Cycle 1 Literature List: Picture Book and Read Aloud list

It's no secret that I love books.  I love learning about people, places and things from real books.  When we went through Cycle 1 three years ago, I posted this list that went along with books from either Five in a Row or Homeschool Share year:
Original Cycle 1 reading list (from our first time through Cycle 1)

Here's our current one (with a craft list coming soon)
Cycle 1 Booklist (Round Two)

Cycle 1 Reading List for Year: ________________________________

Week	Picture Book	Read Aloud/Chapter Book	Notes
1	10 Commandments The Littlest Mountain by Barb Rosenstock	10 Commandments Sarah and Paul Go to the Museum by Derek Prime
2	Egypt Rookie Read About Geography: Nile River By Allan Fowler	Egypt Seeker of Knowledge: The Man who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphics by James Rumford
3	Greek/Roman gods Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman	Greece Our Little Spartan Cousin  by Julia Darrow Cowles	-   Find  Hermes/Mercury connection in ‘Norman’ -   ‘Spartan Cousin’ $1.99 Kindle Edition
4	Greece Aesop for Children illustrated by Milo Winter	Greece Growing Up in Ancient Greece by Chelepi
5	Rome Ottavia e I Gatti di Roma by Claudia Cerulli	Rome Our Little Roman Cousin by Julia Darrow Cowles	- ‘Roman Cousin’ $1.99 Kindle
6	Rome Pompeii: Burned Alive by Edith Davis	Rome Imagination Station: Doomsday in Pompeii by Herring/McCusker
7	India Can Brown Eyes be Made Blue?  MacKenzie	India The Hidden Jewel by Dave and Neta Jackson	- Both books this week focusing on Missionary to India: Amy Carmichael.
8	India The Story of Little Babaji by Bannerman	India The Story of Lord Clive by Lang and Orr	- ‘Lord Clive’ $2.99 Kindle
9	China The Empty Pot by Demi Growing up in Ancient China by Teague	China The Great Wall of China by Fisher Jr. World Explorers: Marco Polo by Graves
10	Japan A Pair of Red Clogs by Matsuno	Japan The Japanese Twins by Perkins	- ‘Twins’ free on Kindle
11	Byzantine Empire/Middle East The Very First Christmas by Meier	Crusades Stories from the Crusades by Kelman
12	Middle East Day of Ahmed’s Secret by Heidi	Middle East Arabs in the Golden Age by Moktefi

Week	Picture Book	Read Aloud/Chapter Book	Notes
13	Africa Moon Shines Down by Margaret Wise Brown	Africa Stories from Africa by Inquisicorp
14	Africa Mosquitoes buzz in Peoples Ears by By Allan Fowler	Africa Africa is my Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger
15	Africa/Explorers David Livingstone: Courageous Explorer by: Meloche	Africa/Explorers Story of David Livingstone by Golding	-   ‘Story of David..’ Kindle .99 c
16	Mexico Hill of Fire by Lewis	Mexico Guide to Mexico by Highlights
17	Mexico Say Hola to Spanish by Elya	Aztecs Secret Agent Jack Stalwart: The Quest for Aztec Gold by Hunt
18	Rome Pompeii: Burned Alive by Edith Davis	Rome Imagination Station: Doomsday in Pompeii by Herring/McCusker
19	North American Indians North American Indians  Gorsline	North American Indians Vostaas by Buffalo
20	North American Indians Grandmother’s Adobe Dollhouse by Smith	North American Indians Cities in the Sand by Warren
21	Canada Very Last First Time by Andrews	Canada Kids Book of Canadian Explorers by Owens
22	Canada Good Night by Canada by Gamble	Canada Paddle to the Sea by Holling
23	South America Nate Saint: Heavenbound by Meloche	South America The Fate of the Yellow Wood Bee by Jackson
24	Napoleon/South America Biblioburro by Winter	Napoleon/South America The Story of Napoleon by Marshall

6 Step History and People/Places History Sheets

So this year we will begin our 5th year at Classical Conversations.  It will also be our eldest son's 2nd time through Cycle 1.  He'll have one more pass through this Cycle before he goes to Challenge.  I love that he's getting layer upon layer of learning this History.

I love when my kiddos make connections with their History sentences, literature, the Bible, etc.

However, my eldest son, (let's just call him A) is not so much into arts-y/craft-y stuff.  He has always been a 'spewing out what he knows' kind of guy or 'reading all he can get his hands on a topic' kind of dude.

So I put together this to help him (and me) track his History learning.  We do not have a History Curriculum per se.  We use CC Cycle 1 History sentences as our 'spine'.  I then have a gazillion lot of supporting books like 'Story of the World', 'Pages of History', Usborne Encycolpedia's and a great many other non-fiction books.  On top of that, I have selected a picture book and chapter book/read aloud for my children to go along with each History sentence.  I love to read, A loves to read, my two littles love to be read to....this works for us.  See our History Picture books and Read Alouds here.

Without further ado here is 6 Step History and the 'People/Places' sheets.  A will fill these out each week.  And, he'll have fun or else....kidding on that one...hahhaha.  I think he'll like having it spiral bound and not fishing for Notebook pages or Narration sheets.  At the end of the year he'll have a great record of what he has learned in History --History---History--History:)

6 Step History

People-Places History Pages

History Enrichment Week 19: NATO

Links:

http://www.ducksters.com/history/cold_war/communism.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/world/nato/newsid_2749000/2749557.stm

http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/na/NATO

http://www.wartgames.com/themes/world/NATO.html

Words to look up: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/allies

-          Treaty

-          Organization

-          Allies

-          Alliance

-          Communism

Activities

-          Directions: N, S, E, W

-          Oceans: Arctic, Indian, Atlantic and Pacific ‘tune to Ring around the rosie’

-          Color NATO countries blue and Communist (former) RED (use the links above)

-          http://www.clickandlearn.cc/FreeBlacklineMaps/GIFFiles/Continents2WhiteOnly.gif

-          http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/world.html

-          Color the Nato flag: http://flagartist.com/art/svg/flags/nato-black-white-line-flag-scallywag-flag-svg/
-      Watch Torchlighters 'Richard Wurmbrand' (available on Amazon Instant) and discuss and do some of the free printables found on resources page.   http://www.torchlighters.org/index.php/resources/guides/

Books:

Breaking Stalin’s Nose

Red Kite, Blue Kite

Rechenka’s Eggs

*Raggedy Andy (very loosely mentioned on Homeschool Share)

CC Cycle 3 History Enrichment Pages - Part 2

I posted the first 6 weeks printables earlier in the Summer.  You can find them here: CC-cycle-3-history-enrichment-weeks-1-6.html

Here are Weeks 7-12:

Week 7 - War of 1812, Scribd link History-Cycle-3-Week-7-Activity-Page

Week 8 - Henry Clay & Missouri Compromise, Scribd link History-Cycle-3-Week-8-Activity-Page

Week 9 - Compromise of 1850, Scribd link History-Cycle-3-Week-9-Activity-Page

Week 10 - President Polk & US Westward Expansion, Scribd link History-Cycle-3-Week-10-Activity-Page

Week 11 - Abraham Lincoln & Civil War, Scribd link HIstory-Cycle-3-Week-11-Activity-Page

Week 12 - 14th Amendment, Scribd link HIstory-Cycle-3-Week-12-Activity-Page

Blessings!

**Want to see what we plan on reading?  Here is a link to our Literature list for Weeks 1-12 Our Reading List Weeks 1-12**

Do you want your kids to.....

- know what they believe?
- know why they believe what they believe?
- know how to say what they believe?
- know how to teach others or share with others what they believe?
- know how to defend what they believe?  

You may answer 'yes' and those may be the end goals of what you have in mind for your child.  I know I sure want that for my trio.  

I believe you can't get to the 'know how to defend what they believe' part unless you have the 'know what they believe' part.  

So that's sounds easy enough, right?  Just teach my kids what they believe. Well, when you have children it doesn't always come natural to us Parents the exact way of going about it.


     ****Deuteronomy 6:7New King James Version (NKJV)⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.*****

One way to teach them diligently to your children is through a catechism.  Yup, I said it...a catechism.  Intoxicated on life blog summarizes a catechism as:

 "Catechism is a tool for teaching important information using a question and answer format. That’s pretty much it. There are some secular uses of catechism, but most are for religious purposes. In fact, many parents catechize informally all the time and don’t realize it."

 I encourage you to read the entire blog post about catechisms:  http://www.intoxicatedonlife.com/2014/01/19/teaching-catechism/

So if a catechism helps children to learn information about what they believe and why---then, how can I do this in my family?

If you are a part of my home church, there is already a 'catechism' program, activity in place known as JBQ (Junior Bible Quiz).  Yes, we participate in it and this post is all about sharing how JBQ can help a family in teaching a child to 'know what they believe'. 

In all honesty, my daughter did not buzz in at an official meet once last year.   But, that doesn't mean that she didn't learn.  She did learn....a lot!  

While JBQ has a quiz aspect and a commitment to boot, I believe the benefits far outweigh the time you and your family spend in learning the questions and answers.

I assert that in order to truly have a fun time 'quizzing' one must first know the content (q & a's). 

Last year, I took a sideline Parent approach.  I was too busy or that's what I told myself.  After seeing how my children were truly 'hiding God's Word in their heart' AND learning key information about our beliefs, I decided that this year I would make it a point to invest time with my children in learning the JBQ 10 and 20 point questions.

The main time commitments include:

- JBQ practice on Sunday mornings at 9:00am (45 minutes) from about September-February.  (about 20 practices in total)

- One JBQ meet a month on Saturdays (Oct, Nov, Jan, Feb) from about 9am - noon.

- *Your time in learning and reading the questions and answers.  This can be achieved by simply reading them to your child, asking them questions, listening to the JBQ CD, reading the Bible stories that pertain to the questions.  

Here are some videos from my kids that will show the kinds of questions that are asked.:  (The volume is horribly low so I wrote the Q&A's.)

 Middle Sis: Question- What is the Bible?  The Bible is the inspired Word of God and His revelation to all people of himself and his plan of salvation. (to the tune of Yankee Doodle)

Little Bro: Who was the first man and first woman? Adam and Eve; How many books are in the Bible? 66, What are the two divisions of the Bible?  The New Testament and the Old Testament.

 Big Bro: What do we mean when we say the Bible is our authoritative rule of faith and conduct?  The Bible has the right to command us in what we believe and what we do.

********************************

My kids  represent all types of 'learners' and levels.  Our youngest will be in the Pee Wee league and will only learn 10 point questions.  Our daughter will be in the Beginners and learn 10 points and a few 20 points.  Our oldest will learn all 10 points and 20 points.   They also respond to the actual competition part in different ways, too--from competitive to shy 'non buzzer'. ;)  

This was taken today just hanging out eating ice cream and during the JBQ season break.  Meaning we have not actively been learning or reviewing the JBQ material during the Summer.  But, it is indicative to what they have remembered already.  (Our youngest learned from hearing his siblings and being 'taught' by his siblings and Mama.)

So this year, I ask that you pray and talk to your Spouse about whether or not to be a part of JBQ this season.  It may or not be the time.  But, if it is.....I say go for it.  Your kids will learn and I guarantee you will too.  (Questions??  Message me or Lisa G. by email or facebook or text or grab me in the hall at Church)




JBQ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7bHpkPkKLA