What’s on My Bookshelf: Resources for Cycle 2 Foundations
I can't believe we're heading into our third round of Cycle 2 of Classical Conversations. Sadly it will be our last, as my youngest only has two years of foundations left! I've loved gathering Cycle 2 resources in my home library to supplement our study throughout the year. None of these books are required to complete a successful year studying with Classical Conversations, and many of them you can find at your local library. I just love collecting books as we find great resources along the way, and we loving having the resources at our fingertips when curiosity arises.
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Cycle 2 Resources -
Cycle 2 may be my favorite cycle because it was my first exposure to CC memory work. I love the world history, the European geography, and the medieval writing. It is such a rich year of study, and I can't wait to dive back into some of these books again!
History:
In Cycle 2, the focus is on world history - Pre-Reformation to Modern.
- The Story of the World (Vol 2): The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance - and Audio
- The Story of the World (Vol. 3): Early Modern Times and Audio
- 100 Events that Changed the World
- Children's World Cookbook
- Monks and Mystics: Chronicles of the Medieval Church
- Courage and Conviction: Chronicles of the Reformation Church
- The Industrial Revolution for Kids
- World War I for Kids
- World War II for Kids
- World War II: Fighting For Freedom
Readers:
- Historical Fiction
- The Ballad of the White Horse
- The Hawk that Dare not Hunt by Day
- Adam of the Road
- Castle Diary
- The Door in the Wall (a Challenge A reader)
- Crispin: The Cross of Lead (a Challenge A reader)
- The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow
- Number the Stars (a Challenge A reader)
- Wings Like a Dove: The Courage of Queen Jeanne D'Albret
- Great Biographies from the Time Period:
- Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angel's Den (The Hiding Place is read in Challenge B, but this is a great introductory reader)
- George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans
- C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller
- Brother Andrew: God's Secret Agent
- Jacob DeShazer: Forgive Your Enemies
- The Story of Eli Whitney
- Who was Leonardo da Vinci?
- Other British Literature that would be fun to introduce:
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (a Challenge A reader)
- The Magician's Nephew (a Challenge A reader)
- Jane Eyre (Treasure of Illustrated Classics) (the full version is read in Challenge II)
- Alice in Wonderland (a Challenge II reader)
- Gulliver's Travels (Treasure of Illustrated Classics) ( the full version is read in Challenge II)
- The Secret Garden (a Challenge A reader)
- The Princess and the Goblin
- Any Shakespeare introductions -
Science:
The focus for Science in Cycle 2 is Ecology, Astronomy, and Physical Science.
Everything You Need to Know about Science Homework
- Discover Science and Nature
- The Kingfisher Illustrated Nature Encyclopedia
- The Ecology Book
- The New Astronomy Book
- There's No Place Like Space
- Energy (DK See for Yourself)
- Who was Isaac Newton?
- Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist, and Teacher (Sower Series)
Latin:
Cycle 2's focus in Latin is on Conjugation Endings.
- Check out my Present Stem worksheets, and Perfect Stem worksheets for your foundations student. I'll print a bunch of sheets and spiral them so that we can have weeks of conjugating fun!
- If you want more, check out my Verb Charts...but these are targeted more for the Challenge age students, but would be awesome if moms wanted to dig deeper.
- We still love the First Thousand Words in Latin:
-
Fairy Tales in Latin: Fabulae Mirabiles (I love this one...it's really a fun way to play with reading Latin)
-
501 Latin Verbs (this is a fun resource to find the endings your memorizing, and to realize that there is much more to Verbs than what we learn in Foundations!)
English:
The focus for the English memory work is pronouns, adverbs, and conjunctions.
- Schoolhouse Rock DVDs (I love the songs...so much fun!)
- I don't own any of these books, but I just found Ruth Heller and her books look fabulous! I want them all. Her name will be on my hunting book list:
Math
- Pull the Tabs Times Tables Book
- Everything you need to know about Math homework
- Understanding Math
- Classical Conversations Math Trivium Table
GEOGRAPHY:
- Classical Conversations Geography Trivium Table
- Compact World Atlas (the Atlas used in Challenge A)
- The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia
- Mapping the World with Art
SCRIPTURE:
Ephesians 6 (KJV)
- Ross King has developed full songs for our CC scripture memory work. They are awesome.
GREAT ARTISTS:
- Rembrandt (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
- Claude Monet (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists)
- Monet Paints a Day
- Edgar Degas (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists)
- Classical Conversations Acts & Facts Great Artists Cycle 2
- The Annotated Mona Lisa (a Challenge II resource)
ORCHESTRA AND COMPOSERS:
- Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!
- Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells
- The Young Brahms
- SQUILT Vol 2: Classical Era (features Beethoven)
- SQUILT Vol 3: Romantic Era (features Brahms)
- Classical Music for Dummies (a Challenge II text book)
What are some of your favorite Cycle 2 resources?
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.
Thank you so much for the timely post! We finished our last bit of the year today, so I’m ready to gather Cycle 2 books as well. A bookstore yep was on our to-do list while the older kids take Blue Book exams, and now I have a list to search from 🙂
You’re welcome! The book hunts are fun for me, and I always love having options to look for. Congrats on finishing!
Hi!
Thank you for your list. We will be starting our first year of CC this fall I will have 3 in foundations and one in essentials. Can you tell me, with the books you have listed would you recommend me reading them to my kids or are these books ment for the older ones to read by themselves. Does that make sense? Thanks
~Danielle
Danielle! Congrats on starting CC in the fall. Most of the books on my list are there as resources for us when we’re curious about something we’re memorizing. My kids do read some of the easier biographies by themselves like the “Who Was” series, but most of the time we read things together. Any of the books that I have listed as Challenge A readers would make great read alouds for the whole family. It won’t ruin their Challenge A experience if they’re already familiar with the stories, it will actually only make for better conversations when they get there. I also think it depends on the type of readers your children are. I have one that loves to read and one that doesn’t. For my veracious reader, I might encourage her to read some of the other books on this list, but I won’t expect it from my struggling reader. I do, however, make sure I have plenty of great books on audible for her to listen to so that she is soaked in literature. I hope you have a wonderful year, and I hope this helps!
Did you go out and buy these are slowly accumulate them? This will be my youngest child’s last time through Cycle 2 also. sniff, sniff….
I’ve slowly accumulated them over time. It’s crazy to move on past foundations, but we’ve used many of these same resources in the Challenge years. Enjoy your last pass through Cycle 2!
I would love to add grammarland by Nesbit. It’s an oldie and free on Livrivox. So much charm 😉 Thank you for the inspiration.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll check it out!
Thank you for the great list! Is there a PDF for printing?
No! That’s a great idea though. I’ll have to make one!