Cycle 1 Week 10 Tutor Ideas for Classical Homeschooling
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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 1 material
This year, in Cycle 1, we are learning about ancient world history, biology, earth science, Latin noun endings, and English prepositions and verbs.
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 1 Week 10 Tutor and Memory Work Ideas
New Grammar
English
I like to start with English each week. I have purchased a lined notebook for each child in my class to use and I lay these out on the table before our class time begins. When the kids walk into the room, they find their notebook which shows them where to sit.
I love using these notebooks because I think it’s great for the kids to get some writing practice. During the summer, I decorate the front of each notebook with each child’s name and a fun biology design related to Cycle 1 (see below for picture). You can download a template of this biology themed notebook cover here and customize for your kids.
In these notebooks, I write each week’s English memory work on a blank page as large and neatly as I can. I use a light colored marker, so that the kids can trace my writing and easily see their own writing with their pencil.
I lay the notebooks out on the table before our class time begins. After English, I collect them and bring them back the following week. At the end of the school year, they will have all 24 weeks filled out and they can take their notebooks home with them.
Cycle 1 Week 10 Prepositions
In Cycle 1 Week 10, we learn four new prepositions. I prep the notebooks with some of the prepositions already written, a few dotted prepositions that the children can trace, and a horizontal line where I will have the children write the third preposition. See picture above. Depending on the ages of the kids in your class, you could adjust this to meet their level:
- Write three of the prepositions and have the kids write the last one.
- Write some of the prepositions normally and then write one or a few very lightly or with dots so the kids can trace.
- Have the kids write all four prepositions on their own.
- Write the prepositions but with missing letters and have the kids fill the correct letters in.
As the children are writing, I start singing the Preposition song that we have learned so far. See my video below:
I love making little jingles to the memory work we are learning. Children memorize much quicker if it is to a song, and it’s more fun too! It’s also a great way to review the material throughout the week at home. It is so easy to play the week’s songs while you’re at home or in the car. I also like playing previous week’s songs at the end of our new grammar class time to help review previous material.
I also have a video of a slowed down version of the entire Preposition song (weeks 2-12) and the hand motions here:
I encourage the children to sing the tune with me several times as they finish up writing in their notebooks. After we sing the song several times, I hand out a sticker for each child to stick to the front of their notebook. I often try to find stickers that relate to some of the material we are learning about that week.
Preposition Hand Motions
Once the kids are finished writing, I have them stand up and show them the hand motions to this week’s prepositions:
- Through: hands together and then part like going through something
- Throughout: circle around from through motion, “through” again bringing hands all the way out to sides
- To: point to where you want to go
- Toward: holding “to” motion, make two steps forward
Check out this handout for stick figure drawings of each of the hand motions for the ENTIRE Preposition song.
I encourage the children to try singing the entire preposition song while doing the hand motions with me starting from the beginning through this week. Then we play a game where the children take turns showing the rest of the children a hand motion for one of the prepositions (either from week 10 or previous weeks) and the other children try to guess which preposition the child is showing.
Timeline
I like to follow English with Timeline. Each week, I use these Timeline Cards: 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 younger 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 1 Week 10 Timeline
Before our class time begins, I put seven pieces of painters tape on the wall and I hide the cards around the room. I also put dots with dry erase marker on the back of three of the timeline cards (I don’t say anything about this to the children yet). When it’s time to start Timeline, I tell the children to look around the room and see if they can find 1 or 2 cards (depending on how many children are in my group), and to bring them back to their seats.
I sing this week’s part of the timeline song as the children are looking for the cards. I sing it myself instead of playing the music so I can control the speed of the song. See my tutor video for the tune of this week’s timeline song.
When the cards have all been found and all the children are back in their seats, I go through each timeline event in the correct order and see which child has each card.
For example, I say, “The first card is Japan’s Heian Period. What letter does “Japan” start with?”
A child answers, “It starts with the letter “J.”
I say, “Correct! Who has a card with a letter J on it?”
I instruct whoever has this card to walk up to where I have put the painters tape on the wall, and to stick the card to the first spot on the wall. We repeat this for each timeline event until all the cards are on the wall in the correct order.
Then I have the children go stand against the wall in front of the timeline cards and we go over the motions together. See my video below which includes the hand motions for this week in the timeline section:
We sing this week’s part of the timeline song and practice the motions together a few times. Then I tell the children that we are going to play the game, “Battleship.” They didn’t know this before, but on three of the timeline cards, I put a dot with dry erase marker on the back.
I tell the children that they have to guess which three timeline cards have a dot on the back. If they guess the correct three cards in just four guesses, they get to sink my ship.
I ask a volunteer to guess ONE card that they think has a dot on the back. We see if it has a dot and then I let another child guess another card. I let them keep guessing until they have guessed three cards with dots on the back in just four guesses. If they guess four times and don’t get three cards with dots on the back, I just let them start over until they do.
Then we all celebrate that they sunk my ship!
Geography
Now for geography! The children are now sitting at the table which follows the timeline part well where the kids were standing. I like to try to alternate active parts with sitting to mix things up and keep the kids engaged.
I prepare these trivium table maps ahead of time. You could always print a map too and laminate it. This is the laminator I have and use all the time. I outline the features we are discussing this week in dry erase marker, each in a different color.
Cycle 1 Week 10 Geography: Japan
This week we learn about Japan. I give each child a trivium table map and a shark keychain to point to the locations with.
First, I have the children find the blue dot which is Kyoto. Then they find Tokyo (pink dot), Mt. Fuji (green), the Sea of Japan (outlined in purple), and the Pacific Ocean (outlined in orange).
I teach the children a song to the tune of Fairest Lord Jesus. See my video below:
We sing the song together several times while pointing to the locations with the shark keychains. Then I say to the kids, “Who remembers what the green mountain is called?” Then I ask “who remembers what the purple sea is called?”, etc.
Depending on time, I give each child a few different colored dry erase markers and let them color in all the places we talked about. Or if you need to move on to the next subject because of time, you definitely don’t have to do this.
I have also found that it works best to review geography WHILE we are doing geography. The kids have their maps in front of them and it’s really easy to talk about places we have learned about previous weeks.
Math
This week in math we are skip counting the squares. I first sing a song to the tune She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain to the children while pointing to the squares on my board. See my tutor video to hear this tune.
Before class time, I make several large squares with painters tape on the floor. I make several so the children can spread out and a couple children can use each square. I tell the children to do the following as we sing the squares together:
- Walk along the edge of the square
- Jump from the outside of the square to the inside of the square
- Skip around the edge of the square
- Jump with one foot from the outside to the inside of the square
You could also give each child one of these movement cards (get these for FREE below), and have the kids switch off doing these different movements as they sing the squares.
Free Silly Voice and Movement Cards
History
We learn about Japan’s Heian period this week. I say the history sentence once NORMALLY to the kids and tell them to listen very carefully. Then I say the history sentence again but with some “silly words” added in. I tell the kids that if they hear a silly word, to raise their hand and try to tell me what the correct word should be. Here is the correct version of the history sentence:
Around 794, Japan’s emperors moved to Heian, present-day Kyoto. The Heian period ended in the twelfth century when civil war gave control to military commanders called shoguns in a feudal system where knights called samurai protected wealthy landowners.
Here is the history sentence with silly words:
Around 794, Japan’s workers moved to Heaven, present-day California. The Heian comma ended in the twelfth cookie when civil war gave control to missionary commanders called smoothies in a feudal system where kites called samurai protected wiggly landowners.
Each time I say a silly word and the kids catch it, I ask them to correct it. Then I say the history sentence from the beginning, correctly, until I get to the next silly word. This way the kids are hearing the history sentence correctly several times. I repeat this until I have said all the silly words and the whole history sentence correctly.
Latin
In Latin this week we continue to learn the 4th Declension Noun Endings. See my tutor video for the tune we sing these to.
First I sing these for the children. Then I have them all stand up and we try to sing while doing “head, shoulders, knees, and toes.” We adjust this a bit by starting off raising our arms up in the air. Here are the motions we try to do while singing each noun ending:
- us: raise arms up in the air
- ūs: put hands on head
- uī: put hands on shoulders
- um: put hands on knees
- ū: touch toes
We repeat the same motions for the plural noun endings.
Science
This week in science we learn about some different leaf shapes. I teach the kids the song to the tune of This Is My Father’s World to help them remember these.
I teach the children these hand motions that we try to do as we sing the song.
- Linear: Make both hands go down palms facing each other.
- Oval: Make an oval shape with two hands.
- Lobed: Grab lobes of ears.
- Cleft: Point to cleft in chin.
- Scalelike: put hands on cheeks like a fish.
- Needlelike: poke arm with finger.
You can also hand out a silly voice stick to each child and sing the song in different silly voices. These are large popsicle sticks that I painted and wrote some silly voices on.
Here are the silly voices I wrote on these sticks:
- Loud to soft
- Slow like a sloth
- Close eyes
- Squeaky voice
- Super smiley
- Excited
- Whisper
- Crying
- Fish/pucker face
- Pouty
- Scared
- No teeth
- Quiet to loud
- Mad
- Hold your nose
- Tongue out
- Mouth closed
You can also hand out a silly voice card (get these here) to each child. I just use silly voice sticks this week to change it up. The kids love doing this! It’s a fun way to make them laugh and keep them engaged, especially when they are getting tired.
Free Silly Voice and Movement Cards
For review time this week, we play a game called “Wiggle Worm.” On Popsicle sticks, I write all seven subjects and either “wiggle worm”, “sleepy slug,” or “busy bee.”
I put all these Popsicle sticks on the ground face down and I have the children switch off picking one. When a child picks a stick, I ask the group a review question of the subject that is written on the stick and everyone has to either wiggle like a worm, “sleep” like a slug, or fly like a busy bee as they try to answer. I let each child take a turn picking a stick.
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):
- Do you remember any parts of an animal cell or plant cell?
- What was one of the names of a Greek or Roman god we learned about?
- Do you remember the Fertile Crescent song? “The Fertile Crescent, Mediterranean Sea…”
- What are some animals that are vertebrates?
- What are some animals that are invertebrates?
Printable and Editable Cycle 1 Week 10 Tutor Plans
Cycle 1 Week 10 Memory Work Activities
Also check out the FREE activities and games that you can use at home to help your kids practice the memory work this week.
Blessings to you on this homeschooling journey!
