Cycle 2 Week 22 Tutor Ideas for Classical Homeschooling

It is Cycle 2 Week 22 and we are officially in the home stretch. With only a few weeks left in the year, you can really see how much the children have grown. Their attention lasts longer, their confidence has blossomed, and they are beginning to recall and connect ideas in ways that show real understanding. It is such a joy to watch everything come together.

This week’s plans focus on steady, cheerful practice with plenty of movement and hands on activities. At this point in the year, simple and engaging always works best, and my goal is to keep our classroom calm, encouraging, and filled with the joy of learning.

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 22 tutor ideas help you feel supported and inspired as we head toward the finish line of the cycle.

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 22 Tutor and Memory Work Ideas

Geography – Oceania

This week in geography, we’re learning about Oceania: Australia, Great Barrier Reef, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.

During the week before community day, I prepare these Oceania maps. These maps show the region clearly, so I use them instead of the standard trivium table maps for this week. You can print the maps and slip them into a dry erase pocket sleeve or laminate them. (This is the printer and laminator I use all the time!) Each location is already highlighted in a different color on this map.

Each child gets an Oceania map and I also give each child a small fish eraser, since the Great Barrier Reef is filled with beautiful fish. As we work, the children use their fish erasers to point to each place on the map.

We will practice finding Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia together. I guide the children as they point to each location, helping them notice where the land and water are on the map.

Once everyone is comfortable finding each place, I teach the children a fun geography song to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine. We sing the song several times while pointing to each location with our fish erasers. This simple combination of music and movement helps the names and locations stick in a fun and memorable way.

English – Coordinating Conjunctions

This week in English we’re learning the coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

We will continue using the same song from last week to the tune of I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, but this time we will sing the second part of the song that includes the coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

As we sing, I will have the children jump forward each time we say a new coordinating conjunction. We start by jumping with two feet together, then we sing again and jump using only the right foot, then only the left foot. After that, we change things up by taking big steps, and finally we even try stepping backward.

This movement keeps the kids engaged while helping them hear and remember each coordinating conjunction. We will sing through this part of the song several times, changing the movement each round. It is a fun and active way to reinforce these important grammar words while giving the children a chance to move their bodies and learn at the same time.

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 22 Timeline

Before class begins, I put seven pieces of painters tape on the wall and hide the timeline cards around the room. I try to choose hiding spots that are not too easy, but also not too tricky. When it is time for timeline, I tell the children to look around the room and find one or two cards each, depending on the size of our group. Once they find a card, they bring it back to their seat.

As the children search for the cards, I sing this week’s part of the timeline song. I sing it myself instead of playing the music so I can slow it down or speed it up as needed. See my tutor video for the tune of this week’s timeline song.

Once all the cards have been found and everyone is back in their seats, we work together to put the timeline events in the correct order. I say each event out loud and ask a simple question to help guide us.

For example, I might say, “The first card is North Atlantic Treaty Organization. What letter does ‘North’ start with?”
The children answer, “It starts with the letter N.”
Then I ask, “Who has a card that starts with the letter N?”

The child with the correct card comes up and sticks it on the wall using the painter’s tape. We repeat this process until all the timeline cards are placed in the correct order.

To finish, I give each child a light up stick. One at a time, they come up to the timeline and gently tap each card as we all sing the timeline song together. I encourage everyone to sing along and try the hand motions. Each child gets a turn to tap the cards, which makes this a fun and engaging way to review the timeline.

See my video below which includes the hand motions for this week in the timeline section:

Math

This week in math we are learning about the Commutative Law for addition and multiplication. During the week, I prepare two simple puzzles for each child: one showing the commutative law for addition and one showing it for multiplication. I print both puzzles on white cardstock, cut them out, and place all the pieces into a small plastic bag for each child.

When it is time for math, I begin by showing the children the commutative law on my tutor board and teaching them a song to the tune of Mama’s Little Baby Loves Short’nin’ Bread. You can find my video below:

After we sing the song once or twice, I hand out the plastic bags with the puzzle pieces. As we continue singing together, I encourage the children to put both puzzles together. This hands on activity helps them see that switching the order of numbers does not change the answer, and it makes learning the commutative law fun and engaging.

History

This week in history we focus on singing the history song together and helping the children engage with the meaning of the words. We start by singing the song through once and encouraging everyone to sing along.

As we sing, I tell the children to listen carefully for the word “fall.” When they hear that word, everyone gently falls to the ground and stays there for the rest of the song. This simple movement helps the children connect the word fall with what happened in history.

Here is this week’s history sentence:

In 1989, the communist dictators began to fall in Eastern Europe when Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev refused to send them military aid.

We sing the song a few times so the children can practice listening for the key word and singing confidently together. This active approach helps the sentence stay memorable while keeping the lesson fun and engaging. See my tutor video for this tune!

Science: Some ways light is observed

This week in science we are learning several ways that light is observed: reflection, refraction, spectrum, wave, and particle.

To introduce these ideas, we sit together in a circle. I bring out a large dice I have with a picture for each way light is observed, and on the sixth side it says “sing all the ways.” You can download and use these images of the ways light is observed. First, I teach the children a short song to the tune of When the Saints Go Marching In. We also practice a simple hand motion for each vocabulary word.

The children take turns rolling the dice. Whatever word is rolled, we all say the word together and do the matching motion. If a child rolls “sing all the ways,” then we sing the entire song together using all of the motions.

Reflection — hold both hands out in front and bounce them back toward your face, like light bouncing off a mirror
Refraction — hold one finger straight, then gently bend it to show light changing direction
Spectrum — spread your fingers wide and move your hand in a slow arc like a rainbow
Wave — move one arm up and down in a smooth, wavy motion
Particle — pinch your fingers together and tap the air, like holding a tiny dot of light

After all the children get a chance to roll the die, we stand up and sing the entire song while also doing the hand motions together.

Latin

This week in Latin we’re continuing to learn the first conjugation verb endings in the pluperfect tense:
eram, erās, erat, erāmus, erātis, erant.

See my tutor video for the tune we use to sing these! Before we begin, I write the endings clearly on my tutor board and review them with the children. As we sing together, I point to each ending so the children can see and hear them at the same time.

After we sing through the song once or twice, I hand out a silly voice stick to each child. These are large popsicle sticks that I painted ahead of time and labeled with different silly voices. We sing the noun ending song again, but this time everyone uses the silly voice written on their stick.

Here are the silly voices I include on the sticks:

Loud to soft
Slow like a sloth
Close eyes
Squeaky voice
Super smiley
Excited
Whisper
Crying
Fish or pucker face
Pouty
Scared
No teeth
Quiet to loud
Mad
Hold your nose
Tongue out
Mouth closed

You can also use silly voice cards (linked here) instead of sticks. I like to switch between the two to keep things fresh, but this week I use the silly voice sticks just to change it up. The kids absolutely love this activity. It gets lots of laughs and keeps them engaged, especially when energy starts to dip.

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!

For review this week, we play a 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 last week and the kids loved it so I decided to pull it out again!

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?

The game ends when all the heart 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.

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 new 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 22 Tutor Plans

Here is a printable EDITABLE template of these Cycle 2 Week 22 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 22 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!