Cycle 1 Week 9 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 9 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 9 Prepositions
In Cycle 1 Week 9, we learn five 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 four 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 five 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:
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 9 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 9 Timeline
Before our class time begins, I put seven pieces of painters tape on the wall. I make sure all the timeline cards are in the correct order. When we are ready to start timeline, I take the pile of timeline cards that are in the correct order and I set this week’s timeline cards out on the table. I tell the kids to first watch me as I model singing this week’s part of the timeline song and doing the hand motions. See my tutor video for the tune of this week’s timeline song and the hand motions.
Then I tell the children we are going to get on a “timeline train.” First I will be the leader of the train and everyone has to follow me and do whatever I’m doing. For example, if I start skipping, everyone has to also skip. If I start walking backwards, everyone has to start walking backwards.
As I lead the kids around the hallway doing different motions, I try to sing this week’s part of the timeline. You could also play it and use a speaker so everyone can hear it while on the timeline train. After I sing this week’s part of the timeline song and lead the children in a few different actions, I choose one of the children to be the new leader. Then we all follow the child and copy the actions they do.
We repeat this so all the children get a chance to be the leader of the timeline train. Once all the children have had a chance to lead, we come back into the room and I tell each child to grab a timeline card from the table and to sit down.


Then I go through each timeline event in the correct order and see which child has each card.
For example, I will say, “The first card is Byzantine Emperor Justinian. What letter does “Byzantine” start with?”
A child answers, “It starts with the letter “B.”
I say, “Correct! Who has a card with a letter B on it?”
I instruct whoever has the correct card to walk up to where I have put the painters tape on the wall, and to stick the card to the correct spot on the wall. We repeat this for each timeline event until all the cards are on the wall in the correct order. See my video below which includes the hand motions for this week in the timeline section:
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 9 Geography: China
This week we learn about China. I give each child a trivium table map and little eraser to point to the locations with.
First, I have the children find Mongolia which is outlined in blue and point to it with their eraser. Then we find Beijing (purple dot). Then they move their eraser to the Yellow Sea (pink) and then to the Yellow River (orange). Lastly, they find the Yangtze River (green).
I teach the children a song to the tune of Down In My Heart. See my video below:
We sing the song together several times while pointing to the locations with the erasers. Then I say to the kids, “Who remembers what the green river is called?” Then I ask “who remembers what the purple dot 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 15’s. I first sing a song to the tune When Johnny Comes Marching Home to the children while pointing to the 15’s on my board. See my tutor video to hear this tune.
Then I ask the children to tell me a few actions we can do when we say certain numbers. For example, “touch your head” and “jump up.” Anytime we see the number “1”, we will touch our head. This doesn’t just mean “1” but any number with a 1 in it: 15, 105, 120, 135, etc. Then on my tutor board, I circle all these numbers with a “1” in red.
Then I tell the children, anytime we see the number “3”, we will jump up. In my tutor board, I put a green square around all the numbers that have a 3.
Before we start, I ask the children again, “What do we do when we see a number with a red circle?”
A child answers, “touch your head!”
I say, “What do we do when we see a number with a green square?”
A child answers, “jump up!”
Then we all try to skip count the 15’s together while doing these motions when we get to a number with either a red circle or green square.
Then you can add a couple more motions and try to skip count while doing them. For example, you could write a yellow heart around every number that has a “5” and squat.
It’s fun to have the children compete against you as a tutor. Everyone tries to skip count the 15’s and do the appropriate motions when you get to the certain numbers. See who messes up first! One of the children or the tutor!!
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 15’s.
Free Silly Voice and Movement Cards
History
We learn about Lao-Tzu and Confucius in China 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 the sixth century BC, Lao-Tzu founded Taoism, which emphasizes harmony with nature, and Confucius taught compassion and obedience.
Here is the history sentence with silly words:
Around the tenth century AB, Lao-Tzu founded Cowism, which emphasizes happiness with nature, and Confucius bought compassion and cookies.
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 4th Declension Noun Endings. See my tutor video for the tune we sing these to.
This week we play musical chairs. I set up a chair for each child (if there are 8 children, I set up 8 chairs). I put the chairs in a circle with the backs of the chairs facing the inside of the circle. Then I play the latin song and the children walk around the chairs in a circle and when the song ends, they all sit down in a chair closest to them. When everyone is seated, I tell them to look under their chairs and see who has a sticky note under their chair. Whoever has the sticky note gets to be the leader the next time. Before we begin the next round, I tell the children to all close their eyes so I can put the sticky note under a different chair.
Then I play the latin song again and the child who had the sticky note under their chair leads the rest of the children around the chairs again in a circle. We repeat until all the children get a turn leading.
Science
This week in science we learn about some parts of a plant. I teach the kids the song to the tune of Jesus Loves Me to help them remember these.
We all sit down on the floor in a circle and play hot potato with a box full of prizes. The children pass around the box as we all sing and when the song ends, the child who is holding the box gets to pick out one prize. We repeat so all the children get a prize.

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 Simon Says. I tell the kids to all stand up and they must do what I tell them if I say “Simon Says…” If I don’t say “Simon Says,” they shouldn’t do anything. I will mix this up with some actions and some review questions. For example, I might say, “Simon says hop on one foot. Simon says stop. Simon says tell me one of the prepositions we have learned.” I do this for several different actions and review questions.
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 9 Tutor Plans
Cycle 1 Week 9 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. These Chinese Lanterns are one example of a fun activity we do at home while learning about Lao-Tzu and Confucius in China. Also here is a fun tic-tac-toe history game we played too!
Blessings to you on this homeschooling journey!