Taking the Chaos Out of Our Review Time

TakingtheChaosOutofOurReviewTime

Okay, confession time. Our CC memory work review time has been a little chaotic. I blame the children. 😉 Truly, there are four of them. They move and talk and distract. Then add in the toddler (he makes 5) and it’s all a big fat mess. My threshold for frenzied school times is low, so we’ve modified how our review time works a little bit in order to dial down the chaos. Mainly for my sake, maybe a little for theirs. Perhaps you are struggling with this too?  Maybe this new idea we’re trying will help bring a little more meaningful review time into your schedule and peace into your days. I hope so.

For the first time, I have four children in CC Foundations. Reviewing verbally with four at one time was just much too much for me, so dividing them into two groups was my first move. The oldest and youngest are together and the two middle ones are together. Because my two oldest have both participated in cycle one before, they know the information quite well. Pairing them with a younger one allows them to help their younger sibling learn. This is good for them! It’s not just review work, it’s practice in being patient and kind with a younger sibling, in learning how to explain things, and in generally learning to love each other better.

One pairing works on geography review at the table, while I sit in our family room with the other two and quiz them on the memory work. Because we’re home for four days after our community day, it gives me two days reviewing memory work with each pairing and two days for them to review geography. I’m reviewing odd weeks on one day and even weeks on the other day. So with two days with each pair, I’ll review all of our memory work. Because I’m only working with two children, it goes rather quickly and I’m able to track more clearly what they know well and where they need help. So far, it’s working great. Incidentally, the children at the table can hear us doing memory work review while they do their map work, so it’s kind of like everybody is getting everything in one day.

(Another trick which has worked well is listening to the CC memory work while doing handicrafts. This is quiet time in our home, which I’ve learned I need a little bit of throughout our day to survive. And the littles don’t suffer for having to be quiet some.)

Please tell me how you do review in your home! And please, please tell me if your school days feel a little chaotic sometimes too. I’ll remember you next time the toddler is ripping everyone’s pencils out of their hands and feel encouraged by our solidarity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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