Cycle 2 Week 18 Tutor Ideas for Classical Homeschooling

It’s Cycle 2 Week 18, and this is one of my favorite points in the year. The kids have found their rhythm, their confidence is blossoming, and they’re eager to dive into each subject with energy and curiosity. This week’s plans build on that steady progress with simple hands-on activities, movement, and songs that help make memory work click in a joyful, meaningful way.

As always, I’m not affiliated with any Classical education organization—just sharing ideas and routines that have worked beautifully in my own classroom. I hope these Cycle 2 Week 18 tutor plans spark new ideas and make your time with your students even more fun and fruitful!

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.

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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 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 18 Tutor and Memory Work Ideas

Geography – More Central European Countries

This week in geography, we’re learning about MORE Central European countries: Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, and Slovakia.

Before class, I prepare our trivium table maps ahead of time. You could also print a map and laminate it if you prefer. (This is the printer and laminator I use all the time!) I outline the countries we’re learning about this week each in a different color of dry erase marker so they’re easy to distinguish.

At the start of geography time, each child receives a trivium table map with the countries outlined. I also hand out dry erase markers and have the kids write the first letter of each country inside its borders. Since each country begins with a different letter, this gives them a simple visual cue as we review the names together.

Once everyone can identify each country, we’ll learn another Central Europe geography song to the tune of Buffalo Gals to help them remember the names and locations. We’ll sing through it several times while pointing to each country on our maps, making it both fun and memorable!

English – Five Cases of Nouns

This week we’re learning the five cases of nouns: subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and possessive. To help the kids remember them, we’ll learn a simple song to the tune of Ring Around the Rosie. It’s short, rhythmic, and perfect for this age group.

Before we sing, I introduce each noun case with a quick hand motion:

• Subject – point to yourself (The subject is the one doing the action in the sentence, so we point to ourselves to show “I’m the one doing it!”)
• Direct Object – pretend to “pass” something straight forward (A direct object receives the action directly. Passing something straight ahead helps the kids picture the action going right to the object.)
• Indirect Object – scoop your hands slightly to the side, as if giving something to someone nearby (An indirect object receives the benefit of the action. Scooping to the side looks like you’re giving something “to” or “for” someone.)
• Object of the Preposition – make a small “under/over” arc with your hand (Prepositions often tell where something is (over, under, around, behind). The arc motion reminds the kids of those position words.)
• Possessive – hug your arms in as if holding something that belongs to you (Possessive nouns show ownership. Hugging something close makes it easy to remember: “This belongs to me!”)

We practice the motions once or twice without the song so the kids know what to expect.

Then we sing the Ring Around the Rosie tune with the motions added in. The rhythm makes it easy for the kids to memorize the list, and the movements keep them engaged and help solidify the meaning of each case.

After singing it a few times together, I do a quick round of call-and-response:
“Show me possessive!”
“What’s the motion for subject?”
The kids love showing the motions, and it reinforces the memory work in a fun, active way.

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 18 Timeline

This week for Timeline, we will play a fun Freeze and Find It game! I’ll begin by having all the kids sit in a circle around me. I’ll go through each of the seven cards one by one, holding up the card and encouraging them to study the image and look closely at the large letter that shows what the event starts with. As we review each card, we’ll also do the motion that goes with it to help the kids connect the picture, the movement, and the name.

After introducing each card, I’ll place a small piece of painters tape on the back and choose one child to go hang it somewhere on the wall. Each child will get a turn, and I’ll encourage them to spread the cards out on all four walls so they’re scattered around the room.

Once all the cards are hung up, I’ll play this week’s portion of the timeline song. I’ll ask the children to walk around the room and try to sing along as they pass each card. At random moments, I’ll call out “Freeze!” When they hear the word, the kids quickly go to the nearest card and we’ll review the event they’re standing beside. We’ll repeat this a few times for lots of movement and repetition.

This simple game keeps everyone engaged, helps anchor each event visually, and makes learning the timeline both active and fun!

To finish, I’ll have the kids come to the front of the room and we’ll sing this week’s timeline section together with the motions.

See my video below for the motions and song for this week’s timeline section:

Math

This week in math, we’re learning about the area of a triangle! Before class begins, I like to use painter’s tape to create a couple of large triangles on the floor. These become our “learning mats” for an active review.

When it’s time for math, I first draw a triangle on my tutor board and introduce the area formula: one-half base times height. We talk briefly about how area tells us how much space is inside the shape. Then, I teach the next part of our geometry song to help the kids remember the formula. See my “Weeks 16–20 Geometry Song” video below!

We’ll continue singing this same song for the next few weeks, adding a new formula each time as we build on what we’ve learned.

Next, I divide the class into two groups, each gathered around one of the taped triangles. As we sing the song together, the kids take turns doing fun movements:

• 🚶 Walk along the edge of the triangle
• 👣 Tiptoe carefully along the edge (they must stay on the tape!)
• 🦶 Hop on one foot along the edge
• 🦶 Switch feet and hop on the other foot
• 🕺 Jump from inside the triangle to the outside

This simple, movement-based activity helps the children connect the concept of area with a hands-on visual, all while reinforcing the song and keeping energy high!

History

This week our history sentence is: In 1945, after the League of Nations failed to prevent World War II, American President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill, and Soviet Premier Stalin began the United Nations.

This week in history we’re learning about the United Nations, so we’ll use a simple movement activity to help the kids connect each leader to his part of the song. I have four signs prepared: one for American President Roosevelt, one for British Prime Minister Churchill, one for Soviet Premier Stalin, and one with the United Nations flag.

I’ll choose four children to begin and hand each one a sign. As we sing the history song (see my tutor video for this week’s tune), the kids holding the signs will listen for their part and hold up their sign at exactly the right moment. This keeps everyone engaged and helps them associate each leader with the correct lyric.

After we finish the song, I’ll switch up who is holding the signs so new children can participate. We’ll sing through it again, giving as many kids as possible a turn. I’ll make sure every child gets the chance to hold at least one sign before we move on.

It’s a simple, visual way to bring the history sentence to life, and the kids absolutely love being the one to “pop up” at the right moment. Grab these signs to use in your class too HERE!

Science: Newton’s Third Law of Motion

This week in science, we’re learning about Newton’s Third Law of Motion — Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

To help the kids remember this definition, we’ll sing this to the tune of “Baby Bumblebee.”

Before we sing, I’ll pass out action cards—each child gets a card with a simple motion such as hop, tiptoe, squat, march, or wiggle.

We will start singing our song, doing an action from one of the cards, but when we sing the word, “ACTION” — everyone freezes like a statue. (An action is the force that happens first, and it often causes something to stop or pause—so we freeze when we hear it!)

Then when we sing the word, “REACTION” — everyone starts doing the motion for a few more seconds until the end of the song. (A reaction is the response that follows the action—so when we hear “reaction,” the kids move again using their special action!)

We’ll make sure to do this with everyone’s different action cards. This interactive activity helps them connect the meaning of action and reaction with something physical and memorable while keeping the room full of energy and joy!

You can download these action cards from free HERE.

Latin

This week in Latin, we’re learning the first conjugation endings in the future tense — bō, bis, bit, bimus, bitis, bunt.

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.

To make it extra fun and engaging, we will use our silly voice cards.

First, we will sing the future tense endings together in our normal voices so everyone hears them clearly. Then I will give all the kids a different silly voice card, and we will sing the endings again using that voice.

The kids LOVE the silly voices! This activity keeps everyone engaged while giving them lots of repetition with the endings.

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 time this week, we play a “cake walk” style game where I put these spot markers in a big circle so that each child has one spot marker to stand on. I want the number of spot markers to match the number of children.

Once each child is standing on a spot marker, I play one of the songs we have learned in the past few weeks. I tell the children to walk around the circle of spot markers (only touching the spot markers and not the carpet) until the song ends. When the song ends, I roll my dry erase die that has the different colors written on each side. The children that are standing on the color rolled are the ones that get to answer the review question.

Then, I play a different song from the past few weeks and have the children continue to walk around the spot markers. We keep repeating until our review time is up.

I prefer to ask review questions on the fly instead of preparing them ahead of time. Here are some 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?

LoveBug Review Game

You could also play this fun Valentine’s Day review game that I made called Lovebug! This game is similar to the Stinky Feet review game we played during previous weeks.

Before community group, I cut out and laminate this love bug sign and heart cards. You can download these for free! You can also just draw a heart on a white board and use sticky notes as the cards if you don’t want to print anything out.

The heart 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 a heart 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 “love bug” card or not. A “love bug” card is a negative number with a bug on it.

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 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.

• Can you name one of the countries in World War I?
• What do you remember about the Industrial Revolution?
• Who remembers one of the states of matter?
• What is one purpose of a sentence?
• What is one form of energy?

Cycle 2 Valentine’s Day Cards

Since it’s getting close to Valentine’s Day, I made some fun Valentine’s Day cards that relate to the memory work from Cycle 2, specifically planets and space! Download them HERE!

Great Artists in Fine Arts

Now that we’re in the second half of Cycle 2, Fine Arts shifts to Great Artists, and it’s been such a sweet part of our homeschool rhythm. Over six weeks, the children are introduced to famous artists, learn to recognize different styles, and create simple projects inspired by their work.

In our community, Great Artists time is kept short and engaging—one artist each week, a few well-known works, a handful of kid-friendly takeaways, and then we jump into creating.

If you’d like to see exactly how we structure Great Artists time (both in community and at home), I shared all the details in a separate blog post, along with some resources that make planning much easier. I also share:

• Free week-by-week artist bios + printable public-domain artwork for poster boards
• Cycle 2 Great Artists Mini Books for home
• Great Artists Showdown (a War-style review card game)
• Great Artists Memory Game (matching artists to famous works)

You can read the full Great Artists post and find everything linked below.

NEW Cycle 2 Weeks 13-24 Review Activity Book

I’m excited to share with you about my brand 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!

NEW 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 13-18 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 18 Tutor Plans

Here is a printable EDITABLE template of these Cycle 2 Week 18 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 18 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!