Cycle 1 Week 14 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 14 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 14 English
In Cycle 1 Week 14, we learn the definition of a helping verb. Next week, the children will begin learning three specific helping verbs each for the next week five weeks (through week 19). I prep the notebooks with the definition of a helping verb already written with a horizontal line where I will have the children write “helping verb” at the beginning. See picture above. Depending on the ages of the kids in your class, you could adjust this to meet their level:
- Write the definition and write “helping verb” very lightly or with dots so the children can trace.
- Let the children write the entire definition on their own if they are older and able.
- Write out the entire definition, but leave spaces in place of the “H” in helping and the “V” in verb, and let the children fill in those letters.
- Write the beginning of the definition for the children and let them write the rest of it.
As the children are writing, I start singing the definition of a helping verb to the tune of This Old Man. See my video below. We will keep adding to this song with the specific helping verbs each week through week 19.
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 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.
Compound Prepositions Review
Once the kids are finished writing, I have them stand up and we quickly review the compound preposition hand motions that they learned last week. We sing the compound preposition song together with the hand motions one or two times.
I also have the kids sing and do the hand motions to the entire preposition song that we worked on last semester. I plan to have them review this once each week for the remainder of the year. See my video of a slowed down version of the entire Preposition song (weeks 2-12) and the hand motions below:
Also, check out this handout for stick figure drawings of each of the hand motions for the ENTIRE Preposition song if you want a refresher.
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 14 Timeline: “The Bomb Game!”
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. I put these spot markers against the wall in front of each timeline card so it’s clear where each child should stand. 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 “bomb game.” They didn’t know this before, but on three of the timeline cards, I put a star sticker on the back.
I give each child a chance to pick a card (hoping it won’t have a bomb or a star on the back of it). If it is a “bomb”, I enthusiastically say, “oh no it’s a bomb, take cover,” and I tell the children to lay down on the ground and cover their heads just for fun. Then I turn that card around and tape it back up in the correct spot on the wall. We sing the timeline events together from this week’s first event through the event on that card.
Then I have another child come pick a card. We turn it over and see if it’s a bomb or not. Then we sing this week’s part of the timeline song again through the event of the card picked. I let the children keep switching off picking cards until all three “bomb” cards have been chosen. Each time, we sing through this week’s part of the timeline song through the event of the card chosen.
This is a fun way for the kids to sing through the different events several times while anticipating whether the card is a “bomb” card or not. When all three “bomb” cards are chosen, you can have the children all do a few push ups or just move on to the next subject.
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 14 Geography: Ancient Africa
This week we learn about Ancient Africa. I give each child a trivium table map and an African animal eraser (I found these at the Dollar Tree) for the children to point to the different locations with.
I teach the children a song to the tune of A Ram Sam Sam to help them learn these locations. See my video below:
We sing the song together several times while pointing to the different locations. Then I say to the kids, “Who remembers what the purple city is called?” Then I ask, “who remembers what the orange country 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.
Learning the Countries of Africa
We are LOVING learning the countries of Africa as part of the geography this second semester. I made this fun Africa map that we have on our wall by our kitchen table with all the countries made out of felt.


My girls love taking the countries off and on as we learn their names and locations. Download a paper map of Africa with all the countries labeled here.

I have the patterns for all the African countries, as well as a tutorial about how to make this kind of map in my Etsy shop.
My daughter is also enjoying putting together this Africa puzzle. She absolutely loves puzzles and it’s a great way that I can spend some time with her while the younger kids nap. I especially love these Geo Puzzles because the pieces are the actual shapes of the countries. They have puzzles for the other parts of the world as well! We have also enjoyed putting together South America this year.


We also made up a fun song to help us learn all of these African countries!
Cycle 1 Week 14 Math: Linear Equivalents
This week in math we are learning about linear equivalents. I bring a tape measure in and show the children how 2.54 cm = 1 inch. A centimeter is about the size of their pinky. I also talk to them about how 1 foot is about the size of a man’s foot.
Then, I teach the children a song to the tune He’s a Jolly Good Fellow to help them remember these. See my video below:
I have the children take tiny steps and then bigger and bigger steps as we sing the song together. We also start out singing in a quiet voice and then get louder and louder as our steps get bigger and bigger.
History
We learn about trade in Africa 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 700, Ghana was known as "the land of gold." The Mali nation took control of the gold trade in 1240 and established Timbuktu as a center of trade, culture, and learning. By the mid-1400s, the wealthy and powerful Songhai Empire controlled trade in western Africa.
Here is the history sentence with silly words:
In 700, Banana was known as "the Candyland of gold." The Mali station took control of the old trade in 1240 and established Kalamazoo as a center of trade, culture, and burping. By the mid-1400s, the wealthy and spoonful Songhai Empire controlled lemonade in western Africa.
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 about the noun cases. We sing these to the tune Are You Sleeping Brother John. See my video below:
I have the children sit in a circle and we play “hot potato” as we sing the song (except with my stuffed elephant since in Africa there are lots of elephants. The children toss the elephant to the person next to them as we sing and whoever is holding the elephant when the song ends has to turn around so they are sitting backwards.
They keep participating in the hot potato game, they just have to sit backwards. We keep playing until all the children are sitting backwards. Then I have the children hold hands and all try to stand up at the same time, just for fun!
If you want to spice it up even more, you could hand out a silly voice card to each child and switch off singing the song in the different silly voices. You can download these silly voice cards for FREE below!
Free Silly Voice and Movement Cards
You can also make these silly voice sticks. 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
Science
This week in science we learn about three kinds of rock. During my prep time the week before, I cut out these different examples of sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. I laminate them so I can use them again in the future and put velcro dots on the back of each one. I also put a blue star sticker on the back of all the sedimentary rocks, a yellow star sticker on the back of all the metamorphic rocks, and a green star sticker on the back of all the igneous rocks so we can identify them.

Before class time begins, I hide these rocks around the room. If you use my printable linked here, there are six examples of each type of rock, so eighteen different rocks. I bring a piece of poster board in that I hang up on the wall with three columns (one for each type of rock). The other side of the velcro dots go on this board so that the children can easily stick their rocks to the correct spot. I make sure to put the corresponding color star sticker next to each type of rock on my poster board so it’s clear which column the rocks should go in.
When it’s time for science, I show the children the three types of rocks on my tutor board and explain how each type is formed. These Science cards are a great resource for a concise and accurate explanation of the science each week.
- Sedimentary: form when particles of sand, soil, dead organisms, and rock fragments are compressed and solidified through chemical processes.
- These rocks often have visible layers and may contain fossils.
- Metamorphic: forms when existing rocks are transformed by intense heat, pressure, or chemical processes, altering their structure, texture, or mineral composition without melting.
- Igneous: forms when magma cools and solidifies as it rises toward the Earth’s surface during volcanic activity.
Then I tell the children that there are these rocks hidden around the room. When they find one, they need to look on the back of it, see what color sticker is there, and stick it in the correct column on my poster board. We do this until all eighteen rocks are found and stuck onto the poster board in the correct columns.
I ask the children what they notice about the rocks. How do the different types of rocks look different than each other?
I teach the children the song to the tune of Peace Like a River to help them remember these and we sing it together several times. See my video below:
For review this week, we play Jenga! I write either a review question or a silly question on some of the jenga blocks. For example on one of the blocks I might write: “Math” and on another block I might write, “Animal” (meaning if you could be any animal, which would you choose?” I think it’s fun for the children to mix in some silly questions like this. I also keep the subject questions general so I can reuse this game in different cycles and during different weeks. Here are some silly question ideas:
- If you could have any animal as a pet, even a dinosaur or an elephant, what would you pick?
- Would you rather have a tail like a monkey or wings like a bird? Why?
- What would you do if your shoes could talk to you?
- If you were as small as a bug, where would you go first?
- What if spaghetti could grow on trees—would you climb them or eat them?
- If your favorite toy could come alive, what would it say to you?
- Would you rather have marshmallow hands or chocolate feet?
- If you could give yourself a superhero name, what would it be? What’s your superpower?
- What do you think the moon tastes like?
- If you could wear pajamas to school every day, would you? Why or why not?
- What would happen if a giraffe walked into your room?
- If you could make a new holiday, what would it be, and how would we celebrate it?
- If you could make a new flavor of ice cream, what would it taste like?
- What would you do if a penguin showed up at your house?

I have the children gather around the Jenga tower and let them rotate pulling out a block without touching any of the other blocks. Then, if there is a question on the block, they get to try to answer it!
We keep playing until the tower falls down!
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 what 8 fluid ounces is equal to?
- What is one part of the geosphere that you remember from last week?
- The Kush mined gold along what river?
- What is a location in Western Africa that we learned about last week?
- Do you remember any of the compound prepositions?
- When we sing the noun cases song, what word comes after “nominative…”?
Printable and Editable Cycle 1 Week 14 Tutor Plans

Cycle 1 Week 14 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!
Thank you Shannon for this wonderful idea! Would you consider selling completed felt maps out of your Etsy shop? I would love one, but making one is not a realistic plan for me right now.
One day I would love to get to the point where I could do that. 🙂
Hi Shannon,
Thank you so much for your videos and tutor notes. I am a tutor for the littles and these help me so much in my planning! Have a blessed week 🙂
I’m so glad it’s been helpful!