What’s on my Bookshelf: Resources for Foundations Cycle 1

One of my favorite things to do is go to Half Price Books and scour the clearance section for good resources to complement our studies.  Over the years, I've curated quite a library in my home, which means we have resources at our fingertips when we get curious about our Classical Conversations memory work.

In the beginning, I definitely started off scheduling reading from several of these throughout the year, but now I just have them on my shelf ready for curious readers.  Many of the books on my list here have turned out to be great resources for the Challenge years as well.

I'm going to go subject by subject and provide links for each book so you know exactly what I'm talking about.  I own all of these books, but I most likely didn't pay full price for them all!

HISTORY:  Cycle 1 Focus - Historical Empires, Peoples, and Countries (ancient through modern)

• The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
• The Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World
• The Victor Journey through the Bible
• Usborne Internet Linked Greeks 
• Usborne Internet Linked Romans (this is a great resource for Challenge students studying for the National Latin Exam which includes Roman culture)
• Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Ancient World
• August Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster (all of her books are amazing)
• Time 100 Events that Changed the World
• Life The Seven Wonders of the World
• Eyewitness Reader:  Trojan Horse
• Draw and Write Through History (Creation through Jonah, Volume 1)
• Draw and Write Through History: Greece and Rome (#2)
• Story of the World Volume 1

Readers:

• Pages of History
• Little Pilgrim's Progress (the full Pilgrim's Progress is read in Challenge II)
• Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (a Challenge A reader)
• Twice Freed by Patricia St. John
• Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld
• The Children's Homer (the Odyssey is read in Challenge IV)
• The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (a Challenge A reader)
• I am Cleopatra

I love reading the Challenge books before the kids get to Challenge.  Some think that might ruin the experience of the book, but I find that their thoughts are richer and deeper when they've had some history with a book.

GEOGRAPHY:  

• Classical Conversations Geography Trivium Table
• Compact World Atlas (the Atlas used in Challenge A)
• The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia
• Mapping the World with Art
• Draw Africa

ENGLISH:  Verbs and Prepositions

• Inside Outside Upside Down by Stan Berenstain
• Everything you need to know about English Homework

LATIN:  Noun Endings (Declensions)

• First Thousand Words in Latin - Usborne
• Olivia:  The Essential Latin Edition (we totally can't read this yet...but hope to one day)
• Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin (we might look through these to find nouns and see if we can figure out the gender, number and case of those nouns)
• Usborne Latin for Beginners

SCIENCE: Biology & Earth Science (not all of these books are written with a Biblical Worldview)

• Discover Science and Nature
• Kingfisher Nature Encyclopedia
• Eye Wonder Rocks and Minerals
• Rocks and Fossils
• Planet Earth
• The Usborne First Encyclopedia of Animals
• Ecology (Science and Experiments)
• Everything you need to know about Science homework

MATH

• Pull the Tabs Times Tables Book 
• Everything you need to know about Math homework
• Understanding Math
• Classical Conversations Math Trivium Table

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus 20:1-17 (KJV)

• Ross King has developed full songs for our CC scripture memory work.  They are awesome.

GREAT ARTISTS: (These aren't on my bookshelf yet, but I wish they were!)

• Giotto (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
• El Greco (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
• Michelangelo (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
• Classical Conversations Acts & Facts Great Artists Cycle 1 (I do have these!)

ORCHESTRA AND COMPOSERS:

• Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!
• Johann Sebastian Bach (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)
• George Handel (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)

The beauty of the Classical Conversations program is that you can do it without any of the above mentioned books.  Don't feel like this is a must have list, but rather a glimpse into resources I love and books I've collected over the years.

What are some of you favorite resources for Cycle 1?

Betsy

Betsy Strauss is an unexpected homeschooler, mother of three, who is in a relationship with a sweet man for life. She loves reading books, drinking coffee, and learning anything with her kids.