Classical Conversations Review Ideas (or ANY curriculum or subject review!)

Repetition and Duration
No matter what curriculum you use, reviewing learned material should be done often! How many of you remember what you learned in school? We don’t remember much…what we do remember are the things that were reviewed over and over!! Times tables, Pledge of Allegiance, our ABC’s (not in that order!). We remembered those things because they were reviewed OVER AND OVER again. I loved what I learned this summer at the Classical Conversations Parent Practicum — which by the way is open to all home schoolers….find one this summer to attend!! — The speaker talked about REPETITION and DURATION. We need BOTH of those things to make something stick in our minds for the long-term!

I thought I’d share a few fun things that I like to use (and make). I usually try to KEEP IT SIMPLE and not make a bunch of “games” and activities. That’s not because I don’t like making them…because I actually love doing crafty things, however I just need to manage my time.

We certainly do enough of basic drill and review. We have also played MANY games ofjeopardy, bingo, and other quiz-type games. But it’s fun to have some other things to mix it up.

Our first year in CC we were doing Cycle 1, so this is our 2nd time with this cycle. It was fun finding some of the resources I made last time and have them ready to use this time ’round!

Here is a set of science cards that I made. I took the picture from the CC Connected subscription site and printed them out. Then I made cards with the science “prompt” on them. I can’t share these cards (other than the picture) due to copyright laws on CC images. You can make your own pictures or pull some free images from the internet.

With these cards, we can review by just showing the pictures or the word prompt. The favorite thing to do is play Memory with them. We spread them out on the ground face down. Then the kids pick 2 cards and turn them over. If the cards are a “match” then they have to recite the science sentence correctly. If they aren’t a match or if they can’t recite the sentence correctly, they don’t get the point and they lose their turn.

Last year I found these cards that I LOVED. Unfortunately, I have NO idea where I found them! Somehow I stumbled upon them online and printed them out…but it doesn’t have a website address or anything on them! If you know where these came from, please let me know! These are for Cycle 3 only, but I’m hoping if I can find out where I found them, that maybe she has a set for this cycle! If not, I guess I’ll have to make my own!

These cards simply listed the event on one card and the year on the other. You could do these a few different ways. I decided to print them on separate cards. Then I throw them on the floor and have the kids match the date with the event! These were all events learned in CC on our History sentences so the kids could use their memory work, sing the songs, or whatever to help them remember!

There are so many FREE resources out there that you can use. There are so many, in fact, that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed! Don’t worry about adding a bunch of extra stuff into your life. But if you happen to find something that looks fun, do it! 🙂 And you can also just keep it simple. Adding something different doesn’t always mean you have to use construction paper and a laminator!

Notebooking Resources

I recently saw a blog that had some free resources on it that could be used for any curriculum, but they go especially well with CC! If you have read through my blog, you know that I love “Notebooking.” By this, I just mean that when we learn or study something, I like to have the kids write, draw, or in some way sum-up what they learned. We do this by putting it on paper in our notebooks. I print out paper from DonnaYoung.org (TONS OF FREE STUFF) that is blank at the top and lines at the bottom.

When I came across Crecia’s blog at CCing it One Day at a Time, I loved her note-booking pages! This is exactly what I do for our notebooks. I even write the week number on it…but our pages don’t have a cute place to write it like that! Even if you aren’t a CC person, this would be a great addition to your History or Science study. She has some other great freebies too…check her out.

Other People’s Ideas

I always say “Work smart not hard!” So if I can find ideas that other people are willing to share….I use them!! I am so grateful for all the ideas that other bloggers put out there. Here a few links to some great ideas!

Will the Winner Lose? (great game to do with a group)

Awesome list of EASY to DO (no craft skills needed here!)

What do you do? We do so much drill and review that I’d love to change things up. What are your ideas??