s Journal: A Voyage with Christopher Columbus by Pam Conrad
** I have been asked by several families for a native american POV story about Columbus that is suitable for children. If interested in a Taino Indian boy’s perspective, check out Encounter (Voyager Books)
Science:
[(Your Skin and Mine )by Paul Showers
Geography:
Surrounded By Sea: Life on a New England Fishing Island
Miss Rumphius
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
One Morning in Maine (Picture Puffins)
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Ox-Cart Man
Obadiah the Bold
Fine Arts: OiLs Basic Shapes practice
Ish (Creatrilogy)
Timeline:
The Creation Story for Children
The True Story of Noah’s Ark by Tom Dooley
Genesis 1-8
Indus Valley City (Building History)
Voices of Ancient Egypt
Pharaoh’s Boat
Pyramid
Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors by Lorene Lambert
—Chp 2 The Sumerians
—Chp 3 The Indus Valley
—Chp 9 The Minoans
Week 2
History:
The Pilgrims of Plimoth (Aladdin Picture Books)
People of the Breaking Day (Aladdin Picture Books)
The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland’s Good Fortune
The Thanksgiving Story
N.C. Wyeth’s Pilgrims
Sarah Morton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl or
Samuel Eaton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy
Squanto, Friend Of The Pilgrims
Science:
The Skeleton Inside You by Phillip Ballestrino
Bones: Skeletons and How They Work by Steve Jenkins
Bones: Our Skeletal System by Seymour Simon
Geography:
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
Amazing Impossible Erie Canal (Aladdin Picture Books)
The Erie Canal
The Brooklyn Bridge: The story of the world’s most famous bridge and the remarkable family that built it. (Wonders of the World Book)
The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night (Dell Picture Yearling) by Peter Spier
Liberty
The Story of the Statue of Liberty by Betsy Maestro
Henner’s Lydia
The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jaqueline Davies
Thee, Hannah!
Fine Arts: Mirror Image Drawing
Timeline:
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Lynn Curlee
The Bible (Patriarchs)
God King: A Story in the Days of King Hezekiah by Joanna Livingstone (Kush)
Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors by Lorene Lambert
—Chp 7 Babylon
—Chp 8 China (Shang Dynasty)
—Chp 16 The Hittites
—Chp 17 Kush
—Chp 18 Assyria
Week 3
History:
The Boston Tea Party
Paul Revere’s Ride
George vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen from Both Sides
Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George?
The Scarlet Stockings Spy by Trina Hanks Noble
Sybil’s Night Ride
The Story of the Boston Tea Party: Cornerstones of Freedom
Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak: The Outbreak of the Boston Tea Party Told from Multiple Points-of-View!
Benjamin Franklin
Science
You can’t make a move without your muscles by Paul Showers
Muscles: Our Muscular SystemSeymour Simons
Geography:
Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
The Rag Coat
Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
Fine Arts:
Upside-Down Image
Timeline:
Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet
Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors by Lorene Lambert
—-Chp 19 Cyrus the Great- The Persian Empire
Exodus 3-15
Numbers, Judges, 1 Samuel 1-7
1 Samuel 8-31, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings 1-11
The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna
Week 4
History:
Will You Sign Here, John Hancock? By Jean Fritz
The Fourth of July Story
We the People: The Constitution of the United States
The Declaration of Independence
Phoebe the Spy
Science:
Use Your Brain
The Brain: All about Our Nervous System and More!
Geography
Parrotfish and Sunken Ships: Exploring a Tropical Reef by Jim Arnosky
Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
Georgia Music by Helen Griffiths
Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood
Sam the Sea Cow by Francine Jacobs
The Sea, the Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle
Swamp
River Town by Bonnie Geisert
Minn of the Mississippi
Uncle Jed’s Barbershop
Fine Arts:
Abstract Art
Timeline
The Twins by Plutarch
1 & 2 Kings
1 & 2 Chronicles
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Depending on skill level:
The Children’s Homer by Padraic Collum
The Odyssey by Geralidne MacCraeghen
The Iliad of Homer
The Odyssey
Works and Days by Hesiod
Theogony by Hesiod
Buddha
The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching by Demi
Confucius: The Golden Rule
Week 5.
History
George Washington
We the People: The Constitution of the United States
George Washington’s Breakfast
A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy Maestro
Science:
My Five Senses (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) by Aliki
Fine Arts:
Perspective
Geography
Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C Holling
Warm as Wool
The Log Cabin Quilt
Too Many Mittens / A Good Place to Hide / The Little Mermaid Who Could Not Sing (Dover Children’s Classics)
Floating House
An Orange for Frankie
Lentil by Robert McCloskey
Timeline
Daniel 3
Alexander the Great
The Secret of Alexander’s Horse by Tony Palazzo
The Children’s Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks by Plutarch
Daniel 5
2 Chronicles 36
Ezra
Nehemiah
Herodotus and the Road to History
Archimedes and the Door to Science
Galen and the Gateway to Medicine by Jeanne Bendick
What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras?
Rome Antics
Famous Men Of Rome: History for the Thoughtful Child
Week 6
History:
How We Crossed The West: The Adventures Of Lewis And Clark
Seaman’s Journal
Year of the Horseless Carriage: 1801
Science:
What Happens to a Hamburger? by Paul Showers
Guts: Our Digestive System
Geography
B Is For Bluegrass: A Kentucky Alphabet by Mary Ann McCabe
Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky
Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys
A Band of Angels: A Story Inspired by the Jubilee Singers
Copper-toed Boots
Yonie Wondernose
The Raft
Saving Strawberry Farm
Timeline
Julius Caesar by Shakespeare
The Life of Julius Caesar by Plutarch
If You Were Me and Lived in….the Mayan Empire
Secrets in Stone : All About Maya Hieroglyphics
Rome
[(The Children’s Plutarch : Tales of the Romans)
Matthew 3, John 3, Matthew 14
1st Quarter Family Read Aloud:
Landmarks of American History Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1)
The Landing of the Pilgrims (Landmark Books)
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Justin Morgan Had a Horse
The Matchlock Gun
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
America’s Paul Revere
Johnny Tremain
Calico Bush
The Cabin Faced West
Of Courage Undaunted
farmhouseschoolhouse.com 
I’m so excited to read this that I scrolled to the bottom to tell you Thankyou!!!! For doing this ❤️❤️❤️ Ok now I’m going to go read!
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Are you covering Ancient civilizations and U.S. history at the same time? This all looks wonderful!
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We are wrapping up Ancient Civilizations the week before!!! My kids devoured that one. 🙂
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Are you still using Beautiful Feet Books for music or history? Is that where you are getting some of the history for the U.S. portion? Also, does the state they are tracing, the geography books, and the poet all coincide? Are you using the Simply Charlotte Mason materials this year? Just curious.
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We will still use Music History on Fridays. We will be finished with Ancient History before CC starts. The history is off the list I compiled above though many are BFB titles and our main history spine is from BFB. We will pick one poet per region to read that week. We will read the a couple of the geography picture books in the afternoon. Map tracing is in the morning. As I said above, we are using Simply Charlotte Mason’s Lorene Lambert books during morning time.
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Wow! You are so generous to share this very hard work you have done. Thank you!
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When do you incorporate CC memory work? Do you find you don’t have to use any of the CC texts or CDs?
Thank you,
Vasilia Forti
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I mention above that we use the memory work to introduce correlating subjects. You’ll see how it all works out once I start blogging each week 🙂
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Where do you find all of your wonderful posters and wooden toys that are seen in all of your great Instagram photos? If you have a post on that somewhere, I would love to read it!
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The majority of the posters are $3 sheets of wrapping paper from paper source. The rest are from the National Forest Service.
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Thank you so much for this post. I am so excited to get planning for cycle 3.
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It is evident this post is a labor of love, thank you so much for sharing.
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Oh Sweet Friend (may I call you that?),
I love that God has given us all different gifts and that you have chosen to share yours in this way. We are doing just this – CM with CC. I tutor for CC but really lack organization skills to lay out such a beautiful plan. Thank you for much for ministering in this way. If you ever have need for a prayer warrior or a truth speaker…..I’m that part of the body:).
Press on. Be encouraged.
Talia Nuckolls
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Thank you SO much for taking the time to put together these posts! My children are 3 and 10 months, but I gain so much inspiration for what I want our homeschool to look like from you. Have you ever written a beginners post on how to pull all of these resources together to make an overall plan? Or is there a book list or curriculum you plug things in to make sure you cover all areas? I know so little about homeschooling and am trying to learn how to even begin making a plan! Haha!
Thanks again! Your efforts are much appreciated!
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Thanks so much for sharing your time and energy and resources with the rest of us. You’re blessing many of us and inspiring us with your example!
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This is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!! Question: do you own all of these books or do you borrow them from the library?
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Thank you so much again. I love this and this will be so helpful. This coming year will be our first year joining the CC community and we are thrilled. Thank you. Many blessings
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This is wonderful! Thank you for sharing, I look forward to following along! I do have one question, how do you fit all the family read alouds in? It’s a wonderful list, but I’m worried we won’t have time to read aloud all those in 1 quarter. Do you pick and choose a couple from the list? Or do you finish the whole list? How long every day do you spend on read alouds? Thank you so much for all your beautiful ideas!
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Thank you for generously sharing what works for your family! We just completed our first year of Classical Conversations. You mention above that you use songs for math drills. Are you referring to the skip counting CC songs or have you also found songs that sing the actual tables? We do a math wheel and flash cards in addition to the skip counting songs but I just haven’t found songs for the times tables that are as catchy and as easy to learn as those skip counting songs.
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I love, love, love, love this! I have homeschooled 25 years and last year was our 1st CC year. The way you have pieced things together is just great. Thanks for sharing with us. I look forward to the weekly posts.
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Thank you sooooooo much for this! This helps my unorganized mind so much! I can’t wait to see quarter two!!!
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Is there a reason you’re using A Childs First Book of American History and Stories of America vol 1&2? Do they cover the same stories or is one just for fun reading?
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I don’t understand the book of narration and the book of centuries- are these just books. that , your kids picked one timeline card, researched it, wrote up a bit about it or painted a picture, and its is added to the book?
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I’m not sure I can say thank you enough for this list!! Not only have you laid this all out so beautifully but you’ve given me book recommendations that I would have never known about on my own! This is AMAZINGLY helpful!
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I don’t know if I can say thank you enough for this! Not only have you laid this out beautifully but you’ve also given me recommendations for books that I would have otherwise never known about! This is AMAZINGLY helpful as I’m laying out my plan!!
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Thank you very much for this! I was wondering if you have CC Year 2? That is what my family is doing at home this year. Thank you again!
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I rarely (if ever) respond to a blog post but I could not pass up the opportunity to say “Well done!” I am anxiously awaiting the weekly posts and find myself greatly inspired at the beginning of a new year. Many thanks 🙂
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Just a quick question, you are not using the BF guides for discussion or anything else, correct? I will just have mine in hand but wanted to check with you 🙂 – Thank you as always.
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Can you explain more how you are using the poets geographical location for poetry and geography?
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Thank you for sharing all of this. Do you have in a printable version?
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No I don’t but that is a good idea for next time!
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wonderful! Do you have weeks 13 through 24? This is wonderful!
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Do you have any more info on how you do your Book of Centuries? How its organized or any pictures? Love the idea!
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