Cycle 1 Week 12 Tutor Plans 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 12 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 12 Prepositions
In Cycle 1 Week 12, we learn the last three new prepositions. I prep the notebooks with one of the prepositions already written, one dotted preposition that the children can trace, and a horizontal line where I will have the children write the first preposition. See picture above. Depending on the ages of the kids in your class, you could adjust this to meet their level:
- Write two of the prepositions and have the kids write the last one.
- Write some of the prepositions normally and then write one very lightly or with dots so the kids can trace.
- Have the kids write all three 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:
- With: ASL “with” fists together touching
- Within: palms up, turn over to palms down while moving hands forward
- Without: from “with” fists together motion, back step, pulling hands apart into “jazz hands.”
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 12 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 12 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 set up chairs in circle with the backs of the chairs facing inside the circle. It works well to set these up in the hallway so there is a little more space. I set up one less chair than children I have in class.
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.
Then I gather up the cards and take the children out into the hallway. We are going to play “musical timeline chairs.” I sing or play this week’s part of the timeline song and while the music is playing, the children WALK (not run!!) around the chairs. I usually 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 music stops, they all sit down in the chair in front of them. Remind them to be gentle and no shoving each other! Whoever is left standing, gets to put the first timeline card on the painters tape on the wall in the classroom and sits out for the next round. I take away a chair and we repeat. The child that is left standing each round gets to stick the next timeline card on the wall. I keep taking away a chair each time until there is only one child left standing!
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.
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 12 Geography: The Muslim Empire
This week we learn about the Muslim Empire. I give each child a trivium table map and a small eraser for the kids to point to the different cities with.
I tell this story to the children while going over these cities. They can point to these cities with their erasers as we talk about each one.
We were vacationing in Mecca and we went to see our friend, Tina in Medina. Then we wanted to go see our dad, so we went to Baghdad. We then decided we didn’t want anyone to know who we were, so we wore masks in Damascus. Then we decided to take a tour in Tours and we wanted to visit our friend Ria, in Syria.
I teach the children a song to the tune of Little Bunny Foo Foo. See my video below:
We sing the song together several times while pointing to the different cities. Then I say to the kids, “Who remembers what the green city is called?” Then I ask, “who remembers what the pink city is called?”, etc.
Depending on time, I give each child a few different colored dry erase markers and let them color in some of the places we have learned about so far this year. 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.
Cycle 1 Week 12 Math: Teaspoons and Tablespoons
This week in math we are learning about teaspoons and tablespoons. I first sing a song to the tune Alice the Camel to the children while showing them these liquid equivalent cards.
Before class begins, I hide a bunch of teaspoon cards around the room. I tell the children to look around and when they find three teaspoon cards, they can come up to me (or a parent) and trade those in for a tablespoon card. Once they have 2 tablespoon cards, they can trade those for a fluid ounce card. Once they have eight fluid ounce cards, they can trade those in for a cup card. The first child to receive a cup card wins! If you don’t want to print so many teaspoon cards, you can just go up to a fluid ounce.
As the children are hunting for teaspoon cards and trading them in for larger equivalent measurements, I sing or play the liquid equivalents song. Then they hear the song a lot and are reminded how many teaspoons, tablespoons, etc. are equivalent to fluid ounces and cups.
History
We learn about the Muslim Empire 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:
In 622, Islam was founded in the Arabian Peninsula by Muhammad, who worshiped Allah. Mecca is the holy city of Islam. During the 1400s, the Ottoman Turks expanded the Muslim Empire.
Here is the history sentence with silly words:
In 622, Igloo was founded in the American Peninsula by Monkey, who worshiped Allah. Mud Hole is the holy cookie of Islam. During the 1400s, the Oscar Turks expanded the Muslim Tiger.
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 learn the 5th Declension Noun Endings. See my tutor video for the tune we sing these to.
We play a game called “Sparkle” this week! I have the children all sit down in a circle. I start us off by singing the first noun ending, “-ēs,” and then the child sitting to my right sings the next noun ending. The child sitting to their right sings the next noun ending, etc. We keep doing this until all the singular and plural noun endings have been sung and the song ends. When a child sings the last plural noun ending, the child to their right who is supposed to go next, says, “Sparkle!” and that child is “out,” meaning they just go sit somewhere outside the circle. Then we start from the beginning of the Latin song and do it again. Each child sings a Latin noun ending until we sing through all of them. The child who is supposed to sing next, says “Sparkle” and now that child is out. We keep doing this until only one child (or the tutor) is left! It’s fun to see how long the tutor lasts in this game!
Science
This week in science we learn about some plant systems. I teach the kids the song to the tune of We Wish You A Merry Christmas to help them remember these.
First I encourage the kids to try to sing this song with me normally. Then I hand out a silly voice card (get these here) to each child and we rotate singing the song in the different silly voices.
Free Silly Voice and Movement Cards
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
The kids love doing this! It’s a fun way to make them laugh and keep them engaged, especially when they are getting tired. 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 song.
Free Silly Voice and Movement Cards
For review this week, we play a game called Trashketball! Get ready, the kids in your group will LOVE this game!
Before community group, I cut a bunch of papers in half and write different subjects on each one. When we get to review time, I set up 2 trashcans and a “foul line.” I use two trashcans so I can make one close for a “two-pointer” and one farther away for a “three-pointer.” I divide the children into 2 teams and let the teams switch off taking a piece of paper off the top of the pile. If the first team chooses a paper that says “history,” I ask a history-related question about something we have learned so far this year.
If the team answers the question correctly, one team member gets to crumple the paper into a ball and shoot the ball into the trashcan. They get either two or three points if they make the shot, depending on which trashcan they shoot into. I keep track of which children shoot and point totals on a piece of paper.
If the team answers the question incorrectly, the other team gets a try. If the team answers correctly, but the child misses the shot, that team still gets one point.
Teams switch off and I make sure each child gets a chance to shoot. Whichever team has the most points when all the papers run out wins!
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?
- What is a preposition and motion we have learned?
Printable and Editable Cycle 1 Week 12 Tutor Plans
Cycle 1 Week 12 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!
