Cycle 2 Week 23 Tutor Plans for Classical Homeschooling

It is Cycle 2 Week 23 and it is hard to believe how close we are to the end of the year. These last weeks always feel special as everything we have practiced begins to shine through. The children move with confidence, remember more than they realize, and make connections that show just how much they have learned since the beginning of the cycle. Watching this growth unfold is one of the sweetest parts of the year.

This week’s plans continue to focus on gentle review, meaningful repetition, and plenty of movement to keep little bodies and minds engaged. At this point in the year, familiar routines paired with joyful activities help learning feel natural and encouraging rather than rushed or overwhelming.

As always I am not affiliated with any Classical education organization. I am simply sharing what has worked well in my own classroom with little ones. I hope these Cycle 2 Week 23 tutor ideas encourage you as you enjoy these final weeks and finish the cycle with confidence and joy.

We love being part of our Classical homeschooling community. Read more about how God redirected our path from private education to homeschooling and Classical education here.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Are you new to the Classical model and want to know more about it? Keep reading below about how it’s organized, the different cycles, our community time, and MORE!

If you already know about the Classical homeschooling model and you are ready to jump to the actual tutor ideas, click HERE.

A Classical model of homeschooling

We are part of a Christ-centered homeschool program that follows the Classical model. The younger children, ages 4-12, focus on a memorization-based curriculum which acts as the groundwork of learning that is built upon in later years.

Children and their parents learn key facts across the core subject areas including history, science, English, mathematics, geography, and Latin. Tutors use fun activities, games, songs, and lots of energy to introduce the new material. The parents can then expand on that material at home throughout the week.

Cycle rotation

The material is divided into three cycles, which each last one year. The cycles continue to rotate every three years, so most children who start when they are kindergarten age, complete each cycle at least twice. This allows them to develop a deeper comprehension and grasp of the material through repetition.

Cycle 2 material

This year in Cycle 2, we’re learning about pre-Reformation to modern history, ecology, astronomy, and physics; Latin verb endings; English pronouns, adverbs, and conjunctions; skip counting, conversions, and more!

The following ideas are what I’m planning to do with the group of kids I am tutoring this year (ages 4-6). You may use these ideas if you are also tutoring in a Classical homeschooling community, or if you’re a parent who is looking for memory work ideas to use at home.

Also, you don’t have to be part of any particular Classical homeschooling group to use these ideas! These are ideas to help children learn key concepts in the core subject areas. If you are a homeschooling parent, or just a parent who wants to supplement what your kids are currently learning in school, these ideas will be helpful for you.

Community group time

Our homeschooling community has been meeting on Tuesdays. Our leader starts off the morning with everyone together in a big group setting. She typically begins that time with a devotional reading and prayer, and then continues with some announcements, celebrating birthdays, the pledge of allegiance, and anything else she wants to cover with everyone.

After this time, we split off into our different groups based on age. The tutors lead their groups into different classrooms and begin the New Grammar part of the day. This is when the tutor introduces the memory work for each core subject. Check out my post and video about how to make your own tutor board!

Cycle 2 Week 23 Tutor and Memory Work Ideas

Geography – Central Asia

This week in geography we are learning about Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Krygyzstan. Before class, I prepare our trivium table maps by outlining each of the Central Asian countries we are learning in a different color using dry erase marker. These countries are small on the map, so outlining them ahead of time helps them stand out clearly for little eyes.

To make this lesson extra fun, I give each child a small eyeball ring. We talk about how we need to use our “little eyeballs” to look very closely at the map. The eyeball rings give them something playful to use while still helping them focus.

We begin by slowly going through each country together. I point to a country and say the name, and the children repeat it after me. Since these names can be tricky to pronounce, we take our time and practice them a few times before moving on.

Once the children are familiar with the names, I teach them a simple geography song to the tune of The Muffin Man. We sing the song several times, and as we sing, the children point to each country using their eyeball rings. This combination of repetition, music, and movement helps these challenging names stick in a fun and memorable way.

English – An Adjective

This week in English we are learning the definition of an adjective: an adjective modifies a noun or pronoun by describing, qualifying, or limiting – and answers the questions what kind, how many, which, and whose.

We will learn a new song to the tune of Father Abraham to help the children remember this definition. As we sing, we will add simple motions for each of the adjective questions to help the meaning stick.

What kind? — point one finger straight out
How many? — wiggle fingers like you are counting
Which? — point to the right and then to the left
Whose? — reach one open hand out like you are asking a question

We will sing the song several times, repeating the motions each round. This movement keeps the children engaged while helping them hear and remember the definition of an adjective in a fun and active way.

Timeline

The timeline stays the same each cycle, and this week we continue with the next seven cards.

I often use these Timeline Cards in class: Set 1 (Ancient World), Set 2 (Medieval World), Set 3 (New World), and Set 4 (Modern World) I highly recommend investing in them (you should get all four sets) whether you are a tutor or a parent. I consistently use them as a tutor and also at home with my kids.

Since I have the 4-6 year old children, I like to tape the paper letter that the timeline event starts with at the top of the card. I have found these letters at my local Dollar Tree. Some of the children in my class can’t read yet, so this helps them identify the event I’m referring to.

Cycle 2 Week 23 Timeline

Before our class time begins, I put seven pieces of painters tape on the wall where the timeline cards will go.

This week for Timeline, we’re playing a fun movement game called Timeline Train! As we sing this week’s portion of the song, I’ll hold up the first card and choose a child to be the “engine.” The rest of the kids line up behind them as the “train cars.” See my tutor video for the tune of this week’s timeline song.

As we sing, the train chugs around the room to the rhythm of the timeline song. When we finish that section, the “engine” proudly hangs their card on the wall in its correct spot, and the next child becomes the new “engine” for the next event.

We’ll keep singing, chugging, and switching leaders until all seven cards are placed on the wall and the whole train is cheering, “All aboard the timeline!” 🚂

After the cards are up, we’ll stand together in front of the completed timeline and sing the week’s portion again while practicing the hand motions.

It’s a simple, joyful way to get those wiggles out while helping even the youngest kids feel part of the timeline story!

See my video below for the motions and song for this week’s timeline section:

Math

This week in math we are learning about the Distributive Law. During the week, I prepare a simple distributive law puzzle for each child. I print the puzzles on white cardstock, cut them out, and place the pieces into a small plastic bag for each child.

When it is time for math, I begin by showing the children the distributive law on my tutor board and teaching them a song to the tune of Be Careful Little Eyes What You See. You can find my video below:

History

This week in history we are learning about the Gulf War. I begin by singing the history sentence once normally and remind the children to listen very carefully. Then I sing the sentence again, but this time I add in some silly words. See my tutor video for this tune! I tell the children that if they hear a silly word, they should raise their hand and help me fix it.

Here is the correct version of this week’s history sentence:

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush sent troops to the Persian Gulf to expel Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from Kuwait during the Gulf War.

Here is the history sentence with silly words added in:

In 1990, President George H.W. Brush sent soup to the Persian Gulp to expel Iraqi leader Silly Hussein from Quilt during the Gulp core.

Each time the children catch a silly word, I pause and let them tell me what the correct word should be. Then I start the history sentence again from the beginning, saying everything correctly until I reach the next silly word. This helps the children hear the sentence accurately several times while keeping it fun and engaging.

Science: How does heat flow?

This week in science we are learning about how heat flows: radiation, conduction, and convection.

To introduce these ideas, we sit together in a circle. First, I teach the children a short song to the tune of Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone. We also practice a simple hand motion for each way heat flows so the vocabulary is easy to remember.

Here are the motions we use:

Radiation — stretch both arms out wide like sun rays
Conduction — touch one hand to the other to show heat passing through
Convection — make big circular motions with both arms

Once the children know the song and motions, I hand out silly voice cards (linked here). We sing the song several times using different silly voices such as opera voice, mouse voice, and more. Changing voices keeps the children laughing and engaged while they hear the science terms over and over again.

After everyone has a turn using a silly voice, we stand up and sing the song one more time together using our regular voices and all of the hand motions. This playful mix of music, movement, and repetition helps these science concepts stick in a fun and memorable way.

You can download my UPDATED printable Silly Voice and Action Cards for free by entering your email in the form below and I’ll send them straight to your mailbox!

Latin

This week in Latin, we’re learning the 1st Conjugation Future Perfect Tense endings: erō, eris, erit, erimus, eritis, erint. (see my tutor video for the tune we sing these to)

To make it fun and active, we’ll play a game called “Latin Hop!” We played this during week 12 and the kids loved it so I decided to pull it out again!

Before class, I’ll place six lines of painter’s tape on the floor with a Latin card at the end of each line labeled with one of the endings. The kids will line up behind the first set of tape. As we sing the Latin song together, one child will hop down the tape line to the card, saying each ending as they go:

-erō (hop), -eris (hop), -erit (hop)… all the way to -erint!

When they reach the end, the next child in line will take a turn. Once everyone has had a turn, we’ll mix it up with some silly rounds — like hopping in a robot voice, whisper voice, or marching with big stomps as we chant the endings together.

It’s a simple, energetic way to help the kids hear, say, and feel the rhythm of each Latin ending, all while having fun and burning off a little energy in the process!

For review time this week, we play Four Corners. I tape one of these fun number cards to each corner of the room. The children spread out and choose a corner to stand in.

I roll a large die. If it lands on a number 1–4, I choose a child from the matching corner and ask them a review question. If the child is unsure, I let the other children in that corner help. You could also choose to have the entire corner work together to answer the question from the beginning.

If I roll a 5, any child gets to ask me a question. The kids love this and always think carefully about what they want to ask. If I roll a 6, I get to choose any child in the room to answer a review question.

This game is simple to set up, keeps everyone moving, and is an easy way to review a variety of subjects while ending our time together on a fun and energetic note.

Rotten Egg Review Game

You could also play this fun game called Rotten Egg. This is a fun Easter review game, similar to the Stinky Feet and Lovebug review games we played during previous weeks. We played this game the last few weeks and the kids loved it!

Before community group, I cut out and laminate this Rotten Egg sign and egg cards. You can download these for free! You can also just draw a rotten egg on a white board and use sticky notes as the Easter eggs if you don’t want to print anything out.

The egg cards have either a positive number on the back or a negative number with a bug. The numbers are from -2o to +20 in increments of 5.

I split my class into teams. I ask the first child a review question from any subject and after they answer they get to pick an egg card off of the board. If they don’t know the correct answer, I let the rest of their team help. They turn the card over and see it’s a “rotten egg” card or not. A “rotten egg” card is a negative number with a rotten brown color.

Whatever point value is on the back of the card gets added or subtracted from the team’s score.

The game ends when all the egg cards are gone! Whichever team ends up with the most points wins! Or you could switch it up and have the team with the least points win.

I prefer to ask review questions on the fly instead of preparing them ahead of time. Here are some more example questions I ask (remember I have the youngest children in my group):

1. Can you name one of the countries in World War I?
2. What do you remember about the Industrial Revolution?
3. Who remembers one of the states of matter?
4. What is one purpose of a sentence?
5. What is one form of energy?

Presidents & Timeline Cards!

Week 24 is just around the corner, and that means we’re diving into the U.S. Presidents! If you want to get a jump start before your community day, now is the perfect time to start playing some presidents games at home and thinking ahead about your timeline cards. By the time week 24 rolls around, your kids will already be recognizing faces and picking up facts without even realizing they’re studying!

Personalized Student Timeline Cards

One of my favorite things to do during week 24 is surprise the kids with personalized timeline cards — I make one for each child in my class, write a few special things about them on the back, laminate them, and tape them up on the wall before class begins just like we do with our regular timeline cards throughout the year.

The moment the kids walk in and spot their own picture on the timeline wall? Priceless. I let them find their card, pull it off the wall, and keep it as a little gift from me. It makes such a sweet end-of-year memory!

I would love to make one for your child or your whole class! I personalize these cards and can create a set just for your group. There is also a canva template option if you would prefer to make your own cards. Check these out more in my shop linked below!

Presidents Games

And don’t wait until week 24 to break these out — start playing now! Here are three games our family has loved for learning the names, faces, and facts of our nation’s leaders:

Presidents Showdown — Think of this as a fast-paced face-off! Players are each dealt a stack of president cards featuring key facts like years in office, age at inauguration, executive orders signed, and vetoes used. On each turn, you roll the custom die to determine the category, then flip your top card and compare. Highest number wins the round — and if there’s a tie, those cards stay in the middle and the next winner takes them all!

Presidents Memory Card Game — A classic memory match game with a presidential twist! Lay all the cards face down and take turns flipping two at a time to find matching pairs. Simple to learn, great for all ages, and a wonderful way to get those presidential faces into long-term memory.

Presidents Bingo — This one is always a hit! The set includes 20 unique bingo cards plus caller cards featuring all 47 presidents. An older sibling or parent draws a president at random, players mark their boards, and the first to get five in a row wins. So much fun — and they won’t even realize how much they’re learning!

Composers and Orchestra in Fine Arts

Now that we’re in the final stretch of Cycle 2, Fine Arts shifts to Composers and Orchestra, and it’s such a peaceful and beautiful way to end the year. Over six weeks, the children are introduced to great composers, learn to recognize the four instrument families, and begin to hear the unique styles that make each composer memorable.

In our community, this time is simple and engaging—one composer at a time, a featured piece to listen to, a few meaningful takeaways about their life and music, and hands-on ways to connect what they’re hearing to real instruments.

If you’d like to see exactly how we structure these weeks (both in community and at home), I’ve shared all the details in this post, along with resources that make planning easy. I also share:

✨ Three Great Composers Mini Books – Beethoven, Brahms, and Dvořák
Each 11-page mini book introduces one composer with short, kid-friendly text, listening prompts, and interactive pages that help children connect to the music in a personal way. They’re perfect for morning basket time, quiet table work, or reinforcing what your child learned on community day.

✨ Instruments of the Orchestra Activity Book
With 38 hands-on activities, this book walks children through the four instrument families—strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion—helping them recognize instruments, understand their sounds, and see how they fit together in the orchestra.

✨ Instruments of the Orchestra UNO Card Game
This fun, family-style card game turns instrument review into an exciting kitchen-table activity. Kids practice recognizing instruments and families while playing a game they already love.

✨ FREE Instrument Family Posters
A bright, kid-friendly set of four printable posters featuring the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion families. They’re perfect for hanging in your homeschool space or keeping nearby during music study to reinforce what children are hearing and learning.

Together, these tools make composer study and orchestra appreciation engaging, memorable, and easy to weave into your week. 🎶

Cycle 2 Weeks 13-24 Review Activity Book

I’m excited to share with you about my Weeks 13-24 Review Activity Book! I designed it to help kids review, connect, and celebrate everything they’ve learned in the second half of Cycle 2 — from geography and history to science, math, Latin, English, and even the timeline.

Inside, you’ll find 50 engaging activities that make review time interactive and joyful. Each page reinforces memory work while encouraging deeper connections and confidence. Whether you use it during a mid-cycle break, after you complete cycle 2, or as part of your regular review time, it’s an easy, low-prep way to keep learning fresh and fun.

You can find the Cycle 2 Weeks 13-24 Review Activity Book in my shop below! I also have a Cycle 2 Weeks 1-12 Review Activity book that review the material from the first have of Cycle 2.

Cycle 2 Historyopoly

One of our favorite ways to review history is with Cycle 2 Historyopoly, a brand new game I created this year.

It is modeled after Monopoly but uses all of the Cycle 2 history sentences. The kids love rolling dice, moving around the board, and reviewing history facts as we play. It turns review into something exciting and fresh, and we will definitely be pulling it out again many more times this year. You can grab this NEW game below!

Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Book

If you’re looking for a fun way to review the memory work at home with your kids this year, check out our NEW Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Book. I created this notebook to give kids a fun way to practice their memory work, without adding extra prep for mom, dad, or grandma.

Inside, there’s one short activity for each subject for all 24 weeks of Cycle 2. When we do geography on Monday, they do the geography activity for that week. When we get to Thursday, they do the science page. It’s so easy to match to whatever we’re focusing on that day.

I love that it keeps things simple and fun. It’s NOW available in digital and printed form, and there is a sample page you can take a peek at if you would like too! Check it out below!

Cycle 2 History and Science Placemats

These brand-new Cycle 2 History and Science Placemats are designed to make memory work fun and interactive for kids, whether you’re using them alongside Classical Conversations or on their own as a way to dive deeper into history and science.

Each placemat is filled with colorful visuals and simple explanations that bring the topics to life. Just print, laminate, and use them again and again during meals and review time. They’re an easy, no-prep way to dive deeper into the history and science topics with your kids. Get your set for Weeks 19-24 below. The other three quarters are also available HERE! 

Cycle 2 Geography Passport

We also have a fun addition for geography review — the Cycle 2 Geography Passport! Whether you’re a tutor or a homeschool parent, this printable resource helps kids track their Classical Conversations Cycle 2 geography week by week with full-color maps and matching cut-and-glue stamps.

Each page highlights that week’s memory work with clearly labeled locations, making it easy for young learners to connect what they’re memorizing with what they see on the map. Kids love collecting stamps as they “travel” through the world. You can also print these stamps on these sticky circular labels which makes it even more fun!

You can use the Geography Passport at home with your own children, or print it out for use in class. A group license option is available if you’d like to use it with your tutoring class or community group.

It pairs perfectly with the Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Book, giving your students or children a hands-on, engaging way to practice their memory work all year long. If you’d like both resources, be sure to check out the bundle option available in my shop!

Memory Work Meadowland

Another one of our favorite ways to review is with fun, themed board games. I created a set of Candyland-style games that make memory work review exciting and interactive for kids. These games can be used with any cycle and are a great way to practice all of the memory work subjects together.

We’ve been playing Memory Work Meadowland, a Spring/Easter-themed review game. It works just like Candyland, but with the addition of memory work review built in. Players move along the board by drawing cards with color blocks or picture spaces. Then they answer a review question that matches the space they land on. Correct answers let them stay put, but if they miss, they move back. The game also includes fun twists with slides and ladders to keep things lively. The first player to reach the church wins!

The best part is that I now have a fall version, a winter version, and a spring version, so you can rotate them throughout the school year. You can grab each one individually, or get the seasonal bundle with all three at a special price.

These games have been such a hit in our home. They are perfect for community review days, family game nights, or just a fun way to end your homeschool week. You can find them all in my shop below.

Printable and Editable Cycle 2 Week 23 Tutor Plans

Here is a printable EDITABLE template of these Cycle 2 Week 23 Tutor Plans. Here is a blank template too! If you want the plans as they are, here is a PDF version (filled out) and a PDF version (blank).

Cycle 2 Week 23 Memory Work Games

Also check out the FREE activities and games that you can use at home to help your kids practice the memory work this week.

I hope this helps give you some ideas and songs to use whether you are a tutor or a parent. Please comment below if you have any questions about anything.

Blessings to you on this homeschooling journey!